54, p. 593. F. W.
Taussig, Principles of Economics, chap. 45.]
(2) Another duty, less generally recognized by even the more honorable
businessmen, is to sell their goods at fair prices. The strangulation
of competition by mutual agreements or the formation of trusts, aided
often by an iniquitously high tariff, has put many a business for a
time on a par with those natural monopolies which, if unregulated,
can always exact exorbitant prices for what the public needs. Rich
profits have been made by the tucking of a few cents on to the price
of gas, or coal, or steel, or oil, or telephone service. Enormous
fortunes have been made, at the public expense, by the practical
cornering of staple commodities. These hold-up prices should be clearly
recognized for what they are-a form of modern piracy. No business man
or corporation is entitled in justice to more than a moderate reward
for the mental and physical labor expended; the excessive incomes of
monopoly are largely at the expense of the public, who, by one means
or other, are being compelled to pay more than a fair price for the
article. [Footnote: For cases, see C. R. Van Hise, Concentration and
Control, pp. 109,145, 149.]
(3) Finally, all business must be looked upon as a form of public
service, and the convenience of customers scrupulously consulted. Where
there is competition this tends to regulate itself; but our public-
service monopolies have too often followed the "public- be-damned"
policy.
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