414 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
statements of profits, an undue advance in the quotations of existing securities takes place, new capitalization is created, and business-men rush into overproduction without duly increasing their reserves. What should be preached is the gospel of steadiness, and the new corporations are large enough and controllable enough to make for steadi- ness in a way that would have been impossible under the old conditions.
In organizing a large corporation it is essential that the individuality and good- will of the successful concerns involved shall be maintained, and so centralized in an interest in the common result as to bring the standard of all up to that of the best.
The chief advantages of large combinations of capital are as follows : Raw mate- rial bought in large quantities is secured at a lower price ; the specialization of manu- facture on a large scale in separate plants permits the fullest utilization of special machinery and processes, thus decreasing cost ; the standard of quality is raised and fixed ; the number of styles is reduced, and the best standards are adopted ; those plants which are best equipped and most advantageously situated are run continuously and in preference to those less favored ; in case of local strikes or fires the work goes on elsewhere, thus preventing serious loss ; there is no multiplication of the means of distribution ; a better force of salesmen takes the place of a larger number ; and the same is true of branch stores ; terms and conditions of sale become more uniform, and credits through comparison are more safely granted ; the aggregate of stocks granted is greatly reduced, thus saving interest, insurance, storage, and shop-wear ; greater skill in management accrues to the benefit of the whole instead of a part ; and large advantages are realized from comparative accounting and comparative administration; the grand result is a much lower market price, which accrues to the benefit of the con- sumers, both at home and abroad, and brings within reach, at the cheaper price, classes and qualities of goods which would otherwise be unobtainable by them.
Other advantages of a larger social and political nature result. The trend toward centralization of manufacture brings a wider distribution of the profits. In "hard times" each concern in the combination obtains its fair share of the reduced volume of business at fair prices, thus preventing the failures among jobbers, manu- facturers, and suppliers of raw materials. Again, national standing is promoted for the country having the larger well-managed combinations. Only such organizations can provide and operate the highly developed special machinery by which the markets of the world are controlled ; and the standard of living of the workmen can be sus- tained only by this means. — Charles R. Flint, "Industrial Organization," in Gas- sier' s Magazine, September, 1899.
Democracy in New Zealand. — To realize fully the character of the political situation in New Zealand, say in 1891, one would have to picture to himself a house of commons in which the recognized leaders of both our present parties had either not attempted to obtain seats, or, having attempted, had failed in obtaining them; and in which the administration of affairs was handed over to a cabinet consisting of men whose shibboleths and whose ideals were those of Moses Tillett and Keir Hardie. If we conceive such a cabinet, with an obedient and even enthusiastic majority at their back, we liave some conception of the sort of cabinets that ruled in New Zealand in the parliaments of 1891 and 1S94. The question, then, how it was that so little came of it all is surely one that at least presents an interesting study in the psychology of nations. On the one hand, the fact seems to indicate that, in English-speaking communities, properlv and the established order of things have less to fear from even the most complete triumph of a popular party than we are ordinarily inclined to anticipate. On the other hand, to those who entertain unbounded expectations as to the power of the state to remedy human ills, and to effect such revolutions in human affairs as would be involved in the nationalization of the land, or in doing away with or in modifying in any important respect the competitive and capitalistic systems, its lesson appears to be that, when all visible opposition has been conquered, the battle, instead of being won, has hardly commenced. When the task of transmuting theories into practical measures is once set about, it seems that impalpable, but, at the same time, insuperable obstacles present themselves, and, in one wav or another, further progress in the collectivist direction comes to a standstill, rather from the lack of inherent motive power than owing to any opposition with which the champions of socialism can do battle.
