ernment recognizes that the cartel through its rigid and efficient business organization, has proved a rock of strength in periods of business depression and commercial crisis, and concedes that it has brought order, stability, and efficiency into the German coal business. Not long ago, when the cartel agreement was about to expire, some of the larger members were disposed not to renew it. The Imperial Federal Council intervened and enforced the renewal of the agreement until March 31, 1917. The government openly states that a dissolution of the cartel would result in the disorganization of the coal business of Germany, would seriously affect labor conditions, and bring about ruinous price-cutting and destructive competition.

Fair, intelligent competition is properly consid- 、 ered by the American public as the best regulator of business. But when competition produces waste and results in demoralization, when competition breaks down, another method of regulating business must be devised. Price fixing and monopoly as means of regulating business have been discredited and discarded. But if an industry is inefficient through unrestricted competition, the government cannot consistently insist upon the enforcement of the Sherman Law and at the same time refuse its active constructive aid. When competition fails to regulate, the government must step in and regulate. ·

B

IN CONCLUSION

OTH public and private effort should be united in the work of perfecting American

business. Material prosperity is vitally connected with the happiness of all-business men, employes, and general public. If business is unhealthy or sick, we all suffer and sooner or later we pay the price.

Before the really big work of perfecting American business can be done there must be a change of heart on the part of both business men and those public men placed by the people in charge of government. Business men on their part must cease to look to immediate profits at the expense of the soundness of their business. They need and must have a more comprehensive view of business; they must look at their business in the light of its self-perpetuation and future strength and also in its relation to the other members of the same industry. Government on its part must abandon the attitude of the policeman and become the sympathetic, constructive counsellor of American business life.

Private initiative must continue to be the great motive force of business. Business men must aid themselves. They should scrap forever unsound

business methods and all adopt methods which are thorough-which will enable them at any time to know the exact condition of their business. The element of guess, wherever it exists, must go. Cost accounting must be accurate and detailed enough to permit an intelligent pricing of goods. Financial statements must be honest. System must prevail throughout our manufacturing and merchandising establishments. Waste of materials and labor must stop in every stage of production and marketing. The need of better methods is evidenced by the eagerness with which thousands of progressive business men are seeking light on this subject.

Having put their own houses in order, business men must get together. Shying bricks at each other、 across the street does not belong to the new era of American business. No business can go far toward true success if suspicion and fear are the impulses which govern its members. Trade associations are the machinery of coöperation. Through them ignorant competition can be destroyed to a large extent merely by throwing light upon it, and the basis upon which business is conducted can be generally made more intelligent. The best way to cure some sores is not to cover them up but to cut them out, and business men working together in trade associations can, as a rule, perform such operations with less difficulty than any one else. Trade associations are, in a way which we do not yet appreciate in this country, the means of salvation for American

business. In a thousand ways they can help to lift American business to a higher plane of efficiency.

Another field which American business men can develop by means of coöperation is foreign trade. It offers fair profits and a sure method of stabilizing domestic business. In foreign trade our business men face the competition of the keenest men of other nations, and coöperation in this struggle will teach them not only the value, but the necessity of both efficiency and coöperation. The development of American foreign trade is not only a privilege, but a duty of American business men. It is a field in which national wealth and prestige can be increased. Here inefficiency and quarreling among ourselves mean national disgrace. We do not realize how much the conduct of our merchants affects the standing of America beyond our shores.

There are some big tasks which cannot be done by business men, either individualy or collectively. Government alone is adequate to undertake them, and it must leave its position of seclusion-get away from its negative, watch-dog frame of mind-and take a hand actively in these big tasks.

Government's first duty is to make business fair. In the great majority of business enterprises, if competition is fair, competition will take care of the interests of the consumer and business man alike. Government's second duty is to give business the information that will enable it to act intelligently. Competition cannot be fair unless it is intelligent.

Government is by far the best agency to collect and distribute the information which will give those seeking sound investments a comprehensive knowledge of the state of our industries. It is the duty of government, through the exercise of its function of disseminating summarized information and analyzing economic conditions, to give business men a comprehensive view of their industries so that they may take measures to cure their trouble. For when a business ruins itself through ignorance of true conditions not it alone but its competitors and the general public are bound to suffer.

Finally in those exceptional cases where competition fails to regulate and produce beneficial results it is the duty of government, in behalf of the public, to step in and establish some form of governmental regulation. When conditions of grave demoralizations arise in business, whether in relation to prices or to public welfare, men instinctively appeal to government for counsel and for some agency of relief. The experience of other countries has shown that it is sometimes beneficial, not only to business men but to the public, to restrict or even eliminate competition entirely, and in such cases organizations for the purpose of controlling the market have been operated with great success under the strict control and regulation of government.

Business common sense requires us to carry on our affairs scientifically and to work together to accomplish an end admitted to be for the good of all.