THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE 



MONTHLY. 



MAY, 1886. 



THE DIFFICULTIES OF EAILEOAD REGULATION. 



By AETI1UR T. HADLEY. 



ANY practical scheme of railroad control is likely to be based upon 

 a compromise. The different interests involved are so conflict- 

 ing that it will not do to attempt a solution from any one standpoint 

 exclusively. The direction which legislation is to take can not be de- 

 cided by a mere consideration of complaints against the existing sys- 

 tem, whether well-grounded or otherwise. We must also consider 

 what other systems have been tried, and what evils they have involved ; 

 what lines of treatment have been undertaken, and how far it has been 

 found possible to carry them out. It is not a question what we would 

 like to do, so much as what we actually can do. 



The community requires four things of its railroad system : 



1. That it shall afford sufficient facilities to meet the wants of busi- 

 ness. In other words, there must be enterprise in building new lines, 

 and in keeping the old ones up to a high standard of efficiency. 



2. That the charges, as a whole, shall be as reasonable as possible. 

 If they are higher than those of other countries, or higher than is 

 necessary for the support of the railroads, the business development 

 of the community will be retarded. 



3. That there shall not be arbitrary differences in charge which 

 force business into unnatural and wasteful channels, or cripple one 

 man for the enrichment of another. 



4. That there shall be as little waste of capital as possible, either 

 by corruption, extravagance, or want of business skill. This is not 

 quite so vital a matter as the other three, but it is one which we can 

 not afford to leave out of account. 



No system of regulation is ever likely to be devised which shall 

 secure all these results. Free competition, as we have tried it in 



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