EXCERPTS FROM HEARINGS. 295
a H. Rosseter, manager of W. R. Grace &amp; Co., San Francisco,
said:

A manufacturer going into an absolutely new market would possibly and
probably, no doubt, by proper combination, be able to effect better results at
a smaller per capita cost without incurring any of the penalties. But going
Into a market where a middleman Is established it has been my ‘experience
In the manufacturing business, with which I am also associated, that the attempt
 to do business direct was very costly. The manufacturing concern was
a good one; they knew exactly how to produce the article they were selling
locally and abroad; they were among the leaders in that particular activity,
‘hat particular endeavor; but, when it came to selling in a foreign market, and
when it came to knowing credit conditions there and knowing customers, they
were as a tenderfoot; they did not know it.. * * *
From the selfiish standpoint and personally, I would be very slow in participation
 by any manufacturing interest that I represented in an effort of
that kind. * * * Now, to be perfectly fair, it can be said that I have
two stands, two situations on that question, because I am also a foreign merchant
 as well as a manufacturer; but in speaking this way I am trying to
advise in a disinterested spirit as far as I can.
George H. Richards, export manager of the Remington Typewriter
 Co.. New York City, said:
I believe the utmost freedom of action should be guaranteed to every manufacturer
 in the United States, who has the slightest desire to engage in foreign
 trade. Personally, I do not see where any advantage is going to accrue
 from an attempt to combine on the part of our manufacturers in the
United States so far as successfully invading the foreign fields is concerned.
Any combination, which did not include everybody in the particular line of
rade, would be valueless. It would have to include everybody or no one. I
helieve it would be extremely difficult to induce any of the large corcerns, who
have already successfully invaded the foreign market, to become a party to a
combination of any kind. I don’t believe they would be willing to hold the
umbrella up while the little fellow got in out of the rain. On the contrary, if
it is the intention, as I know it is, to encourage, stimulate, and expand our
foreign commerce, we should try to devise some means whereby everybody in
the United States would have an opportunity to reap the benefit to the extent
that they were prepared to take advantage of it.
oe

With regard to the little fellow though, I do not believe that he should be
encouraged to feel that some one is going to do something for him that he ought
to do for himself ; and, in a combination in which they try to pro rate the volume
of business, that is very apt to be the case. He will say, “I will get my share of
this,” and let it go at that. In a practice of that kind there is the utter absence
of the personal factor, and I believe that counts for a great deal. * * * I
Jon’t think we are going successfully to invade the foreign markets if we are
going to attempt to hold up prices by combination here without regard to what the
foreign competitor is doing. If we combine and make our price $1, our foreign
competitor will know it overnight and will make his price 99 cents. The only combination
 of value is the universal combination, and that, of course, is utterly
impossible.

As to the desirability of combination in export trade, F. D. Waterman,
 of L. E. Waterman &amp; Co., fountain-pen manufacturers, New
York City, said:

We never found any need for it, because we were the pioneers in the field,
ind we would only help our competitors by taking them in.

When asked whether a selling agency composed of the 10 or 15 manufacturers
 of duplicating machines might not reduce the selling cost,
William G. Arnold, secretary of A. B. Dick Co., Chicago, Ill., said:
It might possibly do that, but we have never felt very friendly to that kind
of an arrangement, for the reason that we are the largest people in the business.
and we do not really care to go into anything of that kind.