“The courts.  Having but one man—­the responsible manager—­to deal with, protective legislation and its enforcement would be a very simple matter.  If there were a thousand manufacturers of safety pins, scattered all over the country in as many jurisdictions, there would be no controlling them at all.  They would cheat, not only one another but the consumers, with virtual immunity.  But there is no disposition among our trusts to do any such thing.  Each has the whole market, as I said, and each has learned by experience what the manager of a large business soon must learn, and what the manager of a small one probably would not learn and could not afford to apply if he knew it—­namely, that low prices bring disproportionately large sales and therefore profits.  Prices in this country are never put up except when some kind of scarcity increases the cost of production.  Besides, nearly all the consumers are a part of the trusts, the stock of which is about the best kind of property for investment.”

“What!” I cried,—­“do not the managers so manipulate the stock by ‘watering’ it and otherwise as to fool and cheat the small investors?”

“We should not permit them.  That would be dishonest.”

“So it is in my country,” I replied, rather tartly, for I believed his apparent naivete assumed for my confusion, “but we are unable to prevent it.”

He looked at me somewhat compassionately, I thought.  “Perhaps,” he said, “not enough of you really wish to prevent it.  Perhaps your people are—­well, different from mine—­not worse, you understand—­just different.”

I felt the blood go into my cheeks and hot words were upon my tongue’s end, but I restrained them; the conditions for a quarrel were not favorable to my side of it.  When I had mastered my chagrin and resentment I said: 

“In my country when trusts are formed a great number of persons suffer, whether the general consumer does or not—­many small dealers, middle men, drummers and general employees.  The small dealer is driven out of the business by underselling.  The middle man is frequently ignored, the trust dealing directly, or nearly so, with the consumer.  The drummer is discharged because, competition having disappeared, custom must come without solicitation.  Consolidation lets out swarms of employees of the individual concerns consolidated, for it is nearly as easy to conduct one large concern as a dozen smaller ones.  These people get great sympathy from the public and the newspapers and their case is obviously pitiable.  Was it not so in this country during the transition stage, and did not these poor gentlemen have to”—­the right words would not come; I hardly knew how to finish.  “Were they not compelled to go to work?” I finally asked, rather humbly.

The great official was silent for several minutes.  Then he spoke.

“I am not sure that I understand you about our transition state.  So far as our history goes matters with us have always been as they are to-day.  To suppose them to have been otherwise would be to impugn the common sense of our ancestors.  Nor do I quite know what you mean by ‘small dealers,’ ‘middle men,’ ‘drummers,’ and so forth.”