COMPETITIVE CONDITIONS IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE. 109

painting, photography, dyeing, bleaching, weaving, soap manufacturing,
 and in the electrical, pyrotechnical, gunpowder, match,
and numerous other industries, close interrelations have been established
 amcng all these industries, mainly through the medium of
banks and interlocking directorates.
Since 1910 this industry has been controlled completely by the
Potash Syndicate, with its main office in Berlin. In that year the
old potash syndicate, which had existed for 80 years, collapsed.?
The owners appealed to the State for assistance, which was ren-Jered
 through the Imperial potash law (Reichskaligesetz) of May
25, 1910.8
PorasH LAW OF MAY 25, 1910.—The essential features of the
potash law of May 25, 1910+ are that it limits sales of the potash
works up to t.e end of 1925, and fixes maximum selling prices. It
does not provide for a common selling agency. A board of distribution
 fixes the total quantity of potash to be produced and allots
to each mine owner a certain quota. It also determines the quantities
 to be sold at home and abroad. For any output in excess of the
allotted quota, a tax has to be paid into the State treasury. Maximum
 selling prices are determined by the Federal council for periods
of five years each.
Only the owners of potash works are permitted to sell potash salts
to foreign countries. Export prices may not be lower than the fixed
domestic prices. Mine owners are allowed to transfer their quotas in
part or in whole to other potash works and to exchange certain
grades of potash. The importance of this provision lies in the fact
that it facilitates the formation of a combination.’ In order to prevent
 unnecessary expansion, the law provides that new works shall
be allowed only a very low quota of production during the first two
years after they have begun operation, and for three more years
only a gradually increasing proportion of their full and final quota.
Government-owned works are excepted from this five-year period
of output limitation.:
CoMMON SELLING AGENCY.—While the potash law does not estab-Jish
 a compulsory syndicate in form, nevertheless certain provisions
of the law have resulted in what is practically equivalent to a coma
 yourael des Economistes, 1915, p. 379 fol. ; Schénemann, Die deutsche Kali-Industrle
1. d. Kaligesetz, 1911, pp. 17, 85, fol.; H. A, Giebel, op. cit., pp. 85, 117.
2 K. Wiedenfeld, in Schmoller’s Jahrhuch fiir Gesetzgebung, ete.» 1911, p, 1971,
s 7. Kestner, Der Organisationszwang, 1912, p. 182. J. Flechtheim, Die rechtl
Organisation d. Kartelle, 1912, p. 128. K. wiedenfeld, op. cit., p. 1972.
+ Reichs-Gesetzblatt, 1910, p, 775 fol.
sR. Passow, Materialien f. d. Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Studium, 1911, I. Band,
&gt; J ol, hai. Die rechtliche Organisation der Kartelle, Mannheim, 1912, p. 131.