<P> Smaller companies were wiped out because of economies of scale and the smaller pool of consumers available to them, compared to the larger corporations . The American Steel and Wire Company established in 1899 employed vertical integration: it controlled all aspects of production from producing the steel rods to making many different wire and nail products from the same steel; although later part of U.S. Steel, the production of barbed wire would still be a major source of revenue </P> <P> Another inventor, William Edenborn, a German immigrant who later settled in Winn Parish, Louisiana, patented a machine which simplified the making of barbed wire and cut the unit price of production from seventeen to three cents per pound . His particular wire is the "humane" version that did not harm cattle . The original wire was sharp - teethed and contributed to western range wars . Edenborn's company in time supplied 75 percent of the barbed wire in the United States . A wire nail machine that he also patented reduced the price of wire nails from eight to two cents per pound . </P> <P> Barbed wire played an important role in the protection of range rights in the Western U.S. Although some ranchers put notices in newspapers claiming land areas, and joined stockgrowers associations to help enforce their claims, livestock continued to cross range boundaries . Fences of smooth wire did not hold stock well, and hedges were difficult to grow and maintain . Barbed wire's introduction in the West in the 1870s dramatically reduced the cost of enclosing land . </P> <P> One fan wrote the inventor Joseph Glidden: </P>

What was barbed wire used for in the west
find me the text answering this question