laration, except that Kansas did so in one instance; but this was under southern influence. It is also noticeable that the clauses in the later constitutions are copied almost word for word from the first constitution of either Maryland or North Carolina. It is perhaps not far from correct to say that the conventions which framed the later constitutions were simply anxious to get the finest phrases they could find, and adopted what struck their fancy, just as committees on resolutions of thanks or respect are likely to use the words of any similar reports with which they are familiar; and that any of the declarations made since the beginning of this century mean no more to those making them than is meant by the declaration frequently found in bills of rights, that the state is formed by "social compact."
The first declarations doubtless had real meaning, and were made perhaps because tobacco or some other staple had been monopolized, or because favors had been granted to individuals under the proprietary governments, and it was feared they might be repeated by the states. In confirmation of this latter supposition it may be stated that always immediately following the denunciation of monopolies is found the prohibition of hereditary emoluments, honors, and privileges.
Whatever the cause of these declarations, it is very evident that "monopoly" now means something vastly different from that which the commons so vigorously opposed in the times of Elizabeth and James, and against which the founders of our nation had such deep-rooted antipathy. Then it meant an institution founded and kept in existence by royal favoritism; now it means an institution which may have come into existence without direct governmental assistance, and which may have maintained itself in spite of administrative and legislative opposition.
In spite of this difference, the old opposition, perpetuated in our constitutions and handed down in tradition, has had a potent influence in shaping the popular hostility to the modern monopoly. This influence has been most powerful in the political sphere. Monopolies are opposed because they are supposed to
