INTERNATIONAL CONSOLIDATION 219 



The process of economic concentration did not leave, of 

 course, the field of agriculture untouched, though, as we have 

 shown already, in this field it took a form somewhat different 

 from that, into which it developed in the field of manufactur- 

 ing industries. The reasons for such a difference are mani- 

 fold and more or less obvious as in agricultural industry the 

 limit, beyond which further enlargement of scale of produc- 

 tion ceased to be advantageous, has been reached long before 

 the number of competitors was reduced to a few, and agri- 

 cultural trust in its essentials identical with a manufacturing 

 trust became unnatural and therefore impossible. A large 

 farm may have certain advantages over a small farm, but the 

 limit, beyond which large scale farming can not be profitably 

 carried, is soon reached. It would therefore be impossible for 

 larger farmers to continue crowding out the smaller ones 

 until the whole market for agricultural products could be sup- 

 plied from a few enormous farms. This is one of the reasons 

 that an agricultural trust, essentially identical with a manu- 

 facturing trust, has become impossible. Another almost equally 

 important reason for this is the universal lack of agricultural 

 labor in all civilized countries and marked deterioration of its 

 character. Nevertheless, in spite of this important difference 

 of processes and forms of concentration in agriculture and 

 manufactures, another essential feature of such concentration 

 in both fields are identical. On the productive side of agricul- 

 ture we find a continually increasing application of capital 

 (machinery, etc.) and labor to any given area of ground, 

 which makes a final transition from an extensive to an inten- 

 sive method of cultivation. This is the same process which 

 takes place in all industries. On the distributive side of ag- 

 riculture we find a continually increasing control of the industry 

 by a few other industries, namely: coal production, iron pro- 

 duction, power transmission and transportation. This is also 

 tin process which is common to all industries of our times. 



Having considered all essential features of evolution of ag- 

 ricultural industry as compared with those of manufactures, 

 one can not fail to see thai, while the stage of development, 

 through which all the industries (except agriculture) are now 

 pa im',, presents ;; fierce and bloody war between immense 



