102 REPORT ON COOPERATION IN AMERICAN EXPORT TRADE.

The German trade associations carry on much the same kind of
work as do similar bodies in the United States. They publish trade
papers, carry on technical and economic investigations and cooperate
with the German State and Federal Governments in regard to legislative
 and administrative measures.! It is noteworthy, however, that
they give special attention to export trade, the study of commercial
treaties, customs, tariffs, etc. and in this respect are far in advance
of most American trade associations. In fact nearly every German
manufacturer is a member of at least one active association which is
assisting German foreign trade, and many concerns are members
of several such organizations. The work of these organizations in
promoting foreign trade is discussed on pages 112-113.
Combinations in German industries.—Industrial combination has
developed more extensively in Germany than in any other country.?
The distinctive form of combination has been the cartel.
While somewhat indefinite in meaning, a cartel may be described
as a combination to control the market. A German writer speaks of
cartels as “associations, founded by contract for certain periods of
time, of independent enterprises belonging to kindred branches of
industry, or of branches of industry with nearly identical interests,
the individual members of the association retaining their irdependence
 but joining for the purpose of regulating production and sales
according to common points of view and in the common interest.”
The word * trust ” usually, though not always, implies merger. Some
cartels have made a considerable approach to merger, but the name
“cartel” is apparently not applied to any organization where the
process is complete. Moreover, all cartels appear to be limited in
time; the members can at some future date recover their complete
independence if they choose. In the typical American trust, on the
other hand, all final authority 1s centralized in a single organization,
and this authority is permanent; the trust is actually or practically a
single corporation. A few great organizations similar in type to the
American trust exist and flourish in Germany, but they are not
zalled cartels.
Cartel development began with the industrial and financial crisis
in the middle seventies of the last century, though a few scattered
cartels existed before that time.* In the Reichstag session of November
 4, 1902, Dr. Pachnicke indicated the growth of German cartels
as follows: 1879. 14 cartels: 1885, 85; 1890, 210; 1902, more than 400.5

11, Miiffelmann, Die wirtschaftlichen Verbiinde, 1912, p. 13.
2 §, Tschierschky, Kartell und Trust, 1911, pp. 14 and 35
v J. Riesser, The German Great Banks and their Concentration, p. 167; translatiow
sublished by the National Monetary Commission, 61st Cong. 2d sess.. S. Doe, 598.
« R. Liefmann, Kartelle und Trusts. 1910, p. 22.
3 Sten. Berichte fl. d. Verh. d. Reichstags, 19800-1903, 7 Band, p. 6115.