A word ought to be said of Holland, not only because Holland is a country with free institutions like our own, but because the railroad position of Holland is unique. The railroads of that country were built partly by the state and partly by private enterprise, but the working has always been wholly in private hands. Some ten years ago, however, the Dutch government bought up the private lines and rearranged the whole system. The main lines of the country are now leased to two operating companies, so organized that each company has access to every important town, and railroad competition is now practically ubiquitous throughout Holland. So far there are no signs that the Dutch people are otherwise than satisfied with their system. Now compare this with France. The French government, though it has hitherto, except on the comparatively unimportant state railroads in the southwest of the country, stood aloof from the actual operation, has always kept entire control of railroad construction and of the allocation of new lines between the several companies. And the French government has proceeded on a principle diametrically opposed to the Dutch principle. In France railroad competition has, as far as possible, been definitely excluded, and the various systems have been made to meet, not, as in Holland, at the great towns, but at the points where the competitive traffic was, as near as might be, a negligible quantity. Now that questions of competition and combination are to the fore in England, and seem likely to give very practical occupation to Parliament in the session of 1909, the precedents on both sides are perhaps not without interest. AMERICA. When we turn from the continent of Europe to the continent of America the position of affairs is startlingly dissimilar. The railroads of America far surpass in length those of the continent of Europe, while in capital expenditure they are equal. State ownership and operation of railroads on the continent of America is as much the exception as it is the rule in Europe. In Canada there is one comparatively important state railroad, the Intercolonial, about 1,500 miles in length. Though its earnings are quite considerable--about £20 per mile per week--it barely pays working expenses. I may add that in all the voluminous literature of the subject I have never seen this line cited as an example of the benefits of state management. There is another small line, in Prince Edward Island, which is worked at a loss; and a third, the Temiskaming & Northern Ontario Railway, owned not by the Dominion but by the Provincial government, which is too new to afford any ground for conclusions. The Federal government of the United States has never owned a railroad, though some of the individual states did own, and in some cases also work, railroads in very early days. They all burnt their fingers badly. But the story is so old a one that it would be unreasonable to found any argument on it today.