Page:Alexander Jonas - Reporter and Socialist (1885).djvu/41

 the whole market, are competing with each other and every one of them is hoping to sell more of his goods than the man he directly competes with. Neither will there be any more bankruptcies; for, the one man who supplies the whole country, cannot fail under any circumstances; bankruptcies are only the consequence of competition. There are other advantages for the one big monopolist who has swallowed all the rest of his competitors. He can place his factories where the raw material is handy, so that he loses nothing by costly transportation; and he can also introduce a system of the most rational division of labor, by which he saves an immense amount of wages; furthermore, he can buy all the necessaries of his process of production at wholesale, or cheaper than his former competitors could. So you see, that the cost of such a system of production being considerably reduced, there would be no expenses for advertising the goods, and other advantages would contribute to make the position of that single manufacturer exceedingly agreeable.

No one would doubt that, but I do not understand what you are driving at.

Have some patience. You'll soon see it, and you will then perfectly understand it. The result of all these advantages on the part of this one manufacturer of agricultural implements would be that he could, with a smaller number of workers and with less capital than his former competitors needed, produce as much as was produced formerly; or, with the same number of workers and the same amount of capital he could produce more than the 1943 manufacturers produced in 1880.

Take, for instance, for simplicity's sake, the latter proposition; and, suppose that there was a demand also for such a larger quantity of products, as the manufacturer, who exactly knows the general demand, would not otherwise produce it.

Very well; and it would be no exaggeration if we suppose the aggregate value of all products (of the agricultural implements) produced at such extraordinary advantages would be 100 millions instead of 69 millions, as it is to-day.