The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-12-23
BENEFITS FROM EVEN LIMITED MONOPOLIES HELD UP TO
 CLOSE SCRUTINY
December 21, 1888.

Editor Waterbury Democrat:
 The word monopoly" is derived from two roots meaning "alone" and "to sell" Perhaps an express sive translation of its meaning would be "hogging the market" by one interest, as against keeping it open to all.
 The methods of monopoly in trade" have taken many forms, While legislative efforts have att tempted their regulation, much of the effort was prompted by seeing the mote" in the other fellows eye. In other words, such attempts were inspired by particular interests who felt their welfare was being re- strained by others in competition. These others may have been in- dividuals or groups, manufacturers, merchants, farmers, trade asSocia- tions or labor unions, who for the time being saw unfair obstacles in their own paths of progress to freer competition.
 From the earliest times practices essentially dishonest and fraudulent were branded both as crimes against the State and as injuries to individuals for which damages were collectible. Further than this our legislatures have been either exceedingly slow to go; or when they have moved with too much haste, the courts have generally found that the legislatures had ur- duly delegated their powers by not clearly defining their objectives.
 Trade Elements Involved
 Had we started by searching for greater freedom rather than for more restraints on trade, we would have recognized the many elements upon which the existence of a free market depends. These consist of the freest possible use of all of the factors of production and distribu- ton, such as labor, transportation, communication, credit, exchange, merchandising and advertising They also depend upon the exercise of good will, tolerance, intelligence and the right of man to exercise every power of initiative, so long as he does not unfairly injure the in- terests of others.
 We have only to name those fac- tors to see how many and compli- cated have been our problems of keeping open such an exercise of free enterprise as is consistent with the highest public interest. It has been just as difficult to prevent the pollution of the air and the water as nuisances as 1t has been to pre- serve a free use of all of the fac- tors entering into competition.
 If a man stole his neighbor's trade patents and secrets, or in- tentionally injured his good name or credit, bribed his employees, ap- propriated his trademarks and brands, falsely represented his goods, or conspired to restrain the trade of others, these and similar dishonest practices the law had long attacked.
 Limited MonOpOlies
 We cannot subject ourselves to 1 the inconvenience and cost of com peting telephone, water, power and light companies. Certain of the elements of production, like trans portation, communication, light and power supply, the State has in- creasingly recognized could be ef- ficiently operated only if limited monopolies were granted. It then became necessary to regulate these in the public interest. To our Sor- row we are finding, however, that competing railraod lines are not as much in the public interest as we had supposed.
 The fact that the number oi these so-called limited monopolies chartered by the State is being slowly increased has led some tc believe that the process could be indefinitely extended. The exten- sion of such public franchises would seem to be limited to such enter priSeS as make one service within an area more effective and econo- ical than many. A monopoly iS only sanctioned on the condition that the State reserves the right tC fix the rates charged, and in some measure to regulate the quality oi the service offered.
 Another kind of limited monopo-