108 MAURICE H. ROBINSON 



the causes or conditions which have impelled them to unite. 

 It is doubtless true that these witnesses, in their testimony, 

 have not always told the whole truth; nevertheless they throw 

 a flood of light upon the inside history of the formation of 

 the great combinations. Taking the testimony as a whole, 

 collating facts from one point with those from another, com- 

 paring these facts with each other and with the testimony of 

 independent interests, a reasonably accurate diagnosis of the 

 causes can be made. The men inside the great corporations 

 emphasize the impelling power of competition as a cause. 

 They call it destructive competition. They sometimes do not 

 understand that the presence of a large fixed capital, useful 

 for certain purposes but much less useful for any other, 

 changes radically the nature and working of the laws of com- 

 petition. The trained economist, however, is able to read 

 into their testimony the underlying conditions which they 

 often fail to see. On the other hand, the independent opera- 

 tors emphasize just as strongly the power of discriminations, 

 of favors from railways to large corporations with which they 

 have to deal. They are even inclined to think that, if railway 

 discriminations could be prevented, if the smaller concern 

 could be put upon a level with the larger one in buying its 

 material and selling its products, that the progress of consoli- 

 dation would at least proceed with much less rapidity. Those 

 who read the testimony presented, therefore, must use judg- 

 ment and compare these two sides of the story in order to 

 get at the exact truth. Again, those interested in the con- 

 solidations are inclined to make light of the attractive influ- 

 ence of monopoly, while the outside interests are apt to empha- 

 size its power. In this connection one needs to remember the 

 large place given to the possibility of a monopolistic position 

 for a consolidated corporation that one almost invariably 

 finds in the prospectus presented to the independent inter- 

 ests when urging the desirability of combination. The inside 

 interests again emphasize the possibilities of large economy 

 in production sufficient to pay dividends upon the common 

 stock issued as a bonus, without any advance in prices. The 

 testimony on the whole shows, however, that in most cases 

 the predicted economies have not been fully attained and that 



