212 REPORT ON COOPERATION IN AMERICAN EXPORT TRADE.

ciation. The wholesalers also assign to each retailer his definitely
prescribed territory, so that from the syndicate to the consumer
competition has been practically eliminated.
There is another class of organizations in Germany, somewhat
analogous to the trade associations in the United States, some of
which devote a portion of their energies to foreign trade problems,
to influencing the scope of the German protective policy, to furthering
 preferential tariff treaties with other countries, to advocating
transportation tariffs favorable to export products, and to other
ines. Some of these associations even enter into various agreements
with cartels and syndicates. A few of the more important of these
commercial organizations in the iron and steel industry are the Verein
Deutscher Eisenhiittenleute, Diisseldorf (Association of German Iron
Smelters) ; the Verein Deutscher Eisengiessereien (Association of
German Iron Foundries), Diisseldorf; the Verein Deutscher Eisenand
 Stahlindustrieller, Berlin (Association of German Iron and
Steel Manufacturers) ; the Verein Deutscher Tempergiessereibesitzer,
Hagen, Westphalia (Association of German Annealed Casting Manufacturers)
 ; the Vereinigung zur Wahrung der Interessen der Rohsisen
 und Halbzeugverbraucher (Association for the Protection of the
Interests of the Pig Iron and Semi-finished Steel Consumers) ; Meppen,
 Westphalia; the Verein der Mirkischen Kleineisenindustrie,
Hagen (Association of the Small Hardware Industry of the Mark) ;
the Verband Deutscher Eisenwarenhindler, Mainz (Association of
German Hardware Dealers); as well as associations of machinery
manufacturers, vehicle manufacturers, and those of other lines.
Other associations of iron and steel manufacturers are the Association
of the Iron and Steel Industry of Alsace-Lorraine and Luxemburg;
Association of the Rhenish Westphalian Rolling Mills; the Bergische
 Fabrikanten Verein, Remscheid (Association of the Manufacturers
 of Berg); the Association of German Pin Manufacturers,
Aix La Chapelle; and association of spring steel manufacturers at
Hagen, screw manufacturers at Diisseldorf, sad-iron manufacturers
 at Hagen, knife manufacturers at Solingen, shear manufacturts
 at Solingen, lock manufacturers at Velbert, etc. :
The Stahlwerksverband is also associated with nearly every allied
industry through personal union or interlocking directorates. The
combines in the three fundamental branches—coal, iron, and steel—
are composed in the main of the same men, and nearly every combination
 for purchasing, manufacturing, selling, or exporting, in these
lines shows among its directors representatives of the interests of
Thyssen, Krupp, Stinnes, de Wendel, Haniel, Stumm, etc., while
these interlocking combinations themselves are composed of interlocking
 firms.?

1 Bureau of Forelgn and Domestic Commerce, Special Agents Series, No. 78. pp. 88-45,
Pt, i. ». 11.