REPLIES TO CARD AND SCHEDULE INQUIRIES. 379
D. Rrpries Expressing Dousr.
Twelve replies expressed doubt in the matter. Thus, an economist
wrote

I can see no serious objection to combinations or cooperative organizations,
solely for export business, among American manufacturers or producers by common
 selling agencies, or by other means. I am very doubtful, however, about
their advantage.
In the first place, T am convinced that the fields in which they could accomplish
 really constructive work are somewhat limited ; and, in the second place, I
think there would be serious danger of their reducing the emphasis on individual
 responsibility in connection with export operations. I feel quite positive
that in the long run the development of American export manufactures will
depend almost entirely upon the intelligence with which individual efforts are
put forward.
At a recent meeting of the National Association of Cotton Manufacturers I
indicated some of the ways in which it seems to me associated effort might be
of material advantage, but I think there is a serious danger in overlooking the
fact that export trade, in quite as literal a sense as is true in the case of
domestic trade, is individual rather than national. The national aspects of it
arise mainly out of the sum of individual interests.
Under proper restrictions therefore, there might be distinct advantage in
permitting associations of this kind, but I am convinced that the field for their
constructive usefulness is comparatively small and that they should not in
any case be permitted to lessen the energy of individual effort.
A prominent Chicago attorney wrote:
Aside from these general considerations, which cover both domestic and
foreign trade, it is true that foreign trade presents certain conditions which
can be best met by a certain degree of cooperation, and if the law does not
permit such cooperation, it should be amended so there may be no doubt.
Personally I do not think there is the demand for such cooperation as others
seem to think. Personally I have never come in contact with a combination to
promote export trade. I have never heard of one formed, either prior to the
passage of the Sherman law or during the many years when that law was
supposed to be a dead letter, and when all sorts of combinations in domestic
trade were in existence in every State. It seems to me if there were, or had
been, any real demand for combinations in export trade they would have
sprung up—as they did in the domestic trade—regardless of the law. My
observation has been that export trade, in a particular line, has been built up
by the energy of some one enterprising company, and for that company to
cooperate with its less enterprising domestic competitors would be simply to
give those competitors the benefits of its exceptional sagacity.
Of course, times are rapidly changing, and in the near future the export trade
of this country may become so large and be participated in by so many that it
will present many of the keen competitive problems which the domestic trade
presents. When that condition is reached, the necessity for cooperative effort
will be in a measure as great in the export trade as it is in the domestic, and
for precisely the same reasons.

LIMITATION OF MEMBERSHIP IN EXPORT COMBINATIONS.

(Manufacturers’ schedule, question 5; other schedules, question 2.)
The schedules sent out by the Commission contained the following
question:
If you think export combinations desirable, please state your opinion, with
your reasons, as to whether they should—
(a) Be open to all manufacturers or producers in the United States in thelr
respective lines, or have the right to exclude any concern at pleasure?
(b) Be open to all American-owned concerns, but have the right to exclude
any concerns that are controlled by foreign interests?
(¢) Be restricted to trade in noncompeting products, or cover competing
products also?