202 rosa: regulation of natural monopolies 



Senator Root then went on to say that there is nothing more 

 important today than that by education and the spread of ideas 

 such misunderstanding shall be done awaj' with; that Americans 

 shall interpret the spirit of popular government so that each shall 

 be ready to do justice to the other, and every American shall 

 desire the prosperity and happiness of every other American. 



But while there is great force in what Senator Root says, it 

 remains true that this social unrest springs in a measure from 

 causes which the government can remedy.- The part which the 

 govermnent must play in our complex ci^*ilization is constantly 

 increasing, and is immensely more important than in the simpler 

 ci^dhzation of a century ago. In the early days the individual 

 was much more independent, and each communit}^ was much less 

 dependent on other communities than now. Society was simple, 

 communication and commerce were Umited, and relatively few 

 laws sufficed. The twentieth century differs from the eighteenth 

 in many respects, but in none more strikingly than with regard to 

 the increasing complexity of business deahngs. 



The regmlation and control of large corporations which have 

 virtually secured the monopoly of particular industries is now 

 recei\'ing the attention of many of our leading scholars and states- 

 men, and the solution of the problem will be a triumph for popular 

 government. The means that may be employed for this purpose 

 are not so restricted as the}' formerh' were. The public is becom- 

 ing educated rapidly, and the constitution has greater capacities 

 now than formerly. 



State regulation of natural monopolies. '\Miile the federal gov- 

 ernment in the last few years has been striding to break up giant 

 aggregations of corporations into their constituent parts, with 

 the hope of getting these parts to compete with one another and 

 so put an end to an undesirable monopoly, some of the states 

 have been dealing in constructive fashion with another class of 

 monopolies, and .sho-^dng how they can be regulated and controlled 

 to the end of conser^dng the best interests both of the public 

 and of the stockliolders. I refer to that very large and important 



- In other words, the people acting co-operatively thru their chosen representa- 

 tives can remedv. 



