82 Meyer—Adjustment of Railroad Rates in Prussia. 
ness, and, as such, subject to the laws of free competition. Rail¬ 
road rates, according to this supposition, are determined by the 
same laws that determine the price of crackers and soap. Legis¬ 
lation (or rather lack of legislation) in accordance with these 
supposed principles of the industry of transportation by rail has 
often tended to perpetuate chaotic conditions rather than give 
an impulse towards uniformity, system and order. Placing rail¬ 
roads into the category of ordinary business enterprises, we have 
allowed an industrial force, more serviceable than which there is 
none, to bring at times uncertainty and confusion into the 
business world, when stability and order should have prevailed. 
And all because we have refused to recognize the lack of identity 
between a railroad and a soap factory. Although a number of 
far-sighted men in our own country — and among them many 
prominent railroad men — have long recognized this distinction, 
the American public has been inclined to adhere to the old tra¬ 
dition, and it has, perhaps, too often overlooked the difference 
between the railroad business and an ordinary industrial enter¬ 
prise. The element of monopoly in railroading, with its inevita¬ 
ble tendencies towards combination and consolidation, should 
alone be sufficient reason for placing railroads into a distinct 
category. In an ordinary business, if trade falls off, the work¬ 
ing force can readily be reduced, capital can be contracted, 
unused machinery can be protected without difficulty or expense, 
and unsold goods may be kept in store until there is a market 
for them; expenses can more readily be adjusted to the volume 
of trade; and the constant (fixed) expenses form a much smaller 
part of the total outlay. And if trade should not revive there 
is still the alternative of going into another business. Illustra¬ 
tions of this are easily found in every industrial community. 
With railroads the case is very different. In the first place, 
there is a very much greater investment-—railroads costing 
from thirty or fifty to over two hundred thousand dollars per 
mile. The “plant” is good for no other business. The rolling 
stock may be sold to another railroad company, but the right of 
way, tunnels, bridges, ties and rails would involve an enormous 
loss in case of failure to continue business. When traffic is poor 
the company may discharge a number of employes and run fewer 
