ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE WEBB-POMERENE ACT 309 Arguments against the Webb-Pomerene Act. There are two main groups of opponents of the Webb-Pomerene Act. The first are those who oppose it because it represents to them a covert attack on the principles underlying our anti-trust legislation, a first step toward the total repeal of the Sherman and Clayton Acts. They contend that manufacturers should not be permitted to do to foreigners what they are restrained from doing to the people in the United States, that the forming of combinations in restraint of trade is not less reprehensible when applied to the exporting of goods than when it is directed toward manipulating the domestic market. The second group objects on the ground that the measure is of little, if any, practical value. According to their view, export combinations of manufacturers of non-competing but allied lines were not illegal before the passage of the law, and many such combinations have long existed; the most successful of these have developed gradually through the entrusting of export business, by a number of non-competing manufacturers, to a common export selling agent. It is doubted by the opponents of the Webb-Promerene Law that it will be possible to maintain, for any length of time, an agreement to act jointly in foreign fields while continuing one's competitive activities at home. Some objections to the law have come from those who fear that it may prejudice their interests abroad; large business concerns which have built up a successful export trade do not view with favor the formation of combinations of smaller manufacturers which would enter foreign markets as their active competitors. Present Status of Cooperation for Export Trade in the United States.-About sixty concerns were operating in July, 1923, under the Export Trade Act. The commodities handled by these concerns vary from buttons and clothes pins to locomotives and machinery, and from phosphate rock and sulphur to corn and milk products. Owing to the great variety of the goods handled, the organization of the con cerns differs in accordance with the character of the particular industry involved. In most instances, associations are incorporated under state law, though incorporation is not required by the Act, and some export associations operate under a simple association agreement. REFERENCES BARTELLS, E. J. The Webb Law in Operation. Proceedings of the Seventh BISSELL, L. H. The Webb Law: Its Legal Aspects. Proceedings of the DAVIES, J. E. Combination for Export under the Webb Act. Annals of the Amer. Acad. of Polit. and Soc. Science, March, 1919. DUNCAN, C. S. Legalizing Combinations for Export Trade. Journal of Political Economy, April, 1917. Pp. 313-338. GUARANTY TRUST COMPANY OF NEW YORK. Export Trade Combinations Permitted by the Webb Law. GUARANTY TRUST COMPANY OF NEW YORK. Combining for Foreign Trade. Plans and Methods of Operation. DE HAAS, J. A. HURLEY, E. N. Foreign Trade and Shipping, Chap. X. Awakening of Business, Chaps. VII-XII. JONES, E. The Webb-Pomerene Act. Journal of Political Economy, Nov., 1920. Pp. 754–767. JUDD, E. E. Export Management under the Webb-Pomerene Act. Proceedings of the Seventh National Foreign Trade Convention, 1920. Pp. 664-670. KIDD, H. C. Foreign Trade, Chap. XXIII. KRAL, J. J. Trade Associations Abroad. (Trade Association Activities. Department of Commerce. Elimination of Waste Series.) MONTAGUE, G. H. Co-operation under the Webb Law for Rehabilitation of Europe after the War. Proceedings of the Fifth National Foreign Trade Convention, 1918. Pp. 302–317. MONTAGUE, G. H. How Different Types of Selling Organizations May Obtain the Benefits of the Webb-Pomerene Law. Proceedings of the Fourth National Foreign Trade Convention, 1917. Pp. 155–182. NATIONAL SHAWMUT BANK OF BOSTON. An Introduction to the Webb Law; an Act to Promote Foreign Trade and for Other Purposes. NoTz, W. F., and HARVEY, R. S. American Foreign Trade as Promoted by the Webb-Pomerene and Edge Acts. NOTZ, W. F. The Webb Law, Its Scope and Operation. Journal of Political Economy, July, 1919. Pp. 525–543. Norz, W. F. International Private Agreements in the Form of Cartels, Syndicates and Other Combinations. Journal of Political Economy, October, 1920. Pp. 658-679. PRECIADO, A. A. Exporting to the World, Chap. X. SAVAY, N. Principles of Foreign Trade, Chaps. XVII-XIX. SNIDER, E. G. (Editor). Selling in Foreign Markets, Chap. VIII. THOMPSON, H. Webb Law Developments. Proceedings of the Seventh National Foreign Trade Convention, 1920. Pp. 646-657. UNITED STATES FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION. Report on Co-operation in American Export Trade. 2 vols. VEDDER, G. C. American Methods in Export Trade, Chap. III. WALSH, J. The Webb Law in Operation. Proceedings of the Sixth National Foreign Trade Convention. Pp. 449-461. WEBB-POMERENE LAW. The Americas. Feb., 1919. Pp. 3-8. Numerous articles dealing with export combinations and the WebbPomerene Law may be found in technical periodicals, such as American Machinist, Electrical World, Iron Age, Iron Trade Review, Machinery, Railway Age, Scientific American, and others. CHAPTER XXII RECEIVING AND FILLING ORDERS Inquiries from Abroad.-Inquiries from abroad are usually received in reply to sales-promotion work on the part of exporting manufacturers and merchants, such as forwarding of catalogues, advertising in trade papers and in other periodicals, personal solicitation, etc. Inquiries usually specify the particular commodities which the foreign buyer wishes to purchase and they contain, as a rule, a request for price quotations. Before answering an inquiry, most exporters are careful to ascertain the trade position of the prospective purchaser, i.e., whether he is a general importer, a wholesaler, a retailer, or an ultimate consumer; this permits them to avoid quoting the same price to various kinds of distributors and to consumers. Export Price Quotations.-In quoting prices one should be explicit as to the contractual obligations into which one intends to enter with regard to the nature, the quality and the quantity of the goods, the place where and the time when they are to be delivered, the way in which they are to be packed, the discounts and rebates which one is prepared to give and any other terms on which the sale is to be effected. Manufacturers may reserve the right to alter quotations should conditions warrant a change. As much time elapses between the sending of a quotation and the receipt of a reply, the privilege of changing prices is very important; one should bear in mind, however, that quotations subject to withdrawal at any time or to change without notice are not as effective in stimulating sales as are firm offers. What the foreign buyer wants to know is the cost of the product USE OF ABBREVIATED FORMS 313 to him at the place of destination. If an f.o.b. (inland point) or an f.o.b. (shipping port) quotation is made, it should be accompanied by a statement as to the probable weight and measurement of the merchandise after it has been boxed for shipment. Only by possessing such information can the importer ascertain more or less accurately the amount of freight charges and customs duties which he is likely to be called upon to pay and only such f.o.b. quotations are, as a rule, seriously considered by him. Use of Abbreviated Forms in Price Quotations.—The use of abbreviated forms in export price quotations, without any definite agreement as to what the various abbreviations actually stand for, has been the cause of many misunderstandings and controversies between American exporters and foreign importers. The realization of this fact led the National Foreign Trade Council, the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, the Philadelphia Commercial Museum, the New York Merchants' Exchange, and a few other similar organizations to hold, in the latter part of 1919, a conference with the object of standardizing the American practice of making price quotations and of defining the meaning of each quotation as adopted by the conference. Most of the quotations which the conference analyzed and defined were f.o.b. quotations. These quotations cause the greatest amount of confusion as to what the seller and the buyer undertake to do in connection with the transportation of goods and as to where the responsibility of the one ends and that of the other begins. The Conference put its interpretation on seven f.o.b. quotations, beginning with f.o.b. (named point), when the price quoted applies to the goods at an inland shipping place or wherever the factory may be, and where the seller merely undertakes to load the products on or in cars or lighters furnished by the railroad company, and finishing with f.o.b. vessel (named port), in the case of which quotation the seller's price covers all expenses up to and including delivery of the goods upon an overseas vessel. Besides interpreting f.o.b. quotations, the |