of skilled workmen or workwomen, who themselves desire it also, because it gives them a larger range of employers.
But in the case of shops and stores the case is entirely different. An individual or a society proposing to open in Garden City, say a drapery store, would be most anxious to know what, if any, arrangements were to be made for limiting the number of his competitors, for he would depend almost entirely on the trade of the town or neighbourhood. Indeed it frequently happens that a private landlord, when laying out a building estate, makes arrangements with his shopkeeping tenants designed to prevent them from being swamped by others in the same trade starting on his estate.
The problem, therefore, seems to be how to make such suitable arrangements as will at once—
(1) Induce tenants of the shopkeeping class to come and start in business, offering to the community adequate rate-rents.
(2) Prevent the absurd and wasteful multiplication of shops referred to in the note at the foot of page 81.
(3) Secure the advantages usually gained (or supposed to be) by competition—such as low prices, wide range of choice, fair dealing, civility, etc.
(4) Avoid the evils attending monopoly.
All these results may be secured by a simple expedient, which will have the effect of converting competition from an active into a latent force to be brought into play or held in reserve. It is, as we have said, an application of the principle of local option. To explain:
