INTEGRATION OF INDUSTRY 73 



present to the same extent that they are in the other examples 

 that we have mentioned. The gathering together in the same 

 establishment of the numerous branches representing as many 

 branches of trade is not the result of any integral relation of 

 independence between the different departments. Their union 

 is rather to obtain the advantages resulting from centralization 

 of management, and of ministering to the convenience of 

 customers by making it possible for them to find many of the 

 articles they desire under one roof. The scale on which these 

 stores are conducted, however, makes it possible for them to 

 establish closer and more immediate relations with producers, 

 and thus bring about a real integration. Many of the stores 

 maintain not only extensive repair and custom making depart- 

 ments, but to a considerable extent engage in the direct manu- 

 facture of articles handled by them. Where this is not done, the 

 stores often enter into such close relations with manufacturers 

 that the arrangement is almost one of partnership. The jobber 

 and other middlemen are eliminated to a considerable extent. 



Another example of the integration of industry, though it 

 has not yet reached a position of great importance, is that of 

 the union of the work of production and distribution in the 

 same hands, as is seen in the practice, now quite common, of 

 manufacturers of shoes, such as the Douglas, the Regal, the 

 Crawford, and other companies, to open retail stores of their own 

 in the chief cities of the country for the disposal of their prod- 

 ucts. In Great Britain the Mansfield Shoe company has carried 

 this system to a high development. Not only has the company 

 one or more stores in each of the chief cities of Great Britain, 

 but its stores are found in many of the cities of the continent. 



This tendency which we are considering can also be seen 

 in fields in which its occurrence would not at first be antici- 

 pated. The rise within recent years of the great trust and 

 security companies is an example of pure integration. Here 

 we have one big corporation performing a great variety of 

 functions, which were formerly distributed among as many in- 

 stitutions. It is not unusual for the same company thus to act 

 as a bank, as the administrator of estates, as real estate agent, 

 as guardian of valuables, as bonding agency, as conveyancer 

 of properties. Either itself, or through companies acting in 



