Mr. Kirkman introduces his subject with the following rather remarkable statement:
"I shall show that while the railways of the United States are designated as monopolies, they are not so in fact. Accused of disregarding the interests of the community, I will show that they are abnormally sensitive to their obligations in this direction. While legislatures claim the right to fix rates, I shall show that the abnormal conditions under which the railway system has grown up and its chaotic nature render the exercise of such a privilege impossible. I will show that while it is assumed that rates may be fixed arbitrarily, they must, on the contrary, be based on natural causes, the competition of carriers, their necessities and the rivalries of conflicting markets and trade centers; conditions manifestly impossible to determine or regulate in advance, and therefore beyond the control of legislation.... While a division of business (by pooling) is thought to be contrary to the interests of the people, I shall show that it is the legitimate fruit of indiscriminate railway building and offers the only escape from the conditions such practice engenders. I shall show that, while it is assumed that rates may be based progressively or otherwise on distance, the enforcement of such a principle would restrict the source of supply, and, in so far as this was the case, render great markets or centers of industry impossible."
Speaking of the importance of the railroad, Mr. Kirkman says: "Superseding every other form of inland conveyance, it determines the location of business centers, and vitalizes by its presence, or blasts by its absence." He contends that rigid and scrutinizing supervision should be exercised by the Government over the location of railroads, and that only such lines should be permitted to be built as afford reasonable grounds for profitable enterprise. "It should be," he says, "an axiom in our day that a government that permits or encourages the construction of two railways where one would suffice is, to the extent that it does this, a public nuisance." Mr. Kirkman here makes it the duty of the Government to arbitrarily meddle with railroad affairs. He would give the Government the power to determine when and where an additional railroad is needed, and to prohibit the construction of any new road that has not the Government sanction. The interests of a thousand towns might suffer for want of adequate transportation facilities, individuals and communities might be anxious to build their own lines for the development of local resources, but all railroad enterprise is doomed to a standstill until a conservative governmental commission has been entirely satisfied that a prospected road will pay and not deprive existing roads of any part of their revenue. There can be no doubt that if such a policy were ever adopted in America, few roads would be built without having first passed the ordeal of a legal injunction, and many a prospected road, though greatly needed, would remain unbuilt because its promoters would be discouraged by the delay and cost of litigation.
But while this author is perfectly willing to trust the Government with the great responsibility of prohibiting the construction of proposed roads, he is not willing to have it exercise the power to determine what are reasonable rates. He tries to sustain his objection by the following argument: "The fixing of rates upon a railroad is as delicate a process as that of determining the pulse of a sick man. They cannot be determined abstractly, or in advance of the wants of business, but must be adjusted from hour to hour to conform to its fluctuations. Five thousand men find active employment in the United States in connection with the important duty of making rates. Each case requires particular investigation and involves, in many instances, prolonged study and research. The duty requires men of marked experience and capacity. They and men like them are the silent, unseen power that moves great enterprises of every nation. In the case of railroads we may enumerate those having official positions, but the experts from whom the official heads derive information and assistance cannot be classified. They comprise a vast army of experienced and able men familiar with railway traffic and quick to respond to its requirements. Such a body of men could not be organized by a government, or, if organized, would rapidly deteriorate under conditions so unfavorable for their support and development. Whatever authority exercises the duty of fixing rates must take up the subject in the same methodical way and, acting through skilled agents, pursue its inquiries and determine its results with the same experience, minute care and conscientious regard for the technical requirements of business that the railway companies observe. No government can possess the facilities for perfecting so vast and intricate an organization and at the same time render it responsive to the public good. The labor is too great and the responsibility too remote. It could not move with sufficient quickness to respond to the actual requirements of trade, and too many restrictions would necessarily govern its actions. For these and other equally important reasons governments must always be satisfied to restrict their offices in this direction."
Speaking of the men who are commonly termed railroad magnates, Mr. Kirkman says: "They alone possess the needed administrative ability that the situation demands. They not only provide largely the capital, but they discover the fields wherein it may be used most advantageously. They are the advance guard of all great enterprises, the natural leaders of men. They are an integral part of the country, a necessary and valuable element, without which its natural resources would avail little." This is a very strong statement in the face of the fact that but very few of the class of men to whom Mr. Kirkman refers ever built a line of road. They have usually found it more profitable to "gobble" roads already built than to construct new lines.
According to this author the public have no reason to complain of railroads; on the contrary, the latter have always been the victims of public persecution, and "every species of folly, every conceivable device of malice, the impossible requirements of ignorance, the selfish cunning of personal interests, the ravings of demagogues, the disappointments, envies, prejudices and jealousies of mankind have each in turn and in unison sought to injure the railway interest."
But probably the most extravagant passage in the whole treatise is the one referring to special rates, which he calls "the foundation and buttress of business," without which it could not be carried on. He expresses the opinion that without the continued and intelligent use of such rates "our cities would soon be as destitute of manufactories as one of the bridle paths of Afghanistan," and then continues: "The special rate of carriers is like the delicate fluid that anoints and lubricates the joints of the human body. It is an essential oil. Without it the wheels of commerce would cease and we should quickly revert to the period when the stage-coach and the overland teamster fixed the limits of commerce and the stature of cities."
The most recent and probably the most radical of Mr. Kirkman's books is "Railway Rates and Government Control." It would lead us too far from our subject to enter into a discussion of Mr. Kirkman's errors; in fact, it might prove an endless task. Suffice it to say that in discussing his subject he revels in such phrases as: "Subject too vast to be comprehended." "Acts of agrarian legislation and foolish manifestations of disappointment and hate." "The rabble will avail itself of every excuse to pass laws that would, under other circumstances, be called robberies." "Ignorance and demagogism." "Government interference, the panacea of cranks and schemers." "Only understood by the few." "These people are as sincere as they are ignorant." "Governments have no commercial sense." "Those who condemn them are not so dishonest as ignorant, and not so malicious as foolish." "Silly people." "Justice and common honesty are systematically denied [the railroads]." "Legal means of plundering them." "The intelligence and facilities of Government are but one step above the barbarian." "Those who use railroads should pay for them," etc., etc.
Mr. Kirkman's argument is in substance: Rate-making is a difficult subject. The people are too ignorant to understand it. Those who carry on the Government are for the most part fools and demagogues, and are utterly unfit to do justice to such a task. Railroad men are wise and just, and neither the people nor the Government should meddle with the railroad business. In order to place a true estimate upon Mr. Kirkman's utterances, one should remember that he is a railroad employe as well as the patentee and vendor of a number of railroad account forms which are extensively used by railroad companies.
The Chicago Tribune, in reviewing this last literary production of Mr. Kirkman, says: