EXCERPTS FROM HEARINGS. 285
Charles Piez, president of the Link Belt Co., Chicago, I11., thought
that:
There must be a certain degree of cooperation between manufacturers permitted
 if we are to undergo the expense in both money and time to secure
foreign business. The mere statement that opportunities exist, that the Department
 of Commeice sends out, is hardly sufficient. There must be something
 additional to that. There must be organized effort and agencies established,
 and methods of credit and extensions of terms must be provided for,
through the banks or through the Government. before we are going to be very
successful in securing foreign trade.
J. R. Leeson, president of the Universal Winding Co., Boston,
Mass., stated :
Those American manufacturers, who have no facilities for personally acquainting
 themselves with conditions and with clients in foreign countries on
their own account, should be authorized and encouraged to form associations for
the joint exploitation of distant markets, and, if Federal laws render such joint
action impracticable or difficult, they should be modified so as to enable pro-Jucers
 of moderate caliber to secure the advantages to be had from a wide
distribution of products which the larger corporations are able to secure for
themselves,

S. H. Roberts, secretary-treasurer of the Phoenix Horseshoe Co.,
Chicago, Ill., said:
In order to expand and extend the use of the American style of horseshoes
it might be wise for several different manufacturers of horseshoes to combine
together to send men into these countries, so they would all reap a certain
amount of benefit in the end. It is a very expensive thing to introduce new
goods in those countries, and no one concern, unless it is a very large one, is
able to float it.
Charles S. Brantingham, president of the Emerson-Brantingham
Co., manufacturers of farm machinery, Rockford, Ill., stated :

At present manufacturers in this country feel that they can not, with safety,
discuss with each other, prices, terms, ete., concerning foreign sales, without the
chance of being charged with violating the laws of this country. The percentage
 of profit in our line is not large, the total profit being dependent on
volume ; consequently, the expense of establishing and conducting foreign trade,
being heavy, discourages many who are considering entering this field. i
If more freedom was permitted between manufacturers in the discussion of
foreign prices, terms, etc., whereby we could avoid price cutting between ourselves
 when desired, it would be very helpful.
Calvert Townley, assistant to the president of the Westinghouse
Electric &amp; Manufacturing Co., Pittsburgh, Pa., said in regard to
proposed joint selling agencies among competitors:
I should think there are cases where it would work very well, ’
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I would class conditions, and where the products competing were of a very
different grade, the plan might not work at all. On the other hand, there are
many lines in which that does not exist. For example, the incandescent-lamp
business is one. There are many lamps made of a very high grade, different
in quality, and it is not incompatible with handling by the same representative.
0. De G. Vanderbilt, jr., of the Weir Frog Co., Cincinnati, Ohio,
in speaking of the large order for rails recently received by the
Cambria and Lackawanna steel companies from Russia, and the
track work in connection thereto, said:

It will probably be a bigger order than any one firm can handle in the time
in which they will expect it to be shipped. It has got to be a combination of
two or three manufacturers in this country, to be able to turn that out In the
time when the rails must be delivered, * = =