CONDITIONS IN PARTICULAR INDUSTRIES. 365

exporters state that the Liidenscheider Metallwerke, A. G., are also
closely connected. with the Metallbank of Frankfurt, a. M.
The German Metal Buying Combination.—There are three main
groups of interests which together dominate the German metal market.
They are the group identified with the Merton family, including the
Metall Gesellschaft, the Metallbank und Metallurgische Gesellschaft,
and the Deutsche Gold und Silberscheideanstalt, the group identified
with Beer Sondheimer &amp; Co., and the group identified with Aron
Hirsch und Sohn. The principal relationships of these three groups
are shown on the chart opposite p. 366.
THE METALLGESELLSCHAFT, METALLBANK UND METALLURGISOHE
GeseLLscraFT, AND H. R. MERTON &amp; Co., LTD.—The Metallgesellschaft,
 A. G., Frankfurt a. M., was founded in 1881 by Wilhelm Merton.
 It took over the metal business of his grandfather Philipp
Abraham Cohen.! Wilhelm Merton was the son of the senior member
of the firm of Henry R. Merton &amp; Co., of London. When H. R. Merton
started in business, P. A. Cohen supplied part of the capital, conversely,
later on, H. R. Merton, and his brothers Zachary and Emile, who had
later become associated with him, also had a proprietary interest in
the Cohen concern. When the two concerns were formed into limited
companies these interests were capitalized in the form of shares in
H. R. Merton &amp; Co., Ltd., and in the Metaligesellschaft A. G.,
Frankfurt a. M.2 In 1878 the London and the Frankfurt interests
had already joined in the foundation of the American Metal Co. As
a result of the predominance of the influence of the Merton family
in these three companies, they have been generally known as the
“Merton concern.”
For the purpose of attracting outside capital and in order to distribute
 the risk entailed by large investments, participating and
financing companies were formed. The first step in this direction
was that the Frankfurt, London, and New York firms turned over to
separate holding companies their interests in ines and smelting
plants which they had acquired in the course of time. In this way,
in 1897, there was formed, as a subsidiary company associated with
the Metallgesellschaft, the Metallurgische Gesellschaft, Frankfurt
a. M. (capital 6,000,000 marks); in 1907, as a subsidiary company
associated with H. R. Merton &amp; Co., the Merton Metallurgical Co.
(Ltd.) (capital £1,000,000); and in 1904, as a subsidiary company
associated with the American Metal Co.. the Metallurgical Co. of
America (capital $2,000,000) 2
1 The precious-metal Dueling Was salen over in 1873 bv the Dentsche Gold- und Silberscheideanstalt.
Bee p. 368 and Pt. IT, p. 72.)
2 The Ironmonger, Mar. 18, 1918, pp. 4445 (see also article by Prof. Robert Lisfmann in Weltwirtschalt:
liches Archiv for January, 1913).
3 BR. Liefmann, in Weltwirtschaitliches Archiv for January. 1913.