120 REPORT ON COOPERATION IN AMERICAN EXPORT TRADE.

quotas assigned, and selling territory may be divided according to
the exigencies of the industry as related to imports and exports, and
penalties are imposed for the violation of the regulations.
This form of organization is less effective than that of the comptoir,
or central selling agency. It can not so well enforce the obligations
of the agreement; it has less cohesion, and is consequently more
easily disrupted.
As representing this form of organization in France the Office
Statistique des Houilléres du Nord et du Pas-de-Calais, or the coal
cartel ; the Comité Francais de la Filature de Coton, or the cottonspinners’
 cartel; and the Syndicat des Filatures de Lin, de Chanvre,
ot d’Etoupe de France, or the flax, hemp, and tow syndicate, have
attracted a good deal of attention.
The comptoir—The comptoir is a form of industrial combination
which has been effectively developed in France. It has largely covared
 the iron and steel industry, has long been a dominant form of
organization with the salt manufacturers,’ and has been adopted by
horticulturists and floriculturists who export garden products and
Aowers to the neighboring countries.?
The comptoir is an incorporated trading company, composed exclusively
 of the manufacturers who turn over to it the sule of
their products. The purposes of such an organization, as defined
in its statutes, are usually the purchase from the members and the
sale to customers of a specified product, either in France or abroad,
or both. The capital stock is generally small as compared with the
aggregate capital stock of the component companies, and is divided
exclusively among the members; and it is forbidden for one holder
to transfer his shares to another without the permission of the gensral
 assembly.
The comptoir usually has at least three administrative bodies:
The general assembly, composed of all the stockholders; the administrative
 council; which is chosen by the general assembly from its
own membership for establishing prices, contracts, etc.; and the commissioners
 of accounts and direction.
The comptoir does not ‘usually agree to sell all that a member
san produce, but a quantity is fixed which it is deemed will satisfy
the demand, and this is apportioned among the members, the latter
agreeing to make no sales in the territory reserved to the comptoir.
Prices are fixed by the comptoir. It makes no profits, but merely
maintains the selling price at a remunerative level, the profit going
to the producers. Orders are assigned to the members according to
geographic position, cost of transportation, and previous commercial
relations of producer and consumer. The comptoir audits the books

1 De Leener, L'organization syndicale des Chefs @’industrie, Bruxelles, 1909, pp. 64-66.
» Longuet, op. cit., Chs. IV and V.