152 I. A. HOURWICH 



by Professor Jenks in support of the proposition that the 

 greater general changes in prices have been due to changes 

 in supply, and from these cases, at least, it does not appear 

 that supply and demand had any part in determining the 

 price within the periods referred to. 



To sum up, the fact is established by the testimony on 

 behalf of the Standard Oil company that the trust at times 

 depressed the price of crude oil below the cost of production; 

 in so far as this was done only in special localities it added to 

 the profits of the trust, without benefiting its competitors. 

 This answers the familiar argument that no special advan- 

 tage accrues to an industrial combination from reducing the 

 cost of raw material, since the benefit would be shared by 

 the independent producers alike. 



We come next to the price of products made by trusts. 

 The complaint against the trusts is that they have raised the 

 prices of manufactured products and introduced the practice 

 of local discrimination to kill competition. The answer is 

 a " general denial." 



The industrial commission made a thorough study of 

 prices, confining itself to but a few articles. The civic federa- 

 tion of Chicago, in 1899, sent out interrogatories to a number 

 of persons who were thought competent to speak on the sub- 

 ject. The answers received were tabulated by Professor 

 David Kinley, of the University of Illinois; the results are 

 reproduced in the following table: 



Prices after consolidation. Number of answers. 



Increased 452 



Decreased 24 



No change reported 15 



Fluctuating 15 



Total 506 



It is claimed in justification of the general rise of prices of 

 finished products, that it is due to a rise in the prices of raw 

 materials; thus, e.g., the rise in the price of tinplate is ex- 

 plained by the rise in the prices of steel and tin. While the 

 explanation may hold good in many cases, it merely shifts the 

 blame from one trust to another, since the production of raw 



