"TRUSTS" IN THE LIGHT OF CENSUS RETURNS. 



BY WILLIAM R. MERRIAM. 



[William Rush Merriam, statistician and financier; born Wadham's Mills, Essex 

 county, New York, July, 1849; graduated Racine college, 1871; began his business 

 career as a clerk in the Merchants National bank in St. Paul in 1871, became cashier, 

 1873, vice-president, 1880, and since 1882 president of that institution; elected mem- 

 ber of the Minnesota legislature 1882, and speaker of that body in 1886; governor of 

 Minnesota, 1889-1892; director of United States census, 1898 to 1903.] 



The discussion concerning industrial combinations has 

 been so active, not only through the ordinary channels of 

 the newspaper press and the monthly magazines, but also 

 in lectures, political speeches, and public debates, that I 

 should feel some hesitation in touching upon this topic were 

 it not for the fact that the manufactures division of the census 

 office has prepared some very interesting data concerning 

 this much agitated question. It is a source of regret that 

 many persons, when considering the effect upon society at 

 large of the vast aggregations of capital so common in our 

 day, are quite apt to discuss the subject from a sentimental 

 standpoint and without an adequate knowledge of the facts. 

 To become' hysterical over imaginary difficulties, rather than 

 to approach an important social problem from a temperate 

 and unbiased point of view, seems to be a common fault even 

 with a people so practical as the Americans. The arguments 

 advanced from either side of this controversy are entitled, 

 however, to the fullest consideration. 



Those immediately concerned in the formation of enor- 

 mous corporations insist that they are simply the natural 

 evolution of the ordinary commercial life of the nation; that 

 they arise from perfectly natural causes; and are the logical 

 outcome of machinery production, improved transportation 

 facilities, plentiful capital, and of increased competition which 

 has forced the managers of industrial enterprises to reduce 

 the cost of production to the minimum. It is further con- 

 tended that the expense of the distribution and sale of products 



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