SPECIAL REPORTS FOR FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION, 75
a list? (admittedly incomplete) covering the annual developments in
274 German combinations.
Tae GerMAN War CompaniEs. :
Because of the war the German Government has attempted, by
establishing companies for the purchase, collection, and conservation
of manufactures and raw materials, to supply any needs which become
 manifest. These companies are prescribed by law. Their
duties are also more or less outlined in enactments establishing the
companies. The companies are purely war companies of a semiofficial
 character. The directors of some of these organizations are
professors and prominent industrial leaders, who either offer their
services or are appointed in an honorary capacity. These companies
are almost entirely organized in the form of limited-liability companies
 (G. m. b. H.). Some are for purchasing purposes, others buy
raw materials, and still others control the available supplies. Special
companies have been established to conserve grain, wool, cotton,
chemicals, metals including copper, leather, tobacco, jute, rubber,
and many other articles of commerce. The work of the War Grain
Co. (Kriegs-Getreide-Gesellschaft) is far more interesting than that
of any of the other special companies. The purpose of this company
was originally to make the available supply of grain meet the needs
of the nation until a new crop could be harvested. With the advent
of the new crop, other duties have been added to the work of the
company. Most of the companies keep careful statistical records of
supplies which are reported upon by iy They suggest means
by which conditions can be improved and enforce the fines prescribed
 by law.
COMBINATIONS OF FOREIGN MANUFACTURERS.

Operations of foreign combinations limited by international agreements.—The
 high development of German industry in nearly all
lines of manufacture naturally limits the success of foreign combinations
 on the German market. Many foreign cartels which in former
 years made sales in Germany have now either voluntarily retired
from the local field or restricted and confined their operations to certain
 geographical districts by international agreement. As the
rominent international combinations operating in Germany are
i later in this report their German operations have been only
mentioned here. A few illustrations of the effects of international
agreements on the German business of foreign combinations are the
following:
(a) The steel corporations of England and America, which formerly
 operated considerably in Germany, have reached an understanding
 with the German producers by which selling districts are
regulated. According to the rail agreement, the American producers
agreed not to interfere with German trade nor with European conditions.
 (See the discussion of steel under “ International combinations,”
 and the references to international agreements under the
study of the steel combination.)
(8) The International Plate Glass Syndicate in Brussels is also
composed of foreign combinations which formerly worked in Germany,
 and which now have reached an understanding for the cont

 Vol. 1. pp. 119—138.