CONDITIONS IN PARTICULAR INDUSTRIES. 233
owing to the withdrawal of several members who regarded the
syndicate as a depressing influence on the market.
The “ Krovlia” (roof) was organized by the roof-sheet-iron manutacturers
 of Ural as a result of the poor sales of iron at the Nizhni
Novgorod fair in 1904. The agreement was signed by 12 big
Ural iron mills controlling 80 per cent of the entire Ural roof-iron
industry, only three big mills and a few small ones remaining outside.
 This agreement was soon broken,* but a new one was made in
January, 1907, when the Krovlia began its operations as a jointstock
 company for the sale of roofing iron. This agreement was
antered into by 13 members, controlling 75 per cent of the Ural
output of roof sheet iron and about 60 per cent of the total Russian
output, but by the end of 1912 all but five of the members had withdrawn
 and the syndicate controlled less than 40 per cent of the total
output of the Ural region. The Krovlia also sells on commission
nonsyndicated iron wares, such as tin plate, ete.
The Gvozd (nail) was originally organized in 1903, and after its
dissolution reorganized in 1908 as Provoloka (wire). It now controls
 the total sales of iron and steel wire, iron wire nails, shoe
tacks, wheel bolts, and furniture springs. This syndicate includes
both manufacturers of half-finished products and manufacturers of
fnished articles of the same industry. Some of its members are
producing wire only while others are turning out both wire and
nails. This syndicate controls the sales and purchases of wire and
wire iron by its members, as well as the output, the members having
agreed—*
(1) Not to erect new rolling mills during the term of the agreement.

(2) Not to become partners in new works intended for the production
 of similar articles.
(8) Not to organize competing concerns.
(4) Not to change the grades of articles offered at the signing
of the agreement.
The syndicate encourages the production of nonsyndicated articles
by giving rebates to members who purchase iron and steel for the
production of articles other than wire and nails.
Typical examples of the second group of iron syndicates are the
railroad-equipment syndicates. These combinations are a direct
outgrowth of the Government apportionment policy, whereby a
special committee of ministers and other officials of the Government
 apportions the orders of the Government among the various
mills, and fixes prices on railroad equipment for three years in advance.
 As the Government owns over two-thirds of the railroad
tIron Age, Feb. 17, 1816, p. 457. - TT
1 Kafengaus, op. cit.,, p. 98.
} Secs. 14 and 8, clause (b), of the agreement, Kafengaus, op. cit, p. 104.