Evening star., 1936-07-27
BUSINESS CODES
! BEING RESUMED
z
Work Done by N. R. A. Now
Z Returned to Federal
: Trade Commission.
BY WILL p. KENNEDY.

BY WILL p. KENNEDY.
Z The N. r. A. mas been wiped out by
the Supreme Court, but its work in
Betting up business codes still con-
ainues-with a minimum of friction
5and more cooperation between indus
tries and the Government.
4 This work has been taken over, or
rather resumed, by the Trade Practice
rConference Division of the Federal
.aTrade Commission, with Judge George
sMcCorkle in charge.
In the N. r. A. decision the Su-
-preme Court really decided q kidnap
-case and restored the child to its le-
sgitimate parent, because the N. r. A.
-actually took over Federal Govern
ement activity that has been in oper-
cation since 1919.
y More than $50 trade practice con-
sferences, setting up business codes,
:. have been held under Federal Trade
sCommiSsion auspices for industries Of
varied character, comprising member
sships of from several hundred to many
sthousand-many of them the largest
land most important in the country.
e Voluntary Conferences Held
/ Even during the N. r. A. regime,
while the activity of the Trade Prac-
stice Conference Division was slowed
down to a considerable extent, some
sof these voluntary conferences of in
sdustries were held, and resulted in the
publication of fair trade codes, notably
sthe wholesale drug industry and the
: wholesale tobacco trade. The drug
sindustry, with about 400 members of
kthe industry present, representing
go per cent of the annual volume of
sbusineSS transacted, condemned such
.unfair trade practices as selling below
Z cost with intent and effect of injuring
acompetitors; using false and mislead-
sing statements by way of advertise
< ment or otherwise; commercial bribery;
4 defamation of competitors and dis
z arrangement of competitors products;
: sunlawful price discrimination; posing
Gas a wholesale druggist when not
Z qualified to be so classed; imitation
Z Of trade marks, trade names or other
: identifying marks of competitors; !;
z using marked up" or fictitious
I prices; representing certain prices and
k terms as special" when in fact they
= are regular" prices and terms; SUBJ
j stitution, without- permission, of drugs
Z or allied produ@ for those ordered
+ by customers, tn practice having a
! tendency to mislead purchasers, and
/ constituting a method dangerous to
the public health.
( The wholesale tobacco trade-rep-
resenting 96 per cent of the industry
: in the United States-has adopted a
code since the demise of the N. R. A.
There has been renewed. revivified
interest in these voluntary trade prac-
tice conferences since the Supreme
5 Court decision wiped out the N. r. A.
: with some 30-odd conferences held,
which the commission is about to
approve. The commission has also
! received inquiries perhaps $50 -
which may develop into conferences,
! some of them close to appointment.
! 1t is also believed that the Robinson
4 Patman act will stimulate applications
Tor conferences under auspices of the
commission. The new act greatly
broadens the law against price dis
elimination, and one of the most fire.
quently requested rules in conferences
| selling below cost-appears to be
! clothed with restrictions which will,
1t is believed, have tendency to slow
down this method of competition.
I Other Codes Approved.
commission since the exit of the N.
! r. A. include, besides the wholesale
tobacco trade, the fire extinguisher
! appliance manufacturing industry
those in attendance representing rs
! per cent of the industry, with an in
! Vestment of approximately $500 900
and 5000 employees; the vegetable
ivory button industry, the cotton con-
verters industry and the buff and pol
1shing wheel industry
A few of the industries whose pro-
posed codes are pending are private
home study school industry (corre-
! spondence schools, the petroleum in
dustry, the fertilizer industry, the
fruit preserving industry and the radio
Z ASSNA'AAi6 oSo 4lllo ollOWS Illc
scope and magnitude of the business
: interests covered by the codes which
the commission has considered since
1t took back this function from the
N r. A.
Three years ago the Federal Trade
Commission issued q trade practice
conference book, for which there has
been a great demand throughout all
industries. A revised edition of this
book is made imperative because of
the increased interest in the trade
/ practice conferences since the cur
, tain fell on the N r. A., and it is soon
to be issued.
The trade practice conferences are
in charge of Judge McCorkle, who has
been with the commission since it was
organized in March, 1915. When this
voluntary cooperation between busi-
hess interests and the Government
! started IT years ago the conferences
were originally designated as trade
submittals. However, they seemed to
win the appreciation of the business
people and industries began to see
the advantages of cooperation in
| eliminating unfair methods of COM
, petition by agreements, as well as