372 REPORT ON COOPERATION IN AMERICAN EXPORT TRADE,

SECTION 2. THE FINDINGS OF FACT.

Foreign combinations that affect American export trade.—In most
great foreign nations, combinations of producers and dealers are more
prevalent than in the United States, where the Government has
sought to safeguard the interests of the public by prohibiting combinations
 in restraint of trade. In Germany combinations of manufacturers
 and distributors are the rule. Cartels, syndicates, interlocking
 relationships, and price agreements are found in a large
proportion of the industries. In France similar combinations have
been organized in many industries. In England amalgamations and
combinations of competitors are of frequent occurrence, although
not nearly so common as in Germany. In Belgium and in Austria-Hungary
 before the war the entire industrial system, as in Germany,
was organized in cartels, comptoirs, Syndicates, price agreements, ete.
In Italy, Switzerland, Holland, Sweden, Russia, and Japan similar
conditions exist to a less degree. In all these countries, notwithstanding
 great differences of law, legal obstacles to the formation of
combinations are either absent or much less than in the United
States. In Germany, for example, the law places practically no
obstacle in the way of such combinations; in Austria-Hungary they
are invalid, but not prohibited, while in France if they alter the
natural course of prices they are prohibited.! In the great majority
of the countries mentioned above the right to form business combinations
 is comparatively unrestricted, although there are other
countries, especially the English self-governing colonies, which have
very much the same legal pblicy as the United States. These countries,
 however, are but minor competitors of this country in its export
trade. In Germany, Italy, Japan, and some other countries combinations
 have even been encouraged by the Governments, and sometimes
Government enterprises have been members of the combinations.
The greater part of American export trade has been with European
nations. When American manufacturers and producers are exporting
to any of these countries they must meet powerful combinations of
producers and dealers there. Some of these combinations are international
 and own or control, among others, American producing
companies. They now have in this country oil wells, coal and metal
mines, smelters, refineries, and mills. This makes it more difficult
to compete with them in the European markets. In other cases
American manufacturers and producers must deal with combinations
among the European buyers of their products. In a few American
industries, such as petroleum, steel, and farm machinery, powerful
single organizations are equipped to meet foreign combinations on
substantially equal terms. But even in these industries, as well as

18es Report of the Commissioner of Corporations on Trust Laws and Unfair Competition, 1915, pp.
21 308