28 JUNE 1924, Page 11

EMPLOYERS AND REDUCED OUTPUT. [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

SIR,—In your issue of June 7th is an extract of a letter from " South African " professing to quote the statement of a large British firm that British manufacturers found it more profitable to combine to reduce output and keep up prices than to reduce prices and go in for large production. The falsity and absurdity of this as a statement of fact, except in the rarest cases, is obvious to all with any knowledge of business affairs, but is perhaps worth while refuting. So anxious are manufacturers—especially those who export—to increase turnover that large numbers of well-known firms are taking orders with little or no profit and even sometimes at a loss, so as to promote the largest possible production in their