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374 METHODS OF SOCIAL KEFORJf.
expenve of fundbolders, and of operatives and other unmonoyd
persons.
Corning now t.o perhaps tho most important point of tho
whole discuwion, I must remind thc reader of the fact stated
above, that tho Government will gain or loso by tho railways,
accordiug as it menages them bettor or worse than the present
companies. There are a few so uudoubted adrantages iu unity
of orgauisation, that, if not counterbalanced by the general
laxity bud want of economy in the care of Government
property, a profit of some ruilliunu mnually mould thence arise.
But in odor that any such profit should coutinue to exist, the
Govcrn~uout must work the railways at tho rates which will
pay 1JWt. It xnwt uake the railways a revenue department,
like the f’ost Officc, which t&eu cme Dot to render its services
at cost price. But tho very writers who advocate State
purchase, rlud tempt the public with glowing pictures of the
profits tu bo theuce derived, not to speak of the ultimate
rcdcmption of the National Debt, also tempt the public by
promising a reduction of fares to u third of their present
amounts. ISOW, theso thiugs are quite incompatible. If fares
mere much reduced, either tho public must put up with very
great incv~lre~lie~~ce aud discomfort iu travelling, or else all
net revenue must bc sacrificed, and travcltcra must even travel
to SOIIIO estclnt :It tlw cost of thoso who stay at home. We
are told tht there would bo a great iucrense of traffic, and
that, t.hcreforc., tllerc would be a great increase of profits;
but this urgumcnt is a couylete rto,h-seyuitur, arising probably
from false annlogy to the Post Office business. In these days
of high prices tlw butcher or coal dealer mho should sell his
goods below cost price would doubtless have an enormous
business, so long as his capital held out. Tho railways wonld
bo in exactly ths same position, except that they could carry
on the process indefinitely by supplying the deficit out of the
genexal revenue. Few people seem ever to reflect that postal
communication stands in a very peculiar financial position, so
that to argue from it to other kinds of business is to commit
thc logical fallacy of inferring from the special to the general.
Its chief peculiarity is, that an increase of work done will