Like all others in the historical profession, the student of economic and business history is obligated to ascertain the truth about the social order of the past, remote and immediate. To those who rely heavily upon historical data to understand the present that obligation is a categorical imperative. In the search for truth, whether in Western Europe or in the United States, the historian is faced with the necessity of correctly evaluating the evolution, functions, and operation in society of the large business unit. In some areas in space and time the large unit may be a simple partnership, in others a large corporation, in still others it may be a cartel. In any case, the historian must collect and evaluate data about this phenomenon which is almost exclusively a product of modern Western Civilization, particularly during the past one hundred years.