THE RISE AND BUSINESS OF THE MODERN 

 TRUST COMPANY. 



BY WILLIAM P. QEST. 



[William P. Gest, vice president of the Fidelity Trust company of Philadelphia, is one 

 of the best known trust officials in the country. He has not only a reputation as a 

 practical financier, but he has made a thorough study of the theory of his branch of 

 finance, and has written a number of articles on the theory and operation of trust com- 

 panies, and also has delivered addresses on these subjects.] 



The economic conditions under which we live must be 

 of interest to all : and particularly when the United States is 

 confronted with a problem unsurpassed for magnitude and in- 

 terest and for which history affords no precedent — it is the rec- 

 onciliation of democracy with the modern industrial move- 

 ment. This problem is year by year moving into a more acute 

 stage, while, on account of the perplexity of its factors and the 

 newness of their character, we search the past in vain for any 

 method of solution. It is no wonder, therefore, that some of 

 our wisest see no solution except retrogression, while many to 

 whom retrogression seems impossible stand aghast to await 

 time's own solution. 



Now, our whole economic system in its present develop- 

 ment depends on the free employment of individual capital, 

 and of this system the trust company is the newest and most 

 elaborate instrument. It is quite necessary, therefore, for one 

 who wishes to understand the times in which we live to know 

 something of these new and powerful agencies. 



Those who decry present conditions under the name of 

 capitalism, as well as those who endeavor to alleviate them, 

 must remember that the development of our industrial system 

 started and is built upon the free movement of capital, and in 

 order to have a convincing knowledge of this it will be of ad- 

 vantage to revert for a moment to the origin of the industrial 

 movement. 



What it was that caused the sudden acceleration of indus- 

 try in England in the last half of the eighteenth century is a 

 question which has not, so far as I know, been analyzed in suf- 

 ficient detail. That was one of the most singular and portent- 



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