666 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the great engines of demagogues to inflame the passions of igno- 

 rance and poverty, and to extort blackmail with which to carry on 

 political campaigns and to promote private enrichment. Little or 

 no effort is made to discover whether they are the product of vicious 

 legislation, like tariff laws or imperfect corporation laws, or whether 

 they grow out of economic conditions beyond human control. It is 

 enough that they exist; that, like other members of the society that 

 fosters them, they exercise despotic power; that they serve the pur- 

 pose of a telling battle cry; that they may be pitilessly plundered. 

 Hence their suppression has become within a year or two a favorite 

 outlet for legislative ignorance, prejudice, and rapacity. Much of 

 the legislation against them is for political purposes, and was never 

 intended to be enforced. But that does not alter the fact that it is 

 violative of the fundamental principles of a free democracy, and in- 

 dicative of the vice that is fast subverting the purposes of the repub- 

 lic. The antitrust law of New York authorizes one of the most 

 odious practices of the Inquisition namely, the citation of a witness 

 suspected of a crime under it to give testimony that shall furnish 

 a basis for his indictment and punishment. The antitrust law of 

 Mississippi makes any evidence that a trust or combination intended 

 to affect the price of a commodity, conclusive that the price was 

 affected, and authorizes the infliction upon the innocent of the 

 penalty that should be reserved for the guilty alone. What points 

 could not the authors of such laws have given to the famous despots 

 of history? 



The corporate property that has suffered most from the raids of 

 these modern Vandals is the railroads. Originally regarded as the 

 most important and valuable contribution that invention had made to 

 civilization, they were fostered in every way. Now they are re- 

 garded as among the greatest of " the social evils " that statesman- 

 ship and philanthropy are combating so energetically. By a feat 

 of logic not uncommon to " thinkers " as well as to demagogues, they 

 have been differentiated as creatures of the State, having no rights 

 except those that the State concedes. Upon the vicious theory first 

 proclaimed in the famous Chicago elevator case,* that, unlike other 

 forms of business to meet human needs, they are " affected with 

 public interest/' and are not, therefore, private property, entitled 

 to all its rights and privileges, they have been subjected to a despotic 

 supervision that has brought them to the verge of ruin. Denied the 

 right of freedom of contract, one of the " unalienable rights," they 

 are not permitted to make their own rates of transportation. Not 



* In this case, it will be remembered, the elevator was private property, built on private 

 land. No one was compelled to use it. Yet, as it was " affected with public interest," the 

 courts decided that the State Legislature could regulate its charges. 



