I&#x27;m pretty sure the gas companies he is talking about from the 19th century covered different portions of the city and had gentlemen&#x27;s agreements (that occasionally broke down) not to muscle in on one another&#x27;s territory - similar to gang warfare dynamics.<p>Thus even in the beginning they effectively had a series of mini monopolies which overlapped a little, causing &#x27;zones&#x27; of competition.<p>The point that flew over mises head was that this was an unstable arrangement that provided the competition that proved beneficial for a time to consumers, but eventually such situations &#x27;stabilize&#x27; and a clear winner emerges who can basically impose a tax on everybody and collect enormous profits in the process.<p>Mises just sort of pretends that the last part never happens unless a government steps in to force it to happen. Which is rubbish - you can easily use economies of scale and predatory pricing to drive smaller competitors out of business in such industries.