By the united action of the Trust the following
economic advantages are gained--
a. The saving of the labour and the waste of competition.
b. Economy in buying and selling, in discovering and establishing new
markets.
c. The maintenance of a good quality of wares without fear of being
undersold.
d. Mutual guarantee and insurance against losses.
e. The closing of works which are disadvantageously placed or are
otherwise unnecessary to furnish the requisite supply at profitable
prices.
f. The raising of prices to a level which will give a living basis of
steady production and profit.
That all these economies are useful to the capitalists who form Trusts
will be obvious. How far they are socially useful is a more difficult
question. Reflection, however, will make one thing evident, viz. that
though the public may share that part of the advantage derived from the
more economical use of large capitals, it cannot share that portion
which is derived from the absence of competition. If two or more Trusts
or aggregations of capital are still in actual or even in potential
competition, the public will be enabled to reap what gain belongs to
larger efficient production, for it will be for the interest of each
severally to sell at the lowest prices; but if a single Trust rule the
market, though the economic advantage of the Trust will be greater in so
far as it escapes the labour of all competition, there will be no force
to secure for the public any share in this advantage.
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