“You would doubtless prefer to hear how the great changes which have taken place were brought about and learn of the events which led up to them,” continued the Colonel. “For this we must go back to the beginning of the century and the days when the various great Trusts began to grow into maturity and strength. Just prior to the beginning of the century had come the formation of the gigantic financial organizations known as the Trusts. That is to say, they were regarded as gigantic in that day, though as a matter of fact they had not yet assumed the really colossal proportions they later attained. They were then in their infancy, so to speak.” “I can recall,” remarked Kearns, “a little billion-dollar concern. Surely that was a pretty solid, bouncing infant!” “A beggarly, puny infant?” retorted the Colonel, “as compared to those born later. The Trusts grew until business upon anything but a colossal scale was an impossibility and the smaller manufacturer and the middleman were wiped out. In the course of time, by a brilliant series of consolidations, seven great Trusts were formed which practically absorbed the business of the country. The fields covered by these Trusts were respectively: Alimentation, Transportation, Manufacturing, Land, Ores and Minerals, Retailing, and finally, the great Miscellaneous Trust which took in pretty well everything not embraced by the others. These main Trusts subdivided their respective fields between numerous subsidiary Trusts; but these subsidiary Trusts all operated subject to the direction of the general head of that particular Trust. The methods adopted by these organizations involved the ruthless crushing out of all outside competition. For instance, the Retailing Trust would start in by founding baker shops all over a given city, and would sell bread at the actual cost of production. With the enormous resources at the disposal of the Trust, this plan of operations could be kept up indefinitely. What was the result? All rivals were forced either to sell out to the Trust, or go to the wall. Similar methods of procedure were adopted in other branches of retail industry, one after the other, until the cream of the retail trade in all the great cities was practically in the hands of the Trust. It was a case of steady absorption. To oppose the Trust meant ruin and this speedily came to be very thoroughly understood. Another example is the Alimentation Trust, which deals with the foodstuffs, both solid and liquid, of the country. With its enormous resources, it was enabled to corner the raw material in one product after another until all competition was forced out of existence.” “And what did the People say to all this?” inquired Dean.