He speaks at some length of the drift toward railroad centralization. A few extracts from this passage may be here given: "That the tendency towards the unification and consolidation of different and competitive lines has been decidedly increased by the anti-pooling and the long and short haul sections of the Interstate Commerce Law can hardly be doubted.... The modern device of the 'trust' as a means of unifying industrial interests and eliminating competition had not yet been applied in the field of railroad transportation.... The scheme of trust here briefly outlined would probably require for its successful operation the concurrence of the entire stockholding interest of each company embraced in it; and herein, it seems likely, will be found the chief difficulty in perfecting such a scheme. Should it ever be perfected, a far more stringent public supervision and control of the railroad transportation of the country will be demanded." Another author, Charles Whitney Baker, associate editor of the _Engineering News_, suggests in his book, "Monopolies and the People," a plan for the reorganization of our railroad system, to remedy the evils of monopoly which are at present connected with railroad management. The following quotation from his work outlines the system proposed: "Let the Government acquire the title of the franchise, permanent way and real estate of all the railway lines in the country. Let a few corporations be organized under Government auspices, and let each, by the terms of its charter, receive a perpetual lease of all the railway lines built, or to be built, within a given territory. Let the territory of each of these corporations be so large, and so planned with regard to its neighbors, that there shall be, so far as possible, no competition between them. For instance, one corporation would operate all the lines south of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi River; another all lines east of the Hudson and of Lake Champlain, etc. Let the terms of rental of these lines be about 3-1/4 per cent. on the road's actual 'present cost' (the sum of money it would cost to rebuild it entirely at present prices of material and labor), less a due allowance for depreciation. The corporations would be obliged to keep the property in as good condition as when received, and would own absolutely all their rolling-stock, machinery, etc." The proposed reform measures, it must be admitted, are very good in theory, but their practical application is unfortunately entirely out of the question under our system of government. Mr. John M. Bonham is the author of a recent work entitled "Railway Secrecy and Trusts." This writer, upon the whole, takes advanced ground in dealing with the question of railroad reform. He deems the present interstate legislation inadequate to correct all the graver railroad evils, expressing his views upon this subject as follows: