POWER. 109 



three of them. The energy in coal, for example, is not concentrated 

 before shipment, but is hauled in its substantial, bulky form ; while 

 the coal at its destination is not used so as to yield anywhere near 

 its full service.^ With industry in general, conformance with these' 

 three principles has been automatic, a natural outgrowth in connec- 

 tion with the development of the various types of operations; with 

 power supply, on the contrary, a sufficiency of natural incentive 

 toward such an outcome has evidently been lacking. It is desirable, 

 then, to seek to determine what is back of this apathy in the excep- 

 tional instance of power. 



The first of the three principles of transportation, the employment 

 of suitable equipment, involves a community interest. The facilities 

 best suited for bringing to the market the corn raised by one farmer 

 will haul grain from the entire corn belt with equal ease. Moreover, 

 with slight qualification, the same facilities will serve to transport all 

 the material necessities of the region. Hence there have developed 

 common-carrier systems, represented chiefly by the railways, to which 

 the performance of this function is delegated. These common-carrier 

 systems, it is needless to say, are essential to modern conditions and 

 derive their existence from the community interest which they rep- 

 resent. In consequence, the element of competition, which is the 

 exact antithesis of community interest, is entirely out of place within 

 the confines of such an activity. In the nature of things, accordingly, 

 any response to the promptings of special interests amounts to a 

 violation of a trust. Formerly this was not fully realized, and it has 

 not been long since the evil influence arising from the promptings of 

 special interests within the great common-carrier systems of the 

 country was playing havoc with American industrialism. It is now 

 firmly established, however, that the great arterial complex of trans- 

 portation is founded on the principle of community interest and must 

 be maintained in scrupulous accord with that principle. In the viola- 

 tion of this trust a common carrier has in itself the power to make or 

 break any industrial enterprise, hence the method of control must 

 afford the maximum assurance that the trust will not, and can not, 

 be violated. Thus the successful application of the first principle 

 underlying effective transportation, from a national viewpoint, re- 

 quires a common carrier system not only adequately equipped as to 

 organization and mechanical facilities, but of public-service integrity 

 established beyond question of doubt. 



The second principle of transportation, the advance elimination of 

 superfluous weight, is a matter requiring individuality of treatment 

 throughout. The conditions here are the reverse of those pertaining 

 to the actual facilities of transportation. The responsibility attaches 



1 See Coal : The resource and its full utilization. Bulletin 102, Part 4, of this series. 



