CONDITIONS IN PARTICULAR INDUSTRIES. 3417

and foreign consumers would be able to deal directly with the sellers
of their coal. The business would be independent of foreign shipowners
 and would be able tp seek the markets that ought to be open
to American coal. Similar organizations could be formed among the
operators of other fields, so that every portion of the Appalachian
coal-producing area which might export coal advantageously could
be represented by an effective organization for foreign business.
As already pointed out (see p. 24), the development of the foreign
business would benefit the industry by furnishing steadier operation
 of the mines, and by partially equalizing the seasonal variations
in demand.

SECTION 10. INTERNATIONAL COMBINATIONS.

In a number of the most important industries combinations of
producers have been formed that are international in character.
In addition to international cartels and syndicates similar in character
 to those having a purely national scope, there exist a number
of international organizations which connect, through stock interownership,
 many concerns which formerly competed and which
still operate as legally independent companies, although, in point
of fact, the policies of all are determined by one and the same group
of men, with the result that there is a unity of action inside the
organization.
No attempt will be made here to describe in detail all or a major
part of such combinations. Many of them are confined to European
producers, others are more widespread in their operations, and
include producers in the United States and South America. In
the chemical industry a number of international agreements exist
for various products. This is also the case in the iron and steel
industry, in petroleum, in textiles, in cement, in coal, and in a number
 of other industries. Some of the details of the international
combinations in textiles are given on pages 250-254, where the general
subject of textiles is discussed. Similarly, information on international
 combinations in cement will be found on pages 307-308." Various
others, such as the international combinations in wall paper, tobacco,
ammonia, soda, etc., are not discussed here because of the limitations
of time and space in a report of this kind.
Chemicals.—Of the international combinations that exist in the
chemical industry, one of the most prominent is the Borax Consolidated
 (Ltd.). This organization, formed in 1899, took over the
properties of six companies with deposits in the United States, Chile,
Peru, and Asia Minor, and factories in the United States, France, and
the United Kingdom; and acquired a controlling interest in another
sroup of concerns having deposits in Chile, Peru, and the United