one of the basic features of economic activity. Capitalism has become imperialist.
Cartels come to agreement on the conditions of sale, terms of payment, etc. They divide the markets amongst themselves. They fix the quantity of products. They fix the prices. They divide the profits, etc. The number of cartels in Germany was estimated at about 250 in 1896: at 385 in 1905, about 12,000 firms participating.7 But it is generally recognised that these figures are under-estimations. The data of German 1907 statistics, which we have cited above, show that even 12,000 of the most important firms most certainly comprise more than a half of the mechanical power (steam and electricity) of the country.
In the United States, the number of trusts grew in 1900 to 185, in 1907 to 250. American statistics divide all enterprises into three categories, according to whether they belong to individuals, to firms, or to corporations. These last possessed in 1904, 23.6 per cent., and in 1909, 25.9 per cent. (i.e., more than a quarter) of the sum total of industrial concerns. They employed in 1904, 70.6 per cent. and in 1909, 75.6 per cent. (i.e., more than three-quarters) of the total of wage-earners. Their production amounted at these two dates, respectively to 10,900,000,000, and to 16,300,000,000 dollars, i.e., to 73.7 per cent. and to 79 per cent. of the total amount of American production.
Cartels and trusts comprise fairly often seven or eight-tenths of the total production of one branch of industry. The Rhine-Westphalian Coal Syndicate at its foundation in 1893, had the disposal of 86.7 per cent. of the whole coal production of the area. In 1910, it already held 95.4 per cent.
