Watchman, What of the Night . !
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An Urgent Warning Against the Present Tendency Towards the Setting By.
Up of Huge Semi or Complete Monopolies in the Haulage Industry "Ancillaro" WE— have been told by Lord Woolton that a conference will soon ,be held among the United Nations, on the' future of trusts, monopolies and
....ombines. . .
Many of your 'readers Will be anxiously awaiting the reports on these deliberations, and meantime all should, in the interests of both themselves and the community generally, be 'giving careful thought to the possibilities which are inherent in monopolies. The advocates of these, and of semi-monopolies in various spheres, are • becoming increasingly active in devious and subtle ways.
Without doubt the political atmosphere which would prevail When such a conference takes place will be reflected in the findings.. Unfortunately, the average , man in. the street will be too pre-occupied with problems which concern him more directly, to be greatly interested whether there be or be not a drifting towards the Creation of more monopolies,. At risk of loss to himself the ordinary John Citizen, when thinking in terms of public interest or national and international markets, is apt to regard the questions which surround industry and trade as dependent for solution entirely on the brains of big business. '
Every business man, irrespective of siie, who is doing a• job which is a service to his fellow men must be regarded as necessary to the real well-being of mankind. A man may be small in the business world, but he is a man for all that, and the standard by which he should be judged is that of service to his fellows. This being so, he will fight against becoming party to any form of monopoly, even if, by taking the opposite and may be easier course, an immediate small fortune might be at his disposal.
Once private enterprise of the individual be sacrificed' it will not be easily regained.
Aid the Fight for Freedom Now is the time for all who are interested in' the welfare of the thousands of road-transport operators to come to the aid Of this industry. Many of these operators. have for years provided excellent service to the public, the continuation of which service is now threatened, due,. to a large extent, to it being taken for :granted by the masses that such an :attempt at over-lordship would, never be made. "
• So long as there exists both public and private yoad transport, we shall have an element of healthy cornpetition which is good for all trade and industry; and at the -same time, in the best interests of . the _ general public and the Nation as a whole. At the -Same time„ without the greater incentive of a measure of competition from other professional carriers, any one form af public transport can impose Unnecessary burdens on. che• consumer—and every individual is a consumer 0: . transport,either. directly or indirectly.
if and. when we are shown by the advocates of price= fixing rings or of any other schemes Which reduce the incentive to improve methods with a View to reducing costs, that progress results from the monopolistic practices towards which they incline, the -operator of private transport will probably become a reducing father than an increasing factor. Meantime, the writer holds the view that most price rings and monopolies keep from both actual and potential Consumers the advantages . of, efficient and economical production on the part of :the "
provider—benefits which justice demands should be shared by both the provider and the cOnsumer. It is for our industry, as represented by the thousands of operators, to look to its laurels before it be too late. It can improve its own usefulness to the community through the measure Of self-government which even now it enjoys. As a result of their own experience, it should not be beyond the power of these operators to work to a policy which will prove beyond any shadow of doubt that monopolies are, by and large, of benefit to the few at the expense of the many. At the seine time, the road-transport industry should be capable of determining whether, in the best interests of all concerned, there is, in certain circumstances, an optimum size for a public road transport concern or a demand for an arrangement for joint working with another form of transport, etc.
Shun Attempts at Restriction
Whatever may be the shape of things to come, let U.S avoid, ,as we .would the plague, any tendency to take steps which could not but result in undue restriction of the development of road transport. Price-fixing rings can do this, as also can the prevention or undue restriction of newcomers from entering_ the industry. The writer, in referring to price rings, has in mind the pernicious system of actual price rings and not to any contemplated co-ordination of rates which may form the basis for the negotiation by road and rail, acting jointly, of a rates structure to be set up by the two forms of transport.
If there be an optimum amount of road transport which is requirethto meet the consumers' requirements, a properly self-governing industry will keep within reasonable limits of this amount, without involving the risk of either short supply or excessive surplus causing a serious disturbance of the best service that can be provided by one of our main facilities, which must essentially be reasonably free to 'develop on true merit.
, The average operator is not seeking an easy way, of retirement, such as may accompany the setting up of monopolies or semi-monopolies which would take over businesses such as his. Rather is he prepared to stand or fall by his own exertions directed towards an expan sion of his business.
In the ultimate our Nation depends for its, welfare, so far as road transport is concerned, more on the freedom of the individual than it does on the power of any big business which may be attempting to gain a dominating position. We therefore do well to beware of attacks from this latter quarter, as well as of the threats of nationalization, unnecessary restriction of expansion in order that rival interests may benefit, legal and private monopolies, public boards and other unnatural growths, in so far as they are designed to serve things other than the greatest good' for the greatest number of human beings.
I fully believe that the new road-transport organiza.tion which is about to come into being is designed to do more for the industry in the best interests of all concerned than could be achieved by any road-transport body having a different set up and/or different policy. It is my opinion that we do well to wish, the new organization every success. It gives full recognition to the rights of all operators who are law, abiding.