Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1922-04-25
HOLDS PR|CE-F|X|NG
LONE COMBINE AIM
Huston Thompson Says In
vestigations Have Revealed
No Other Object.
By the Associated Press.

BALTIMORE, April 25.-All the
open-price associations thus far in
vestigated by the Federal Trade
Commission have been found to have
for their direct object the fixing and
usually the enhancement of prices,
Huston Thompson. a member OF
the commission, declared today IN an
address here before the National
League Of Women Voters.
II have never found one" said
Commissioner Thompson. that did
not either fix prices or cause cur
tailment of production to the point
where. it ultimately paralyzed the
market"
One Dominant Tone.
The zone, deep, dominant note OF
the whole movement" as determined
by the Trade Commission, he added.
was an increase Of prices
Making 1t plain that he did not
attack all forms Of business associa-
tions. Mr.. Thompson defined the
..open price association" as one in
which the principal producers OF an
industry organized to Exchange cur
rentlv and constantly, through CEN
trail headquarters. all information as
to orders; ,rs psodpesi;Gns res;nns, anr orpanizp-
tions. nationally tied together, the
system resulted in "either fixing of
prices or curtailment of production
to produce a panic-buying market" he
said. ..,
them are human 1eanss. PEI a.nerisnca ne aheI in
several industries, 'is it possible to
avoid the fixing Of prices and the
Tendency to curtailment of produe-
'tion?
Bares Tobacco Manipulation.
Going into details of such an or
SANITATION in the tobacco market. he
said it made a most revealing pic
ture of jobbers and manufac-
turers holding up consumers prices,
while at the same time practically
staying Off the market to such an ex-
tent that the prices Of raw materials
dropped to point where the farmer
was helpless" Advocates of the
open-price associations constantly
urged operators mot to kill the goose
that lays the golden EGGS he SAID,
but the temptation of the power, hg..,
uratively speaking, made 1t fact.
He asserted that the first result IN
the tobacco trade was two tremen.
dous cooperative organizations OF
farmers to meet the situation"
In all Of them, he concluded, human
nature gets the upper hand" and
added that it was time that we
that the cycle from producer to con-
sumer and back again should be un-
fettered." Associations having the
price fixing object, he said. were un-
der the ban of the law and business
men had no real ground for proclaim
ing that "fog or doubt" covered the
legality Of their trade practices in
Joining them. Keeping alive the
competitive system" he suggested.
was "the best way out Of the present
economic situation"
Declares Education Safeguard.
"The education Of citizens is the
safeguard Of q republic" This motto,
printed on the convention program, is
tho idea which Mrs. Maud Wood Park.
president of the National League of
Women Voters, in her opening ad-
dress at the third annual convention
Of the league here today. said she
would like to put before the conven-
ton as a guide for its deliberations.
Because this government by the
people," she said, was founded to bring
about the safety and happiness Of citi-
gems through political situation clean.
efficient and just. and because the wom-
en- Of the United States have at this
time a peculiar opportunity given by
their recent enfranchisement to help in
A. Gel l{Ro fi0p NJ this Uroaf {dool
we arc banded together to do our part.
This take to be the underlying faith
Of the League Of Women Voters"
Must Rest On Convictions.
It must needs rest upon thre convic-
lions, Mrs. Park declared. First, the
7COnunUed on Page 2. Column II