20 ' REPORT ON COOPERATION IN AMERICAN EXPORT TRADE.

with the foundation of the Coal Syndicate, which went into effect
August first of that year. The three products, coal, coke, and briquets
existed side by side for a number of years, but the directors and leading
 mine owners united them through interlocking directorates and
in personal union. The three leading lights at the beginning of the
Coal Syndicate era were Dr. Hammacher, Bergrat Kleiner, and Dr.
R. Efferts. These three dominated all three syndicates. To-day in
the Coal Syndicate there are 67 coal firms, 46 coke firms, and 30
briquet firms. The coal industry in the Rhenish-Westphalian coal
district, which covers practically all the bituminous deposits in Germany,
 is divided into four groups of mines: The straight coal mines
of the syndicate; the furnace mines belonging to the syndicate, but
also the Steel Works Union; the outsiders; and the Government
mines. The friction in the industry occurred among these four
groups. In addition, the brown-coal deposits of south and middle
Germany may be mentioned, which in the form of brown coal briquets
are becoming a strong factor of competition. There is considerable
strain between the straight coal mines (firms engaged solely in mining
 coal) and the furnace mines, which coke the coal and use it
for their own smelters. For instance, in 1910, out of a coal production
 of 78,234,834 tons, 56,292,134 tons were from straight mines
and 21,942,700 tons from furnace mines. If in addition we add
17,000,000 tons from coal mines belonging to the Steel Works Union
(Stahlwerksverband), we have nearly as much coal controlled by the
steel industry as by the Coal Syndicate itself. These facts are necessary
 to an understanding of the different internal strains or differences
 of potentiality which appear in the industry and are alluded to
in the following paragraphs.
Organization—The Aktien-Gesellschaft Rheinisch-Westfiilisches
Kohlensyndikat is incorporated as a stock company with a capital of
2,400,000 marks ($571,200). (Note that this capital is much higher
than in the case of the Steel Works Union, 400,000 marks ($95,200).
This is to be accounted for in the wider activities of the Coal Syndicate,
 in particular in water-transportation interests.) From the
syndicate’s contract of organization * the following may be noted : The
organs of administration are (1) the management, (2) the board of
directors, and (3) the general assembly. The management consists
of two or more members, appointed by the board of directors. Official
 documents require the signatures of two members of the management
 or one member and an assistant manager having power of
attorney. The board of directors consists of 12 members, which are
elected by the general assembly for a term of four years, three of
whom retire each year. The board of directors has the usual powers
ander the laws of the land. The general assembly of the stockholders
 is called by the management or the board of Yc Each
stock carries with it one vote.
Between the Coal Syndicate Co. and the firms whose coal is exclusively
 marketed by the syndicate, there exists a blanket contract
signed br all the members, and also a contract among the different
mines regulating their relations to each other; a similar triangle to
that of the Steel Works Union and other German cartels. The as-1

 passow, Richard, “ Kartelle d. Bergbaues.” Leipzig u. Berlin: B. G. Teubner, 1911,
(VI, 828 8.) Materliallen f. d. wirtschaftswissenschaftl, Studium Bd. i