SPECIAL REPORTS FOR FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION. 117
r
Spesial, report of Vice Consul A. Hutt, Nantes district, France, November
10, 1915.
Syndicates in the Nantes district do not engage in business either
openly or secretly and ‘are in reality merely advisory bodies or
organizations instituted for the purpose of bringing together merchants
 engaged in the same lines to discuss trade conditions, their
members being in no way bound to adhere to any of their decisions
or rulings.
There are not any properly organized or avowed: cartels or combinations
 in this district for two reasons: Firstly, because they are
prohibited by law; secondly, because they are contrary to this district’s
 mentality. Indeed, the keenest competition exists among
manufacturers and merchants generally here, and combinations may
be said to come into being only in the face of exceptional circumstances
 or difficulties or before the menace of foreign competition.
In view of the above, it has not been possible to obtain any precise
information regarding any combinations that may have existed from
time to time or that may still secretly exist, and information of a
general character can be obtained only from sources in which entire
trust can not be placed.
The only combination which appears to be at all organized along
business lines is the “consortium” of coal importers. This word
“ consortium ” has been used for the purpose of placing the deal outside
 the pale of the law. This “consortium,” which came into being
about 20 years since, was put out of business at the end of the first
few years by foreign competitors, principally British and German.
It was restored again about six years since, and there is no doubt
that it is still in force. It would appear that the Nantes “consortium
 ” of coal importers is only a branch of a vast coal trust having
its center at Paris, instituted for the purpose of controlling the importations
 of coal from abroad, principally from Great Britain.
The most superficial examination of this “consortium’s” raison
d’étre and operations reveals the fact that it is based on sentiment,
the force of which is such in this district that consumers will rather
purchase from local concerns than from foreign importers offering
better goods at an infinitely lower price. Indeed, it is only outside
of this “consortium’s” sphere of action that French and foreign
competitors can hope to transact business. It seems that around
certain important centers or easily accessible seaports circles are
drawn, and within the bounds of these circles the ‘different “consortiums”
 have the coal trade in their own hands. The town of
Nantes and the ports of La Rochelle, St. Malo, and Bordeaux are the
centers of as many circles.
The Nantes consortium ” includes the following firms: :
Compagnie des Charbons et Briquettes de Blanzy et de 1'Ouest, 8, Place de la
Petite Hollande, Nantes. }
Société d'Importation de Charbons, 1, Quai Jean Bart, Nantes.
Société des Houilles et Agglomérés, 10, Quai de la Fosse, Nantes.
Maison Terret &amp; De Closmadeuc, 6, Rue Jean J: acques Rousseau, Nantes.
It is a well-known fact that none of the above concerns pays a
large dividend.
The “consortium’s” mode of operation in regard to competitors is
the following: If a particularly agoressive competitor starts business