SPECIAL REPORTS FOR FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION. 59

cessful efforts have been made to regulate trade by means of combination,
 although the opinions of customers, commission houses, and
political economists as to the desirability of combination in the
textile branches are divided. The trade is still, to a great degree,
without any definite plan of combination or uniform organization.
Each mill owner tries to control his output according to his own
individual judgment of the state of the market, and overproduction
in the market often follows, with the usual result of falling prices
and disaster. Cartels are obviously desirable to counteract this state
of affairs and also to aid the export trade.
The successful efforts in combination have been the cartelization
of certain specific textile products, but unfortunately material to
furnish specific information in regard to them is not obtainable at
this time. However, an outline of some of those cartels can be given.
The greater number of the silk cartels fall under the category of
cartels of the second class, having no further centralization than a
simple price agreement. Such a cartel is possible when the conditions
 of operation and sales are sufficiently simple, and the number
of mills not too great. The formation of the second-class cartels,
described below, demonstrates that an industry manufacturing goods
of high quality, although of great variety and controlled Fs by
fashion, is suited to combination.
The cartels of the German silk-weaving industry up to the year
1911 were eight in number: -
1. The Association of Manufacturers of Velvet and Plush in Germany
 (Der Verband der Sammet- und Pliischfabrikanten Deutschlands),
 referred to as “ Velvet Manufacturers.”
2. The Confederation of Manufacturers of Velvet Ribbons of
1910 (Die Vereinigung der Sammetbandfabrikanten, 1910), referred
to as “ Velvet Ribbon na
. 3. The Association of Manufacturers of Silk Goods of Germany
(Der Verband der Seidenstofffabrikanten Deutschlands), referred to
as “ Silk Manufacturers.”
4. The Confederation of Hatband Manufacturers (Die Vereinigung
 der Damen- und Herrenhutbandfabrikanten), referred to as
“ Hatband Manufacturers.”
5. The Confederation of German Manufacturers of Umbrella
Coverings (Die Vereinigung deutscher Schirmstofffabrikanten).
6. The Association of Manufacturers of Cravat Materials (Der
Verband der Krawattenstofffabrikanten).
7. The Agreement of German and Swiss Muffler Manufacturers
{Der Konditionenverband der deutschen und schweizerischen
Cachenezfabrikanten).
8. The Association of “Turquoise” Silk Manufacturers (Der
Verband der Turquoisefabrikanten).
In the yearbook, 1913, of the Elders of the Merchants of Berlin,
pages 132, 133, 134, 56 various textile manufacturers and dealers’
Isspelzitons are enumerated as having given evidence of life during
the year.
Organization.—Legally these cartels are subject to so-called “ Kollektivvertrige,”
 collective agreements. Not — entered in the
official registry of legally recognized associations, they occupy a
judicially central position between “companies,” according to Ger-