between organized capital and organized labor, the sympathy of the public will be on the side of labor; so that whatever benefit comes to either side from the pressure of public opinion is likely to accrue to the laborer. There is, to be sure, on the part of a good many a prejudice against labor unions, and particularly against those that have assumed great proportions and acquired great strength. It is possible that public opinion might even turn against them, provided they were to control substantially all of the workingmen in any line of industry. But it is much more likely that, for a long time to come, the aggressions of capital will arouse much more hostility on the part of the public than those of labor. In this contest, then, between the Trusts and the laborers, the advantage of public opinion will remain chiefly with the laborer. Contests between the Trusts and their employees have rarely arisen on a large scale in spite of the cases named, if we except the great coal strike of 1902, and the strikes against the Standard Oil Company. The great strikes in the cotton industry at Lawrence, Mass., and in the silk mills at Paterson, N. J., were not against an industrial combination and the railroad controversies are not to be considered here.

Attention has already been called to the fact that certain classes of workingmen, such as commercial travellers, are no longer needed in so great numbers by the combinations as by the separate competing establishments. It will be recalled that the Whiskey Combination was able to dispense with the services of some three hundred travelling men upon its organization; that the American Steel and Wire Company was able

to discharge some two hundred travelling men; and many other similar instances have been found.

Naturally the travelling men themselves, and in many cases others, are inclined to think that this discharge of travelling men is in itself a serious industrial evil. Reflection, however, will show that if the work is really rendered no longer necessary in order to supply the needs of consumers, or if the work can be equally well done by fewer men, the saving of this labor is a distinct industrial gain similar to that which is found upon the introduction of a new machine. It is true, of course, that suffering is likely to be the lot of those discharged; as, in earlier days, upon the introduction of the power loom, many of the weavers were reduced to poverty, even to starvation. If, however, as seems to be the case, a real saving is effected by combination, though individuals may suffer, the working classes as a whole will be benefited, not merely by the reduced price of the article itself (if the Trust permits it to be reduced), so far as they are consumers, but also, within a comparatively short time, by the increased demand that will come for their services through the increased demand for the goods brought about by lowered prices. The advocates of the combinations do not hesitate to claim that this will be the effect, and any careful thinker will be inclined to agree that if the saving is a real one this must be the case, unless the Trust itself absorbs all the savings.

Aside from the commercial travellers, however, the class of employees that seems to be injured most is that of the superintendents or of the higher officers of the corporations which enter into the combination.

In not a few instances, many of the officers have been removed.

Judge Gary, formerly president of the Federal Steel Company, testified before the Industrial Commission that large savings had been effected through the displacement of unnecessary officers in the companies which entered the Federal Steel Company, and that some gain had also been made by the reduction of the salaries of officers that remained, inasmuch as they were given less responsible positions. He submitted a table showing the number of employees of all classes during the years 1898 and 1899, with their comparative wages. This showed an increase of 4.76 per cent. in the number of officers and clerks, but a decrease of 6.26 per cent. in their average daily pay, making a slight decrease in the total expenditures. Considering the decided increase in the number of laborers and the large increase also in the amount of business done, that seems to be a noticeable saving.

Mr. Gates, Chairman of the American Steel and Wire Company, testified also to the same effect. The official organizations of the separate plants that are in the American Steel and Wire combination had been to a considerable extent done away with. Each plant formerly had its president, vice-president, manager, and other officers, most of whom had been discharged, the business being put in the charge of the men in the central offices in New York and Chicago and the plants being operated under the direction of district superintendents. He was of the opinion that perhaps 50 per cent. of the high-priced officers had been dispensed with, as well as the two hundred travelling men mentioned before.

The fact that the laborers discharged by the combinations are to a considerable extent superintendents and travelling men, two classes of high-priced laborers, is likely to promote less hostility on the part of the laboring classes than if it were the ordinary workingmen who were discharged. In either case, however, the industrial effect depends, of course, on the use that is made of these savings. If they go entirely to increase the salaries of the officers that remain, or perhaps even in dividends to the stockholders, the savings will be considered of less general industrial benefit than if they go, to a considerable degree, at least, to the public in the way of reduced prices or to the common laborers in increased wages.

The experience so far would seem to show that labor has been made more efficient by combinations of capital; that, owing to the better organization, there is a larger average output per workman; and that the benefits of this increased efficiency for a time at least have been divided between employers and workmen. The price charts seem on the whole to indicate that probably eventually the consumers also have gained in lower prices while competitors-at any rate the strong ones -have not been destroyed. Speaking generally, at any rate, no damage to the laborers as a class seems to have resulted, either in the way of decreased wages, in spite of the classes mentioned before that have clearly been injured, or in the way of less steadiness of employment. In fact, it is probable, as regards the latter feature, that employment may be made, and probably has been made, somewhat more steady, in spite of the fact that in some instances individual plants have been

closed, apparently with no good reason, excepting to shorten the output in order that prices may be kept up, or, worse yet, to affect the stock market. Such acts cannot be too severely condemned. Happily they are not common, and the evil can apparently be reached by legislation. Numerous charges to the effect that the combinations have shortened the output in different industries for the sake of putting up prices have, of course, been made, but a careful study of all the evidence presented in different investigations along this line seems to show that this contention is often not justified. It is doubtless true that in individual cases plants have been closed for the sake of cutting off some one rival; but, generally speaking, plants closed are either unfortunately situated or have not been skilfully managed. The former total output has usually been maintained or even increased though the number of plants has lessened.

If the power of the labor organizations keeps itself commensurate with that of the combinations of capital, it is probable that the tendency toward the combination of these two at the expense of the consumer will, for a time at least, increase. The plan suggested by Mr. E. J. Smith, of Birmingham, England, to avoid strikes and other difficulties between employers and their employees, was of this nature. His suggestion was that combinations complete enough to control in good part an entire industry be made among employers on the one hand and trade unions on the other; that a committee representing both classes fix the relations between them as regards wages, and to a considerable extent also as regards prices, it being understood that wages shall