CONSTRUCTIVE REMEDIES NEEDED 265 
generally adopted prior to the recent widespread effort to 
reduce the costs of distribution. Inventories of all kinds 
of accumulated stocks of raw materials and commodities 
for sale were kept at a minimum, and buying only for 
current needs had been made possible by improved sys- 
tems of transportation. Associations of producers in 
different industries had also constantly gathered and dis- 
seminated among their numbers information relative to 
producing and marketing conditions. By these methods 
the lag between production and consumption had been 
lessened, and through cooperation within certain indus- 
tries the relation between production and consumption had 
been to a greater or less degree satisfactorily readjusted. 
As industry advanced, however, the need of solving the 
larger problems constantly became more apparent. Dis- 
organized or overexpanded industries, such as bituminous 
coal mining and textile manufacturing, constituted weak 
spots, which affected adversely the whole industrial struc- 
ture and all its processes. The realization also of maxi- 
mum economies, both in production and in distribution, 
were checked by archaic anti-trust laws. Furthermore, 
it became apparent that there was not sufficient centralized 
control or information relative to the development of new 
industries or the expansion of old ones. Overproduction, 
maladjustment, or retardation has, therefore, constantly 
menaced the new industrial organization, and has fre- 
quently developed in certain branches, thus preventing 
the realization of the widespread benefits which should 
have been accomplished. 
The recognition of this condition of affairs has led to 
the demand that production and distribution should be 
released from the restrictions of anti-trust legislation and 
thus enabled to consolidate and secure the freedom of 
action and the economies which are manifestly essential.