264 INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION AND WAGES

After the unparalleled industrial expansion and prosperity
 of the past five years, the leaders of American
industry have thus come into a knowledge of the forces
which have been created, the dangers which threaten, and
the procedure which must be followed in the future in
order to secure the greatest benefits of the new industrial
order. Already the excessive costs of high-pressure salesmanship
 and distribution have been recognized and measures
 adopted to reduce the unduly high ratio of selling
costs to the expenses of production. One of the phenomenal
 outgrowths of this movement has been the development
 of systems of chain stores to enable the mass
distribution of many classes of commodities at a low selling
cost for each unit handled. Analogous to the elimination
of competitive expenditures by the formation of large
producing units to make possible mass production at low
costs, there is now in process a system of mass distribution
which has for its object the saving of the losses from
independent, competing stores and other agencies. It frequently
 provides for the direct retail distribution of commodities
 through stores and selling agencies maintained
by the producing corporations. Costs and wastes of distribution
 are being gradually eliminated and marketing of
commodities in an economical way is being reduced to a
science. The ultimate object sought is a compromise or
working adjustment between the forces of mass production
 and distribution which will yield the maximum
advantages of the new economic regime.l

A Practical CoNSTRUCTIVE PROCEDURE
Various concrete policies and methods for adjusting
production and consumption and thus preventing the losses
and unemployment of overproduction, had already been
1 Article by Evans Clark entitled “Big Business Now Sweeps Retail Trade,”
New York Times, Sunday, July 8, 1928.