the prices they charged were fixed, their costs of operation had gone up with the rise of the general price level.
Street railways have likewise suffered because their fares were fixed by law, or charter, or custom, at five cents. Only after two decades, ending in bankruptcy or near-bankruptcy, have they secured, in some cases, a rise of fare to six, seven, eight, and sometimes ten, cents. In fact the plight of street railway companies is one of the facts most eloquently proclaiming the depreciation of money. Mr. Roger Babson has calculated that the street railways of the country have lost a billion dollars from this cause.
When street railways or water power rights are leased for fifty or a hundred years with the right of "recapture" by the Government, it makes a vast deal of difference what the dollar will be at the end of that time. The Wisconsin Supreme Court has had some interesting cases along this line.
Bengal is assessed for taxation on a permanent settlement fixed in rupees when they were worth 212 shillings each. They are now worth only 113 shillings each in gold, and gold itself has depreciated rapidly! As Major W. E. McKechnie, who calls my attention to this fact, well says, "Those who made the permanent settlement could have had no idea that money fluctuated in purchasing power." Similar absurdities could be cited in reference to Chinese customs,[1] and legal settlements in England and other countries.
- ↑ Under an existing treaty signed by eighteen powers, China cannot increase her import duties beyond a 5% ad valorem tax based on an average of the prices of 1897, 1898, and 1899. This amounts to only about 212% ad valorem, based on the prices of to-day.
