As it is always easier to tear down than to build up, so it is likewise easier to point out evils than it is to provide proper remedies for their cure. Almost any one can criticise existing conditions, but it requires wise and constructive statesmanship to propose practical measures which will bring about desired improvement. The apparent magnitude of the work of correcting the evils and abuses connected with the transportation business, many of which have been in vogue for more than a generation, has discouraged many from seriously undertaking it. And yet we shall find the problem by no means a difficult one, if we properly analyze it and go to the root of the evil. Prof. Bryce, in his work "The American Commonwealth," refers to the fact that the people of this country have been equal to the task of solving the gravest problems which have been presented to them, and we need have no doubt of their ability to solve the railroad problem. Railroad regulation does not require the adoption of any new principle of law. If the common law is rightly applied and provision is made for its strict and systematic enforcement, it will meet every condition that is likely to arise in the transportation business. It should always be remembered that the railroad is an improved highway, and the principal reason for which it is built is to accommodate the people and promote their welfare, and not to serve the selfish ends of a few individuals, and that private companies were permitted to build and operate it only because the State believed that the public interests could best be served in this way. It is one of the duties of the State to facilitate transportation by establishing highways. These highways may be built by the State directly or through municipalities or even private corporations. Thus, under authority derived from the State, cities lay out, construct and maintain streets within their limits. But these streets become public and are always subject to State control. The same rule applies to turnpikes and ferries. Although the State transfers to an individual or a company its right to maintain a ferry or to build and maintain a turnpike, and to compensate itself for its outlay by the collection of tolls, the ferry and turnpike nevertheless remain highways, subject to the control of the State.