ANNUAL MEETING AT LEXINGTON. 185 

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journeys then. In fact travel and transportation which are today 

 quite an important feature of life, shall in the days to come be the all- 

 absorbing occupation. Travel will be increased, carriage also beyond 

 jour powers of conception, and the whole life of society will adjust 

 itself to the new conditions." 



You could hardly have believed it possible. And yet it has oc- 

 curred. And the rapid, prompt transfer of commodities by ways abso- 

 lutely controled by companies has directed business, has scattered 

 here and concentrated there, so that its mighty streams and tides are 

 as much under our control as the regiments of an army in action. 



But a thing never dreamed of has also occurred. Competition has 

 heen as much destroyed and prevented from developing, as though an 

 absolute monopoly of this all absorbing business had been granted to 

 a few persons. Xot only have the hundreds of companies made agree- 

 ments, but they are being absorbed gradually by a few great systems 

 until, in all probability, the great systems shall evolve into one or two. 



A very remarkable paper, lately published in England by Mr. 

 Charles Waring, exhibits the same tendency and condition there. 

 Briefly he shows that, some twenty years ago. Sir Henry Tyler in Par- 

 liament remarked that '"the state must own the roads or the roads will 

 own the state," that several hundred companies originally are now 

 ^ 'Comprehended in four great divisions ; that every term of Parliament 

 sees bills passed transferring harbors and quays to the railways; that 

 all other convenient ways of transport are now controlled by the 

 •roads; that the House of Lords is composed mostly of railway dele- 

 gates ; that while dollars are charged for carrying freight a short dis- 

 tance, a few cents comparatively are charged for carrying long dis- 

 tances on the same road; that the value of railroad property has 

 doubled in a short time, that railway stock pays seven per cent, while 

 the best of other investments pay but three, and finall}', at the present 

 rate, all the land and other property are rajiidly gyrating to the rail- 

 roads. He concludes that it is imperative that this great necessity of 

 modern life, railway transportation, shall be controlled directly by the 

 State, and that freight shall be cBarged per weight and not per dis- 

 tance, and the cost of travel be so reduced as to be nominal. 



When public burdens become too heavy the people revolt. The 

 poorest head of a family in the United States is bound to patronize the 

 railways to some extent. He is obliged to contribute to their support 

 so long as he is a consumer. When a railway official, by authority, 

 puts a fraction of a cent more on the pound of freight, he is virtually 

 taxing his subjects, perhaps, hundreds of millions of dollars. In every 



