WAGES. As indicated in the discussion on prices, so far as the Trusts really make savings through their new method of organization, they have a surplus fund which could be used in some way. Testimony before the Industrial Commission. and also the events of the last few years as reported in the public press and in public meetings, seem to show that in certain instances the laborers have gained slightly from being able to take advantage of this increased ability of the Trusts to pay. The statistical in vestigation made by the United States Depart ment of Labor at the request of the Industrial Commission in 1900, while the material was not complete enough to reach positive con clusions, indicated that, so far as the evidence went, the industrial combinations had, on the whole, not brought about any lowering of the wages of labor, and had probably produced a slight increase.
The attitude of the Trusts toward the laboring classes and toward the labor unions has ap parently not differed materially from that of individuals and corporations under the com petitive system. Sonic oppose trade unions; some favor them. Some are kindly disposed toward the laborers; some are disposed to grant them no favors. So far as a tendency can be detected, it seems to be toward the consolidation on the one hand of the laborers into larger and larger unions in order that they may he able to hold their own against the combinations, and on the other, for the larger combinations to recognize that as they are themselves organized, they must themselves deal with an organized body of laborers. If this tendency can be seen, how
ever, it must he recognized that there are many exceptions.
It is somewhat. encouraging to note that in many instances the unions and the Trusts are uniting upon trade agreements for a period of a year or several years, and that through this system of trade agreements the danger of ex pensive strikes is being lessened, although as yet this custom has become by no means universal. There appears also to be a tendency for the trade unions and the employers to unite for the benefit of both and to exercise their power at the expense of the consumers by maintaining prices higher than would obtain under the competitive system. it is to be expected that this union of employers and laborers against consumers is likely to become more frequent if the Trusts and the unions increase in number and strength.