THE MEANING OF CORPORATIONS AND TRUSTS. 293 



to a greater degree the factors that tend toward economy of pro- 

 duction ; in that it directs to greater advantage the efforts of a 

 greater number of workers ; in that it permits the attainment of 

 profit upon their accumulations by those that contribute to its 

 capital. As these stockholders may be of all ages and sexes, and 

 oftentimes of residence remote from the scene of operation, those 

 chosen to administer the capital, to conduct the operations, assume 

 a trust of great responsibility. It is essential that control be 

 centralized in their hands ; for to the utmost rendering of this 

 trust is necessary the most prudent administration of the capital, 

 the exercise of the greatest discretion in the maintenance, repair, 

 and renewal of the plant and appliances, the most efficient direc- 

 tion of the workers, and the most judicious distribution of the 

 product. These results can not be obtained by scattered respon- 

 sibility and scattered authority. 



It is important to note that along with the development of 

 more comprehensive organizations has been the development of 

 the capacity to control such organizations, men of foresight and 

 executive ability, shrewd and resourceful in the attainment and 

 use of money, oftentimes gaining the control of extended opera- 

 tions over a considerable area that, in their absence, would have 

 been conducted by simpler, separate, and scattered organizations. 

 Not only the opportunity for increased revenue, but the ambition 

 of such men to exercise the power incident to the control of ex- 

 tended organizations, is no small factor in their formation. 



The great advance in the bending of physical forces to man's 

 aid that began in the early half of this century has caused so 

 many changes in the methods of production and distribution that 

 it seems as though the industrial processes had undergone a radi- 

 cal transformation. But with the settling of the disturbed ele- 

 ments into definite shape it can be perceived that the seemingly 

 newer forms are but the more compact and comprehensive expres- 

 sion of the old ; that they are but successive steps in the series of 

 that development which tends toward the betterment of material, 

 economy of production, extension of distribution, and decrease of 

 cost. The use of steam made possible the railways, in the build- 

 ing and operation of which is necessary the co-operation of large 

 numbers of men working under centralized control, and, in connec- 

 tion with the multiplied uses of machinery, has brought the large 

 factories and mills in which great numbers of men work under 

 control likewise centralized. And the ease and rapidity of com- 

 munication and transportation afforded by the railroad and tele- 

 graph have tended still more to concentrate particular industries 

 in localities where conditions are most favorable to their prosecu- 

 tion. All these factors have allied in cheapening production, in 

 serving a community, increasing both in extent and population, 



