SPECIAL REPORTS FOR FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION, 119
SPAIN. .
Spstia) Sobant of Consul General Carl Bailey Hurst, Barcelona, Spain, October
, 1915,
The Kingdom of Spain, covered by this report, with the Balearic
[slands and Canary Islands and the Spanish possessions in North
Africa, has an area of nearly 200,000 square miles, and a population
of about 20,000,000.
Works bearing especially on the subject of cartels, syndicates, or
combinations are exceedingly scanty and the information secured has
been largely gathered from current periodicals containing published
references to the organizations in question. The chief authorities
for this report are—
Gaceta de Madrid, No. 218, 1915.
El Trabajo Nacional, No. 1217, 1915.
Catalunya, No. 324, 1914.
Revista de Economia y Hacienda, Nos. 28, 41, 42, 43, 1915.
Bspafia Econ6mica y Financiera, Nos. 1178, 1179. 1180. 1915.

Fostering of syndicates by the Government.—The Spanish Government
 fosters and at the same time imposes restrictions upon commercial,
 industrial, and agricultural syndicates. The association of
the interests of each class of business is regarded as advantageous to
the promotion of business activity, provided the operations of the
combination are limited by Government control.
In the Spanish Civil Code there is a paragraph which reads,
“Pueden existir sociedades civiles” (civilian associations may exist),
and a paragraph of the Penal Code provides that no association may
be formed to increase abusively the prices of merchandise. Accordingly
 Spanish producers and manufacturers may syndicate themselves,
 stating at the outset that they never increase excessively the
prices of their products. Such syndicates or associations do not
come under any paragraph of the Spanish tax laws, not being considered
 as mercantile bodies and, as an entity, they can not be regarded
 as manufacturers. In their syndicated form they have no
legal obligations. They are largely cooperative and their particular
object is to avoid competition and regulate work. Trusts are not
well known in Spain. Current literature in regard to them is generally
 antagonistic. References are seen in local periodicals as to
the operations of trusts in other countries, explaining their methods
and calling attention to their advantages and disadvantages, but
Spanish manufacturers seem more generally inclined to associate
their interests in a cooperative way. Such combinations frequently
have a central bureau which receives orders that are eventually distributed
 among the different associated producers and sales are sometimes
 made through the central bureau as well.
Early in the year 1915 the Spanish Government took up the question
 of the establishment of industrial or mercantile syndicates. The
minister of finance stated that private initiative was apparently remiss
 in discovering a remedy for abuses in connection with the accumulation
 of wealth and that in order to provide for the general welfare
 of the country, its production, commerce. and credit, the Government
 perceived it to be its duty to intervene. The idea of the
Government was to stimulate by certain aids the formation of industrial
 and mercantile syndicates, with strict regulations. for agricul-