Considering carefully the great scheme of manufacturing, and the immense industrial problem of supplying the wants of the people of this great country and providing for the vast volume of trade that goes abroad, by the modern manufacturing plants equipped with all that is latest and best in machinery for every conceivable purpose, it should not be forgotten that, as the very basis and foundation of the whole, stands the modern _machine tool_, and that it is principally to the great and important development of this that we owe primarily our industrial growth and prosperity as a manufacturing nation. To the machine tool may easily be traced the gradual but continued upward tendency of the mechanic and his methods, from the hard physical toil and small pay of the early days, to the immeasurably lighter exertion and increased compensation made possible by the highly developed condition of the automatic machines of the present day. It has been an oft─repeated victory of "mind over matter," wherein _brains_ have won where _hands_ made but little advance; _ideas_ have developed wonderful mechanisms that have revolutionized the earlier methods of manufacturing and raised the standard of mechanical excellence beyond what was thought possible years ago, and at the same time reduced the cost to a fraction of its former amount. Here, again, the capitalist furnished the means whereby the practical realization of the ingenious designs of the mechanic's fertile brain became possible, and the successful combination of capital and labor brought success to both. =Combinations of Capital.= But here comes our critical labor agitator again with the comment: "It is all very well to talk about the amicable relations of capital and labor, and how each ought to help the other, but how about the great combinations of capital that we ordinarily call "trusts"? To give a correct and intelligent, as well as a fair and truthful answer to this question, we must know the _conditions_ under which the combination is formed, the _plan_ upon which it is organized, and the _object_ of its formation. As these are not given, we must assume the conditions of some well─known combination. Let it be the United States Steel Corporation. One of the foremost men in this combination has defined his position on the subject, and in so doing has outlined the policy of the corporation, by saying: "Any combination of capital which operates, _first_, to prevent competition; _second_, to increase the price of the product; and _third_, to reduce the wages of the workmen, is working under a trio of wrong principles that sooner or later will bring about disaster." Let us see how the actual operation of this combination of capital really works out in practice. _First_──The Steel Corporation has never sought to prevent competition. Steel mills, large and small, have operated when, where, and how they pleased, with no interference from the Steel Corporation.