Monopoly

the exclusive right to sell or manufacture a certain article or class of goods. The undisputed right to buy and sell in an open market has not been granted universally. The authority to grant a favorite or a useful servant a monopoly has been a cherished privilege of monarchs and governments. In the days of "Good Queen Bess" the people groaned beneath the exactions of a horde of monopolists who had gained the ear of the sovereign and secured the exclusive sale of various necessities and luxuries. Honest tradesmen were driven from business. The people paid extortionate prices. Of course there was always some good reason to allege for granting an exclusive privilege. Inasmuch as "divers subjects of able bodies, which might go to plough, did employ themselves in the art of making cards," a monopoly to sell playing cards was granted. The exclusive privilege of selling starch was given on the score of preventing a waste of wheat--so on to the end of the list. Finally the abuse of monopolies became so great that Parliament took up the matter. Elizabeth's ministers defended the custom, but after acrimonious debate had run for four days, the queen, seeing that the issue was going against her, thanked Parliament for calling attention to grievous burdens of which she had been unaware. She made a clean sweep, abolishing all monopolies at a single blow. Yet under Charles I, so seductive is the principle of monopoly, and so capable is it of bringing corrupt influence to play, that soap, salt, and many other articles of prime necessity were again controlled by monopolies that undertook to pay sums into the public treasury for the privilege. Speaking of the holders of these monopolies, the historian Green quotes a member of Parliament: "They sup in our cup, they dip in our dish, they sit by our fire; we find them in the dye-vat, the wash-bowl, and the powdering tub. They share with the cutler in his box. They have marked and sealed us from head to foot."

Patents and copyrights are modern forms of monopoly. The granting of exclusive franchises to gas and electric light companies, street railway companies, and water companies is a prolongation of the monopoly system. The granting of licenses to sell liquor, especially in case but one saloon is licensed in a community, is the granting of monopoly on the old plea of "for the public good." In many countries there are government monopolies. In France and other nations, the government monopolizes the sale of tobacco. The Japanese government monopolizes the sale of camphor. Salt is not infrequently made a government monopoly.

See Trusts