28 REPORT ON COOPERATION IN AMERICAN EXPORT TRADE,

Members.
Société des Hauts-Fourneaux de Maxeville,
Société Métallurgique de Gorey.
Marc Raty &amp; Cie.
Société Métallurgique de Senelle-Maubeuge .
F. de Saintignon &amp; Cie. ‘
Société Métallurgique d’Aubrives et Villerupt.,
Société Lorraine-Industrielle.
Société des Hauts-Fourneaux de La Chiers,.
Société des Hauts-Fourneaux et Forges de Villerupt-Laval-Dieu.
Compagnie des Forges de Chatillon, Commentry et Neuves-Maisons,
Société des Torges et Fonderies de Montataire.
Société des Hauts-Fourneaux et Fonderies de Pont-3-Mousson,
Société des Acieries de Micheville.
Société des Acieries de Longwy.
Compagnie Marine-Homécourt.:
Société de la Providence.
Société des Acieries du Nord et de I'Est.
Wendel et Cie.
Société des Acieries de Pompey.
Of the first 12 companies which were the original partners, the Société
 Villerupt-Laval-Dieu has been absorbed by the Société Senelle-Maubeuge,
 thus making the present membership 18, as stated above.
The comptoir is a selling agency for its members, with customers
consisting principally of the smaller French consumers of pig iron
who do not possess blast furnaces. Through their contracts with the
selling agency they are protected against the competition of their
more powerful rivals who produce their iron from their own blast
furnaces. The customers are chiefly puddlers in the north of France,
in the Ardennes, in the region of the River Loire, and in the center
of France, and molders whose foundries are scattered generally
throughout the country, but located principally in the Departments of
the Ardennes, Nord, Aisne, Haute-Marne, Meuse, Cher, Sarthe,
Haute-Savoie, and the two Charentes. The comptoir also sells pig
iron for transformation into Martin steel to producers not having
their own blast furnaces.
In 1910 the sales of the comptoir reached 355,675 metric tons,
divided as follows: 264,962 tons for casting, 63,885 tons for refining,
and 26,828 tons of Thomas iron. Qut of a total annual production
of about 5,000,000 tons of pig iron in France, the comptoir’s members
 produce about 3,500,000 tons. The comptoir does not regulate
the production of pig iron, for the members are at liberty to produce
all they wish; it merely requires each partner to place at its disposal
a certain quantity each year from which the i received can be
filled. The revenue of the comptoir is derived from contributions
from the members, .the amount of which is fixed by the board of
directors. Usually from each invoice the members deduct 2 per cent
for the comptoir and one-half per cent for the reserve fund. If
the running expenses at the end of the semester are less than the
amount received from the 2 per cent payments, the balance is returned
 to the members pro rata. When the reserve fund reaches
300,000 francs ($57,900) the one-half per cent is still collected, but
returned at the end of each six months.
Article 88 of the statutes defines the 14 different kinds of iron
handled by the comptoir and their relative values based upon the

1 Les Syndicats Industriels de Producteurs 1912 editio ‘Paul de Rousi Arman
Colin, publishers, 5 Rue de Mézidres, Paris. ’ , ors. d