68 REPORT ON COOPERATION IN AMERICAN EXPORT TRADE.

tion was organized into a virtual monopoly at Cassel by the formation
 of the Union of German Pane Glass Works (Ltd.) (Verein
Deutscher Tafelglashiitten, G. m. b. H.). This association began its
activity in 1908. It immediately monopolized about 95 per cent of
the German production of window glass. The agreement which
expired on July 81, 1912, could not be renewed because of the large
number of outsiders which had sprung up. Among the companies
which composed the Cassel association was the Wittener Syndicate,
the Association of Glass Works of the Saar district (with the
common selling agency, which was established in 1892), and the
Union of Rhenish-Westphalian Pane Glass Works at Barmen. Finally
 an agreement was formed in November, 1911, which was to
run to the end of 1918. The object of this agreement was to establish
 a general selling bureau for conducting the sales negotiated in
Germany. Sales outside of the German customs district were left
free to the individual companies.
The concentration of the electrical glass industry.—The understanding
 concerning minimum prices agreed upon in 1905 between
the Union of Silesian-Lausitz Pane Glass Works (Ltd.) and the
Rhenish-Westphalian Union, on the one hand, and the Saxon
manufacturers, on the other, was dissolved in the summer of 1912,
after the Cassel association had ceased to exist. The United Lausitz
Glass Works (Vereinigte Lausitzer Glaswerke) at Weisswasser,
on whose board of directors the German General Electric Co. was
represented, made efforts to obtain the control of several other companies.
 Finally, in the first part of 1913, the Lausitz Glass Works
obtained possession of the Glass Works (Glashiittenwerke) Weisswasser
 and the Schweig’sche Glas &amp; Porzellanwerke, at Weisswasser.
 Before this unification was effected a competitive struggle
was carried on with these two companies which lasted three or four
years. The Lausitz Works now controls a large part of the eleectrical
 glass goods produced in Germany.
The Bottle Syndicate—The Association of German Bottle Factories
 (Verband der Flaschen-Fabriken) was formed in November,
1904, with its central place of business in Berlin. The first agreement
was to last until the end of 1909, when it was immediately extended
to December 81, 1919. The entire bottle industry was united in this
organization with the exception of a few insignificant producers.
In the articles of the organization the number of firms composing
this association was given as 32. The object of the bottle association
was to divide the total production into participation quotas and to
regulate the prices at which members could offer and sell their
goods in Germany. Selling prices could not be under those fixed
by the association. The individual firms reserved to themselves
the right to sell other products which they manufactured. The
fixing of prices for sale In foreign countries is managed by a committee
 chosen by the head of the union. No member of the syndicate
can assist a newly organized German bottle factory, either by money
or advice, without the concurrence of the association. The violation
of this and other regulations is punishable with a fine .of 250,000
marks ($59,500). If competition develops which is under 8 per cent
of the total amount of bottles produced by the syndicate, the agreement
 can be set aside by a three-fourths majority of the members;
but if competition over 8 per cent develops, only a simple majority