The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-02-02
E. H. DILLON & co.

hardly avoidab1e after the former | economies in administration are fleet that, since the foundation of the | Standard, prices have gone down so
 that today you. can buy a gallon or
 for gallon Of bottled table-water 1 like Poland, for instance, you begin to realize that, from the point of view of the cost of living, trust may | not be an unnixed evil. That, how ever, is a consideration with which our present discussion has nothing to do. The public demand Is for the after the government has compiled
 with that demand, prices rise all along the line, 1t is merely a case of
 the people getting what they called stand ready to pay the bill"
 No Railway Monopoly.
 'How will the anti-monopoly cam
 paign affect the railway monopolfes? ?"
 "I do not recognize the existence
 today of such a thing as railway monopoly. Twenty-Five years ago it might have been possible, but the railway rate law and the large pow commerce commission have changed all that. What I have built up, for example. Is not monopoly,@ but a machine for producing transportation al a less cost than was possible be- fore. Were it not for the enormous increase in the cost of living in the railway DuSln6SS-InaI 1Ss the cost or the transportation we sell-our rates could have been reduced and our ser vice promoted; as it is, advances have been avoided and a. service continued that would otherwise have been out of the question A monopoly, as l understand the term, implies the con trol of a business by one mind, or by a group of minds acting as one. You can't have a monopoly when the statutes regulate a business, and tri- bunals like the interstate commerce E@IE commissions in the states, are author ized to veto and recast plans which the officers of a company, acting in the interest of the shareholders, have it out of the monopoly class The con trol of rates, charges, and service Is absent
 Chief Railway Troubles.
 "The chief troubles of the railway world lie not in that quarter, but in another. I refer to the effort now United States under one general rule as to the classification of freights. classification, rates, or anything else, which will apply with equal fairness to a road in Massachusetts and to one in Idaho or California, for conditions in railroading differ as widely in diff ! ferent parts Of the country as condi- l tions of soil and climate You can't do it even in neighboring states. To | illustrate: The New Haven company | is required by the law of Connecticut l to abolish fourteen grade crossings | every year. This involves so large an vailed in Maine, it would break the | railways there"
 "As long, though, as the public de- | mand is for publicity and government | regulation, how would you meet it?'' |
 By giving the government a rep resentation in the directorate of all | with it's interest. I realize what ob- jection would be raised to this plan that the Pacific railway experiment | in the same line had not proved a rector fails to do his duty, does not the fault lie with him, rather than reason that single director, however worthy personality, is quite over slaughed in a board comprised or several representative of the stock holders Then give him the right to see that at any time the govern ment put in many directors as 1t what it ought, or being exposed if it doesn't. This power of exposure, at l least, is one not to be lightly reckon ed with. But no politicians are want that they must shoot off skyrockets once in so often to convince the pub les. Give the positions sufficient dig 1ity, permanency, and compensation 70 attract competent business men with some knowledge of railroading. ]
 Two Kinds of Publicity.
 ''As to publicity, there is a distinct | line to be drawn. Publicity in those matters which it is for the best inter- est of all concerned to have publish ed is all right. But if you are going let us say, to build a spur of road from your main line to some point at | distance, and you advertise your projected route prema tureIy, every along some other potential route will rise and Lombard the leg | stature with remOnStranceS and you will have delays, and hold-ups and Ill sorts of obstructions thrown in your way. That surely, is not for the public interest but it is what some | lf the critics of corporate rapacity would insist upon just as earnestly a ,n the publicity of your balance sheets"
 "There has been much gossip about