SOCIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF THE TRUST 1 3 



men whose executive ability has been tested do not readily turn their 

 attention to small industries. In fable and fiction, Cincinnatus may 

 leave his plow, lead his countrymen to glorious victories, and again 

 return to rural pursuits; but real human nature does not often act in 

 this way. After the Civil War great industrial schemes were conceived. 

 Railroad-building gave opportunity for the exercise of great adminis- 

 trative genius. When men conceived and executed plans for building 

 railroads from Chicago to the Pacific, other industries were thought of 

 in the same proportion. 



The desire to dominate and excel is one of the most fundamental 

 traits of human nature, and its exercise in the industrial field is one of 

 the best signs of the higher civilization. In countries where there are 

 no great industries, men born with the desire for leadership and domina- 

 tion have but one direction in which to turn their energies, and that is 

 revolution. Industrial opportunity for men of great organizing ability 

 is, therefore, a certain guarantee of the political stability of a nation. 



Such are some of the more important effects on society when industry 

 is conducted on a large scale. Since they are such as tend to the improve- 

 ment of social conditions, careful study should be given to methods of 

 controlling great industrial combinations. It is probable that the high 

 prices maintained by trusts at the present time more than counterbalance 

 the advantages enumerated in this paper, and unless some means of 

 controlling these great industries can be found, their destruction should 

 be insisted upon. 



