124 REPORT ON COOPERATION IN AMERICAN EXPORT TRADE.

Switzerland, and England, and it made an agreement with the
Canadian producers.
Société GENERALE DES PapfrermEs pu LiMousiv.—In 1899 seven
manufacturers of wrapping paper, representing a'total production of
15,800,000 kilograms, were incorporated for 65 years® under the name
of the Société Générale des Papéteries du Limousin, with a capital
stock of 5,074,000 francs. Afterwards eight new members, including
the manufacturers in Dordogne and Corréze, were drawn into the
combination, so that the trust secured control of about 80 per cent
&gt;f the production in its reigon.®
This organization in contrast with its American models has a
small capitalization of only 5,000,000 francs. The main office of the
sombination is located at Saint-Junien (Haute-Vienne).
The affairs of the company are administered by a council of at
least seven and not more than 12 members, who hold office for six
years and may be reelected by the general assembly. This latter body
is composed of all the stockholders, and its decisions are obligatory
upon all members. There is also provision for one or more commissioners,
 who have the rights of verification and surveillance over
members.
The paper trust does not seem to have affected prices to a very
sreat extent, on account of the competition of factories in its own
territory which are not members, and of producers in other regions,
but it does seem to have increased the profits of its members by
specialization of work and reduction of the price of raw materials.
The product of the factories in the combination is heavy wrapping
paper, used principally by sugar refineries.?
Sarr—French salt works are, or have recently been, nearly all
controlled by four combinations—Association des Salines de l'Est,
Association des Salines du Midi, Comptoir des Sels de Bayonne. and
Société Saliniere de 1’Ouest. These divide the country into zones,
and secure each zone to one of the four free from competition of the
others.
Before 1901 the salt marshes were in the hands of small producers.
 They had no capital, and were unable to employ labor in
their salt works outside of that furnished by various members of
the family. The price of salt by 1901 had fallen to 5 franes (97
sents) a ton. At this price it is estimated that a full day’s labor
netted each working member of the family 7 or 8 cents. The whole
profit in the business went into the hands of the salt merchants.
who acted as intermediaries between the producers and the retail-1

 See Consul General Lay’s Report, Pt. II, p. 82.
? Report of the Industrial Commission, Vol. XVIII, p. 81,
3 Chastin, op. cit., p. 87