Excerpt from Industrial Peace, Vol. 6 IN former articles we have discussed the various forces which tend to come into operation when industry is carried on under competitive conditions. The attitude of the law of this country hitherto has been that the interests of the community. As regards industry. Will be well served if buyers and sellers are left to compete freely among themselves. Competition among buyers will ensure a fair price to the seller. And the competition of the sellers among themselves will prevent undue exactions from the consumer. But in fact, competition - free competition - is no longer the characteristic of Western industry. In some industries the march of inven tion has given us services which depend for their efficiency on single control, whilst in others, the obvious waste of competitive production for uncertain markets has led the manufacturer to combine with his competitors in so-called Trusts. Combines. And Kartells. Free competition has already ceased to exist in many fields of industry, and the tendency is undoubtedly towards closer and more widespread combination. There is a growing feeling that the laissez-jaire policy which was considered so excellent in a free country is inadequate in face of this subtle change from competition to combination, and that the principle of award in proportion to useful activity is no longer operative. The disorganisation of the war has aggravated the appearance of evil. And Communist and Syndicalist agitators too readily exploit real grievances for ends that cannot cure them. What is monopoly? How. And why does it arise? Is it good or is it bad? What are the alternatives? We shall endeavour here to give as simply as possible the elementary facts and theory of the case. The future aspect of the problem and constructive measures for its solution will be dealt with in another series of articles beginning in our April issue. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.