Competitors give up the combat _a outrance_, and fight with blunted lances.
Sec.3.Syndicates and Trusts .-- But it is of course extremely difficult to maintain these loose agreements among merchants and producers engaged in intricate and far-reaching trades.

A big opportunity is constantly tempting one of them to undersell; new firms are constantly springing up with new machinery, willing to trade upon the artificially raised prices, by under-selling so as to secure a business; over-production and a glut of goods tempts weaker firms to "cut rates," and this breaks down the compact.

A score of different causes interfere with these delicate combinations, and plunge the different firms into the full heat and waste of the conflict.

The renewed "free competition" proves once more fatal to the smaller businesses; the waste inflicted on the "leviathans" who survive forms a fresh motive to a closer combination.
These new closer combinations are known by the names of Syndicate and Trust.

This marks another stage in the evolution of capital.