"I shall show that while the railways of the United States are designated as monopolies, they are not so in fact. Accused of disregarding the interests of the community, I will show that they are abnormally sensitive to their obligations in this direction. While legislatures claim the right to fix rates, I shall show that the abnormal conditions under which the railway system has grown up and its chaotic nature render the exercise of such a privilege impossible. I will show that while it is assumed that rates may be fixed arbitrarily, they must, on the contrary, be based on natural causes, the competition of carriers, their necessities and the rivalries of conflicting markets and trade centers; conditions manifestly impossible to determine or regulate in advance, and therefore beyond the control of legislation.... While a division of business (by pooling) is thought to be contrary to the interests of the people, I shall show that it is the legitimate fruit of indiscriminate railway building and offers the only escape from the conditions such practice engenders. I shall show that, while it is assumed that rates may be based progressively or otherwise on distance, the enforcement of such a principle would restrict the source of supply, and, in so far as this was the case, render great markets or centers of industry impossible." Speaking of the importance of the railroad, Mr. Kirkman says: "Superseding every other form of inland conveyance, it determines the location of business centers, and vitalizes by its presence, or blasts by its absence." He contends that rigid and scrutinizing supervision should be exercised by the Government over the location of railroads, and that only such lines should be permitted to be built as afford reasonable grounds for profitable enterprise. "It should be," he says, "an axiom in our day that a government that permits or encourages the construction of two railways where one would suffice is, to the extent that it does this, a public nuisance." Mr. Kirkman here makes it the duty of the Government to arbitrarily meddle with railroad affairs. He would give the Government the power to determine when and where an additional railroad is needed, and to prohibit the construction of any new road that has not the Government sanction. The interests of a thousand towns might suffer for want of adequate transportation facilities, individuals and communities might be anxious to build their own lines for the development of local resources, but all railroad enterprise is doomed to a standstill until a conservative governmental commission has been entirely satisfied that a prospected road will pay and not deprive existing roads of any part of their revenue. There can be no doubt that if such a policy were ever adopted in America, few