Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-08-26
Gigantic Mergers Intrigue U. S.
Continued from First page.)

Continued from First Page.)
"Of all the sensitive souls, the big cor
| porations take the prize nowadays! They
| live by consumer good will and they
know it now, and they get very nervous
when they're criticized. The bigger and
better they are. the more healthily
nervous they get at criticism.
They are certainly different giants,
| most of them, from the old man .eating,
| corrupt days! A consumer is safer
with a big modern corporation than
With a great many unsocialized, selfish.
f1y-by-night individual business con-
Germs"
Why Attitude Has Changed.
Three highly interesting develop
ments are responsible for this reversal
OF the old hatred and fear of business
giants. The first is the psychological
law Of adaptation.
An ex-Congressfnan was exchanging
"reminiscences the other day TO his as
sociates in a political club I'm hop
ing III 1--we long enough TO see the day
when our national budget goes TO a
| trillion," said the ex-Congressman, put
ting his thumbs in his vest and cooking
his cigar at an angle. Then you
younger men will see political fireworks
Just like there were when ii got to q
billion. The people OF these United
States have hard time keeping their
minds tuned TO big enough size. They
| hated millionaires because they couldn't
| count million They hated big cor
| porations because they feared their
| bigness.
When the Government budget
| touched billion. people were quite sure
II must be corrupt. I'll never forget the
| excitement in Congress over IT, The
average man said This is getting too
big for me To comprehend there's dirty
/ work somewhere That's been the pen
/ Peoples minds are not rubber--thev
| can't stretch them quickly to such
/ lengths. Yet our progress must go on,
| We must have great billion dollar cor
/ poratl0ns. billions In our Government
| budgets, and even billionaires Unfa-
/ niliar size always strikes fear into peo-
! pie"
/ The second reason is that the people
/ q the United States are now co-oWners
/ Of big business There are at least IS -
/ 500 600 shareholders In American cor
/ porations: some believe It To be 10000, =
! 900. We do not fear something we are
a part Of.
Most remarkable and significant Of all
Is the third reason; the business giants
! themselves have changed greatly.
The new giants In business are OF
/ two klnds-~those Of size greater than
/ known before and those OF type UNI
! known before AS those Of merely great
| er size represent no new principle we
J can pass on TO the new types At firgt
all mergers and consultations were
/ merely horizOntal-.that Is a steel com
! pany buying out another steel company
/ etc. Then We developed the newer YER
4 teal type like Ford or General Motors
/ Or United States Steel. which spreads
/ out lis operations 10 include the manu-
iacture Or mining Of all the materials
! that II uSes. Ford and United States
: Steel, for instance, mine their own coal
! and ote, and eIen own their own rail-
j ways 10 haul st.
! Nov comes the newest type~~the cir
: euiar consolidation which consolidate
( al kinds u products under one owner
/ snip The Postum Co, for instance
! no~ makes and sells n18ynnnaise. Gheco.
/ late. c9coanut. coffee, tapioos. etc, a.
vel az breakfast food and coffee sub
/ stlthtfGi This IL not merely m ri
! laHcoGk hapfIazaFd collection IT IN ba tsd
/ On new principle that Of bringing
together products for distribution and
f. sales economy.
Consultations IN the past have al
most always been based On production
{ or financial ownership economies Bat
today distribution Is the great key prob
/ lem. for production Is at high state ot
/ development
What About Individual.
Some one is sure 10 ask once more The
! old question What about the fortunes
u the individual under this amazing IN
crease Of business 2iants7 Aren't we
all soon going 10 be shaving as mere EN-
pioyes for big corporationg7"
Fear of this is not exciting the
American people for two very good
reasons. First. the new business giants
as already indicated are owned very
largely by the public and by employees
which makes tH ali able to share in
pride ~ ownership Of big business
This cures the feeling that We are
mere" employees out on the Rock
Island Railway couple of brakemen
started q few years ago 10 drum az
freight trade for the road and before