Page:James Ramsay MacDonald - The Socialist Movement.pdf/70

 66 the dishonest trader, but because it would effect substantial economies. We might pension off every superfluous middleman and yet society would not be poorer but richer as the result. It is because this is true that trusts can economise even with a top-heavy burden of capital.

It was stated when the American Wire Nail Association was formed in 1895, that the machinery then working in the country could produce four times the quantity of nails for which there was a demand. When the whisky combination was formed, also in America, it took over eighty plants and found it could produce up to the demand with twelve. The Sugar Trust was formed after eighteen of the forty refiners in the United States had become bankrupt. Eighteen of the survivors formed the Trust, eleven refineries were closed down, and the necessary production was carried on by seven. When combinations in our own country are formed, a similar process is gone through. Old work-places are closed, production is regulated and organised, profits are guaranteed when works are idle, economies in management are effected, processes of manufacture are specialised and differentiated. The waste involved in competitive industry is enormous, and the sheer force of circumstances is tending to eliminate it.

One further consideration must be noted. We have seen that the private ownership