The weapon of capitalist warfare is the power of under-selling--"cutting prices." The most powerful firms consent to sheathe this weapon, i.e.agree not to undersell one another, but to adopt a common scale of prices.

This action, in direct restraint of competition, corresponds to the action of a trades union, and is attained by many trades whose capital is not large or business highly developed.

Neither does it imply close union of friendly relations between the combining parties.

It is a policy dictated by the barest instinct of self-preservation.

We see it regularly applied in certain local trades, especially in the production and distribution of perishable commodities.