The Age of Mergers 103 
“The various small concerns will compensate for 
each other’s fluctuations to some extent, but the 
large concern will have the advantage in being better 
able to plan ahead, to study its market, and to take 
advantage of regional differences in business con- 
ditions. Furthermore, while various fluctuations of 
the small concerns may compensate for each other 
statistically, they do not do so economically. In each 
case the concern is required to maintain machinery 
and equipment sufficient to meet its maximum de- 
mand. The result is a total capacity greater than 
the single large company will find necessary. Finally, 
the wider fluctuations in the individual small com- 
panies will result in continual hiring and discharging 
of labor. Other small companies may stand ready to 
hire the man who has just been discharged, but un- 
less a number of small companies are located in the 
same community, operation by small companies will 
tend to keep a larger number of men unemployed 
than when large companies dominate the industry.” 
Mergers Grow Despite Prejudices 
These considerations indicate why big business is 
coming into its own, and men talk in sanguine terms 
about the “Fordizing” of business. Only a short 
time ago there was great prejudice against big busi- 
ness of every kind, particularly when it was obtained 
by combination. But suddenly the pent-up pressure 
toward larger business units, in spite of public 
prejudice and the opposition of politicians, has broken 
free in a wonderful period of expansion.