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POLITICAL  ECONOMY

To  complete  this  chapter  a  few  remarks
may  be  offered  as  to  the  various  sorts  of
monopoly  which  are  found  in  the  world.
Monopolies  may  be  classified  into  natural,
social,  legal,  and  voluntary.  Natural  monopolies ­
  arise  out  of  the  limited  sources  of  some
natural  products.  Social  monopolies  are  occasioned ­
  by  the  peculiar  relations  of  certain
businesses  to  the  social  economy.  For
instance,  it  might  not  be  possible  for  two
remunerative  railway  lines  to  be  laid  down
connecting  two  places  ;  and,  even  if  it  were,
two  lines  would  be  less  economical  than  one
line.  Again,  competing  gas  companies  cannot
be  permitted  to  lay  their  pipes  in  the  same
streets.  Many  social  monopolies  are  now
in  the  hands  of  public  authorities.  Legal
monopolies  are  those  maintained  by  law  like
patents  and  copyrights,  which  are  defensible
on  the  ground  that  without  them  much
valuable  inventing  and  writing  would  be
so  scantily  rewarded  as  to  be  in  effect
discountenanced  instead  of  encouraged.
Many  of  the  social  monopolies  enjoy  legal
support.  Voluntary  monopolies  arise  mainly
out  of  combination.  Among  them  we  may
distinguish  the  monopolies  which  leave  much
of  the  individuality  of  the  combining  units
untouched,  and  those  which  destroy  it.  The