Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  j 
August,  19 19.  J 
Editorial. 
495 
The  commission's  recommendations,  it  stated,  were  based  on 
the  following  conclusions : 
1.  That  producers  of  identified  goods  should  be  protected  in 
their  intangible  property  right  or  good-will,  created  through  years 
of  fair  dealing  and  of  sustained  quality  of  merchandise ; 
2.  That  the  unlimited  power  both  to  fix  and  to  enforce  and 
maintain  resale  prices  may  not  be  made  lawful  with  safety ;  and 
3.  That  unrestrained  price-cutting  is  not  in  the  public  interest, 
and  tends,  in  the  long  run,  to  impair,  if  not  to  destroy,  the  produc- 
tion and  distribution  of  articles  desirable  to  the  public. 
"  There  must  be  a  common  ground,"  the  commission  said, 
"wherein  the  rights  of  producer,  purveyor  and  consumer  may 
each  be  fully  secured  and  equity  done  to  all.  The  search  for  such 
a  ground  has  been  a  task  of  the  commission." 
The  text  of  the  commission's  special  report  to  Congress  follows : 
"The  Federal  Trade  Commission  under  paragraph  (f),  Section 
6  of  the  Federal  Trade  Commission  Act,  addresses  the  Congress 
by  way  of  a  special  report  designed  to  direct  attention  to  the  sub- 
ject of  control  of  resale  prices  by  the  manufacturers  of  a  class  of 
articles  in  interstate  commerce. 
"  The  question  is,  whether  or  not  a  manufacturer  of  standard 
articles,  identified  either  by  trade-mark  or  trade  practice,  should  be 
permitted  to  fix  by  contract,  express  or  implied,  the  price  at  which 
the  purchaser  can  resell  them. 
"  The  question  has  been  continuously  before  the  commission 
since  its  creation.  It  has  been  the  subject  of  study,  investigation 
and  hearing  and  constantly  recurs,  in  various  forms,  in  complaints 
filed  with  the  commission  by  business  concerns. 
"'The  Supreme  Court  has  made  it  clear  that,  in  the  present 
state  of  the  law,  the  maintenance  of  a  resale  price  by  the  producer, 
is  a  restraint  of  trade  and  is  unlawful. 
"  Such  being  the  judgment  of  the  Supreme  Court,  the  Federal 
Trade  Commission  has  enforced  the  law,  even  though  it  may  have 
appeared  to  operate  inequitably  in  some  cases.  In  its  enforcement 
of  this  rule,  the  commission  has  been  mindful  that  the  cutting  of  a 
recognized  resale  price  on  well  established  and  identified  articles 
has  been,  at  times,  indulged  in  for  unfair  trade  purposes.  When 
so  unfairly  used,  such  price  cutting  is  attempted  to  be  cloaked  as 
lawful  competition  and  justified  by  the  Supreme  Court  decisions. 
