438 REPORT ON COOPERATION IN AMERICAN EXPORT TRADE.

American manufacturer and producer and that foreign trade is of
secondary importance. Domestic trade would be sought first, because
 of its many advantages. Under such conditions, they assert
there would be small chance of any restraint of domestic trade by
these export organizations. |
An industrial engineer wrote:
It would always be easier to sell in domestic markets than foreign ones.
Trade naturally follows the lines of least resistance. Under normal conditions,
selling in domestic territory should be more profitable than in foreign realms.
A manufacturer of cotton braids said:
No manufacturer would export if a demand for the merchandise existed in
the domestic markets, there being considerably more detail work to export
irade than is required with home trade.
A producer of pig iron wrote:
I do not think such combinations would act at all in the way of restraint of
trade in this country, because the cost of transportation in the export business
would be so much higher than the transportation cost in the domestic market.
Competition from outside concerns would prevent.—It is asserted
that there are a number of concerns in almost every industry that
confine their trade to the domestic market, and that these would not
join these export organizations. It is thought that the competition
from these concerns would prevent any restraint of trade in the
domestic market.
A manufacturer of cotton yarn stated:

There are too many mills for all of them to be brought into one combination.
There are more cotton spindles in the United States than are needed to
produce the yarn consumed, when such spindles are running full time. Therefore,
 the various mills would compete for domestic business.
A publisher of a trade journal wrote:
There are enough independent concerns to keep any combinations within
pounds without any further laws than we now have.
A boot and shoe manufacturer said:

In the shoe-manufacturing industry, the manufacturers are at the present so
widely scattered, and competition is so general, that no combinations among
them, that would restrain trade in this country, seems likely or even possible.
Competition from new concerns would prevent.—Closely analogous
to the above replies are a number that express the belief that if restraint
 of domestic trade were attempted, new concerns would start
into business and compete, thus preventing such attempt at restraint.
A manufacturer of vulcanized fiber wrote:

The day has passed, however, when any combinations of interests can advance
prices above a reasonable amount, because it is so easy to get capital interested
in a profitable proposition that anything like a trust would, very soon, have new
competition which would force their prices down to a reasonable figure,
A manufacturer of paper and felt products wrote:
As soon as the particular firms made, or seemed to make, excessive profits,
other capital would be diverted to their line, and competition would keep down
domestic prices.

An editor of a magazine devoted to the coal industry wrote:

Any organization devised for the essential purpose of exporting coal could
pnly draw their production from certain restricted districts contiguous to the
loading ports. Their sphere of influence would, thus, be relatively limited and