168 WILLIAM R. MERRIAM 



year, in salaries, $195,000,000, and the value of their entire 

 output was $1,661,000,000. Contrary to the general impres- 

 sion, these great combinations do not control a very large pro- 

 portion of the industrial output of the country. In 1890 the 

 entire output of manufacturing industry was about $9,000,- 

 000,000, The total product of the manufacturing industry 

 for the year 1900 was in round numbers, $13,000,000,000, so 

 that the output of these combinations, although it seems 

 enormous, does not represent much more than one tenth of 

 the total industrial product of the United States. 



It is interesting to note the different localities which 

 seem to afford the most advantageous abiding places for these 

 various combinations. There are certain states which appar- 

 ently offer special attractions as the normal homes of these 

 combinations. We find that 358 plants are located in Penn- 

 sylvania, 227 in New York, 225 in Ohio, 163 in Illinois, 123 in 

 Massachusetts, 100 in Indiana, while the rest are scattered 

 through other states. Nearly all are organized under the 

 beneficent laws of the state of New Jersey. 



Such an array of statistics may be somewhat dry, but 

 there seems to be no better way of giving a clear idea of the 

 real condition of these industrial enterprises. Unquestionably 

 they constitute a difficult problem in civic control. If they 

 are enabled, by the advantages coming from the concentra- 

 tion of immense wealth and the existence of liberal laws in 

 different states of the union, to secure and maintain a monop- 

 olistic control of prices, there can be no doubt that they are 

 harmful, and deserve the attention of the legislative branch 

 of the government. It is clear, however, that these industrial 

 concerns have not been in operation long enough to demon- 

 strate just how far they will prove to be monopolies. Their 

 growth is an evolution in our commercial life, and a few years 

 must elapse before experience will enable us to determine 

 whether they are dangerous, and if so, what the proper remedy 

 will be. 



I think it is undeniable that great wealth in the hands of 

 a few men, and especially in the hands of bright and able men, 

 such as these leaders in industry have shown themselves 

 to be, is always more or less dangerous to the state. Even 



