Redding, G. R.

English

Indiana University Bloomington Maurer School of Law

Indiana Law JournalVolume 5 | Issue 6 Article 53-1930Trade Associations: Their Legal Aspects, byBenjamin S. KirshG. R. ReddingIndiana University School of CommerceFollow this and additional works at: http://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/iljPart of the Antitrust and Trade Regulation CommonsThis Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the LawSchool Journals at Digital Repository @ Maurer Law. It has been acceptedfor inclusion in Indiana Law Journal by an authorized administrator ofDigital Repository @ Maurer Law. For more information, please contactwattn@indiana.edu.Recommended CitationRedding, G. R. (1930) "Trade Associations: Their Legal Aspects, by Benjamin S. Kirsh," Indiana Law Journal: Vol. 5: Iss. 6, Article 5.Available at: http://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/ilj/vol5/iss6/5REVIEWSTRADE ASSOCIATIONS: THEIR LEGAL ASPECTS*The legal practitioner or instructor who is confronted with aquestion as to the legality of a specific act or the general pro-gram of a trade association can find no more concise and ac-curate solution of his problem than that afforded by the volumehere under review. Trade association practices are, and willcontinue to be, the subject of considerable litigation. Even themost bold of predictors would hesitate to define what changeswill be worked, but the reviewer is confident in his statementthat this book will not soon be rendered obsolete. The author'scareful analysis of recent cases insures a lasting value for hiswork.That the courts have altered their methods of inquiry as to thelegality of co-operative promotion of business activities is ad-mitted. The change is clearly evidenced by recent SupremeCourt cases' where the process was a searching for the presenceof substantial economic benefits rather than for a technical viola-tion of the anti-trust laws. Judicial decisions have heeded thedictates of social and economic welfare in this respect as it is tobe hoped for in some others. The author, after considering thisgeneral trend in the interpretation of our anti-trust laws, pro-ceeds to an analysis of the cases to determine what practices oftrade associations2 have received judicial approval.The modern doctrine that the dissemination of trade statisticsby associations is not necessarily a suppression of competitionor otherwise opposed to public policy was expressed by JusticeBrandeis in his dissenting opinion in the Hardwood Case:"* * * On the contrary it tends to promote all in competitionwhich is desirable. By substituting knowledge for ignorance,rumor, guess and suspicion, it tends also to substitute researchand reasoning for gambling and piracy, without closing the doorto adventure or lessening the value of prophetic wisdom. * * *If, as is alleged, the Plan (dissemination of statistics, etc.) tendsto substitute stability in prices for violent fluctuations, its influ-ence, in this respect, is not against the public interest." (P. 51.)* Trade Associations: Their Legal Aspects, by Benjamin S.Kirsh. Central Book Company: New York. 1928. Pages 271.1 Maple Flooring Manufacturers' Association et al. v. United States, 268U. S. 563 (1925); Cement Manufacturers' Protective Association et al v.United States, 268 U. S. 588 (1925).:'Defined page 13. "A Trade Association is an organization of pro-ducers or distributors of a community or service upon a mutual basis forthe purpose of promoting the business of their branch of industry and im-proving their service to the public through the compilation and distributionof information, the establishment of trade standards and the co-operativehandling of problems common to the production or distribution of the com-modity or service with which they are concerned."Definition formulated by the American Trade Association Executives.474 INDIANA LAW JOURNALIt is equally as well determined that when the apparent end ofthe distribution of statistics or adoption of uniform cost account-ing methods or other association practices is price fixing, allo-cation of territory, limitation of production, blacklist, boycot, orthe like, the practice becomes subject to the punitive provisionsof the Sherman Law.There is one feature of this book which justifies special re-mark. The reviewer has in mind the fact that Mr. Kirsh did notconfine himself to those practices of trade associations whichhave been the subject of many decisions in the United StatesSupreme Court. He has proceeded to discuss in the light of so-cial and economic need the activities of associations in patent in-terchange, Chapter V; collective purchasing, Chapter VIII;standardization, Chapter IX; and trade relations, Chapter X;which activities have not been the subject of extensive judicialopinion.The author has presented a book worthy of consideration.G. R. REDDING.Indiana University School of Commerce.

Trade Associations: Their Legal Aspects, by Benjamin S. Kirsh

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Trade Associations: Their Legal Aspects, by Benjamin S. Kirsh

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Indiana University Bloomington Maurer School of Law