COMPETITIVE CONDITIONS IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE. 129

Forms of combination.—~That form of industrial combination
which had gained most headway in Belgium was the comptoir, or
sentral selling agency, such as exists in France. The looser form of
cartel agreement and the merger had not made progress comparable
with that of the comptoir, or “syndicat,” as it is generally called in
Belgium.*
The comptoirs were in many cases more highly developed than
they are in France. Just as in that country the comptoir fixed the
price at which it took the goods from the producer and also fixed
the price at which it sold them to the consumer, apportioning the
total sales among the members and dividing the profits among them,
so the comptoir in Belgium did; but it also took a further step and
placed a limit upon production, closing down operations for a
certain period frequently being a means to this end. So great had
been the growth of such combinations in Belgium that almost every
important industry felt their influence.
Government regulation of combinations.—Article 6 of the Civil
Code of Belgium and article 310 of the Penal Code exercised a restraining
 influence upon combinations in the Kingdom, the former
providing that conventions contrary to the laws made in the interest
of public order might be revoked and the latter forbidding interference
 with the free exercise of industry. Article 811 of the Penal
Code provided punishment for those who fraudulently raise or lower
prices.
However, the Belgian combinations seem to have had little trouble
with the law. The state exercised no immediate supervision over
them, attempted no fixing of prices itself, and had not made the
formation of any industrial syndicates a matter of compulsion. In
those cases where the state was a customer of a syndicate, it took
measures to impose moderation upon the combination by inviting
bids from foreign concerns when the domestic price seemed too high.
Coal industry.—In the coal industry a number of combinations
were formed. Each mining basin had its combination by which
prices were fixed, production limited, and selling zones established.
These regional syndicates in turn entered into interregional agreements
 respecting prices which were to apply to common markets, and
rising above these was the Société Générale de Belgique, which was
national in extent.® The operation of these svndicates is discussed
in more detail on page 330.
Steel industry.—In the steel industry the Comptoir des Aciéries-Belges
 was the dominating factor. Numerous comptoirs handling
1 De Leener, L'Organisation syndicale des Chefs d’'Industrie, 1909, Vol. II, p. 211.
"Ibid. pp. 544, 548.
‘De Leener, op. cit, Vol. I, p. 88.
57941° —168—u10