not
expensive to erect and maintain, and it gets no monopoly from taking
advantage of the most favorable route through difficult country as a
railway does. But the economy effected by combination and the effect of
sharp competition in bringing about bankruptcy and then consolidation
are exactly similar to the case of the railway, which we have just
described. In the early history of telegraph companies, many short
competing lines struggled and fought for supremacy. In 1859 the Western
Union Telegraph Company was formed with the avowed intention of
combining these warring companies and making the telegraph business
profitable. It has exceeded the most sanguine dreams of its promoters by
swallowing up its rivals until the entire system of telegraph
communication of the country is practically in its hands. The effects of
this consolidation have been of two sorts. On the one hand we have the
telegraph service of the country performed with the least possible work;
there is nothing wasted in the maintenance of two or more rival offices
in small towns where one is sufficient, nor in operating two lines of
wire where a single one would serve as well. All expense of "drumming
up" business in various ways is avoided, and also the cost of keeping
the complicated books necessary when the receipts of a single message
must be divided among several companies. On the other hand it is plain
that the public is wholly at the mercy of the monopoly in the matter of
rates, and must pay for the use of the telegraph exactly what the
corporation asks. There is a weak and foolish argument which is often
used in an attempt to show that this particular monopoly is not hurtful.
It is that the telegraph is a luxury which only wealthy people use, and
hence whether its rates are high or low is of little account. The
fallacy of this statement is easily seen. A principal use of the
telegraph is to aid the prosecution of business; hence to unduly raise
rates is to cause an additional tax on business,--on the carrying on of
the processes of production. This tax will certainly have its effect,
either in decreased profits, decreased wages, or an increased price for
the product. Another large class of telegrams are those which are sent
with little thought of the cost, in time of sickness, death, or sudden
emergency, yet by people whose purse feels severely the tax.

What to do with this vast monopoly is one of the questions of the day,
but we will content o