So much for the moral principle. What proportion of the surplus gains of monopoly are due to extortionate prices rather than to economies in production, cannot be known even approximately. According to Justice Brandeis, who is one of the most competent authorities in this field, only a very small part of these gains are derived from superior efficiency.[168] Professor E. S. Meade writes: "During a decade [1902-1912] of unparalleled industrial development, the trusts, starting with every advantage of large capital, well-equipped plants, financial connections, and skilled superintendence, have not succeeded."[169] On the other hand, President Van Hise thinks that, "the weight of argument is strongly in favour of the increased efficiency of large combinations of industry on the average."[170] The difference of opinion existing among students of this subject is due to lack of adequate data, particularly to the absence of such uniform and comprehensive systems of accounting as would be required to provide a basis for reliable general conclusions. Opposing particular statements may be equally true, because based upon different instances; but general statements are little better than guesses. Let us approach the question from another side, that of prices. Whenever the charges imposed by monopolistic concerns upon their products are higher than those that would have prevailed under competition, the surplus gains are obviously to that extent not due to superior efficiency. They have their source in the arbitrarily made prices. The Final Report of the United States Industrial Commission, which was made at the beginning of the year 1902, declared that, "in most cases the combination has exerted an appreciable power over prices, and in practically all cases it has increased the margin between raw materials and finished products."[171] Since the cost of production had decreased during the preceding decade, this increase in the margin, and the ensuing increased profits, necessarily involved an increase in prices to the consumer. Taking the period of 1897-1910, and comparing the movement of prices between eighteen important trust-controlled products, and the same number of important commodities not produced by monopolistic concerns, Professor Meade concluded that the former were sold at a "much lower" relative level than the latter.[172] His computations were based upon figures compiled by the Bureau of Labour. According to the Commissioner of Corporations, the Standard Oil Company "has taken advantage of its monopoly power to extort prices much higher than would have existed under free competition."[173] The same authority shows that the American Tobacco Company used its power to obtain considerably more than competitive prices on some of its products.[174] Excessive prices, as measured by the standards of competition, were also established by the United States Steel Corporation, the American Sugar