ng
machinery and its application to agriculture leads to a division of the
industry and the absorption by the factory of the parts most influenced
by the new processes. When we remember the tremendous role which complex
agencies outside of the farm play in modern agricultural industry, we
see the subject of concentration as it applies to that industry in a new
light. The grain elevators, cold-storage houses, creameries, and even
railroads, are part of the necessary equipment of production, but they
are owned and operated independently of the farm. There is a good deal
of concentration of production in agriculture which takes the form of
the absorption of some of its processes by factories instead of by other
farms.

VI

We must also distinguish between the concentration of industry and the
concentration of wealth. While there is a natural relation between these
two phenomena, they are by no means identical. The trustification of a
given industry may bring together a score of industrial units in one
gigantic concern, so concentrating capital and production, but it is
conceivable that every one of the owners of the units which compose the
trust may have a share in it equal to the capital value of his
particular unit, but more profitable. In that case, there can obviously
be no concentration of wealth. What occurs is that all are benefited by
certain economies, in exact proportion to their holdings in the capital
stock. It may even happen that a larger number of persons participate,
as shareholders, in the amalgamation than were formerly concerned in the
ownership of the units of which the amalgamation is composed. Assuming,
for the purposes of our argument, that these persons are represented by
new capital, that the former owners of independent units share upon an
equitable basis, there will be increased diffusion of wealth instead of
its concentration. As Professor Ely says, "If the stock of the United
States Steel Corporation were owned by individuals holding one share
each, the concentration in industry would be just as great as it is now,
but there would be a wide diffusion in the ownership of the wealth of
the corporation."[106]

Obvious as this distinction may seem, it is very often lost sight of,
and when recognized it presents difficulties which are almost
insurmountable. It is well-nigh impossible to present statistically the
relation of the concentration of capital to the concentration or
diffusion of weal