Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 28.djvu/510

496. In the older localities the earlier rule of interference has been gradually withdrawn, as the common commercial law of self-interest has been found to produce the best results; and as the populations of newer communities have increased, their interests have become more established, and their experiences enlarged, they too tend toward the path followed by the older places. Italy, after an examination of the subject by a special commission, which was continued several years, decided to lease the Government railways to private corporations to operate. Switzerland, upon reviewing the experience of the other states of Europe, declined to exercise the right granted by the charters of the railway companies, that after a certain time the Government might purchase and operate the roads, deciding that it would neither profit the state nor benefit the people. M. Léon Say says of the Government operation of the railways of France, "The failure is complete and irreparable." And M. de la Gournerie, Inspector-General of the French Corps of Bridges and Highways, concludes a review of the subject of railway rates as follows: "I have sought to combat the widely spread opinion that, in the commercial operation of railroads, everything is artificial; that instead of observing, we must invent; that instead of habitually leaving the different interests to react upon each other through supply and demand, it is necessary to be regulating continually. If we were certain that the men who manage railroad business would always have a perfect understanding of these questions, my conclusion would be to leave the matter to them entirely; but the companies enjoy too great power for us to resign ourselves to endure tranquilly the consequences of their errors. I think, then, that the state should preserve its powers, watch attentively, but prescribe little." The other countries of Europe have in general gone through similar experiences and arrived at the same conclusions, and, following the enlightened lead of the Railroad Commission of Massachusetts, the tendency in the other States of the American Union is undeniable also in the same direction of laissez faire.

In the transaction of trade, exchange is effected, not because one party demands it, but because both believe it to be a benefit. Neither can command what the other considers it his interest to refuse. Transportation is limited in the same way by the same requirements. The limit on one side is fixed by capital and is the total cost of all the service performed. If the roads are not able to secure enough trafic at prices which will pay the expenses of operation and a fair rate of interest on the investment, capital will no longer be invested in their construction. If they persistently fail to earn the ordinary expenses of operation, and so remain a constant tax upon the proprietors, they must ultimately be abandoned. The reduction of the charges can not