Consolidation into one company.

At least five minor methods may be distinguished; these are here
numbered continuously with the preceding four.

(5) Lease by one company of the plants of one or more other companies.

(6) Ownership of stock by one corporation in another corporation,
sufficient to give substantial influence over its policy, if not
absolute control.

(7) Ownership of stock in two or more competing companies, by the same
individual or group of individuals, to such an extent as appreciably
to unify the policies of the competing companies.

(8) Interlocking directorates, that is, boards of competing companies
containing one or more of the same persons as directors.

(9) Gentlemen's agreements, mere friendly informal conferences and
understandings as to common policies.

Sec. 8. #Growth of combinations after 1880.# Undoubtedly industry before
1860 had some elements of monopoly. Monopoly constituted part of the
banking problem; it began to be evident in the railroads almost at
once, and it rapidly increased as street railways and other public
utilities were constructed. But after 1880 occurred the formation in
larger numbers of industrial enterprises which appeared to exercise
some monopoly power. In the years between 1890 and 1900 this movement
was still more rapid. Consolidation took place on a great scale in
railroads and in manufactures. Much of this has been of such a kind
that it does not appear at all in the figures showing the number of
establishments and of employees. In the data regarding this movement
given by different authorities, many discrepancies appear, as there is
no generally accepted rule by which to determine the selection of the
companies to be included in the lists. One financial authority
gave the following figures[7] regarding the industrial companies
reorganized into larger units in the United States between 1860
and 1899, not including combinations in such businesses as banking,
shipping, and railroad transportation. Some of the enterprises here
included have much and others probably have little or no monopolistic
power.

_Decade Number Organized Total Nominal Capital_

1860-60 ............... 2 $ 13,000,000
1870-79 ............... 4 135,000,000
1880-89 ............... 18 288,000,000
1890-99 ............... 157 3,150,000,000
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