ems to be true that the popular agitation has had no effect in
lessening the number of trusts, or checking their formation and growth;
and they continue to increase and to gather their profits, while the
public impotently wonders what it is going to do about it. Let us be
careful, however, to make no assumption that the trust is injurious to
the public at large. That is a matter which is before us for
investigation.

It is safe to assume that the reader is somewhat familiar with the
general charges which have been brought against the trusts; but even if
this side of the story has not been heard, it is not unfair to look at
them first from the standpoint of the men who make and manage them. In
order to do this, suppose we select some particular trust which will
serve as a type, and imagine that some frank, candid manufacturer, who
is a member of this trust, comes before us to give an account of its
formation and operations. This man comes, we suppose, not as an
unwilling informant, or as one on trial. He is frank, honest, and
plain-spoken. He talks as man to man, and gives us, not the specious
argument of an eloquent pleader in defence of trusts, but just that view
of his trust and its work that his own conscience impels him to take.
Certainly, then, he deserves an impartial hearing.

A number of years ago the principal manufacturers of linseed oil in
the United States formed an association. It was started largely for
social ends, and was very successful. Business men are generally
most interested in their own plans and operations; and those who
are familiar with the same topics and have similar interests and
purposes are apt to make agreeable companions for each other. We
discussed many points connected with the management of our business
at the meetings, and by interchanging with each other our views
and experiences with different devices, methods of management,
etc., we were able to get much valuable information, as well as
social pleasure, from meeting one another.

Now within the past few years things have been going from bad to
worse with the manufacturers of linseed oil. The long and short of
it all was that the margin between the cost of the raw seed and
running our mills, and what we could get for the oil cake and the
linseed oil in the market, has grown exceedingly narrow. It's hard
to tell just what has caused it. They say o