Certain lines would be managed
more efficiently than others and might make more money, just as certain
departments of a big business might, because of peculiarly able
management, earn an unusually large contribution to the total profits;
but such variations could not be of any essential importance. From the
point of view of the community as a whole the railroad system of the
country would be a monopoly.
The monopoly, like that of a municipal street railroad, would depend
upon the possession of exclusive advantages. It would depend upon the
ownership of terminals in large and small cities which could no longer
be duplicated save at an excessive expense. It would depend upon the
possession of a right of way in relation to which the business
arrangements of a particular territory had been adjusted. It would have
become essentially a special franchise, even if it had not been granted
as a special franchise by any competent legal authority; and, like every
similar franchise, it would increase automatically in value with the
growth of the community in population and business.
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