426 THE GIIOUNDSWELL. 



a like service is performed for the thousands of other pa 

 trons. Freight transportation is subject to the same law. 

 Is any one stupid enough to murmur because the govern 

 ment carries one man s letter to San Francisco for three 

 cents, while another is charged as much for having a letter 

 carried four or five miles ? What matters it how cheap an 

 other man s letter is carried so long as mine is taken at a 

 reasonable rate ? And if the rule holds good in regard to 

 letters, why should it not embrace parcels and packages, etc. ? 

 The principle is so plain, when applied to postal service, 

 that no word of complaint against its discrimination is ever 

 heard; but when applied to property transportation, which 

 is subject to precisely the same law, what a fearful commo 

 tion is raised ! 



