496 
Editorial. 
/Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
<-     August,  19 19. 
"  Thus,  both  price  maintenance,  and  price  cutting  under  certain 
conditions,  are  found  to  be  unfair  and  business  men  are  perplexed. 
It  is  with  the  desire  that  this  perplexity  ma)7  be  terminated  that  the 
commission  addresses  the  Congress. 
"  It  is  urged,  and,  the  commission  believes,  with  reason,  that  it 
would  be  unwise  to  vest  with  the  manufacturers  of  articles  the 
right,  without  check  or  review,  both  to  fix  and  to  compel  the  main- 
tenance of  resale  prices.  It  is  true  that  business  practice  inclines 
producers  to  fix  the  lowest  possible  retail  price  in  order  to  secure 
the  greatest  possible  sale  of  their  product,  but  in  the  complex  com- 
mercial organism  functioning  between  the  production  of  an  article 
and  its  final  sale,  for  actual  consumption,  both  the  wholesale  and 
retail  merchant  are  entitled  to  just  compensation  for  useful  service 
performed. 
"  It  is  similarly  urged,  that  manufacturers  should  be  protected 
in  their  good  will  created  by  years  of  fair  dealing  and  of  sustained 
quality  of  merchandise. 
"The  consuming  public  does  not  enjoy  benefits  by  unfair  price 
cutting  to  compensate  it  for  the  injuries  following  demoralization 
caused  by  price  cutting.  This  for  the  reason  that,  in  the  long  run, 
unrestrained  price  cutting  tends  to  impair,  if  not  to  destroy,  the 
production  and  distribution  of  articles  desirable  to  the  public. 
"  There  must  be  a  common  ground  wherein  the  rights  of  pro- 
ducer, purveyor  and  consumer  may  each  be  fully  secured  and 
equity  done  to  all.  The  search  for  such  ground  has  been  a  task 
of  the  Commission  and  results  in  the  following  conclusions : 
(1)  That  producers  of  identified  goods  should  be  protected  in  their 
intangible  property  right  or  good-will.  (2)  That  the  unlimited 
power  both  to  fix  and  to  enforce  and  maintain  a  resale  price  may 
not  be  made  lawful  with  safety.  (3)  That  unrestrained  price 
cutting  is  not  in  the  public  interest. 
"  Bills  now  pending  before  Congress  may  well  be  made  to  meet 
the  difficulties  of  the  situation  if  amended  to  provide  for  a  review 
of  the  terms  of  resale  contracts  and  a  revision  of  resale  prices,  by 
a  disinterested  agency. 
"Therefore,  it  is  recommended  that  it  be  provided  by  law  that 
if  the  manufacturer  of  an  article  produced  and  sold  under  competi- 
tive conditions,  desires  to  fix  and  maintain  resale  prices,  he  shall  file 
with  an  agency  designated  by  the  Congress,  a  description  of  such 
article,  the  contract  of  sale  and  the  price  schedule  which  he  pro- 
