Monopolies And the People

cy ; but it is worth while to note more fully the difference between ancient and modern conditions in the business of transportation. In the first place, it is plain that no more than a century ago the world had comparatively very little need for railways. Each community produced from its farms and shops most of the things which it needed ; and the interchange of goods between different sections, while considerable in the aggregate, was as nothing in comparison with modern domestic commerce. The king's highways were open to every one, and though monopolies for coach lines were sometimes granted and toll roads were quite common, there was no possibility for any really harmful monopoly in transportation to arise, because the necessity of transportation was so small. Some writer has ascribed all the evils of modern railway monopolies to the fact that in their establishment theold principle of English common law that the king's highway is open to every man, was disregarded. But if we sift down this ancient maxim of law to its essential principle, we find it to be, there must be no monopoly in transportation ; and the problem of obtaining the advantages of modern railway transportation and keeping up, at the same time, the free competition that exists in transportation on a highway is seen to be as far from solution as before. The importance of our railway traffic is proven by statistics. Of the total wealth annually produced in this country, it is probably a f...