AUTHOR'S PREFACE THIS book seeks to bring out in clear relief the main aspects of the issues involved in "Big Business." It comes at a time when Government and Business are beginning to work out a method of cooperation whereby Competition may be conserved and when Corporate Consolidation seems disposed to respect the rules of the game in business morals. The purpose has not been to exploit any special theory, but simply to analyze the facts and conditions by the light of economic experience. Within the limits of what is fair in business conduct and free in business rivalry, it is sought to point out a path along which both material progress and popular contentment may find it worth while living together in the national household. To call out the interest of the reader to a more extended examination of the larger aspects of the Trust Question, a larger number and variety of references have been given at the end of the volume. If it succeeds in inducing straighter thinking and sharper discrimination in the consideration of public questions, it will have served its purpose. JOHN FRANKLIN CROWELL. New York City, April, 1915. CONTENTS PAGE 1 Chapter I. Origin and Causes of Trusts 2. The Case Against Competition 3. Through Competition to Combination 2. Combination by Rate Control 3. Legitimate Aims in Trust Policy 4. The Equilibrium of Business 5. Court Control of Unfair Competition PAGE 2. The Law and Limits of Monopoly 3. Elements and Sources of Monoply 4. Regulation of Public Utilities Chapter VI. Federal Policy Toward Trusts 2. Investigations of Trust Conditions 85 Prosecutions Under the Anti-Trust Act 2. Capitalization and Promoter's Profits 100 3. Risk Elements in Trust Capitalization |