The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1869-02-23
REACTION AGAINST PRIVATE MoNoP LIE:

1t cannot have escaped intelligent observa-
ton that, in this country and in Great Britain,
a reaction of the public mind is going on
against the principle of private monopoly
This was to have been expected. The senti-
ment which inspires the movement is as
wholesome as it is natural. But it is to be
| feared that the movement ITSELF under an un-
reasoning impulse, may take wrong direction
| pointing to remedies that might, possibly,
prove as bad as the evils which they should
propose to cure. To whatever mischiefs it
may lead, however, they will be justly charge
able to the vicious legislation that has fostered
the abuses against which popular instinct is
now revolving. The danger particularly to be
apprehended is this, that government may be
called upon to relieve the country from op-
pressive concentrations of capital and combi-
nations of interests, by substituting for vari-
GUS private monopolies one grand, central
public monopoly. The number Of persons who
silently dream of reform through process of
this nature is much greater than would appear
from the vague suggestions of such a policy
which are occasionally seen in the press. The
mass of the people-whose supreme material
interest is pivoted in their character of con-
sumers and spenders-long for the greater
and greater -cheapness of all those things
which it has been the general tendency of
laws creating chartered corporations to
make, relatively to the average purchasing
ability of the community, more and
more dear. They want, for example,
cheap travel and cheap freight by rail, and
cheap correspondence by telegraph. But
though the railway and telegraph lines are
constantly multiplied and extended, there is
no corresponding diminution in their prices.
Like all institutions which, by law, or from
the nature of things, are monopolies, they
study how to derive given profit from the
minimum of service, and are content to do a
small business at high prices in preference to
a larger business at lower prices 1t is no
part Of the functions of their managements
to consult the interests of the public. They
are expected simply to obtain the largest
dividends with the least exPcndisurs. While
this is perfectly natural, it would be flat
absurdity to argue that it is satisfactory And
it is not strange that people who have seen
this unsatisfactory condition of things come
about, in great measure, through the inter-
ference of government in behalf of few
private interests, should now deem it the
duty of government to interfere to protect
the public interest against special privileges
and advantages enjoyed by great corporations
and companies. Nor is it any marvel that
popular impotence should jump to the
idea of obtaining the desired cheapness
and abundance of railway and telegraph
facilities by means of government control and
administration. As everybody qualified to
cast political vote could then use his
power as voter to mould the railway and
telegraph systems to suit his views, it can
not be doubted that low prices, at least, would
soon be established in both systems. But
now it is possible that half dozen voters
under stock qualifications may do more to
keep up prices to the general detriment of the
public, than fifty thousand voters under polit-
ical qualifications can do to bring them down.
The great mistake to which popular impulse
is prone with reference to this matter, is to
confde in government management as final
and sufficient remedy for short comings of
institutions which owe their most obnoxious
features to government investiture. On the
other hand, the great difficulty is to devise
such measures as would get rid of the incubus
of overgrown and tyrannical monopolies
without running to the extreme of gigan-
tic system of government monopoly I'M
congenial to the spirit of public enter
prise and incompatible with the free
development of industrial and commercial |
elements. In regard to railways, it has been
suggested, as judicious ground of compro-
mise, that they be appropriated by govern
ment as public highways open to common
use like ordinary roads and navigable streams.
This would necessitate the existence of at |
least two tracks along each line; and if these
should prove inadequate to supply the de-
mand Of competing locomotives and trains,