in some one market. In some of our larger cities there have been combinations which to a considerable extent have controlled the supply of milk in their particular vicinities. There is a large combination in the manufacture of flour, but that controls only a small proportion of the market. Speaking generally, food products of all kinds that come from the farm and from the small producer are largely beyond the control of the combinations, though the production of dressed beef seems to form an exception in the opinion of some observers.

So, again, in lines of manufacture in which little capital is needed to start a successful establishment, although there may be large combinations, competition against them is so easy that they comparatively seldom secure control of a very large proportion of the market, and the evils from them to the community can be only comparatively small.

The great mercantile establishments known as department stores have been considered by some as analogous to the great manufacturing combinations. In the main, however, they are quite different. Their chief advantage is that they bring goods of various kinds into convenient proximity to meet the needs of the purchaser. In some instances they have doubtless driven out of business many small retailers. On the other hand, their overhead charges are high; it is difficult for them to give the most careful supervision to their clerks and from the nature of the business they cater to the great mass of the general public. Specialists in different fields will usually serve better the needs of individual buyers who are themselves experts and wish the best service. Many of the great department stores

in spite of noteworthy exceptions-have not been financially successful, and there need be no fear that they will secure a monopoly of general trade, convenient as they often are, nor that the small man of ability who really knows his field cannot compete against them.

Similar observations can be made regarding the chain stores, especially those dealing in drugs and tobacco. They have the advantage in large working capital which enables them to secure good locations and to buy in large quantities. They are doubtless managed with more skill than are many of the small competitors. But in this case also an individual who is really expert in the field, by his greater interest in his work and the more clearly personal touch in dealing with others, if he has a reasonable amount of capital will find that his advantages will often fully offset those of the chain store.

When goods produced are of such a nature that a person can stamp his individuality upon them—as in all work that is essentially artistic, including even millinery and fashionable tailoring-or when individual work is required in production, it seems clear as yet that there can be no monopoly that will be dangerous to the community, or any monopoly at all, without government aid and support, which can materially affect the life of the community. The monopoly of genius is individual, and cannot be affected by a combination.

Experience only can show the limit of the field of combination. There can, however, be little doubt, on the basis even of our present experience, that its field is considerably more limited than has been thought by

many during the past decade, and that there still remains opportunity to find his place for each one who is capable of independent work. On the other hand, it seems equally true that, whenever the nature of the industry is one which is peculiarly adapted for organization on a large scale, these peculiarities will so strengthen the tendency toward a virtual monopoly that, without legal aid and without special discriminations or advantages being granted by either the State or any other influence, a combination will be made, and, if shrewdly managed, can and, after more experience in this line has been gained, probably will practically control permanently the market, unless special legal efforts better directed than any so far attempted shall prevent. Even when the combinations exist, however, the social effect, while in certain directions exceedingly unpleasant, especially to those who are in competition when the organization begins its work, is yet not all evil. The great corporations afford greater scope for individual power and independent management than has been ordinarily supposed, although they are practically certain to bring most positive injuries to society, unless they can be kept under social control. Despite the fact that the public control has been greatly strengthened of late years, there still remains much to be done both in the way of defining more clearly the field and methods of action of the combinations, and in freeing them from unjust and unwise restriction where these have been carried too far. Although, as has been shown, their power is much more limited in the long run by business conditions than has been supposed by many, and although, as their methods become better known, their influence

will be still more restricted without positive action against them, their power over prices and wages and social and business conditions is still too great to be left in the hands of interested parties without legislative check. One of the leaders of a great combination said of their industry some months ago: "We control conditions." Such power should at least be put and kept under supervision of those who represent society.

CHAPTER XII

INDUSTRIAL COMBINATIONS IN EUROPE

HE study of industrial combinations under the differing conditions in Europe serves to confirm to a material extent the conclusions reached in preceding chapters. It is probable that in Germany and Austria, if not even in England, industrial combinations cover as many different industries, and control as large a portion of the manufactures in each industry as is the case in the United States.

On the other hand, in England only is the form of combination generally that of a single corporation owning many separate establishments. In all of these countries are found numerous combinations of the primitive form mentioned in the earlier chapters, which are merely agreements-often local in their natureamong different manufacturers or dealers to limit the amount of their output or to maintain prices at a rate agreed upon. But in all of the countries also, aside from this loose and often merely local arrangement, there are large combinations controlling 90 per cent. or more of the entire output of a single product within the country named, in many cases having an international influence.

The causes of combinations when they were first developing on a large scale in the late nineties and the first decade of the twentieth century as given by those