Eddy, Arthur Jerome: The new competition: an examination of the conditions underlying the radical change that is taking place in the commercial and industrial world ; the change from a competitive to a cooperative basis (New York [u.a.], 1912)

TRUE VS. FALSE COMPETITION 87
gathered, he would have to decide, first, whether the vol-
ume of business warranted another shop; secondly, whether
to get the business it would be necessary to cut the prevail-
ing schedule of charges.
In just the proportion that all this information is avail-
able, is the competition real and intelligent. When one
man knows what another is doing he is in a position to com-
pete with him; when he does not know, the competition,
so-called, is mere blind rivalry wherein both may ruin
themselves to the detriment, in the long run, of both cus-
tomers and the public.

VII
What is true in the letting of small contracts to masons,
carpenters, painters, and all other trades, is equally true
in the letting of large.
A railroad is in need of a crane. It requests bids of a
number of crane builders, fixing a day and hour by which
the bids must be delivered at the office of the purchasing
agent.
The several companies are located in different cities
in different states; they have no connection and no commu-
nication one with another; each is a jealous and independ-
ent unit. According to popular notions the competition is
ideal—it is the familiar “cut-throat” variety. At the hour
named sealed bids are handed in, but the work is seldom
let in good faith to the lowest bidder. The filing of the
bids is but the dealing of the cards in a game wherein the
purchasing agent is given five aces; he takes the bids, com-
pares them, and three times out of five, begins more or less
secret negotiations with one or more of the bidders to
secure reductions. Favored bidders are told what others
have bid, or a bidder is sent for and told, “If you will