FREEING THE HIGHWAYS 185 



from Michigan to distant cities, when tens of thou- 

 sands of miners are standing idle at the mouth of 

 the mine, when whole industries are shut down for 

 lack of fuel, and building projects are suspended 

 because of the breakdown in transportation, we get 

 some suggestion of the terrible waste from the 

 failure, the inevitable failure, of private ownership 

 of the transportation agencies of the nation. 



These conditions cannot be corrected by the rail- 

 roads. There are too many conflicting interests at 

 work to permit of it being done. There are also so 

 many other monopolies interrelated with the rail- 

 roads that it is frequently to the interest of railway 

 operators and directors to continue these abuses. 

 They can only be ended by public ownership. 



Moreover, the railroads hold the key to the high 

 cost of living, of food, fuel, timber, and all of the 

 necessities and comforts of life. For the railroads 

 are interlocked with all of the monopolies which 

 control these products and service. They are in- 

 terlocked with the refrigerator-car companies, pack- 

 ers, warehousemen, coal-dealers, food exchanges, and 

 cold-storage warehouses; with the coal-mines, the 

 lumber, the iron, steel, oil, and other monopolies. 

 The power of these monopolies would be materially 

 reduced if the railroads were integrated into the 

 life of the nation, and were free from the countless 

 discriminations and abuses which now prevail. 

 Food gambhng and speculation would crumble to 



