is as delicate a process
as that of determining the pulse of a sick man. They cannot be
determined abstractly, or in advance of the wants of business, but must
be adjusted from hour to hour to conform to its fluctuations. Five
thousand men find active employment in the United States in connection
with the important duty of making rates. Each case requires particular
investigation and involves, in many instances, prolonged study and
research. The duty requires men of marked experience and capacity. They
and men like them are the silent, unseen power that moves great
enterprises of every nation. In the case of railroads we may enumerate
those having official positions, but the experts from whom the official
heads derive information and assistance cannot be classified. They
comprise a vast army of experienced and able men familiar with railway
traffic and quick to respond to its requirements. Such a body of men
could not be organized by a government, or, if organized, would rapidly
deteriorate under conditions so unfavorable for their support and
development. Whatever authority exercises the duty of fixing rates must
take up the subject in the same methodical way and, acting through
skilled agents, pursue its inquiries and determine its results with the
same experience, minute care and _conscientious regard_ for the
technical requirements of business that the railway companies observe.
No government can possess the facilities for perfecting so vast and
intricate an organization and at the same time render it responsive to
the public good. The labor is too great and the responsibility too
remote. It could not move with sufficient quickness to respond to the
actual requirements of trade, and too many restrictions would
necessarily govern its actions. For these and other equally important
reasons governments must always be satisfied to restrict their offices
in this direction."

Speaking of the men who are commonly termed railroad magnates, Mr.
Kirkman says: "They alone possess the needed administrative ability that
the situation demands. They not only provide largely the capital, but
they discover the fields wherein it may be used most advantageously.
They are the advance guard of all great enterprises, the natural leaders
of men. They are an integral part of the country, a necessary and
valuable element, without which its natural resources would avail
little." This is a very strong statement in the face of the fact that
bu