Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 9.djvu/222

 WHAT ATTITUDE SHOULD THE GOVERNMENT ASSUME TOWARD THE TRUSTS?

EVERY generation has problems peculiar to itself for settle- ment. This fact might well be said to be the test of progress. If a people were dormant, no new questions of any moment would arise. It is only when new policies are entered upon, calling for a determination of conduct toward that policy, that the most serious reflection, followed by action, is demanded and commanded. Judging from discussions, both by the press and by legislative assemblies, the trust problem must be conceded as one of those grave questions with which we must cope.

The principle of combination is not a new one, and the main difference between the combination of today and that of a hun- dred years ago, aside from the mere matter of form, is but a difference of degree. The industrial surroundings, however, in which each existed are quite diverse. A hundred years ago there were no elaborate systems of railroads, no telegraph sys- tems, no telephone lines, but all communications were through primitive methods. As a result of such conditions the effect of any combination, for good or for evil, was necessarily limited to a very small market area. The combination of today or the modern "trust," as it is popularly called possesses a more far- reaching influence. With the improved means of communication that have been developed in the United States, combinations have been effected uniting plants as far distant as is the Atlantic from the Pacific. For instance, the American Sugar Refining Co. owns plants, that once were independent, in Philadelphia on the east and San Francisco on the west. Under such conditions the effect of a combination in a single industry may extend over the entire area of the United States, and in some cases even beyond the seas.

It is evident that, through a more or less gradual transition, we are confronted with a new problem, which has of recent years been agitated with great vigor, seemingly for the purpose of

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