BAIL WAY MALADJUSTMENTS. 371 



and much of the present demoralization is due to the rash, impetu- 

 ous folly of those who hoped to enjoy the pleasures of stimulated 

 activity and still escape the reacting evils. 



When legislative inducements were made to investors for the 

 construction of new railroads, capitalists were pleased to be re- 

 lieved of ordinary prudence in making their investments, and 

 upon the strength of such legislation continued to build railroads 

 in excess of commercial wants, expecting to so adjust the traffic 

 rates as to insure to them good profits ; but this was never the pur- 

 pose of the shippers or of the legislators who represented them, 

 for, by the construction of numerous lines, they expected to arouse 

 a spirit of competition among the railroads which would lead to 

 cut rates and reduced cost of service. Thus the original laws 

 which stimulated the organization and construction of railroads 

 polarized the interests of the investors and the shippers, and made 

 mutually repellent forces which should have mutually attracted. 

 Each was deluded by false hopes, for neither considered the rights 

 or interests of the other, and all subsequent legislation which has 

 aimed to preserve the benefits of unwise and premature railroad 

 construction to the public has shifted all the evils and consequent 

 losses upon the railroad companies, while the efforts of railway 

 companies to avoid all competition, by a division of revenues 

 would throw the entire burden of supporting useless roads upon 

 the public ; and it is this unbalanced condition of affairs which has 

 led to aggressions upon the part of railroads, adverse verdicts by 

 juries, and hostile legislation by the States, all of which are in the 

 nature of reactions due to the disturbance caused by the original 

 laws. 



For example, between the cities of Toledo and Detroit there are 

 two lines of railway passing through the same towns, and for the 

 greater part of the distance running side by side, their rights of 

 way abutting. These two roads, being branches of the Lake Shore 

 and Canada Southern respectively, were originally independent 

 and competing lines, but, as one could have carried the business 

 brought to the two, it is evident that the conflict was only a ques- 

 tion of the survival of the fittest. In this as in most other cases 

 the new road ultimately fell into the hands of those who owned 

 the original line, and, though under different managers, are oper- 

 ated under one controlling policy; rates were equalized, train 

 schedules harmonized, and the business which with the small ad- 

 ditional cost of a second track could be more cheaply performed 

 )y one line must now earn the fixed charges and pay dividends on 

 the stock certificates of two, all of which extra expense must be 

 paid by the people. So long as the roads were in competition, they 

 were a source of loss to the owners ; when they harmonized their 

 differences, they became a burden to the public ; and the class of 



