EXCERPTS FROM HEARINGS. 275

outside of the association, and contribute toward the maintenance of an efficient
 staff in all of the leading countries, because the expense, apportioned
around among 40 or 50 manufacturers, would be insignificant.
The great advantage of such an association is that we would be in a position
in foreign trade to meet European competition, where going singly we would
not. The European business, as you know, is thoroughly organized and very
intelligently managed, and, even if some of us went down there individually,
we would be afraid as soon as the war was over that we would be killed out
individually ; whereas if we had a strong organization which was acting as a
unit, backed up by the whole industry of this country, the foreigners in there
would think twice before starting a fight to eliminate everybody, because the
fight could not be localized, as it would be in the case of individual Americans.
As I say, this is a problem of the small manufacturer; and the point is that
the very large manufacturers, such as the Steel Corporation, the Harvester
Co., etc, can, of course, maintain a staff and can afford to maintain a staff
in all of those countries. I was therefore, in this connection, very much interested
 to find that Mr. Farrell, of the Steel Corporation, was strongly in favor
of this right to combine; not because it would help him in his foreign trade
in South America. but because it would help the enormous number of small
manufacturers in this country that were consumers of his articles, which he
made here; and he figured that the business which he would get in that way,
through enabling the small manufacturers, who were the consumers of the large
steel products. to export down there as an association, would give him a great
deal more business than he could ever hope to get by maintaining perhaps
more or less of a monopoly in his export steel business.

Charles M. Woodruff, secretary of the National Association of
Manufacturers of Medicinal Products, Detroit, Mich., believes that
most of the advantages, such as greater assortment, lesser overhead
expenses, etc., which are claimed in advocacy of export combination,
are already provided by the dealer; and that other benefits claimed
can be accomplished through an association such as the one he represents,
 without any closer. combination being necessary. His statement
 follows:

If our goods were sold direct to the consumer, there would be an advantage
fn individual members of the several groups heretofore mentioned combining
 to offer a greater assortment; but this office is performed by the dealer,
who gathers a complete assortment from all the manufacturers. The foreign
doctor has his wants supplied by the local dealer, whether such wants call
for the fluid extract. for example, of one make or another; and sometimes
his preference is based on cost, sometimes on sentiment, and sometimes on his
confidence in the maker, The immediate dealer looks either to the wholesaler
of his own country, or to the commission house in America, unless he has effected
connections direct with the manufacturer.
You would be surprised if you would step into our New York office, or
Parke, Davis &amp; Co.’s New York office, or the offices of the exporting branches of
other houses, to see the large number of little packages going to foreign countries.
 That is due to the peculiar nature of our business, which makes it desirable.
 It is a sort of hand-to-mouth business on a big scale. A great many
of the items are not permanent, and it is a desirable thing for the dealer to
have them as fresh as possible. He has to order small quantities for immediate
demands. Some exporters will make a shipment once a week of a large volume,
carloads, and some manufacturing houses ship large quantities out every day.
There are hundreds of the smaller dealers, however, and that is where the
question of the parcels post comes in, which I will speak of later. Therefore,
if the principle of reducing expense of exportation just referred to is worked out
to its logical conclusion, combinations for the mere purpose of dividing certain
overhead expenses connected with exportation will be unnecessary.
But there are certain expenses of doing business in foreign countries that
might be reduced by wise cooperation. For example, why should not a traveling
salesman be permitted to take orders for the fluid extracts of one manufacturer
and the medicinal plasters of another, since these manufacturers are not in
any sense competitors?
Let us go a step further: Why would it be unlawful for the members of this
association to combine in maintaining a common warehouse or depot in a foreign