CAUSES OF MONOPOLY.
Most people agree that the Trust is the result of an evolutionary development. If this be true, it is quite certain that the movement will continue and that the Trusts will multiply in number and in size, and thus even greater injury will be wrought than is now complained of, and the problem will become the more complex and the more pressing for solution. If the Trust is the result of a natural movement it is idle to talk of such manifestly inadequate suggestions as tariff revision, government ownership, the single tax, and publicity as Trust destroyers; for, if it is natural, the Trusts will grow and thrive in spite of these. But, should we listen for a moment to those who seek to exterminate the Trust?
OBJECTIONS TO DESTROYING THE TRUST.
1. It performs the same function in civilization as improved machinery—lightening and lessening the toil of the human family.
2. It organized the industries, eliminates useless labor, allays waste and economizes in the use of nature's materials.
3. It makes less labor necessary, and therefore tends to reduce the hours of work.
4. It makes enormously greater profits, comparatively, than individual enterprises, and therefore makes higher wages possible.
5. It reduces the cost of production to the minimum and therefore makes possible the lowest prices.
6. It is impossible to destroy the Trust without legislating against the co-operative and partnership principle, and this would be futile as well as demoralizing.