The rise and development of the trust movement was caused and accompanied by a general rise in the prices of goods, which began about 1896. The public soon saw the rise in prices, and very naturally they attributed it to the trust movement. They were encouraged in this belief by independent concerns which had felt the weight of the combinations, also by various groups of persons who sincerely believed that the movement was a menace to the best interests of American society. More influential than either of these was the designing politician who saw in the growing hostility of the people toward the trusts an opportunity to further his own interests. Accordingly, he and his kind went up and down the country preaching a crusade against what they delighted to call the "unholy alliance" of capital. It cannot be denied, however, that the trust development threatened the best interests of society, nor that the people needed to be aroused to their danger. And it is pleasant to record that the people when aroused went about the task, somewhat blunderingly perhaps, but in a spirit of justice, to purge the trusts of their evil features.