COMPETITIVE CONDITIONS IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE. 123
IroN AnD sTEEL PrRODUCTS.—A much larger per cent of iron and
steel products is found under control of various organizations, as
many of these are placed on the market instead of being consumed by
the producers.
The comptoir for beams includes all the steel-producing cénters in
France and comprises all the important producing concerns. The
basic Bessemer (Thomas) steel comptoir comprises the most important
 producers in France; the hinge-plate comptoir has as members
svery important producing concern in France but one. There are
also axle and carriage-spring comptoirs, and others, each handling a
special product. The rail syndicate, prior to the war, was a member
of the international rail pool.
In other industries, notably in that of plate glass, the comptoir
form of organization has been established, but none of them seems to
have attained such prominence as those in the iron and steel industry.
Suvrenur REFINING.—The majority of the sulphur refiners in
France made an agreement in 1909, limiting the output of each to
a quantity named in the agreement, and providing that all their
crude sulphur must be bought from an importing company which
they formed. On any sulphur which a refiner might buy outside, he
had to pay the importing company 5 francs a ton; and for any bought
beyond his quota, from whatever source, he had to pay 15 francs a
ton. The combination came to an end in December, 1912, but most
of its members have still an understanding the exact nature of which
is not known. Moreover, consolidation has proceeded so far that
10,000 tons out of an annual consumption of 95,000 tons in France
are refined by two concerns!
Tae ALUMINUM INDUSTRY.—During the closing years of the nineteenth
 century new processes of production caused the prices of
aluminum to fall to the point where it was possible to use the metal
widely for industrial purposes. In 1910 all the French producers
combined for the purpose of selling in common both at home and
abroad, all the sales being made through the Metallgesellschaft,
Frankfort-on-the-Main. (See p. 358.) The combined output of the
concerns was then about 15,000 tons annually, and a high import
duty gave them protection for an increase? The French producers
operate under the title of the Société Aluminum Francaise.
In October, 1912, an international syndicate was formed. It included
 all the prominent producers in Europe, especially France,

1 See Consul General Gaulin’s report, Pt. II, p. 108,
* Weltwirtsthafts Archiv., 1913, p. 115.
* The membership was as follows: Société Electro-Métallurgique Francaise, Compagnie
des Produits Chimiques d’Alais, Forges, Pecheiny, Société d'Blectro-Chimique, and So-:lété
 des Forces Motrices de I'Arve, (Kartell-Rundschau, 1911, pp. 82, 85.)