New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-10-28

7 4eaANse apply 3efs4ding fhes power 4
the State to create monopolies because {
E has done 80. And this lscus.a non lucend
( Is sur4>otted By the suggestion 18th,
banks, canals and roads, and innumerabl
othsr ltanchiseSs ass creatures II thi
. very power which the P;cayune has 81
tackled, and that II they are not secure i
their rights, the Lses is ignorant of tn
principle or law that viii or can destro
) them. II the original suggestion Of tn
Picayune could be defended, and if thes
creatures that the Times ailudes to coul,
be proved to be monopolies. they woult
not last al hcaf longer Than it would re
quire an interested party to sze out an in
iinnction against them. The courts woulG
order their destruction.
But since the proposition, advanced by
the Picdyune can not be maintained, and
since the suggestioa intraded by the
Times is'evidently irrelsvent. perhaps the
public would appreciate our ofheiousnesa
better if we cleared the matter up and put
both statements in proper light.
Monopolies are necessary in certain
cases, As in large gas works, pubic roads,
ferries, and the Ike, where the interest Of
the public can b. promoted by securing
to cert&ins parties certain advantages in
return for certain OUTLAWS which they will
have to make in the interest Of the people.
What company would construct costly
gAs works. end hay down miles of gas
pipes, If it was not secured fiom annoy
ance BY rival organizations? Other in
stances might be referred to, but one
illustration is Is good as . thousand for
the argument in hand. The evil is not
in creating the monopoly, but in con
fesring upon it too many privileges. The
State can regulate the charter before
granting it; and this is where the evil has
csept in that the State has not attended to
its duty in the matter as it should have
done. And further dereliction is charge.
able against the State and against munich
palities that they have not enforced the
few rights which have been reserved to the
public. The law creating monopolies,
and the principle that justifes this law,
are not to blame in either one of these
instances, but rather is the responsibility
to be put upon the public chief who has |
failed to use its power to its own best ad-
vantage. q ~-
The Tines is wrong again, when it says
that the theory Of our government is OPP
posed to monopolies and exclusive fran
chises, because the fundamental theory Of
our government is the greatest good to
he greatest number" whether that good
results from monopoly or otherwise.
The practice Of our legislation, it is true,
s'opposed to monopolies, because it has
'een found that monopolies are prejudi-
:ial to the theory which underlies the gov
'rnment. Men are weak, and when they
an take advantage of theory, OF a prin-
'iple. they are prone to do so, as is seen
laily in the perversion Of the franchises
vhieh have been granted by the people to
,rivate corporations in their midst. Look
t the banks, for instance, that were char
cred to relieve the money market, but
vhich are sometimes used to aggravate
be very evil which they were enacted to
ppose. -o,ae
The end Of all which is this, that what
yer is for the benefit Of the people should
. approved and accepted, whether it as
nmes the shape Of monopoly that fur
ishes material light at the minimum of
ost to the consumer, or the. printing ]
dice that distributes intellectual light on
le same terms. This is the true theory,
r il, by the creation of a monopoly to.
orrow that would sell rs better light
IAN our gas company affords, at one :
urth, or say one-tenth Of the cost that .
Q pay at present. would the public re-
ct such benefit on any well understood
asiness principle? Or, Il a monopoly c
'uld be created that would furnish the
ablic q better paper, or one equally as
nod As the Times, for two cents, or one. q
tn the present price Of the Times, would 9
y known principle require that we I
ould reject this blessing, guarded from Z
'use, as both of these instances might J.
!, by the letter of the charter that created b
The difference between principle and b
actice is the rock on which both the ii
ines and Picayune have foundered. 9,