amount of soap or spices consumed. If it did, the advertising could scarcely be considered an economic loss. The purpose of the advertising is not chiefly to persuade customers to buy more soap or spices, but to use Pears' instead of Colgate's, or Ivory soap instead of Babbitt's, or one favorite brand of spices instead of another. Such expense of advertising must, of course, add greatly to the cost of the goods to the consumer. It is probably not too much to say that in many lines it would be possible, if the competitive advertising were rendered unnecessary, to furnish as good quality of goods to the consumers, permit them to pick their brands, and charge them only one-half the prices paid at present, while still leaving to the manufacturer a profit no less great than that now received. The men now employed in the work of advertising might well put their efforts to better use in the service of the consumers. High as is the artistic quality of some of the advertising, its educative effect would doubtless be reached in other ways at less cost.

The anxiety to make sales in time of sharp competition leads also, in many cases, to extension of credits beyond what is wise, and the

manufacturer, fearing to lose a customer, will often fail to exercise due diligence in the collection of debts owed him. A large combination, having control of a large proportion of its class of goods in the market, can readily avoid these difficulties, and Trust managers testify that their losses from bad debts have been very greatly lessened through combination.

Whenever competitive business is carried on through many establishments, each working on a small scale, and particularly when the industry is one in which many qualities of goods of a somewhat similar nature are manufactured, the buyer is often put to considerable expense in going from one manufacturer to another in order to secure the variety of qualities which will satisfy his needs. A large establishment which carries substantially all the leading qualities in stock, and which can thus supply the demands of any customer without trouble to himself beyond the presentation of his order, will readily secure trade which would otherwise be lost. This ease in securing orders is often a great source of saving to a combination. The Distilling Company of America found it advisable to purchase several of the leading brands

of rye whiskeys in order that customers might supply themselves not only with alcohol, spirits, and standard grades of corn whiskeys, but also, without leaving the establishment, with a sufficient number of the finer brands of rye whiskeys, so that all their needs in these directions would be met.

A similar advantage comes from keeping a stock so large that the largest order can be filled at once. It has been estimated by some conversant with the sugar business that the American Sugar Refining Company, on account of its ability to supply any customer with all the sugar that he can require at any time, is able frequently to secure one-sixteenth of a cent more per pound than some of its competitors, they being compelled to go one-sixteenth below the regular market price in order to effect a sale.

These two advantages apply, of course, to department stores and to any large establishment, but they strengthen the tendency toward control of the market in many cases, even though monopoly has not been reached.

Large sums of money are frequently spent by competitors in the payment of cross freights which might readily be saved by combination.

When the Michigan Salt Association was formed some years ago for the special purpose of effecting sales through a single agency, it acted as the sales agent for salt wells on both the east and west sides of the State of Michigan. Orders for salt to supply Chicago and the West were filled regularly from the salt-manufacturing establishments on Lake Michigan, while those for Detroit, Toledo, Cleveland, and the East, as far as salt was shipped in that direction, were supplied from those on Lake Huron and the St. Clair River, a saving thus being made of the shipment of salt across the State of Michigan by rail or around the State by boat through the Straits of Mackinaw. This saving in freights was great enough to make a profit for those in the Association, when the sale of salt to be shipped the longer distances at the same prices would inevitably have resulted in a loss.

In like manner, the Standard Oil Company, with its large refineries at Bayonne, N. J., on the Atlantic seaboard, and others at Whiting, near Chicago, aside from any question of freight discrimination, is enabled to secure a great advantage over many of its rivals who have but a single refinery from which all orders must be

shipped both East and West. The Tin Plate and Steel Companies, when organized into large combinations, made similar saving in cross freights, Mr. Gates, of the American Steel and Wire Company, estimating their saving at more than $500,000 a year, while other manufacturers name also large savings. It will be noted that this advantage comes particularly to those manufacturers whose goods are bulky, so that the freight forms an essential part of the cost to the consumer. Manufacturers of ribbons, watches, or other expensive and highly finished goods, while able to obtain a slight advantage in this direction, would yet find freight but a small part of their expense.

For some years before the formation of the old Whiskey Trust, the capacity of the existing distilleries was far more than was necessary to supply the normal demand of the country at profitable prices. In consequence, agreements were made from time to time among nearly all the leading distillers to restrict the output. One year each distiller pledged himself to run his plant at only 40 per cent. of its full capacity. Another year the agreement limited the output to only 28 per cent. of the full capacity. After