son of the industrial derangements it would cause. At best all the advocates of silver can hope for is a little longer life for the small capitalist who is inevitably doomed under our present competitive system no matter what money standard we may have. Personally I have never been able to see how, for instance, the California orange grower could get more profit through silver coinage when the railroad stands at hand to take it away if he does get it, simply by raising railway freight charges.
Then if Mr. Vanderbilt overlooked anything the poor farmer still would have a long gauntlet to run, with Mr. Rockefeller reaching for his surplus when he bought oil, Mr. Havemeyer for it when he buys sugar, etc., ad infinitum.
Some have suggested that free trade and equal freight rates obtained by government ownership of railroads would destroy trusts. The slightest investigation, however, would show that many trusts do not in the least depend upon favors from either railroads or government. The taking over of the railroads by the government would, however, have most far-reaching and revolutionary results. The immense labor-saving that would occur from a centralized management would of course serve but to accentuate the unemployed problem. This would be the least of its effects.
The capital invested in railroads is half the
