e than now. On the other hand--and this is an
important point--there would, perhaps, be in and between the large
cities competition between different companies; in which case there
would be duplicate sets of postal facilities, including buildings,
mail-boxes, furniture, and employees of every grade. It is plain that
all this would be a waste. One set of facilities is better for the
public than two or three or more, and is ample to carry all the mails.
To put another set of men at the work that others are already able to
do, is to waste just so much of the working force of the world, as well
as the capital necessary to furnish tools and buildings for its use. The
matter of rates, too, would vary with the competition. One could never
be sure what his postage bill for the coming year was to be. The
receipts of the companies would be uncertain, and they would be obliged
to pay a high rate of interest on the capital invested in their plant,
thus making it necessary for them to charge high rates for their
service. The intense competition between rival companies would lead to
the bankruptcy of the weaker, and the final result would be the
establishment of a single corporation in the control of the whole
system. Rates would then be put up to the point where the greatest
profit would accrue to the corporation.

Under the existing system, then, we save in cost of service over
competing systems under private direction, in that the existing
facilities are all made use of. There is no waste by setting two men to
do the work of one, or by renting two offices to do the business which
one could accommodate, neither is any energy wasted in soliciting
business. The capital invested by the government in its plant for
carrying on the postal service would bear interest, if the money were
borrowed, of not more than two or three per cent. But if a private
company borrowed money to carry a similar business, they would have to
pay five to seven per cent., which they would have to make up for by
charging a higher rate of postage.

Other monopolies which have been carried on by the government are the
business of transportation, and the provision of roads, bridges, and
canals therefor; monopolies in mining; and in the case of municipal
governments, as already noted, the supply of water, gas, and electric
service, and street railway transportation.

VIII.

MONOPOLIES IN THE LABOR MARKET.

It should be said at the outset of this chapte