REPLIES TO CARD AND SCHEDULE INQUIRIES. 415
EFFECTS ON AMERICAN EXPORTS OF COMBINATIONS OF BUYERS
ABROAD.
{Manufacturers’ schedule, question 10; exporters’, question 9; other schedules,
question 8.)
The following question was in all the schedules sent out:

Please give briefly any facts you may have concerning any combinations of
buyers of your exports abroad, such as organizations of importers, jobbers,
retailers or consumers.
This question was answered in 585 schedules and not answered in
1419; i. e., 29 per cent answered the question. Those who answered
were for the most part manufacturers. The schedules from the other
classes may, ly be briefly disposed of.
Among the domestic merchants and importers there is indicated
an almost total lack of information on this subject, the only specific
replies being from a dealer in buttons, who says, “ No buying organization
 in this line,” and a similar answer from a dealer in forest
products.
Another. a lumber dealer, in answer to this question, says:

In the lumber business In Liverpool, London, and Glasgow, these are local
combinations, and generally exist only for shipments by one steamer, which
pre sent to the market “ on consignment,” to be sold by commission men to best
advantage.

The export commission houses, manufacturers’ export agents, ete.,
who come more directly in contact with foreign buying combinations
 than any other class, also furnish practically no information
on the subject. One of them says:

During a long experience promoting the sale of manufactured goods in many
countries, we have not found such conditions which worked any hardship. In
certain raw materials this might apply, but doubtful, to any extent.
A cotton exporter says:

The only combinations we meet are such as the Liverpool Cotton Association
 and similar organizations on the Continent. There is one organization
nf Austrian spinning mills who have their own buyer in the United States.

Another exporter says:

The large buyers of canned salmon in London apparently exchange views and
act very much in harmony.
The publicists, economists, lawyers, and bankers rarely give much
specific information under this head. A banker, however, states:

A combination of German merchants at Hamburg bought large quantities of
American goods and stored them in a warehouse in the free port at Hamburg,
for resale to the northern countries, particularly Russia. Practically all of
the trade in American goods into Russia through Riga is traceable to this source.
The sale to Italy of large quantities of semolina from the northwest, and
particularly northwestern Canada is handled through a combination or syndicate
 of Italian bankers. - .
A writer on economic subjects states comprehensively that—
The syndicates of France and other European countries buy a large quantity
of American fertilizers, feeding stuffs, farm implements, and machinery which
they retail to their members at the lowest possible prices. * * * It is
possible * * * that these syndicates have an effect in reducing the profits
of a large line of American trade.

The manufacturers’ schedules afford practically the only specific
information as to combinations among buyers of American products