The State reserved to itself the monopoly of the purchase and import of oils, and sold them to a special organization (the consortium), constituted under the form of a limited company with a capital of thirty million francs, of which half was to be paid up immediately. This company undertook delivery of the commodity, reimbursed the State for its expenditure (cost, insurance, freight), itself met the charges for unloading and storage, and re-sold the oil to the ten members of the cartel at prices fixed for each variety by the Ministers of Commerce and Supply. _The distributive trade within the country was left free._ Each of the Ten subscribed towards the formation of the capital in the following proportions:-- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Nominal Capital| Paid-up | Percentage. | subscribed. | Capital. | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | Francs | Francs | Francs _Fenaille et Despeaux_ | 4,725,000 | 2,362,500| 15.75 _Désmarais frères_ | 4,725,000 | 2,362,500| 15.75 _Fils de A. Deutsch_ | 4,725,000 | 2,362,500| 15.75 _Cie. Industrielle des Pétroles_| 3,861,000 | 1,930,500| 12.87 _Raffinerie du Midi_ | 3,504,000 | 1,752,000| 11.68 _Société L.B.C._ | 2,526,000 | 1,263,000| 8.42 _Paix et Compagnie_ | 2,238,000 | 1,119,000| 7.46 _Cie. Générale des Pétroles_ | 1,428,000 | 714,000| 4.76 _Lesieur et fils_ | 1,284,000 | 642,000| 4.28 _Raffinerie du Nord_ | 984,000 | 492,000| 3.20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | 30,000,000 |15,000,000| -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- As the consortium was founded in the general interest, they agreed to take interest at the rate of only 6 per cent. on the capital they had provided. Beyond that, all profits were to go to the State. They were fairly high, for on July 1, 1919, they amounted to 67 million francs. This organization constituted a first monopoly of importation by the State, under the financial management of the consortium, which arranged for the reception and storage of the products and their sale to refiners. Under the system which prevailed before that of the consortium, the Ten pocketed the supplementary profits arising from buying and transport. These were retained by the consortium for the benefit of the community.