more to the question: what does this tendency of modern capitalism, of capitalism in its imperialist phase, lead to?
Amongst the few banks which, as a result of the process of capitalist concentration, remain at the head of all capitalist economy, there is to be seen a natural tendency, becoming more and more clear and strengthened, towards the agreement, the monopoly, the trustification of the banks. In America, there are no longer nine, but only two of the big banks, those of the billionaires Rockefeller and Morgan, who reign over a capital of eleven milliards (in marks). In Germany, the absorption of the Union of Schaffausen by the Disconto Gesellschaft, was commented on in the following terms by the Frankfurter Zeitung, one of the official organs of the Stock Exchange:
"The concentration of the banks is narrowing the circle of establishments from which it is possible to obtain credit, and consequently is increasing the dependence of large-scale industry directly upon a small number of financial groups. The close relations between industry and the financial world being granted, it follows that the free movement of manufacturing companies in need of capital is restricted. And so large-scale industry is viewing the growing concentration of banks into trusts with mixed sentiments. And we have several times seen the beginnings of agreements amongst the big financial concerns, which aim at limiting competition between them."
Once more, the last word in the development of the banks, is monopoly.
As for the close ties between the banks and industry, it is precisely on this ground that it is
