ABSTRACT
A considerable number of cartels and trusts in all parts of the world are essentially dependent on the existence of mineral deposits which are easily convertible into a monopoly. Competition is always keen, and shipowners have no difficulty in getting numerous tenders at all times when they offer specifications. In 1926 the question of the economic organisation in English coal-mining—and especially the question of the hitherto unrealised coal cartel or even of a coal trust—was raised anew in all its bearings owing to a coal dispute of unexampled magnitude. The extraordinary multiplicity of coal mines already alluded to, the free competition governing the coal trade, and the necessity of importing pure ore, deficient in phosphorus, from Spain or Sweden, make any idea of vertical combination in the English iron industry almost unthinkable.
