ABSTRACT
Limited liability is the essence of the corporation idea; combining the possibility of gathering large amounts of capital in the forms of bonds and shares, with easy and legal ways of dividing that capital into proportions, minute yet distinct. Public opinion seems, indeed, to be confused between the question of the fairness of corporation dividends in ordinary cases, and the larger and more difficult question of the equity of high profits when earned by huge corporations long established and monopolistic in their nature. It would be inequitable if a corporation should keep all the profits for its shareholders; and equally unjust if it could so keep none of them. The community by its feeling against high corporation dividends deprives itself of a certain natural protection against unfair earnings; because if such were openly paid competition would be oftener attracted. Public opinion against high corporation returns is thus responsible indirectly for the later public complaints of overcrowding and other ills.
