of delegating it to corporations which it has created. The
large shipper is entitled to no advantage over his smaller
rival in respect of rates or accommodations, for the
compensation exacted in every case should be measured by the
same standard. To allow any exceptions to this fundamental
rule is to subvert the principle upon which free
institutions depend and substitute arbitrary caprice for
equality of right.

"The spirit of the law is opposed to usages so long
continued and so familiar that their unjust and demoralizing
character has not been clearly perceived, but it is a long
step towards such regulation of the agencies of
transportation as will make them equally available to all
without discrimination between individuals or communities.
It can hardly be the fault of those who are charged with its
administration if the beneficial aims of this statute have
not been fully attained and compliance with its provisions
not completely secured. A better understanding of its
purpose and an educated public sentiment, aided by the
needful amendments which experience suggests, will fully
vindicate the policy of Congress in undertaking to bring the
great transportation interests of the country into general
harmony with its requirements.

"It affords us gratification to add that many railroad
managers of the highest standing now concede the necessity
for Government regulation, and avow themselves in favor of
such further enactments as will make that regulation
effective."

CHAPTER XIII.

THE RATE QUESTION.

Railroad managers frequently make the assertion that the average freight
rates charged in the United States are lower than those usually charged
in European countries and that this fact is in itself sufficient proof
that they are too low. A comparison of the transportation problem of
Europe with our own will show this argument to be fallacious.

While from $25,000 to $30,000 a mile is a very liberal estimate of the
average cost of American roads, the average cost of European railroads,
owing to their expensive rights of way, substantial road-beds and heavy
grades, is probably not less than $75,000 per mile. British railway
companies have laid out for the purchase of land, for right of way and
depot accommodations an amount about equal to the