Page:The truth about the railroads (IA truthaboutrailro00elli).pdf/132

That there has been some elimination of certain kinds of competition is no doubt true. It has resulted, however, very largely from the better experience and sense of the railroad-owner or manager, who, each year, is conducting his business on a more scientific basis, so as to produce the greatest amount of good transportation at the lowest possible figure, and who has eliminated considerable waste and foolish competition, thus permitting a great decrease in rates during the last twenty years. There has been, however, no elimination of competition as to markets, which is the real competition in a country so large as the United States. The wool-grower in Montana must sell wool in competition with the wool-growers of Arizona and Kentucky, as well as of Ohio and Australia, and the railroads, in order to help develop Montana, Arizona, Kentucky, and Ohio, are all striving to place the wool of their respective states at the point of consumption, at the lowest price possible. The Northern Pacific does not fix the rates on wool from Montana. The price of wool in Boston, affected