42 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



eration and altmism, both of which are undoubtedly stimulated 

 by the emergencies of a rigorous climate. A hard-headed north- 

 lander who has himself been snow-bound and frost-bitten will 

 not ignore the distress of a help-needing neighbor ; while the re- 

 ligious charity of the Siamese peasant is apt to be modified by 

 the reflection that, after the total loss of their fruit-crop, his 

 storm-stricken brethren in Buddha can still eke out a tolerable 

 living in the woods. 



♦»» 



IS COMBINATION CRIME? 



By APPLETON MOEGAN. 



WHEN, a few months ago, announcement was made, in des- 

 potic opulence of mural decoration, that Mr. Barnum's 

 and Mr. Forepaugh's circuses had pooled their attractions under 

 a single tent, the American small boy lodged no protest, nor did 

 he invoke the statutes of this republic against the dangers with 

 which its institutions were threatened. But when whisky, or 

 coal, or cotton-seed oil, or prunes, or beeswax, propose to adhere 

 in happy family compact, the occasion is not allowed to pass 

 without jeremiad on the perils of this commonwealth and the 

 departure of the liberties of this people. 



In a paper entitled " Modern Feudalism," in the " North 

 American Review " for April, 1887, 1 understand Mr. James F. 

 Hudson to suggest that any old-fashioned ideas as to the econ- 

 omy of large producers over small ones, and supposed conse- 

 quential security of wages, greatest good of the greatest number, 

 etc., which may still obtain in the community, are survivals of 

 the dark ages, and without place in the enlightened civilization 

 of this continent ; and to assert that any combination of corpo- 

 rations or large manufacturers or producers for manufacture or 

 production of a single staple, which shall purchase the interest or 

 business of smaller manufacturers or producers, is a menacing 

 danger, not only to the consumer, but to the State. Mr. Hudson 

 has nothing to submit as to any possible small competitor who 

 might perhaps be willing or even anxious to be crushed out " for 

 a consideration " rather than assume all the chances of himself 

 crushing out the larger competitor. Nor do I find him discuss- 

 ing the question as to what interest it is to the consumer whether 

 the product he consumes be manufactured or quarried by a small 

 concern or a large one. His propositions, however, are sufficient- 

 ly startling to the old-fashioned reader of what once was the sci- 

 ence of political economy to warrant, I think, a passing notice in 

 the pages of " The Popular Science Monthly." 



Mr. Hudson, to begin with, is of opinion that any incorpora- 



