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IXDIAJsTA U^v^IVERSITY 



handling large or rush orders. The ordinary advantages of large 

 scale prodnction. such as economy in the nse of capital and labor, 

 and in management, are generally secured. However, the large 

 companies do not make the most of their opportunities in the way 

 of utilization of waste material, probably largely because com- 

 petition has not yet forced them to do so. 



It is natural, therefore, that production on a large scale should 

 be increasing. There are as yet no great corporations seeking 

 a monopoly of the oolitic business, though an abortive attempt 

 at monopoly appears to have been made by Mr. John Crofton 

 during^ the period of industrial depression from 189J: to 1897. 

 Xor Avould it appear that such a monopoly would be especially 

 profitable, owing to the great variety of building materials and 

 the resulting variabilit}?- in the demand for the stone. There is, 

 however, a considerable complexity of interests — one man often 

 owning stock in a number of companies — a fact which may be 

 supposed to exert some tendency toward a further consolidation. 

 There is at least one case in which four companies, supposedly 

 separate, have a unified control. Generally, however, the large 

 companies are nominally, as well as in fact, single concerns. 



The smaller companies may be grouped roughly into two 

 classes: (1) those which have been in the field for some time, 

 and whose manager is usually a practical quarryman and one of 

 the chief stockholders; and (2) those newer companies, rather 

 more speculative in character, whose stockholders have little or 

 no technical knowledge of the business, and generally hire un- 

 interested managers. 



It would appear that companies of the second class have not. 

 on the whole, been so successful. Often they have not the ad- 

 vantage of being directed by a personally interested manager, 

 nor are they able to pay the high salaries necessary to secure 

 the most efficient superintendents. Sometimes the failure of 

 these companies is directly traceable to poor management; in 

 other cases the cause of failure is less easily found. A compari- 

 son of wage scales shoAvs some variations in the rates of pay in 

 the same region, but the variations appear to be about as fre- 

 quently in favor of the small companies as the contrary. It is 

 possible that the smaller firms have been discriminated against 

 by the railways, but this does not seem to be generally true at 

 present. 



Doubtless the most common cause of the failure of such com- 

 panies is insufficient capital. Usually the shares issued by them 



