Page 156 - One Thousand Ways to Make $1000

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HE closer your business comes to being a monopoly the surer you will be of
success. Here in America there is a good deal of confusion over the meaning
of “monopoly.” To some people it means taking advantage of small
competitors by unfair practices. But since the days of Elizabethan charters
and patents, a monopoly has meant protection against competition.
Sometimes a monopoly was granted by the state in the form of a patent or
grant, but more often it was obtained by the business man or tradesman by
virtue of his membership in a “guild.” The last official act signed by Queen
Elizabeth was to annul the British Monopolies Act.

What forms of monopoly do we find in American business? First we have the
“trust” or holding company which enjoys a monopoly by virtue of buying out
all its competitors, thus giving itself a clear field to charge all the traffic will
bear. Such monopoly is based on financial power. It is a pistol pointed at the
heart of the small, independent business man. It is the type of monopoly
which Theodore Roosevelt attempted to crush with his trust-busting
activities. Some business men still believe his method is the answer to
ruthless competition. The use of such power to obtain a trade monopoly is
un-American in its conception, uneconomic if carried to its logical
conclusion, and would inevitably lead to a monopoly of monopolies and
finally monopolize the functions of government.

But there is another kind of monopoly fostered by the government, which is
just as much in the public interest as the other sort of monopoly is against it.
Under that classification comes the monopoly of skill. That is the best
monopoly of all. It is the monopoly that is enjoyed by the man who can build
a better mouse trap or paint a better picture, write a better book, design a
better dress or excel in any field. The very fact that you can do one little thing
better than anyone else in the world can do it, assures your success. And
although the monopoly granted for one achievement is limited as to duration,
the success will continue so long as you make good your monopoly by
keeping ahead of the imitators who are always found in the wake of success.

Then, there is the monopoly that comes from location. For example, it is a