THE TRUST PROBLEM.
The Trust Problem. By J. W. Jenks. (G. P. Putnam's Sons. 3s. 6d.)—In this book Mr. j. W. Jenks, Professor of Political Science at Cornell University, discusses the question of Stets, interference with and regulation of the great American Trusts. He gives the arguments for and against State regulation with philosophic fairness, and points out that the waste of competition, especially in advertising and the wages of travelling salesmen, injures the consumer, and not infrequently drives him to deal with the great combinations, and that from the amalgamation of competing establishments the joint establishment derives the greatest benefit, owing to the more skilful organisation of labour and the "amalgamation of brains." Os the other hand, the evils of such combination appear to outweigh its benefits. The author particularly mentions the dangers of nepotism, which undoubtedly obtains in many of the great Trusts, and the fear, which he evidently regards as well founded, that such organisations may influence the Acts of Legislatures and the decisions of the Courts. To destroy the Trusts seems impossible, and the remedy would seem to be found in the enforced publication of all details concerning the organisation, condition, and profits of these combinations ; a course which would safeguard the interests of the careful investor, the consumer, and the labourer, and would be followed, as soon as a complete knowledge of the workings of the industrial machine had been attained, by "a taxing power, which that country with Prussia. He refused to assert himself, allowed I would compel a distribution of any surplus profits to
it line with many of the " Katheder-Sozialisten" and of our Fabians, who would deprive the Trusts of their most dangerous powers, and enforce the most complete publicity with regard to their structure, until the times were ripe for the Socialistic methods of production, when the combinations would be taken over by the State. Professor Jenks's contribution to economic discussion is clear and readable throughout, and its fairness of tone is really remarkable.
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