"The German coal cartels have not had an injurious influence, in general, on the production of coal. More particularly they cannot be accused, justly, of unduly limiting production among themselves. Nor have they attempted to accomplish the same end by crushing outside competition, by unfair methods. It would be preposterous to say that they have hindered technical progress. The cost of production, on the other hand, probably has been somewhat increased by the preservation of weak and costly mines through participation in the cartels. In regard to prices, the policy of the coal cartels, on the whole, has been moderate, taking circumstances into consideration, while the policy of the coke cartel may be fairly pronounced extortionate. The prices of coal have been more stable than they would have been under free competition; during the _hausse_ they were not screwed up so high as they might easily have been, but, on the other hand, they have not declined so quickly with the _baisse_. The like may be said of the coke prices, but, at the same time, they were exorbitant considered from the point of view of costs and profits. … The _déroute_ of the iron industry was not due to the coal or coke cartels in any important degree, i. e., even with low prices, disaster to the iron industry would have been inevitable. No other industry was affected so much as iron, and it is at least very questionable whether the cartels in general (excluding the coal cartels in particular) are to be blamed for the crisis. … That they are to be blamed for the ill-judged over-development of certain industries, which was apparently the real cause of the crisis, does not seem to be a just conclusion. On the other hand, the cartels may be accused, with more probability of truth, of retarding the convalescence of German industry by not reducing prices, and if this is true, the coal and coke cartels are specially to blame." F. Walker, Monopolistic Combinations in the German Coal Industry (American Economic Association), 1904. COMBINATIONS: Growing magnitude of companies. Industrial concentration.