s and would, when allowed to be operative,
regulate prices and prevent abuses. The remedy was applied freely
throughout the country, but for once it did not prove successful.
Stephenson's saying, that where combination was possible competition was
impossible, was here fully verified. The great ingenuity of the class of
men usually engaged in railroad enterprises succeeded in thwarting this
policy of commercial freedom. The opportunities for those in control of
railroads to operate them in their own interest, regardless of the
interests of their patrons or stockholders, were so great that men of a
speculative turn of mind were attracted to this business, which indeed
soon proved a most productive field for them. One road after another
fell into the control of men who had learned rapidly the methods
employed to make large fortunes in a short time.

As the roads multiplied, transportation abuses increased. A considerable
number of people early favored State control of railroads as the best
means of regulating transportation, but a majority looked upon the
existing abuses as being merely incidental to the formative period, and
hoped that with a greater expansion of the railroad system they would
correct themselves. And this doctrine was industriously disseminated by
railroad managers and their allies. They lost no opportunity to impress
upon the people that State regulation was an undue interference with
private business and that such a policy would soon react against those
who hoped to profit by it, inasmuch as it would prevent the building of
new roads and would thus hinder, rather than aid, in bringing about the
right solution of the railway question, viz., regulation by competition.
They contended, in short, that State regulation would be destructive to
railroads as well as to every other class of property.

Railroad sophistry for many years succeeded in preventing the masses
from realizing that an increased supply of transportation does not
necessarily lower its price, or, in other words, that railroad abuses do
not necessarily correct themselves through the influence of competition.
A large capital is required to build and maintain a railroad, which must
necessarily be managed by a few persons. Besides this, the construction
of a railroad practically banishes at once from its field all other
means of land transportation. The railroad has thus a practical monopoly
within its territory, and its managers, if left to foll