THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE 

 MONTHLY. 



MAKCH, 1883. 



THE GKOWTH AND EFFECT OF EAILWAY CONSOLI- 

 DATION. 



By GEEEIT L. LANSING. 



IT is charged by the politician, it is spread by the press, and it is 

 believed by the people, that railroads, being operated in the in- 

 terest of the corporations themselves, are operated against the interest 

 of the communities ; that by consolidations and combinations all com- 

 petition is removed, and monopolies are formed which levy extortion- 

 ate tolls, with no regard to the rights or interests of their patrons. 

 And so dangerous, it is believed, has this arbitrary exercise of power 

 become, that the people of the whole country are invited to bind them- 

 selves together into an " anti-monopoly " league, to be able to strike 

 for their liberties, and punish the destroying avarice of these giant 

 corporations. 



There is an increasing number of inquiring minds who have come 

 to look with distrust upon the statements of politicians, the opinions 

 of the press, and that popular judgment which is based upon the mis- 

 information furnished by these. It is the purpose of this paper to 

 inquire into these charges and beliefs and endeavor to disclose what 

 truth or error they may contain. 



The word monopoly is associated in the mind with the legal and 

 artificial monopolies of the last three centuries. Such, for instance, 

 as the Dutch East India Company, which, having the entire product 

 of the Spice Islands, would destroy a portion of the crop rather than 

 lower the price by bringing the whole to market. The workings of 

 all these old monopolies were opposed to the public good, as they 

 were operated in the maintenance of high prices. In England, under 

 the successors of Henry VIII, they had become so numerous and 

 grievous, that by an act of James I, all monopolies were abolished 

 vol. xxii. 37 



