CONCENTRATION OF INDUSTRY IN THE UNITED 



STATES. 



BY J. A. HOBSON. 



[J. A. Hobson, one of the most eminent of English economists ; born Derby, England, 

 July 6, 1858; educated at Lincoln college, Oxford; classical master at Faversham 

 and Exeter, 1880-87; lecturer in economics for the university extension department 

 of Oxford university, 1887-97; contributor to the leading British and American 

 economic reviews, and author of Economics of Distribution, International Trade, 

 Problem of the Unemployed.] 



If by capitalism we understand industry involving large 

 capital, owned or controlled by a few men and worked for 

 private profit, there is a sense in which the United States 

 must rank as the first capitalist nation in the world. It is not 

 indeed the case that so large a proportion of her material 

 wealth or of her industrial population is engaged in those 

 manufacturing and transport industries which are distinctly 

 capitalistic, as in Great Britain, Holland, and Belgium, or per- 

 haps even Germany. Agriculture is still her most important 

 single branch of industry; farm property still largely exceeds 

 in value the aggregate of her manufacturing establishments, 

 while 36 per cent of her occupied population are employed in 

 agriculture as compared with 24^ per cent in manufacturing 

 and mechanical pursuits. Even if we turn to the statistics 

 of manufactures, the enormous growth of concentrated cap- 

 italism in America is not at first apparent, for the increase 

 in the actual number of separate businesses in almost all in- 

 dustries is very large. It is indeed quite evident that small 

 competing businesses occupy a very great part of the manu- 

 facturing field. A closer inspection of the situation, how- 

 ever, shows that, though the number of businesses is grow- 

 ing, the total capital engaged in the trade is growing far more 

 rapidly. 



This first proof of concentration is corroborated by many 

 other evidences, which sustain the popular belief that a large 

 proportion of the business in an increasing number of indus- 

 tries is passing into the control of a very small number of cor- 



Vol. 3-4 49 



