444 REPORT ON COOPERATION IN AMERICAN EXPORT TRADE.

Preference to be given domestic market.—The suggestion that
manufacturers belonging to export organizations should give the
domestic market preference is made in the following excerpts.
From a manufacturer of railroad freight equipment:
If such a contingency [restraint of domestic trade] should arise, it could be
controlled by a law compelling producers to sell to domestic concerns on demand,
In preference to exporting, on a basis of a reasonable profit over cost. A reasonable
 profit for different commodities could be arrived at.

From an importer and exporter of dental gold materials:

American goods or products raised or made in the United States first belong
to all the people in the United States, and no company, corporation, or organlzation
 should be allowed to sell in any foreign country anything excepting the
surplus or that portion of the product which would not have the effect of raising
the price in the United States.
By an attorney:
The President, upon the recommendation of the Federal Trade Commission,
should forbid the export of raw or manufactured commodities where it is shown
that such export has resulted in restraint of competition in the United States.

Limit size of organizations.—Several respondents thought that if
the law limited the size of such organizations, restraint of trade in
the domestic market might be prevented.
A grower and exporter of citrus fruits stated:
This might be prevented by only .admitting a certain per cent (say, 50 to
80 per cent) of the products of any one industry into one combination, provided
 of course that there would be other combinations which the remaining
concerns could join.

A manufacturer of candies said:

Such agencies would not restrain domestic trade, unless allowed to become too
large. If there were enough of such agencies and the bulk of the business was
not conducted by a few such agencies, domestic trade would not be restrained.
As in domestic trade, it would be inadvisable for the agencies to be too
large, because competition would be gone in export trade. Any one agency
could be prohibited from representing more than a certain number of houses
of a certain worth.

Penalize violators.—Several of the replies provide for penalties
for violation of laws proposed. The following answers are typical
of a large number which advocate penalties for illegal acts on the
part of such organizations. Some provide for dissolution, others for
the expulsion of offending members, others for fine only, others for
imprisonment of officials or members of such organizations, and
some for both fine and imprisonment.
By a&amp; manufacturer of hosiery:

We think that if any combination was found to be using its strength or
power in restraint of domestic trade that its charter as a combination should
be revoked, and ‘the executive officers severely fined and punished.

By a professor of political economy :
Such misuse could be prevented by dissolving the combination entirely,
* * after two or three violations of the law.
From a manufacturer and exporter of caskets:
It could be prevented by making the penalty apply to the officers of the corporations
 or firms and the penalty to be imprisonment for a long period (no
fine penalty).