CONDITIONS IN PARTICULAR INDUSTRIES. 367

chart. A final chart was then prepared, embodying the changes
that were found to be desirable, in the light of the information gathered
 through such cooperation. The Commission believes that the
chart herewith presented shows the principal companies and their
interrelationships, as they existed at the time of the outbreak of the
present war. It is generally understood that as a result of the war
there have already been a number of changes in such relationships,
and that more are likely to take place.
It should be noted that the relationships shown on the chart
indicate either stock control, stock interownership, interlocking
directorates, or syndicate connections. These relationships, the
Commission is informed, are of such a nature that they lead to a
centralized price control and to a harmony between the policies
followed by the different companies in their purchases of metals.
Connections also exist with other companies, but these have not
been put on the chart because the Commission does not understand
that they are effective in price control.
In the group of companies which are largely the outgrowth of the
“Merton concern’ (see p. 365) the dominating place has been held by
the Metall Gesellschaft, the Metallbank und Metallurgische Gesellschaft,
 and the H. R. Merton &amp; Co. (Ltd.). The affiliations of these
companies through stock ownership and interlocking directorates is
so close that it is difficult to determine which company is the dominating
 concern.
The two largest subsidiary companies are the Merton Metallurgical
Co. and the American Metal Co. (ltd.). Apart from these two companies
 and their subsidiaries, the chart shows connections between
the three controlling companies and 24 companies (excluding the
Deutsche Gold- und Silberscheide group). Most of the connections
were through stock ownership, either alone or in connection with
interlocking directorates. In addition, mention is made of the fact
that similar relations exist with 83 companies whose names are not
separately shown.
While the chart shows 13 companies related to the central group
through the American Metal Co., and a like number related through
the Merton Metallurgical Co., attention should be called to the fact
that many of these 28 companies are, at the same time, connected
directly with one or more of the central group and with other companies
 directly connected with it. In all, the chart shows the names
of 54 companies of the 137 companies (excluding the Deutsche
Gold- und Silberscheide group), of whose interrelation to the Metallgesellschaft
 the Commission has information. Among the important
companies not mentioned on the chart in which the Metallbank und
Metallurgische Gesellschaft holds shares are the Société des anciens
Etablicsements ‘Sopwith’ of Paris and Linares, the bank of Del-