102 
POLITICAL ECONOMY 
sell it at different prices, out of regard, as 
well as with regard, to the cost of the service 
provided. Broadly speaking, freight rates 
per unit of bulk or weight are higher for 
commodities of much value than for those 
of the little value. It is assumed that the 
greater the value of the commodity the more 
will purchasers pay for carriage without 
materially curtailing their purchases. The 
principle embodied in the custom is known 
as the principle of charging what the traffic 
will bear. 
Personal discrimination means that one 
man is charged more than another simply 
because he can pay more, though there is 
neither a local nor trade basis for the differ 
ential charge. Generally speaking, we may 
say that by the business community all the 
world over personal discriminations have 
been sternly resisted. But in the form 
of income discriminations they are not 
altogether unknown. They may be resorted 
to indirectly when different qualities of a 
thing are supplied, provided that the higher 
qualities are consumed chiefly by the wealthier 
classes. The prices for the better qualities 
may be fixed disproportionately high in view 
of the excess of their cost over the cost of the 
lower qualities. Income discriminations have