The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 18, March 11, 1897 - A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls by Various
page 18 of 40 (45%)
page 18 of 40 (45%)
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manufacture at a much smaller cost than a single manufacturer, and can
control the amount of the output of the goods, so that too great a supply shall not be made at one time, and the markets be so flooded that the price falls and it no longer pays to make them. The idea of a number of persons clubbing together and helping each other with their money and brains, and working together to produce an article at the least possible cost, is of course a very excellent one. It would seem as though these methods would help to make the articles that we daily need much cheaper to us, and that the cost of living would be less. But unfortunately it is not always so. While Trusts could and should work for the benefit of the people, they are too often used as a means to harm them. When Trusts get so large that they include nearly all the manufacturers of a special article, they are not only able to produce the article at the least possible cost, but to say for how much it shall be sold. A Trust is formed that the manufacturers may make a better article at a lower cost--at least, that is what the Trusts say; but the danger is that they may obtain entire control of the market, create a monopoly, and having the public at their mercy, make the prices as high as they please. A monopoly is the sole power of dealing in any class of goods. If there were no Trusts controlling the market, no one manufacturer would |
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