Between 1895 and 1904 a great wave of mergers swept through the manufacturing sector. Nothing like it had ever been seen before, or has been seen since. Although subsequent waves of mergers have occurred, they have typically involved the acquisition of one or more small firms by a larger competitor or, more recently, by a firm in a completely different industry. By contrast, among turn-of-the-century mergers, the predominant process was horizontal consolidation – the simultaneous merger of many or all competitors in an industry into a single, giant enterprise.

Although some manufacturers had previously organized consolidations, there had never been so many in such a short time. The formation in 1882 of the Standard Oil Trust, the first consolidation, had stimulated a few imitations in the sugar, whiskey, lead, cordage, cottonseed-oil, and linseed-oil industries. New Jersey's passage in 1888 of a general incorporation law for holding companies gave the merger movement another shot in the arm, but it was not until the late 1890s that the idea of consolidation really caught on. In 1895, four consolidations were organized; in 1897, there were six. Then, in 1898, the number of new combines suddenly rose to sixteen, and, in 1899, to a high of sixty-three. By the next year the movement began to taper off. Twenty-one consolidations were formed in 1901, seventeen in 1902, and a scant three in 1904 (Table 1.1).