GOVERNMENT: New Blows for Fair Trade

Advocates of "fair-trade" laws did not lose heart after the U.S. Supreme Court knocked out fair-trade price-fixing laws in 1951. Last year they got a bill through Congress which nullified the court's decision. It made state fair-trade laws binding on retailers, whether or not they had signed agreements to observe manufacturers' list prices. This seemed to fix everything up nicely.

But last week, holes were being knocked in the fair-trade fence all around the lot. In New Jersey, the state supreme court handed down a decision that merchants who had not signed such agreements could disregard them. Fair-trade lobbyists said...

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