. If other
trusts do likewise, I have no doubt that they will be as 'immune' as you
have been pleased to call the Consolidated Companies."

"Are you prepared to deny that, in spite of this 'benevolent' aspect of
which you boast, the profits of your corporation are greater than those
of any trust in the world?"

"I have never made the comparative analysis which would be required to
answer your question," Gorham replied; "but I do say without fear of
contradiction that no organization ever gave back to the people so large
a percentage of its earnings. It may interest Senator Hunt if I outline
the principles upon which the Consolidated Companies was conceived."

Gorham's voice was a strong asset. Its low, clear tones carried without
apparent effort, and there was a firmness and sincerity in every spoken
word which always secured attentive hearing.

"The public," he said, "has long since become accustomed to mergers and
consolidations, and has naturally associated with them the strangling of
competition and the creation and enjoyment, on the part of a few, of the
conditions of monopoly. But business exploits such as these are, in a
measure, things of the past, and cannot be repeated. Great industries
can no longer hem in their rivals, or stifle and cripple them to the
extent that fields, which by natural law are free to all, become the
field of one. The people have at last risen against this, and
consolidations will only be tolerated when confidence is established
that the masses will be benefited. When the scheme of the Consolidated
Companies first became known, it was bitterly opposed by the public, who
saw in it nothing other than a new and more gigantic octopus, to feed
upon its very life-blood.

"From the very beginning, both from principle and from what I consider
to be sound business sense, I have endeavored by word and act to
convince the public that the Consolidated Companies intended to serve
its best interests, and our unprecedented success is the best evidence I
could offer that I have, at least in part, succeeded. Our stockholders
are men in high positions of trust, and they cannot continue to deliver
contracts to us unless we make good our promises to execute those
concessions to the advantage of the people. To-day, wherever the
Consolidated Companies is known, the public looks with approval upon
favors shown us by its officials, and this in itself is an asset to our
corporation of untold value. Bread, co