124 CHARLES J. BULLOCK 



that the trust is "an evolution from the heterogeneous to 

 the homogeneous," — a statement which will interest those 

 who happen to remember the Spencerian formula. But 

 other economists are less explicit. Writing of the trusts, 

 von Halle says that "in the manufacturing industries, the 

 victory of production on a large scale seems assured;" and 

 he concludes his work with the somewhat oracular remark 

 that "the future belongs neither to the prophets of individu- 

 alism, nor to the ideals of the social democrats." Mr. Brooks 

 thinks that "practical monopolies" have been formed, but 

 that they can be permanent only in case "they put some kind 

 of economic superiority upon the market." Mr. Collier, 

 rather inconsistently, says that competition is "business 

 committing suicide," and then thinks that the trusts will be 

 controlled by potential competition. Professor Bemis looks 

 upon a trust as "virtually a monopoly of large capital," 

 possessing "vast possibilities of social advantage;" but thinks 

 that we cannot pronounce a final judgment "until we have 

 first removed all special privileges." And, finally, President 

 Hadley believes that modern conditions "work in favor of 

 those who advocate combination, and make it harder for 

 independent competitors to resist it, or for the law to prohibit 

 it on grounds of public policy;" yet he holds that, if prices 

 are raised unduly, "new capital will come into the business." 

 But, if the advantages of industrial combinations, in both 

 producing and marketing their products, are as great as 

 most of these writers affirm, it is hard to see how unity 

 of management can fail to secure ultimate control of most 

 branches of manufactures. The lack of explicit forecasts 

 of the future need not, therefore, prevent us from concluding 

 that the general position of these economists is that a tendency 

 to prevent monopoly may be clearly recognized. But econo- 

 mists who think that, for the future, monopoly is to be the 

 order of the day, generally consider that this control of 

 industry will be limited by what is termed potential com- 

 petition Thus they do not affirm that absolute monopoly 

 will prevail, but merely such a control of production and 

 prices as will not tempt new capital into the field. To this 

 subject we shall return in our later paragraphs. 



