The Age of Mergers 1135 
plies with particular force to statistics on the relation- 
ship between stock prices and their earnings. Our 
best companies particularly have often understated 
their earnings by charging off unusual sums for 
depreciation, and so on. 
Professor Ripley was right in urging on behalf of 
one of the minor parties in interest, the stockholders, 
publicity of corporate accounts. A true and complete 
balance sheet and income account, constituting a 
photograph of a company’s present condition and a 
lengthwise view of its management through a period 
of time, are essentials to be obtained by a stockhold- 
ers’ committee or by such agencies as the Federal 
Trade Commission. 
Doubtless such a requirement in behalf of the in- 
vestor is also in the interest of the consumer. Pro- 
fessor Ripley has likened the visitorial committee 
of stockholders, as an accomplishment in the field of 
finance, to the introduction of the company union in 
the field of labor. Thus the management is tied in, 
not only with its employees, but with a representative 
body of owners. Perhaps some day it may be tied 
in, also, with a representative committee of consum- 
ers entirely independent of the management. With 
publicity, the people are increasingly willing to be- 
lieve, with the accumulation of evidence, that it is 
best served by large-scale industry engaged in mass 
production, with relatively large overhead expenses 
and relatively small running expenses. No one 
would think today of trying to force Henry Ford to