Section 7. Uniform terms.

One of the purposes oftenest announced in the preambles of association constitutions is "to produce uniformity and certainty in the customs and usages of the trade." Among the trade terms for which the need of definition is earliest felt are the designations of kinds and grades of the commodities dealt in. In respect to terms of sale, the associations whose members sell in wholesale quantities try to establish uniformity and certainty by defining trade terms, by prescribing or suggesting the ways in which sales shall be made and confirmed, by restricting cancellation of orders, by limiting the permissible postponement of shipment, by prescribing the manner and terms of payment, etc. Sometimes the uniformity and certainty that are sought concern not so much normal terms of sale as adherence to such terms.

A point in which nominal uniformity, at least, establishes itself almost automatically in each trade is the customary length of credit and the discount for cash. Here, therefore, the efforts of the associations are directed to the enforcement of the usual terms, and to shortening the credit and diminishing the discount.

Section 8. Marketing and other cooperative associations.

Somewhat different from other trade associations have been the marketing and other cooperative organizations which have been formed from time to time. Such success as the cooperative associations have had in the United States has been largely among farmers. Several ambitious plans of national scope have been formed, and have to some extent succeeded. Successes quite as great have grown out of local movements, started without thought of extension.

To the former class belong the Patrons of Husbandry, the Ancient Order of Gleaners, and the American Society of Equity. To the latter belong the farmers' elevator companies. These elevator companies, which exist to the number of 1,500 or more, and are scattered all through the grain-growing States, were brought into existence by the methods of the grain business as handled through the large commission companies in Chicago. These commission companies established strings of local elevators throughout the grain States and "froze" out the independent elevator man by overbidding him for a time, after which they paid the farmer whatever they pleased for his grain.

There are several very important cooperative-marketing organizations among fruit growers, especially in California.

Many of the cooperative-selling societies buy supplies also for their members. There are also associations exclusively for joint buying; for instance, among bakers.

Section 9. Standardizing materials, processes, or products.

This is a matter in which many associations have greatly interested themselves. Sometimes such standardization is subsidiary to efforts for uniformity of prices, but this is by no means always so. Drug associations, for instance, have interested themselves in standardization of drugs; millers in grading of grain and flour; printers in standard sizes and weights of paper; and textile manufacturers in standardization of colors.

Section 10. Standard cost accounting.

Associations have been active in educating their members as to their cost of doing business, sometimes with a view to inducing them to charge higher or more uniform prices. "When our association was organized four years ago," said the president of an association in a convention address, "one of the first problems we had to contend with was the low prices at which goods were being sold. It has often been said that the only way to remedy this evil was to let the price cutter really know the cost of his goods. Our association found the surest and best plan to accomplish this was to secure a cost expert to get us all to figure our costs on the same basis and by the same method."

Section 11. Improving processes or product; technical activities.

Many associations have attempted to improve their product, and also to simplify their processes of manufacture, frequently for the purpose of improving the product, sometimes in order to lessen the cost of production. Technical improvements of processes and products have therefore been the subject of active discussion. Indeed, there are associations whose meetings are devoted more to technical than to business questions. Several associations in the metal industries have largely a technical character. Several connected with food production have given much attention to improvement of quality. Section 12. Credit bureaus.

One of the main activities of a number of trade associations is the supplying of credit ratings. In a number of instances it is set forth. as one of the purposes of the organization.

Information on credit conditions is usually collected through a credit bureau or credit department connected with the secretary's office. In some instances national associations maintain credit bureaus merely for the purpose of establishing credit departments in the local associations and standardizing sets of credit-system blanks to facilitate the exchange of credit information, but the most important and effective ones are maintained primarily by the national associations.

The information collected by these credit bureaus is in most cases the result of an exchange of actual "ledger experiences." The members of the association make reports to the secretary, showing how bills are paid, amounts overdue, etc. In some cases the constitution or by-laws make it the duty of members to report such information. In most cases there is no penalty for failing to supply such information, but only the members who supply the information are entitled to receive it.

In many instances the secretary prepares a list of "delinquent or "questionable" concerns at regular intervals, and mails it to the members, sometimes giving the names of members furnishing the information, but oftener merely requesting members to correspond with the secretary's office before dealing with such concerns. Several important associations publish regular credit-rating books.

Section 13. Collection agencies.

A few trade associations undertake to collect debts for their members. In one instance collections seem to be the main activity of the organization, while in others it is stated to be one of the purposes for which the association was organized. Collections are made by both local and national associations. In some cases the collection department is maintained in connection with the credit information department. The volume of business done by some of the collection bureaus is large.

A few associations maintain bureaus of bankruptcy in addition to the collection bureaus, whose duty is to handle bankruptcy cases in which members are interested.

Section 14. Traffic matters.

One of the main activities of trade associations is taking care of their members in matters growing out of their relations with the transportation companies. This is usually done through an organized department of the association, variously called “committee on freight rates," "transportation committee," "traffic committee," "railroad department," or some similar name. An incidental work in this connection is keeping members informed as to traffic regulations; but the important work of associations in regard to traffic matters is representing the interest of their members in such matters as traffic regulations; freight rates, including classifications; bills of lading; adjustment and collection of claims; and, in few instances, express rates and telephone and telegraph matters.

A most important part of the work of the traffic department of the trade association is obtaining favorable freight rates for its members. Occasional action is taken to secure lower rates, but they are con

tinually on the defensive trying to prevent an increase of existing rates. The famous "5 per cent increase" recently granted the eastern railroads by the Interstate Commerce Commission was vigorously opposed by the trade associations throughout the country. A proposed increase in the minimum carload of certain commodities is opposed by associations whose members are affected by such changes, for the reason that it would tend to increase the number of less-thancarload shipments of such commodities at higher rates. Some articles packed in uniform packages have an accepted weight per unit, and trade associations oppose any attempt of the railroads to increase this weight. A common way of increasing rates is by transferring articles from a lower to a higher class. When such change is proposed the shippers of the article in question may file protests and attend the hearings, first before the classification committee through which the change is proposed and then before the Interstate Commerce Commission.

Some activity is shown among associations in the matter of securing favorable express rates and telephone and telegraph regulations. Some associations have worked to induce railroads to construct suitable cars and to keep shippers better supplied with cars.

Bills of lading are receiving considerable attention from trade associations. They are seeking to secure the passage of a national law under which a uniform bill of lading may be framed.

A great many trade associations undertake to collect claims against carriers for their members, for overcharge, loss, damage, demurrage, shortage, etc. With many this is one of the main activities.

Section 15. Labor matters.

There are associations formed to fight labor unions, which will not even admit an employer who has any individual agreement with a labor union; associations that spend or have spent most of their energy on labor matters, but some in other directions; associations that are concerned with labor questions incidentally; and associations that are not concerned with such questions at all. Labor matters are of comparatively little direct importance to merchants and are therefore unlikely to be taken up by mercantile associations. They are of primary importance to manufacturers and mine operators, and are apt to get much attention from associations in such lines.

The closest relations between employers' associations and labor unions are represented by the formal agreements between them, fixing wages and hours and other conditions, and usually running for a fixed time. Such agreements have been maintained for many years by several associations of bituminous coal-mine operators. They

exist locally in several branches of the clothing trade. Somewhat similar conditions exist in the building trades of many of the larger cities.

Section 16. Employment bureaus and clearance cards.

Partly for convenience in securing help in the ordinary course of business and partly as an aid in breaking strikes, many employers' associations maintain employment offices. A system of clearance

cards, involving refusal of employment to anyone who has not a card from his last employer, may be used with or without an employment bureau. It is obvious that such a system may perform the function of a very effective black list.

Section 17. Apprenticeship and trade education.

Employers in the more skilled trades are troubled by the lack of skilled workmen, a lack which seems to result from the difficulty of training apprentices-perhaps rather from the fact that it does not pay to train them-under modern conditions. Under these circumstances some associations have taken steps to substitute school for shop teaching.

Section 18. Legislative activities.

The range of legislative questions in which one association or another is interested is very wide. Among the topics on which trade associations have promoted or opposed legislation in recent years are the following: The tariff; resale price maintenance; cotton exchanges; purity of textile materials or statement by label of materials of textiles; Federal horsepower tax on automobiles; Federal tax on gasoline; mixed flour; Federal tax on grain sales on exchanges; Federal tax on mail-order houses; various amendments of the trust laws, including exemption of labor and agricultural associations therefrom; Federal tax on patent or proprietary medicines; antinarcotic legislation; special precautionary methods of packing poisons; parcel post; pure-food and drug laws; Federal registration of motor vehicles; Federal grading of cotton and of grain; cold storage; patents; trade-marks; copyrights; bankruptcy; forest conservation; liquor traffic; labor laws, including workmen's compensation, convict labor, and eight-hour day.

Various associations have indorsed proposals for legalizing by statute the maintenance of resale prices; that is, the authoritative fixing by a seller of the price at which his customer shall sell again. The National Drug Trade Conference and the National Association of Retail Druggists have given considerable attention to this subject. As long ago as the late eighties and early nineties, the dealers