The independent. [volume] (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907, 1905-04-20
LINCOLN, NEB., APRIL 20. 1906

VVV llllCo VI lOdus
Now, take the Hill systematic
Burlington, Northern Pacific, and the
Great Northern, with their allied lines
and you have there 21,0O0 miles of
road.
"The Hartman systematic Union
Pacifis, the Southern Pacific and the
Alton, there you have again about 15,-
000-well toward 10000 miles of rail-
road.
"The Gould system embraces 10000
miles. and the Rock Island $4,000.
Now, if | have given you these fig
ures correctly, they should make to-
tai of 10000 miles of railroad out of a
total in the United States of 205,000
miles, controlled by these six systems.
But when l give you the mileage I
have not given you the most signifi-
cant part There are in the United
States second track, third track, and
fourth track-17 900 miles in all-and
of that the New York Central and the
Pennsylvania systems alone control or
embrace 10000 miles. The gross rev.
enues, in round numbers, of all the
roads in the United States for the
year ending June 30, 1904, were 1,900,-
100000 of which these six systems had
$1,200,000,000. The capitalization of
all the railroads in the United States
is twelve billions of dollars, of which
these systems embrace eight billions
of dollars.
so you have here, then, six sys-
TENS embracing 55 per cent of the sin
rrI., +ro o1Jy ~ HI xryhn
try, two-thirds Of the gross receipts
two-thirds of an actual count and al
r1ost two-thirds of the gross receipts.
There are certain other facts that
every student in this problem must
keep in mind along with these, and one
is the difference between Industrial
monopoly and railroad monopoly.
'The typical industrial monopoly is
the Standard Oil company, and that
corporation has today almost perfect
monopoly. But every independent re-
finery can attack it in it's most vital
point. The maintenance of that mo-
nopoly is only at the price of eternal
vigilance.
'sTake the United States Steel COM
pany. Today it controls half the iron
output of the United States, and every
new furnace, every mill Is aiming at
the vitals of that corporation. Unless
the United States Steel company has
some. advantage in transportation IA
cilities, or unless it can control the
raw material out of which the finished
product is made, doubt if that corpo-
ration, with all it's enormous power,
can retain it's monopoly.
ssNow, take the railroads today be-
tween Chicago and New York. They
are built. No other trunk railroad ever
will be built to compete with them-at
least in the near future. Development
will be by enlarging and developing
these same systems.
"The Pennsylvania system never can
fall apart. The ownership of that sys-
tenn may change; the management of
that system may change, but that enor-
nous system controls today one-fifth
Of all the tonnage, one-fifth Of all the
gross receipts, one-tifth of all the pas
sengers carried in the United States.
T. is system by itself forever.
There is another thing The way in
which these combinations have been
built up mean that almost Of necessity
this monopoly must increase rather
than diminish in the near future.
"The newspapers say the Union Pa
cifiic is to absorb the New York Cen
trail system, and that the 100000, 900
of stock which has been voted by the
Union Pacific is to be used for that
purpose. If so. one system is dropped
out, and you have five systems in the
place of six. Whoever reads the future
in the light of the past and in the light
of present conditions must understand
that the number. of railway systems
which control the railways of the
United States is only limited by the
necessities of the case. 1t can be made
two, or three, or four, or five, just as
may be the most convenient.
''Now, we have heard in these last
years great deal about trusts. Now,
what is the matter with the trust?
What is the harm in monopoly? :?
There are other evils, but the princi-
pal evil is this; that it enables the
man who has the monopoly to take
from the man who requires the service
or the article he has to sell more than