Detroit News-Tribune Quotes
There has always been at each decisive period of the world’s history some voice, some note, that represented … prevailing power …. And now finally, there was heard in the streets the murmur of the newest and most perfect of forces, the automobile, rushing along at the rate of 25 miles and hour.
Detroit News-Tribune, February 4, 1900
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
What Mises says in this quotation is true. What he does not say that by the time the automobile was developed and then the airplane, the Railroad monopoly had impeded and destroyed so many different entities that the governments had cracked down and curtailed much of the ability of the Railroads to exercise monopolist power. If the Railroads had as much power in 1920 as they did in 1870, there probably never would have been a thriving auto industry and the airlines would likely never have succeeded. Mises again exaggerates a basic point that large monopolistic companies and industries often have not been able to stave off new technology and approaches. While true in many cases, the cause is not necessarily fundamental to economics but has sometimes (as with the railroads) been caused by Government regulation and reform. A better example is that the large sail dominated shipping industry was not able to stop the coal fired steam engine ships. Indeed the shipping owners embraced the new technology. The best examples of Mises point occurred after Mises died. For example, Microsoft was not able to prevent Google from dominating many of Microsoft’s positions in the IT world.
Referring to the totally inadequate diplomatic communications in the political confusion and crises that led up to the First World War. None of the countries really wanted a large war, but the diplomatic communications were so bad that all operated on the assumption that the others were moving against them and they had to defend themselves or their treaty allies and there were very few opportunities to discern what other countries would do and all of Europe and much else of the world slipped out of control.
