Wisconsin State Agricultural Society. 
491 
“unreasonable, 11 should of course be bad, but it is a question of grave 
doubt with many friends of the people, whether the legislature ought 
permanently to assume the business of fixing specific rates of fare 
and freight to be charged by these roads. It is said that different 
railroad companies combine, and avoid as far as possible, competi¬ 
tion. This may he so, but they cannot avoid it altogether. It is 
quite certain , however , that a fixed and definite legislative tariff of 
rates, applicable alike to all roads , prevents absolutely the possibility 
of any competition whatever. And we are sure* that the people of 
this state do not wish to establish and accomplish just that result. 
Competition is the life and soul of trade and business the world 
over. It is the great motive and incentive to the accomplishment 
of great enterprises, either of a public or private nature. Competi¬ 
tion is the life of all business, and if there can be no competition 
there will be less business, and that will be carried on mainly by 
monopolies created for that purpose. In the absence of competi¬ 
tion monopolies will grow and thrive, and public enterprise will fall 
into decay. 
In the season of navigation our rivers and lakes compete with the 
railroads and divide a portion of the business, but in winter the rail¬ 
roads control almost the entire inland carrying trade, and that too, 
as the railroads have increased with marvelous rapidity, and every¬ 
thing is done on a grander scale than of old—the great through 
mails from east to west are no longer carried on stage coaches at 
“sixty miles a day,' 1 and emigration no longer wends its slow way 
along turnpike and common roads to the western states, but every¬ 
thing is carried with great speed and with comparative safety 
along through the country and away to the very borders of civilizar- 
tion, and as the country grows in wealth and increases in population 
we must have more railroad facilities to meet our increasing wants. 
Call it monopoly, call it what we will, this mode of transportation 
is the only one yet discovered that can satisfy the demands of the age. 
We cannot prosper without railroads, and therefore we need have 
little fear that the present apparent antagonism between the peo¬ 
ple and the railroads will long continue. 
The railroads must not, however, be above the law, but the laws 
must be fair and reasonable, and so they will be, we may be sure, 
for the people will in the end be always just. 
One of our distinguished fellow-citizens, a Senator of the United 
