"TRUSTS" IN LIGHT OF CENSUS RETURNS 161 



reduce them, temporarily, below the cost of production, with 

 a view to driving competitors out of the field. This has been 

 a powerful factor in the development of the industrial combi- 

 nation. Undoubtedly it is a distinct evil. As yet, no ad- 

 equate remedy has been devised to meet it. In considering 

 this argument, however, it must be remembered that the 

 apparent rise in prices of many of the products controlled by 

 these combinations is the result of increased demand, due to 

 the prosperous condition of the country rather than to any 

 particular advantage afforded by monopoly. The ability to 

 list upon the stock exchange of the country enormous amounts 

 of securities for which there is an insufficient basis of value 

 is another great evil. This invites the unwary and inex- 

 perienced to invest in stocks and bonds which have been 

 issued upon a small proportion of actual invested capital. 

 With these lines of popular argument clearly before us, it is 

 interesting to observe the facts which have been developed 

 by census investigation ; for, after all, our conclusion regard- 

 ing these industrial evolutions of our national life should 

 be based upon an unprejudiced study of facts. 



The officials of the census office, in order to prevent mis- 

 conceptions and insure consistency in the plan and sj^stem of 

 tabulation, formulated the following definition of the term 

 "industrial combination": 



"For the purpose of the census, the rule has been adopted 

 to consider no aggregation of mills an industrial combination, 

 unless it consists of a number of formerly independent mills 

 which have been brought together into one company under 

 a charter obtained for that purpose. We therefore exclude 

 from this category many large establishments comprising a 

 number of mills, which have grown up, not by combination 

 with other mills, but by the erection of new plants or the pur- 

 chase of old ones." 



The word "trust," although it has the sanction of popular 

 usage, was avoided in this definition, because, technically, it 

 applies to only one form of industrial combination ; and while 

 this form was at one time prevalent, it has been rendered 

 illegal by act of congress, so that the term has become a mis- 



Vol. 3—11 



