n older company. To give
to any single corporation the sole control of the entrance to a city
_and permit it to charge what toll it pleases_ for trains that pass
through it, evidently places the city at the mercy of a monopoly.
Practically the case is not so bad as this, as most large cities have
means of water communication, and the railroads are run to the heart of
the city through the public streets. But the time is fast approaching
when these city grade crossings will be done away with, and in every
city of importance the railways will enter the city on elevated viaducts
terminating in a single union depot. Evidently it is contrary to the
public welfare to sink more capital in these expensive structures than
is necessary; and in general, several companies will use a single
structure for entrance and exit. It is evident that the control of these
terminals, if vested in a single company, may give rise to just the
abuse we have set forth; and that the city itself should retain enough
control over its railway terminals and freight-transfer lines to ensure
that no single carrier or combination shall monopolize them.
In the last analysis it is evident that the monopoly of entrance to a
city is really a monopoly in land, or, we might more properly say, in
space. We are fortunate in this country in having millions of acres of
land still awaiting cultivation; and while it is not intended here to
defend the policy of _giving away_ the estate of the public which our
government has pursued, there is no danger for a long time to come that
an actual monopoly will exist in agricultural lands. The price of land
used for business purposes in a city, however, depends almost wholly
upon its location. The price at which a single block of land near Wall
Street, in New York City, was recently sold was so great that, at the
same price, the value of a square mile would be equal to half the whole
estimated wealth of every sort in the United States.
Now the question must occur to every thinking man, by what right does
the owner of this property receive this enormous wealth? To make the
case of those who advocate the public control of the gifts of Nature
more clear, let us consider a special case. Suppose a man in an Eastern
city chanced to come into possession two-score years ago of a tract of
land in what is now Kansas City. We may suppose that he got it by
inheritance, or through some chance, and that, except to pay the taxes
upon it, h
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