186 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



— the invention of new machinery, the most minute division 

 of labor, secret processes, reduction of wages, the importation 

 of cheap labor and of skilled labor. In this way Mr. Have- 

 meyer testified that he, between 1875 and 1880, succeeded 

 in driving twenty-five refiners of sugar out of business, and 

 secured for his corporation the business of refining fifty-five 

 per cent of the sugar used in the country. The plan of 

 each corporation was to create a demand for its product, and 

 then keep the control of the market for it against all com- 

 petitors. 



Soon it was discovered that the railroad was a powerful 

 ally in this contest. The corporation that could secure an 

 advantage over competitors in the transportation of its raw 

 material on one hand, and of its finished product on the other, 

 was supreme. So the fight went on. The railroads soon 

 found out their advantage, and sold themselves to the highest 

 bidder. The corporation that owned or controlled a railroad 

 could of course drive less fortunate competitors out of busi- 

 ness. Then the fight became a contest between railroads, or 

 over railroads. The small corporations were destroyed, the 

 larjre ones remained. The fio-ht between these became so 

 fierce as to threaten mutual destruction. At this stage a 

 new idea was discovered, — the idea of the trust. 



An illustration will make some things plain. Three cor- 

 porations, A, B, C, supply the demand for 3,000 barrels of 

 sugar within a certain period, each producing 1,000 barrels; 

 but in course of time it happens that A makes a profit of |1 

 on each barrel, B, 66| cents, C, only 33^ cents. A's profit, 

 therefore, on 1,000 barrels, is $1,000; B's, $666.66; C's, 

 $333.33. But if A could secure the custom of B and C, and 

 supply the whole demand, A's profit would be $3,000 instead 

 of $1,000, — an end greatly to be desired. How shall A 

 secure the custom of B and C ? The only way of competi- 

 tion was to drive B and C out of business. But to drive is 

 to fight, and to fight is expensive and very unpleasant. Prof- 

 its wrested from B and C must be paid to drummers, to 

 newspapers for advertising, to customers in prizes or in re- 

 duced prices. Suppose, now, that A should pay C $333.33 

 for its business, so that C should turn over to A its order for 

 1,000 barrels of sugar ; A will then make 2,000 barrels, and, 



