The Socialistic seductions which have captivated such large masses of the working population of Europe will all the more readily find acceptance among our millions of laborers because they have before their eyes such conspicuous instances of the unequal division of wealth and of the overwhelming power of organized capital. Certainly, if any facts could be supposed to justify the doctrines of Socialism and Communism, it would be the sudden creation of such fortunes as those which, within a very few years, have come into the hands of our railroad magnates. A few years later, the public will understand much better than it now does how facts like these have contributed to the raising of questions of government which will dangerously test the cohesion and endurance of our political institutions. Artificial methods of establishing our railroad corporations have naturally led to artificial methods of regulating their operations. Over-capitalization incapacitates the roads for competition; for it necessarily holds out a temptation to parallel existing roads by others at a lower capitalization. As roads running between the same points were multiplied, competition for “through” business became more active, until not only were dividends threatened on some of the best lines, but some roads were driven into default on their mortgages. At this point the “pool” was introduced—a device by which all lines running between the same points agree to put their business from through traffic into a common aggregate, to be distributed among the several members according to certain accepted percentages. It was hoped that, in this way, uniformity of charges could be maintained, at such rates as were necessary to make the business satisfactory to each member. This, however, was soon found to be a step “from the mud into the mire.” The pool was discovered to operate as a premium on the construction of new parallels.