pages), which was sent to Congress February 18, 1925. (See also War-time cost finding.) Steel Sheet Piling-(Collusive Bidding). In response to a direction of President Roosevelt dated November 20, 1935, to investigate the prices of steel sheet piling on certain Government contracts in New York, North Carolina, and Florida, the Commission, as of June 10, 1936, made a report demonstrating the existence of collusive bidding because of a continued adherence to the basingpoint system and other provisions of the code. The report (mimeographed ) was entitled Federal Trade Commission Report to the President on Steel Sheet Piling (42 pages). Stock Dividends.-This inquiry was made pursuant to Senate Resolution No. 304, Sixty-ninth Congress, second session, adopted December 22, 1926. This resolution called for a list of the names and capitalizations of those corporations which had issued stock dividends, together with the amount of such stock dividends, since the decision of the Supreme Court. March 8, 1920, holding that stock dividends were not taxable. The same information for an equal period prior to that decision was called for. The report, entitled Stock Dividends, contains a list of 10,245 such corporations and a brief discussion. The report points out that the declaration of stock dividends at the rate prevailing for a few years preceding the date of its publication did not appear to be the result of any controlling necessity and seemed to be of questionable advantage as a business policy. The report was transmitted to the Senate on December 5, 1927, and printed as Senate Document No. 26, Seventieth Congress, first session (273 pages). Sugar. This inquiry was made pursuant to House Resolution No. 150, Sixtysixth Congress, first session, adopted October 1, 1919. The extraordinary advance in the price of sugar in 1919 led to the investigation. The price advance was found to have been due chiefly to speculation and hoarding in sugar. Certain recommendations were made for legislative action to correct these abuses. The report, entitled Report of the Federal Trade Commission on Sugar Supply and Prices (205 pages), was transmitted to the House, November 15, 1920, and printed. Sugar-Beet.-This inquiry was initiated by the Commissioner of Corporations at the direction of the Secretary of Commerce, but was completed by the Federal Trade Commission. It dealt with the cost of growing beets and the cost of beet-sugar manufacture. The report, entitled Report on The Beet Sugar Industry in the United States (164 pages), was published May 24, 1917 (out of print). Taxation and Tax Exempt Income. This inquiry was made pursuant to Senate Resolution No. 451, Sixty-seventh Congress, fourth session, adopted February 28, 1923. The resolution was directed chiefly to a study of national wealth and income. A separate report, entitled Taxation and Tax Exempt Income, was transmitted to the Senate on June 6, 1924, and printed as Senate Document No. 148, Sixty-eighth Congress, first session (144 pages, out of print). (See National Wealth and Income.) Textiles-Combed Cotton Yarns. This inquiry was made pursuant to House Resolution No. 451, Sixty-sixth Congress, second session, adopted April 5, 1920. The Commission was called upon to investigate the high prices of combed cotton yarn. The inquiry disclosed that there had been an unusual advance in price and that the profits in the industry had been extraordinarily large for several years, but at the end of 1920 the prices of combed yarns, like other cotton textile products, showed a sharp decline. The Report of the Federal Trade Commission on Combed Cotton Yarns (94 pages), was transmitted to the House April 14, 1921, and printed. Textile Industry. This inquiry was directed by an Executive order of President Roosevelt dated September 26, 1934, instructing the Commission to inquire into the industry's labor costs, profits, and investment structure to determine whether increased wages and reduced working hours could be sustained under prevailing economic conditions. The order also established The Textile Labor Relations Board and directed the Department of Labor to report on actual hours of employment in the industry, employees' earnings, and general working conditions. Conditions prevailing in the 20 months preceding the 1934 textile strike were first studied. These were divided into three 6-month periods and a 2-month period-January-June, 1933, before National Recovery Administration codes became effective; July-December 1933, covering their effective dates; January-June 1934, while codes were functioning; and July-August 1934, the 60-day period prior to the strike. Due to the desirability of an early report, essential information was obtained by means of a comprehensive schedule, subscribed to under oath and forwarded to approximately 2,600 textile manufacturing companies. Material for immediate comparable results was transmitted by 765 concerns, with an aggregate investment of almost $1,200,000,000. The following reports were issued (and printed, except where hereinafter designated as processed): Report of the Federal Trade Commission on Textile Industries: Report of the Federal Trade Commission on the Textile Industries in 1933 and 1934: Part I. The Cotton Textile Industry, August 1, 1935 (34 pages). Part II. The Woolen and Worsted Textile Industry, September 25, 1935 (31 pages, processed). Part III. The Silk and Rayon Textile Industry, November 29, 1935 (45 pages, processed). Part IV. Thread, Cordage and Twine Industries, December 5, 1935 (21 pages, processed). Cotton Weaving Companies Grouped by Types of Woven Goods Manufactured During 1933 and 1934 (46 tables, processed). Cotton Spinning Companies Grouped by Types of Yarn Manufactured During 1933 and 1934 (18 tables, processed). Textile Industries in the First Half of 1935: Part I. The Cotton Textile Industry, Including Thread, Cordage and Twine, May 22, 1936, (52 pages, processed). Part II. The Woolen and Worsted Textile Industry, July 20, 1936 (40 pages processed). Part III. The Silk and Rayon Textile Industry, August 22, 1936 (47 pages, processed). Textile Industries in the Last Half of 1935: Part I. The Cotton Textile Industry, including Thread, Cordage and Twine, November 20, 1936 (66 pages, processed). Part II. The Woolen and Worsted Textile Industry, December 21, 1936 (42 pages, processed). Part III. The Silk and Rayon Textile Industry, January 6, 1937 (46 pages, processed). Textile Industries in the First Half of 1936: Part I, The Cotton Textile Industry, Including Thread, Cordage and Twine, January 21, 1937 (74 pages, processed). . Part II. The Woolen and Worsted Textile Industry, January 29, 1937 (47 pages, processed). Part III. The Silk and Rayon Textile Industry, February 11, 1937 (42 pages, processed). Textiles-Woolen Rag Trade. This report was published on motion of the Commission, and contains certain information gathered during the war, at the request of the War Industries Board, for its use in regulating the prices of woolen rags used for making clothing. The report, entitled Report on the Woolen Rag Trade (90 pages), was printed as of June 30, 1919. Tobacco. This inquiry was made pursuant to Senate Resolution No. 329, Sixty-eighth Congress, second session, adopted February 9, 1925. The report on the investigation related to the activities of the American Tobacco Co. and the Imperial Tobacco Co. of Great Britain. The alleged illegal agreements, combinations or conspiracies between these companies did not appear to exist. The report, entitled The American Tobacco Co. and the Imperial Tobacco Co., was transmitted December 23, 1925, to the President, who sent it to the Senate. It was printed as Senate Document No. 34, Sixty-ninth Congress, first session (129 pages, out of print). Tobacco Marketing-Leaf. This inquiry, made on motion of the Commission in 1929, was instituted upon complaint of representative groups of North Carolina tobacco farmers charging the existence of territorial and price agreements among larger manufacturers to control cured leaf tobacco prices. In 1929 the price to growers was approximately 25 percent below cost of production. The inquiry was broadened to include the entire flue-cured belt, extending from southern Virginia through north central Florida. The Commission found no evidence of price agreements. It recommended curtailing production, improved marketing processes, a standardized system of grading, and greater cooperation between manufacturers and growers. It also recommended enactment of legislation similar to the Cotton Standardization Act, which would make mandatory existing classification under the Tobacco Stocks and Standards Act. The Report on Marketing of Leaf Tobacco in the Flue-Cured District of the States of North Carolina and Georgia (54 pages, mimeographed), was released May 23, 1931. Tobacco Prices.-This inquiry was made pursuant to House Resolution No 533, Sixty-sixth Congress, second session, adopted June 3, 1920. The unfavorable relationship between the prices of leaf tobacco and the selling prices of tobacco products was reported to be due in part to the purchasing methods of the large tobacco companies. As a result of this inqury, the Commission recommended that the decree dissolving the old Tobacco Trust should be amended and that proceedings be instituted in the matter of alleged violations of the existing decree. Better systems of grading tobacco were also recommended by the Commission. The Report of the Federal Trade Commission on the Tobacco Industry (162 pages), was transmitted to the House, December 11, 1920, and printed. Tobacco Prices.-This inquiry was made pursuant to Senate Resolution No. 129, Sixty-seventh Congress, first session, adopted August 9, 1921. Among the subjects of investigation were the low prices of leaf tobacco and the high prices of tobacco products. It was alleged that in the sale of tobacco several of the largest companies were engaged in numerous conspiracies with their customers, the jobbers, to enhance the selling prices of tobacco. Proceedings were instituted by the Commission. The report, entitled Prices of Tobacco Products (109 pages), was transmitted to the Senate, January 17, 1922, and printed. Trade and Tariffs in South America.-This inquiry, directed by President Wilson as of July 22, 1915, was an outgrowth of the First Pan American Financial Conference which met in Washington, May 24-29, 1915. The immediate purpose of the inquiry was to furnish the American branch of the International High Commission, appointed as a result of this financial conference, with information to assist in the deliberations of that commission. Customs administration and related matters, including tariff policy, were discussed in the Report on Trade and Tariffs in Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, and Peru (246 pages, out of print), which was transmitted to the President under date of June 30, 1916. Utility Corporations. This inquiry was made pursuant to (1) Senate Resolution No. 83, Seventieth Congress, first session, adopted February 15, 1928, (2) Senate Joint Resolution No. 115, Seventy-third Congress, second session, adopted June 1, 1934, and to (3) section 6 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. The former resolution directed the Commission to investigate the growth of the capital assets and liabilities of public utility corporations doing an interstate business in electrical energy or gas, and of their holding companies and other companies controlled by such holding companies, the method of issuing securities, the value received, the commissions paid, and so forth, the extent to which holding companies control financial, engineering, construction, or management corporations and their corporate interrelations with such companies and their operating utility companies, the services furnished and the fees received therefor, the earnings and expenses of all such companies, the value or detriment to the public of such holding companies, and what remedial legislation should be adopted; also the efforts of such companies, directly or indirectly, to influence public opinion with respect to municipal ownership of electric utilities, or to influence the elections of certain Federal officers or United States Senators. The second resolution directed the Commission to conclude the investigation and submit its final report in January 1936. During the investigation monthly interim reports presented many hundreds of detailed reports by Commission accountants, attorneys, engineers, economists and statisticians, based on examination of corporation accounts and other records. These data and the oral testimony of the experts and other witnesses are included in 84 printed volumes which, with 11 summary, final, index and appendix volumes, or a total of 95 were published as Senate Document No. 92, Seventieth Congress, first session, under the general title, Utility Corporations. Several of the earlier published volumes are out of print. The final and summary volumes, their sub-titles (omitting certain routine designations), dates of issue and numbers of pages, are as follows: No. 69-A, Compilation of Proposals and Views for and Against Federal Incorporation or Licensing of Corporations and Compilation of State Constitutional, Statutory, and Case Law Concerning Corporations, With Particular Attention to Public Utility Holding and Operating Companies, September 21, 1934, 618 pages; No. 71-A, Efforts by Associations and Agencies of Electric and Gas Utilities to Influence Public Opinion, December 12, 1934, 486 pages; No. 71-B, Inder of Association Publicity and Propaganda and Index of Names in Parts 1 to 20, Inclusive, and Accompanying Exhibit Volumes, 1935, 545 pages; No. 72-A, Economic, Financial and Corporate Phases of Holding and Operating Companies of Electric and Gas Utilities, June 17, 1935, 882 pages; No. 73-A, Holding and Operating Companies of Electric and Gas Utilities-Survey of State Laws and Regulations, Present Extent of Federal Regulation and the Need of Federal Legislation, Conclusions and Recommendations and Legal Studies in Support Thereof, January 18, 1935, 218 pages; No. 81-A, Publicity and Propaganda Activities by Utilities Groups and Companies, With Index, November 14, 1935, 570 pages; and (final report) No. 84-A, Economic, Corporate, Operating and Financial Phases of the Natural-Gas Producing Pipe-Line, and Utility Industries, with Conclusions and Recommendations, December 31, 1935, 617 pages; No. 84-B, Legal Appendixes to Final Report (No. 84-A) *, December 31, 1935, 118 pages; No. 84-C, Economic Appendixes to Final Report (No. 84-A) * *, December 31, 1935, 126 pages, and No. 84-D, General Index to Parts 21 to 84-C, Inclusive, August 12, 1937, 1360 pages. * ** A list of the companies investigated and the volume numbers of the reports concerning them are printed in the Commission's annual reports for 1935 and 1936, beginning at pages 21 and 36, respectively. During the investigation, the Commission's accountants, engineers, and economists examined 29 holding companies having total assets of $6,108,128,713; 70 subholding companies with total assets of $5,685,463,201, and 278 operating companies with total assets of $7,245,106,464. War-time Cost Finding. This series of cost inquiries was ordered by President Wilson as of July 25, 1917. The numerous cost investigations made by the Federal Trade Commission during the World War into the coal, steel, lumber, petróleum, cotton-textile, locomotive, leather, canned foods, and copper industries, and scores of other important industries, on the basis of which prices were fixed by the Food Administration, the War Industries Board, and purchasing departments such as the Army, Navy, Shipping Board, and Railroad Administration, were all done under the President's special direction, and it has been estimated that they helped to save the country many billions of dollars by checking unjustifiable price advances. Lists of most of the reports prepared for this purpose (not printed or otherwise published) are given in the annual reports of the Commission for the years 1918 and 1919. Subsequent to the war a number of reports dealing with costs and profits was published based on these war-time inquiries. (See Coal Reports-Cost of Production, Copper, Food Investigation-Food Canning, Lumber-Costs, and Steel Industry-Costs and Profits). |