The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1921-04-19
PRICE ASSOCIATIONS
KEEP THINGS HIGH
Federal Trade Commission Would Elm
mate Unnecessary Brokerage
Transactions.

/ WASHINGTON. April 19.-Lcgisla-
/ ton t. eliminate unnecessary brokerage
/ transactions, to facilitate a wide dis
/ tributiou Of information regarding mar
I kct conditions and to strengthen the
! powers of the federal government in its
price investigation. is recommended by
( the federal trade commission in report
on the general industrial condition,
! drawn up at the request Of President
Harding and made public mt the White
/ House.
Open price associationS.' which op-
| crate within the law to keep their re
! suectivc members advised contid"ntiallT
at one another's price schedules. are ac-
I CuSed by the commissions of contributing
to the maintenance of unduly high retail
/ prices.
II is suggested that means must be
/ found to reduce costs of necessities,
such as fuel and housing before other
/ commodities can come back to normal
All Must Share Loss.
1t should be said the report con
cludes. that following the disordered
conditions of the worlds affairs.
shrinkage in values is inevitable and that
normal conditions will be the more
quickly restored if the producer, the la
b0rer. the manufacturer. the jobber and
/ the retailer will each share at once in
] the unavoidable loss and. further, ;hat
any effort by any element TO place its
/ share of the common loss on the shout
/ dcrS of others. and particularly of the
consumer. can but result in continual
tion of the conditions under which the
| country is now suffering
Declaring that the cost of commodities
| to the consumer has not. broadly speak
| ing. been reduced in proper proportion
/ to the decline in agricultural and other
| raw materials. the commission sets forth
| lis belief that in general. it would ap-
/ pear that the movement toward the re
duction of prices tp the consumer Is re
tardcd chiefly ut the retailing stage. and
that relief at this point would be Re
/ flCctcd back in increased production.
and relieve. to some extent, at least the
check upon the manufacturer. and by in
crcasing the demands for raw materials
would react upon the producer.
How Price Associations Work
The report also takes note Of the in
flucncc of foreign combinations Of capt.
tai in determining the price OF such conf
modities phosphate. tobacco and grain
and adds that among domestic combina-
lions one of the newest and most wide
spread agencies for affecting markets is
the open price association.
One of the purposes of these asSocia
tiOns," the report says. 'nominally Is to
determine uniform cost accounting meth
DDS and to steady the market by. furnish
ing the supply which il can readily alb
Sorh.
These associations collect and pub
fish for the benefit of their members fig
ures of production, production costs
sales and sales prices and orders and
stocks in pursuance Of a plan whereby
the members Of such associations are TO
compete among themselves and with 9TH
ers with knowledge of their own and
their competitors production costs and
prices, the available supply and the de-
mand. ---- ,.s'..e
The collection and public disSetnnal
ton of such statistical data might make