61 Opinion of the Court. requisite effect on competition had been shown. The question whether the price differentials made more than due allowance for cost differentials did not need to be decided "at this stage of the proceeding." On petitioner's failure to introduce evidence, the Commission made findings that petitioner knew the prices it induced were below list prices and that it induced them without inquiry of the seller, or assurance from the seller, as to cost differentials which might justify the price differentials. The Commission thereupon entered a cease and desist order. 46 F. T. C. 861. On review, the Court of Appeals affirmed,' holding that the Commission's prima facie case under § 2 (f) does not require showing absence of a cost justification. 194 F. 2d 433. Section 2 (f) of the Robinson-Patman Act, roughly the counterpart, as to buyers, of sections of the Act dealing with discrimination by sellers, is a vital prohibition in the enforcement scheme of the Act. In situations where buyers may have difficulty in proving their sellers' costs, § 2 (f) could, if the Commission's view in this case prevails, become a major reliance for simplified enforcement of the Act not only by the Commission but by plaintiffs suing for treble damages. Such enforcement, however, might readily extend beyond the prohibitions of the Act and, in doing so, help give rise to a price uniformity and rigidity in open conflict with the purposes of other antitrust legislation. We therefore thought it necessary to grant certiorari. 344 U. S. 809. 1 The Court also granted enforcement of the order on a cross-petition by the Commission. The Commission concedes the impropriety of this action under our decision in Federal Trade Commission v. Ruberoid Co., 343 U. S. 470, rendered after the decision of the Court of Appeals in the case now before us. In view of this concession, we assume that the Court of Appeals, on the remand of this case, will, without further direction, reconsider its order for enforcement. Opinion of the Court. 346 U.S. Enforcement of the Clayton Act's original declaration against price discrimination was so frustrated by inadequacies in the statutory language that Congress in 1936 enacted the sweeping amendments to that Act contained in what is known as the Robinson-Patman Act. 49 Stat. 1526, 15 U. S. C. § 13. Chief among the inadequacies had been express exemption of price discrimination in the sales of different quantities of like goods, an exemption that was interpreted as leaving quantitydiscount sellers free to grant discounts to quantity buyers that exceeded any cost savings in selling to such buyers. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. v. F. T. C., 101 F. 2d 620. In an effort to tighten the restriction against price discrimination inimical to the public interest, Congress enacted two provisions bearing on the issues in this case.2 It made price discrimination in the sale of like goods unlawful without regard to quantity, although quantity discounts, like other price differentials, could still be jus 2 The two prohibitions are as follows: "SEC. 2. (a) That it shall be unlawful for any person engaged in commerce, in the course of such commerce, either directly or indirectly, to discriminate in price between different purchasers of commodities of like grade and quality, where either or any of the purchases involved in such discrimination are in commerce, where such commodities are sold for use, consumption, or resale within the United States or any Territory thereof or the District of Columbia or any insular possession or other place under the jurisdiction of the United States, and where the effect of such discrimination may be substantially to lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly in any line of commerce, or to injure, destroy, or prevent competition with any person who either grants or knowingly receives the benefit of such discrimination, or with customers of either of them: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall prevent differentials which make only due allowance for differences in the cost of manufacture, sale, or delivery resulting from the differing methods or quantities in which such commodities are to such purchasers sold or delivered: ... [The other provisos of § 2 (a), not relevant here, concern the grant of authority to the Commission to establish quantity limits, recogni 61 Opinion of the Court. tified if they made no more than "due allowance" for cost differences in sales to different buyers. Congress in addition sought to reach the large buyer, capable of exerting pressure on smaller sellers, by making it unlawful "knowingly to induce or receive a discrimination in price which is prohibited by this section." Since precision of expression is not an outstanding characteristic of the Robinson-Patman Act, exact formulation of the issue before us is necessary to avoid inadvertent pronouncement on statutory language in one context when the same language may require separate consideration in other settings. Familiar but loose language affords too ready a temptation for comprehensive but loose construction. We therefore think it imperative in this case to confine ourselves as much as possible to what is in dispute here. We are here asked to settle a controversy involving simply the burden of coming forward with evidence under § 2 (f) of the Act. The record, so abundant in its instances of individual transactions that the Commission itself felt bound to animadvert on undue proliferation of the evidence by Government lawyers, may be taken as tion of the seller's right to select his customers under certain conditions, and exemption of price changes made in response to changing market conditions.] "(f) That it shall be unlawful for any person engaged in commerce, in the course of such commerce, knowingly to induce or receive a discrimination in price which is prohibited by this section." 3 The Commission recognized the need, common in antitrust litigation, for care on the part of the prosecuting officers not to overburden the record. "The record in this case does not disclose the reason for such a plethora of cumulative evidence as was adduced by Government counsel in the instant matter. Neither harassment of litigants nor the waste of Government funds in needless reiteration through cumulative evidence should be countenanced, nor does it seem that it was necessary to name 14 sellers as typical of a group from presenting varying degrees of bargaining pressure exerted by a buyer on a seller to obtain prices below those quoted other purchasers. In some instances, so the Commission found, petitioner's method was to "inform prospective suppliers of the prices and terms of sale which would be acceptable to [petitioner] without consideration or inquiry as to whether such supplier could justify such a price on a cost basis or whether it was being offered to other customers of the supplier." 46 F. T. C., at 888. A typical instance of the maximum pressure found by the Commission was a series of negotiations in which representatives of petitioner sought to explain to a prospective supplier the kind of savings he might enjoy in sales to petitioner and might make the basis of a price differential. In such instances, petitioner sometimes gave the supplier estimates of what it considered "representative" percentage savings on various costs such as freight, sales costs, packaging, and returns and allowances.* The Commission made no finding negativing the existence of cost savings or stating that whatever cost sav which respondents had induced or received discriminations in price, and certainly the records of not more than 5 of such sellers would have supplied ample evidence of such discriminations or price differentials." In re Automatic Canteen Co. of America, 46 F. T. C. 861, 892. Failure to limit the evidence in some such way to typical transactions would create an especially heavy burden in a proceeding against a buyer under § 2 (f) such as that here, where discriminatory sales were alleged to have been made by about 80 of the buyer's 115 suppliers. * Although the Commission recited such instances, it did not relate them to what the buyer should have known as to costs. It did not find from such instances that the circumstances should have provoked inquiry in the mind of a prudent businessman. In short, we do not have a case in which the Commission in its informed judgment was led to conclude that in the circumstances knowing acceptance or inducement of a preference justified an inference of knowledge as to costs. 61 Opinion of the Court. ings there were did not at least equal price differentials petitioner may have received. It did not make any findings as to petitioner's knowledge of actual cost savings of particular sellers and found only, as to knowledge, that petitioner knew what the list prices to other buyers were. Petitioner, for its part, filed offers of proof that many sellers would testify that they had never told petitioner that the price differential exceeded cost savings. An offer of proof was in turn made by the Commission as to the testimony of these sellers on cross-examination; such proof would have brought out that petitioner never inquired of its suppliers whether the price differential was in excess of cost savings, never asked for a written statement or affidavit that the price differentials did not exceed such savings, and never inquired whether the seller had made up "any exact cost figures" showing cost savings in serving petitioner. Petitioner claims that the Commission has not, on this record, made a prima facie case of knowing inducement of prices that "made more than due allowance for'" cost differences, while the Commission contends that it has established a prima facie case, justifying entry of a cease and desist order where the buyer fails to introduce evidence. Before proceeding to an examination of the statutory provisions, it is desirable to consider the kind of evidence about which this dispute centers. Petitioner is saying in effect that, under the Commission's view, the burden of introducing evidence as to the seller's cost savings and the buyer's knowledge thereof is put on the buyer; this burden, petitioner insists, is so difficult to meet that it would be unreasonable to construe the language Congress has used as imposing it. If so construed, the statute, petitioner contends, would create a presumption so lacking rational connection with the fact established as to violate due process. |