64 WILLIAM FRANKLIN WILLOUGHBY 



wire, nails, rails, tin plate, structural material, or even bridges 

 ready for final consumption. We have given as an illustra- 

 tion probably the most perfect example of integration that has 

 yet taken place, and we shall have occasion to consider it more 

 in detail in another place. The operation of this force, how- 

 ever, can be seen in almost every branch of industrial enter- 

 prise. Wherever a brewer decides to make his own barrels or 

 to raise his own hops, wherever a bicycle manufacturer under- 

 takes the manufacture of his own tubing or tires, this tendency 

 may be seen at work. 



A study of this movement, if it is to be at all adequate, 

 should include the three points of: first, a description of the 

 extent to which it has advanced and an account of its more 

 important manifestations; second, an examination of the 

 motives that are responsible for its rise and progress; and, 

 third, an attempt to determine — as far as conditions will per- 

 mit — its probable effect upon efficiency of production and 

 the general welfare of society. Of recent examples of integra- 

 tion in this country, far the most important and striking is 

 the iron and steel industry through the creation of the United 

 States Steel corporation. In no other case can we find such 

 a perfect working of the forces of integration. In other 

 cases, integration has taken place almost unconsciously, and 

 as the result rather than the object of the steps taken. Here 

 we have an instance where the benefits of integration were 

 clearly seen in advance, and an enormous combination brought 

 about for their realization. No greater mistake could be com- 

 mitted than that made by most writers on this corporation, 

 who have seen in it but a combination on a larger scale sim- 

 ilar to those of its constituent companies. The latter, with 

 the exception of the Carnegie company, were pure types of the 

 concentration of industry. The former is a pure type of in- 

 tegration of industry. As the creation of this corporation 

 represents in such a complete way this whole movement of 

 integration, the motives or causes responsible for it, the con- 

 ditions making it possible, and the probable results of its ac- 

 tion, it is worth while to describe its rise with some degree of 

 particularity. 



