tween the capitalists themselves. This war has no national distinction. It is fought just as furiously and mercilessly between countries as well as within the country. The method of fighting is to undersell each other, in order to exhaust the weaker rivals so that the victor may control the market alone and dictate terms to the consuming public as long as possible. The result of the commercial war is no less harmful and cruel to the vanquished foes than an armed conflict. This war has become more and more furious every day since the adoption of machinery for production. It was once thought by the economists of the Adam Smith school that competition was a beneficent factor and a sound economic system, but modern economists discovered that it is a very wasteful and ruinous system. As a matter of fact, modern economic tendencies work in a contrary direction, that is, towards concentration instead of competition. That is the reason why the trusts in America flourish in spite of the anti-trust law and the public opinion which aim at suppressing them. For trusts, by eliminating waste and cutting down expenses can produce much cheaper than individual producers. Whenever a trust enters into a certain field of industry, it always sweeps that field clean of rivals, by supplying cheap articles to the public. This would prove a blessing to the public but for the unfortunate fact that the trust is a private concern, and its object is to make as much profit as possible. As soon as all rivals are swept clean from the field of competition, the trust would raise the price of its articles as high as possible. Thus
