THE DAY OF THE TRUST.

Waikato Times, Volume 103, Issue 17409, 23 May 1928, Page 6

THE DAY OF THE TRUST.

The proposed formation *of two powerful companies with a combined capital of £110,000,000 'io control the international communications of the world," draws attention to the remarkable economic developments since the war. Years ago there were trusts in many lands, but with few exceptions their operations were limited to one country, while of late years there have been evolved world trusts involving industries and enterprises that recognise no national boundaries. Europe supplies many illustrations of this latterday economic trend towards great amalgamations of an international character, and perhaps one of the most important is an iron and steel merger that embraces leading French, German and Belgian firms. But even within the individual countries, reorganisations arc proceeding apace, and only recently it was reported that an effort anticipated to prove successful, was being made to amalgamate certain steel and coal companies in Canada with combined assets of approximately £31,000,000. Still another phase of the same tendency is the development of multiple shops in Great Britain, where one company owns over 1000 provision shops, has a. nominal capital of over £3,000,000, and is in such a strong financial position that it has no reason to fear any competition in its particular type of business. Probably the great firm of Courtaulds Ltd., provides one of the most amazing developments in modern industry, and now as an ordinary company has a share capital of £24,000,000 and vast interests in both European and American artificial silk concerns. Although the radio-cable merger in Great Britain will have a capital of £55,000,000, it will not be the largest company, for the authorised capital of Lever Bros. is £130,000,000, of which £64,000,000 has been issued, while Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd., which combined leading firms of Great Britain recently, has a capital of £65,000,000. Schemes of amalgamation arc proceeding rapidly and a proposal is under consideration for uniting some hundreds of Lancashire cotton mills under one control, the promoters contending that great benefits could be derived by buying cotton in bulk, establishing a central control of selling, and standardising production. If this corporation is formed it will absorb at least two million spindles. In many other directions this vast economic organisation is strikingly apparent, and supplies of such fundamentally important commodities as rubber and potash are passing into the control of powerful associations. The operations of these great concerns will obviously limit (as a contemporary points out), if not eliminate, transactions between individual firms, and the co-operation of capitalists and industrialists of different nationalities may be welcomed as a form of internationalism, likely to play an important part in establishing better relations between the peoples. There are, however, critics who contend that this new alignment, of economic strength may constitute a danger to the future peace of the world.