e two last of the gentlemen whose names I have mentioned
were notoriously parties to a peculiarly bitter railway war) I believe
that the motives which have chiefly operated to make the managers of
English companies observe faith with each other better than the American
have ever succeeded in doing, are chiefly the traditional motives of a
high sense of personal honour--the fact that they were gentlemen first
and business men afterwards.

The circumstances which led up to the formation of the Gentlemen's
Agreement were almost inconceivable to English railway operators. The
railways, it must always be borne in mind, have been the chief
civilisers of the American continent. It is by their instrumentality
that the Great American Desert of half a century ago is to-day among the
richest and most prosperous agricultural countries in the world. The
railways have always thrust out ahead of the settler into whatever
territory, by reason of the potential fertility of its soil or for other
causes, has held out promise of some day becoming populated. Along the
railway the population has then flowed. In forcing its way westward
each company in its course has sought to tap with its lines the richest
strips of territory: all alike endeavoured to obtain a share of the
traffic originating from a point where a thriving town was already
established or topographical conditions pointed out a promising site. As
the American laws impose practically no restrictions on railway
construction it necessarily followed that certain districts and certain
favourable strategic points were invaded by more lines than could
possibly be justified either by the traffic of the moment or the
prospective traffic of many years to come. This was conspicuously the
case in the region Northwestward from Chicago. Business which might have
furnished a reasonable revenue to two companies was called upon to
support six or seven and the competition for that business became
intense,--all the more intense because, unlike English railway
companies, few American railways in their early days have had any
material reserve of capital to draw upon. They have had to earn their
living as they went, out of current receipts, or submit to liquidation.

The officials in charge of the Traffic Departments of each company had
to justify their retention in their positions by somehow getting more
than their share of the business, and the temptations to offer whatever
inducements were neces