No doubt it can be shown where every detail of the foregoing plan leaves loop-holes for abuses to creep in. It will be much the same with any plan whatever. The questions to be asked are, would abuses, waste and stealing be any more likely to occur than under any other plan? Could they be any more prevalent than they are now,—bearable only because we are calloused to them? Of course, the foregoing is a mere outline of the general principles of the plan. Details which readily suggest themselves would, of course, be necessary to carry out the principle successfully.
That some attempt should be made in this connection to solve the perplexing problem of strikes on railway lines is proven by the memorable engineers' strike on the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy system. Perhaps a provision requiring every employé and officer to hold at least a certain number of shares in the operating company in proportion to his salary would help to solve the labor problem; and it might give the higher officers a greater interest in their work than they always show.
The author has deemed it worth while to outline the foregoing plan for the equitable control of railway monopolies with considerable fulness, because, to a very great extent, the principles followed in the design of this plan are applicable to a great number of other monopolies. These important principles are: (1) Government protection to the owners of fixed capital so that the public may obtain the use of it at the lowest possible rate of interest. (2) The operation of monopolies by corporations rather than by the government, thus securing the increased efficiency of private over official management. (3) Securing to the people at large the benefit of the monopoly by basing the prices for its product on cost of service. (4) But leaving a suitable incentive for the company's managers to maintain economy and efficiency in its operations. (5) Government representation in the directorate controlling the ordinary affairs of the company.