452 
Cod-Liver  Oil  from  Newfoundland.  {Am-^'^vm- 
Some  of  the  most  distinguished  lawyers  in  the  United  States 
have  appeared  before  the  commission  to  argue  this  question,  as  well 
as  many  of  the  leading  business  concerns  of  the  country,  some  of 
whom  have  insisted  that  the  maintenance  of  resale  prices  was  proper, 
and  others  who  have  contended  that  it  was  not.  Almost  all  of  the 
large  department  stores  of  the  country  have  been  heard  in  opposi- 
tion to  it. 
After  full  consideration  the  Federal  Trade  Commission  has  de- 
cided to  issue  complaints  against  all  business  concerns  who  refuse 
to  sell  unless  the  purchaser  will  agree  to  maintain  a  resale  price 
fixed  by  the  seller.  The  case  just  decided  is  the  first  formal  finding 
by  the  commission  to  that  effect.  When  once  an  article  has  passed 
from  the  maker  to  a  purchaser  he  owns  it,  and  the  owner  of  such  ar- 
ticle may  sell  it  at  any  price  that  he  chooses,  provided  he  does  not 
himself  sell  it  at  such  price  as  to  be  below  cost,  and  thus  thereby 
enter  into  unfair  competition  with  other  retailers  selling  the  same 
article. 
Congress  May  Have  to  Act. — This  decision  is  going  to  be 
open  to  considerable  controversy  in  relation  to  the  subject  matter 
thereof,  and  the  matter  will  probably  have  to  be  settled  by  an  act 
of  Congress  in  the  manner  suggested  by  Mr.  Justice  Brandeis  in  his 
concurring  opinion  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  in 
the  case  of  the  American  Graphophone  Co.  The  Stephens  bill, 
which  is  now  in  Congress,  is  in  relation  to  that  matter,  but  in  the  es- 
timation of  many  business  men  and  others  it  is  thought  to  be  broader 
than  it  should  be.  It  may  be  that  resale  prices  can  be  so  regulated 
by  placing  the  power  somewhere  protecting  against  unfair  prices 
as  to  make  it  work  equitably,  and  be  a  fair  method  of  competition  in 
commerce,  but  that  question  will  undoubtedly  have  to  be  settled  by 
congressional  action. 
COD-LIVER  OIL  FROM  NEWFOUNDLAND.1 
Large  quantities  of  cod-liver  oil  are  produced  in  Newfoundland 
as  a  by-product  of  the  fishing  industry,  but  the  quality  of  the  re- 
fined oil  was  formerly  much  inferior  to  that  prepared  in  Norway, 
and  the  Newfoundland  oil  was  consequently  not  greatly  esteemed 
in  the  United  Kingdom  for  medicinal  purposes. 
1  March  Issue  of  Chamber  of  Commerce  Journal,  London,  England.  Re- 
printed from  Commerce  Reports,  April  23,  1918. 
