Investigation of concentration of economic power; monograph no. 1[-43] (1940)

Page scan 00050 from Investigation of concentration of economic power; monograph no. 1[-43]

Record Details:

Title:
Investigation of concentration of economic power; monograph no. 1[-43]
Date:
1940
Publisher:
Washington : U.S. Govt. Print. Off.
Volume:
Investigation of concentration of economic power; monograph no. 1[-43]
Leaf #:
00050
Language:
English
Subjects:
United States -- Economic conditions 1918-1945, United States -- Economic policy
Collection:
Government & Law and Books
Format:
Books
Contributor:
Boston Public Library
Sponsor:
Kahle/Austin Foundation and Omidyar Network
Coordinator:
Media History Digital Library
Description:
no. 1. Price behavior and business policy -- no. 2. Families and their live insurance. A study of 2132 Massachusetts familioes and their life insurance policies -- no. 3. Who pays the taxes? -- no. 4. Concentration and composition of individual incomes, 1918-1937 -- no. 5. Industrial wage rates, labor costs and price policies -- no. 6. Export prices and export cartels (Webb-Pomerene associations) -- no. 7. Measurement of the social performance of buisness -- no. 8. Toward more housing -- no. 9. Taxation of corporate enterprise -- no. 10. Industrial concentration and tariffs -- no. 11. Bureaucracy and trusteeship in large corporations -- no. 12. Profits, productive activities and new investment -- no. 13. Relative efficiency of large, medium-sized, and small business -- no. 14. Hourly earnings of employees in large and small enterprises -- no. 15. Financial characteristics of American manufacturing corporations -- no. 16. Antitrust in action -- no. 17. Problems of small business -- no. 18. Trade association survey -- no. 19. Government purchasing-- an economic commentary -- no. 20. Taxation, recovery, and defense -- no. 21. Competition and monopoly in American industry -- no. 22. Technology in our economy -- no. 23. Agriculture and the national economy -- no. 24. Consumers standards -- no. 25. Recovery plans -- no. 26. Economic power and political pressures -- no. 27. The structure of industry -- no. 28. Study of legal reserve life insurance companies -- no. 28A. Statement on life insurance -- no. 29. The distribution of ownership in the 200 largest nonfinancial corporations -- no. 30. Survey of shareholdings in 1,710 corporations with securities listed on a national securities exchange -- no. 31. Patents and free enterprise -- no. 32. Economic standards of government price control -- no. 33. Geographical differentials in prices of building materials -- no. 34. Control of unfair competitive practices through trade practice conference procedure of the Federal trade commission -- no. 35. Large-scale organization in the food industries -- no. 36. Reports of the Federal trade commission on natural gas and natural gas pipe lines in U.S.A.-- Agricultural implement and machinery inquiry. Motor vehicle industry inquiry -- no. 37. Saving, investment, and national income -- no. 38. A study of the construction and enforcement of the federal antitrust laws -- no. 39. Control of the petroleum industry by major oil companies -- no. 39A. Review and criticism on behalf of Standard Oil Co. (New Jersey) and Sun Oil Co. of Monograph no. 39 with rejoinder by monograph author -- no. 40. Regulation of economic activities in foreign countries -- no. 41. Price discrimination in steel -- no. 42. The basing point problem -- no. 43. The motion picture industry-- a pattern of control
Date Added:
July 19, 2022
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34 CONCENTRATION OF ECONOMIC POWER Dr. A. Lawrence Lowell of Harvard University, when refusing to accept an appointment on the Code Authority for the motion picture industry under the National Recovery Administration, stated: * * * The five large producing companies have, by their business methods, obtained a controlHng grip upon the business and are able to put forth upon the community any films that they please.^^ The remedy for this situation was succintly stated in 1935 by Mr. Walter Lippmann. Effective reform depends * * * on a clear understanding of what, given the American traditions of freedom and the variety of American tastes and American moral standards, reform ought to aim at. I would rest reform of the movies on this basic principle: That audiences shall have greater freedom to choose their pictures and that artists and producers shall have greater freedom to make pictures. * * * ^^e best regulation would be that exercised by the â– customers at the box office of a theater. The best way to improve the movies would be to open the door to intense competition by independent and experiment- ing producers. If the customers had freedom of choice, each community would be able to enforce the moral standards it believes in. Each exhibitor would have to take the business risk of estimating correctly the tastes of his customers * * * This is the system under which theaters, books, magazines, and newspapers operate and it is not an unsatisfactory system. Anyone, who can find a little capital, can produce what he chooses. But then he has to submit his production to the test of circulation. The highbrow and the lowbrow, the libertine and the puritan, tend to find their own audiences." DESIGNATED PLAY DATES Through block booking and forcing of short subjects and other features, the producer-distributors have assured themselves a steady market for their product. But a steady market in itself is not enough. Along with steadiness must go profitableness. And this has in part been effected through the practice of designating play dates. The amount of film rental to be paid for a picture may be specified in several different ways. It may be agreed that a definite flat fee will be charged for a particular showing. In another case, the dis- tributor may accept as his rental a proportion of the box-office receipts taken in during the exhibition of a pictm-e. Alternatively, some combination of these methods may be employed. In the usual small- theater agreement most of the features are licensed on a flat rental basis, but it is usually specified that some of the pictures, those con- sidered likely to be the best box-office attractions, shall be paid for on a percentage basis. All days of the week do not bring the same revenue to the box office. Attendance is greater on weekends and holidays, and admission prices are commonly higher at such times. The following table illustrates how various days of the week are usually judged from their potential box-office standpoint.^*" Percent Percent Saturday 20 Sunday 25 Total 100 Monday 10 Tuesday _- 10 Wednesday 10 Thufsuay 10 Friday 15 23 National Recovery Administration, Work Materials No. 34, p. 80. 2< New York Herald Tribune, January 12, 1935. 2'''' Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, Department of Commerce, Motion Pictures Abroad, March 15, liHO.