COMMITTEE PRINT-UNREVISED INVESTIGATION OF THE TRADE PRACTICES OF HEARINGS 2.5. CongrBEFORE THE use, to investigate the INVESTIGATION AMERICAN RETAIL FEDERATION, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEVENTY-FOURTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION 140706 JUNE 5 AND 6, 1935 UNITED STATES WASHINGTON: 1935 INVESTIGATION OF THE TRADE PRACTICES OF BIG SCALE RETAIL AND WHOLESALE BUYING AND SELLING ORGANIZATIONS WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5, 1935 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, The special committee met at 10 a. m., Hon. Wright Patman (chairman) presiding. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will be in order. House Resolution 203 provides for the appointment of a special committee of seven, to be named by the Speaker, which is authorized and directed to investigate the American Retail Federation, its capitalization, its membership, its objectives, the sources of its funds, its financial connections, and its officers and agents, and to investigate the record of stock dividends, officers' salaries, profits, interlocking directorates, and banking affiliations of all corporations directly affiliated with, or contributing to, the said American Retail Federation. It was further resolved, for the purpose of this resolution, that the committee, or any subcommittee thereof, is authorized to hold such hearings, to sit and act at such times and places in the United States, whether or not the House is sitting, has recessed, or has adjourned, and to require by subpena or otherwise, the attendance of such witnesses and the production of such books and documents, to administer such oaths, and to take such testimony as it deems necessary and advisable. That is the substance of the original resolution, passed in April of this year. On yesterday, June 4, 1935, there was an amendment to this resolution. That amendment is as follows, in the form of a resolution, known as "House Resolution No. 239." Resolved, That House Resolution 203, Seventy-fourth Congress, first session, is amended as follows: On page 5, line 10, before the semicolon, insert a comma and the following: "and to investigate the trade practices of individuals, partnerships, and corporations engaged in big-scale buying and selling of articles at wholesale or retail, and their associations." This amendment was adopted in the House of Representatives on yesterday, and becomes a part of the original resolution. For today we had invited Mr. Sherrill, who is the head of the American Retail Federation, Inc.; Mr. Kirstein, who, we understand, to be one of the organizers of the American Retail Federation, Inc.; and Mr. Morrill, of Cincinnati, as witnesses. A situation has developed in attempting to get necessary information in order to commence the hearing this morning that I think 1 |