SPECIAL REPORTS FOR FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION, 189
elation adopted and submitted to the minister of agriculture and commerce,
 * * *
ARTICLE 4: Anyone engaging in a business for which there is an association
in his district must join the association; but under special circumstances an
exception may be made should the minister of .agriculture and commerce not
consider his joining the association necessary.
ArTicLE 6: * * * Both the associations of merchants, ete., engaged in the
same business and the united societies thereof may not engage in any business
which brings in a profit.
ArricLe 10: Both .associations of merchants, etc., engaged in the same business
 and the united societies of such merchants may establish inspecting organs
 for the output of the members of these organizations.
Both the associations of merchants, etc., engaged in the same business and
the united societies of such merchants may state in their by-laws the regulations
 concerning the punishments of members, the reasons for confiscating the
goods manufactured against the terms of the by-laws, and the fines which are
Imposed upon members for infractions of the by-laws.
There have béen formed under this law in the Prefectures of Japan
1,060 different associations of merchants and traders engaging in the
samme or allied businesses. The greater part of the guilds are too
insignificant to notice. The more important of them have been
organized in Tokyo-fu, Osaka-fu, Kyoto-fu, Kanagawa Prefecture,
Hyogo Prefecture, and Nagasaki Prefecture.
The Tea Guild —Under the guild system all business in Japan is
fo a greater or less extent organized to meet competition, without
being actually on a monopolistic basis. Certain guilds, such as the
Tea Guild, are monopolies, no one not a member of these guilds
being in a position to sell or buy tea in any part of the Empire.
Certain foreign tea firms who objected to entering the central association
 were finally constrained to join.
As representative of the organization of all the more importdnt
guilds, the Tea Guild is the best known. The law under which this
guild was formed and the agreements under which it operates are
given below in part. The agreements of the Shidzuoka Prefecture
Joint Tea Association are given in part. This association is a member
 of the central association, but is the most powerful and important
member of the central association, and as such its organization is of
interest.
Government regulations under which tea associations are organized.
 —The regulations under which the tea associations are organized
by law are given in part below in a translation published by the
department of agriculture and commerce.

‘The order No. 4 issued by the department of agriculture and commerce of the Imperial
Japanese Government in the year 1889; the revised order No. 5 of 1891, Nos. 1 and 3
o 1802 No. 2 of 1893. Nos. 5 and 14 of 1894. No. 6 of 1908, No. 17 of 1909, and No. 32
0 .
SecTioN l.-—QGeneral rules.

ARTICLE 1: The tea men generally termed in the regulations contained herein
include all of those who manufacture and sell teas and who sell raw-leaf teas
out of their own tea gardens, as well as brokers or sellers of raw-leaf or fired
teas.
ArTicLE 2: The tea men shall establish a tea association with an aim to
Improve the manufacture of teas, to enlarge sales, and to make the dealings
exact and honest, and shall be members thereof; provided that those deemed
unnecessary by the minister of agriculture and commerce to enter such an
association shall be exempt.
Persons who sell the raw-leaf teas remaining out of their household use
shall be excused from entering the association under such restrictions as
stipulated by respective tea associations.