St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-08-30
THE CONSOLIDATING TENDENCY

IHlS taxes shape IN enactmentS OF
nations. states and city councils, in
antitrust laws and anti-pooling
laws and anti-consolidation acts;
but in spite of 1t all, in one way or
another, the tendency manages to
find it's way safely and reach it's
ends, by circuitous and sometimes
surreptitiouS means where the
straight way is denied it. The move
ment is as old as human effort. 1t
is the realization in industry Of the
fable of the old gentleman with the
bundle Of sticks, teaching his boys
that there is strength in union. It's
germ was in the partnership which
grew into the joint stock company,
but its growth was more rapid when
the fiction of the immortal corpora
ton was conceived by some re-
sourceful lawyer With the increase
Of wealth, the spread of commerce
over the world, the Inaugural ton of
gigantic Representations SPAN
ming continents, and steamship and
cable lines crossing oceans-and with
the magnificent scope of opportunity
opening in our new world, the
growth of these combinations OF
wealth and capacity has been Won
derfully rapid and extensive.
Much there is in it all to justify
fear and opposition, but what there
is that gives reason for apprehension
is not inherent in the corporation,
but rests in the ambition, the
rapacity and want not only of con-
science but Of wise business saga
city in the managers. If it is laud-
able for two men to unite their eff
forts and capabilities to accomplish
an honest business purpose, it
is just as laudable for
hundred to do it. If it
is obstructive and detrimental to
have the business of partnerships in
terrupted by the retirement or death
Of a member, the Incorporation that
obviates this is a benefit Where
civilization would now be lingering,
plodding slowly and painfully along,
had not this tendency developed
partnerships, joint stock companies
and then corporations, is impossible
to say; but that we would be but
little beyond our ancestors of one
or two hundred years ago is GER
tain. It should not be overlooked
that the growth of combinations Of
men and capital for business ends
is purely evolutionary, and as nat
ural progress as is any other phase
Of our civilization. Step by step
it has differentiated and grown,
proving all the time valuable ad-
junct to the progress of the race,
and never more useful than now. If
it's evolutionary nature were rec
ogniZed, the wise effort of govern
ment would be to prevent the abuse
Of the power thus created and to reg
ulate effectively its exercise.
Nowhere is the tendency more
noticeable than in the development
of the railways of this country. It
has been attended at every step by
legislative jealousy, sometimes wise
ly exercised and sometimes foolishly.
The very law of the being of a rail-
way combination and the law of it's
growth is the same. Before the first
rail could be laid there was neces-
sary the joining of the wealth of
many men, and every extension of
lines has been but g. further COM
bining of effort. With larger area
there came greater opportunities for
profit, and this stimulated specuIa-
ton and rapacity, the fruits of
which are being reaped in insolv-
encies, deficits, depreciating stocks
and foreclosures. But under all the
wrong and folly and fraud there is
a substratum of great public bene-
soidation Of railway interests is
made clear by the tables in the issue
of Poors Manual for this year. Lines
Of railway have developed into sys-
TENS. From % in 1870, these have
grown in number to 62 in '94; and
from 1868 miles of road to 1885.
That this has not been injurious to
the shippers and consumers is shown
by the fact that the net earnings of
the rs systems in 1870 of $3,SS5 per
! mile, have fallen to $2,232 in "a, and
the charge per ton per mile has fallen
| from 1.99 cents to 1892 cents.
The growth of lines, by consoIida-
ton, absorption and construction. be-
tween 1880 and 1895, as given in one
of the tables, illustrates forcibly the
tendency to combination In the New
England group the Boston & Maine
has grown from a mileage of 204 to
1904. In the Middle states the Bal
timore & Ohio has a mileage of
| 1854, against LAC in 1880. The New
York Central has grown from LOO
to 1855. In the northern central
group the Burlington numbers 1905
miles, against 2,772; the Northwest