PREFACE.

The discussion of the general subject of trusts and trade combinations during the past summer occupied seemingly more than any other the public mind. The greatest need in such discussions seemed, to use the happy expression of Lyman Abbott, to be light and not heat. For the purpose of eliciting the fullest possible discussion of such subjects from all standpoints, the Civic Federation of Chicago invited the Governors of the various states and the leading commercial, industrial and labor organizations to send delegates to a conference to be held in Chicago from the 13th to the 16th of September. A considerable number also of students of economics from the various colleges and universities were invited to give expression to their views upon the same general topic. The response to this invitation was gratifying, and a most able and intelligent body of men from all parts of the country assembled for such conference.

The delegates appointed by the governors represented every interest in the respective states, including congressmen, excongressmen, ex-governors, ex-supreme court judges, attorneysgeneral, presidents of banks, presidents of railroads, manufacturing and commercial organizations, and representatives of labor, agricultural and educational interests.

In the arrangement of the program especial care was taken that every side of the general subject should be represented in the discussion by its ablest advocates.

At the opening of the conference there seemed among the delegates to be a widespread suspicion as to the fairness of the discussions, and a feeling that some political motive might be

behind the call for its assembling. Before the close, however, of the first day's proceedings this feeling had entirely disappeared, and people who supposed themselves to be entirely antagonistic as to their aims and the methods of obtaining certain ends found that all shades of opinion had much ground in common. The discussion proceeded with an amount of good feeling and friendliness among the delegates scarcely to have been looked for among men of such diverse views. At the close of the conference the whole body of delegates seemed to recognize that the purpose of the Civic Federation to make the occasion an educational one by throwing the greatest possible light upon all phases of the general subject had been accomplished.

The interest on the part of the public grew day by day as the reports of the proceedings in the newspapers illustrated the breadth of view covered by the various speakers.

The desire seemed to be general that the proceedings be published in a permanent form which should make them accessible to the larger public which had not the opportunity of hearing the various speakers. The debate as set forth in the pages following gives the widest view yet presented of the important subjects discussed, and it is hoped that it may reach a wide audience.

FRANKLIN H. HEAD.