THE MEANING OF CORPORATIONS AND TRUSTS. 307 



portation that have been but little understood. Abuses are being 

 corrected, and in many instances procedure supposed to be to the 

 injury of the public in general is shown to flow from the action 

 of natural forces tending to the public good. 



Much that* has been evil in the conduct of trusts has been 

 ascribed to the working of our so-called protective tariff, and the 

 exclusion of foreign competition has, doubtless, been an important 

 factor in the over-capitalization of different plants and the water- 

 ing of stock that have been almost constant elements in trust for- 

 mation. But it is not to be inferred that an abandonment of or 

 a reduction in the tariff would be followed by the dissolution of 

 trusts. If the greatest economy of production is obtained under 

 a trust, which is the final combination forced by competition, will 

 not the renewed and intensified competition consequent upon an 

 abandonment of or a reduction in the tariff render the trust all 

 the more necessary ? The foreign competition will doubtless 

 hasten a reduction of undue profits, but at the same time will 

 tend to increase the compactness of organization and method under 

 which the final industrial combination is of greatest good to the 

 community. The three baking companies referred to on a pre- 

 ceding page are examples of trusts the formation and continuance 

 of which do not depend upon any advantages derived from the 

 tariff. The United States Baking Company was formed under 

 the pressure of competition entirely domestic. It thrives because 

 the operations of the constituent baking establishments are con- 

 ducted under centralized control, by which is obtained for each 

 the advantages of the best appliances and methods, the best 

 adapted material at the lowest cost, and the most judicious distri- 

 bution of the products. 



As it often happens that the actions of a servant, performing 

 his duties quietly and efficiently to the increasing satisfaction of 

 his master, meet with no other recognition than the stipulated 

 compensation, although departure from the exact line of correct 

 performance, whether apparent or actual, whether the result of 

 ignorance, carelessness, or positive dishonesty, meets with com- 

 plaint, rebuke, and punishment, so it has happened that an indus- 

 trial combination which is but the servant of the public, so long 

 as its operations have been confined to the production and mar- 

 keting of articles for which there is a demand, of a quality and at 

 prices that satisfy that demand, has been permitted to continue 

 its functions without particular attention, receiving reward in 

 the profits accruing from the sale of its product. But the real or 

 apparent departure of such an organization from the simple per- 

 formance of such functions, whether the result of actual aggres- 

 sion or the disturbance entailed by the readjustment to changing 

 conditions, brings outcry that has been followed by that public 



