The purpose of this sample survey is to produce, each calendar quarter, an income statement and balance sheet for all manufacturing corporations, classified by both industry and asset size. (Corporations account for more than 95 percent of total receipts from all manufacturing activity in the United States; manufacturing corporations account for approximately 60 percent of all corporate profits.) The published quarterly summaries contain statistical tables which give profits per dollar of sales and rates of profit on stockholders' equity for each of 32 groups of manufacturing industries and 28 groups of asset sizes of corporate manufacturers. The summaries also contain quarterly estimates of 45 income statement and balance sheet items, and as many financial and operating ratios, for each industry and size group.

The quarterly summaries are used by various agencies in the executive and legislative branches of the Federal Government to analyze current business conditions, evaluate the current financial position of small business, estimate net income in national income statistics, estimate current tax liability and future tax receipts, and determine current monetary and credit policy.

The quarterly summaries are also used by thousands of non-Government subscribers, Executives, for example, use the quarterly summaries to measure efficiency and appraise costs by comparing a company's operating results with the average performance of companies of similar size or in the same line of business, to determine whether to undertake new ventures by comparing the profitability of various types of business activity, and as a guide to the relative movement of sales and profits in order to reduce controversies in wage negotiations.

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

The secretary and his immediate office receive and handle mail on all phases of the Commission's work. He signs all orders and certain other official papers. He also is responsible for liaison with the Congress and Government agencies and for decisions on informal cases not submitted to the Commission.

The assistant secretary for minutes takes the minutes of, and records the executive meetings of the Commission, prepares directives for the signature of the secretary, and keeps the calendar of pending matters. Legal and Public Records

The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Legal and Public Records embraces the Legal Research and Reporting Section, Formal Docket Section, Public Reference Section, and the Distribution Section.

Legal Research and Reporting Section

This Section is responsible for the preparation and publication of the volumes of the Federal Trade Commission Decisions and its

Statutes and Court Decisions, the latter including court decisions in Commission cases; for the codification and editorial preparation of various Commission material published in the Federal Register; for the collection and dissemination of relevant court decisions.

Formal Docket Section

The Formal Docket Section is responsible for the establishment, management, safety, completeness and accuracy, uses and retirement of the legal and related records of the Commission.

Public Reference Section

The Public Reference Section furnishes information and assistance to the public, and to the staff of the Commission in relation to public, legal, and court proceedings, and in matters of related procedure. The Section is responsible for the custody, location, safety, conditions, etc., of dockets, files, exhibits, etc.

Distribution Section

The Distribution Section controls the supply and distribution of all publications issued by the Commission, such as economic reports, annual reports, trade practice rules, Statutes and Court Decisions, etc.

Public Information

This office issued a total of 1,309 press releases during fiscal year 1959, compared with 1,238 in fiscal 1958. They covered news of Commission complaints, answers by respondents, initial decisions, orders, and compliance actions. In addition, many oral and written inquiries from the press and public were answered each day.

INVESTIGATION

Chapter Four

The function of the Bureau of Investigation is to gather and analyze the facts and evidence which provide the basis for corrective action by the Commission. This task is performed under the supervision of the Bureau Director and the guidance of the Chief Project Attorney, his staff of project attorneys, and the attorneys in charge of the Commission's nine branch offices.

Specialized investigative or advisory functions are performed by the Division of Textiles and Furs, the Division of Accounting, the Division of Scientific Opinions, and the Legal Adviser in charge of the investigation of mergers and acquisitions. The work of these groups will be discussed separately.

Most Commission cases stem from letters of complaint from members of the public who feel they have been deceived or misled by unfair or deceptive acts or practices, or from businessmen who believe that their economic welfare is jeopardized by unfair or discriminatory competitive practices. Complaints are also received from individual Members of Congress, congressional committees, trade associations, and other governmental agencies, both State and Federal.

In view of the Commission's broad jurisdiction, it can readily be understood that more complaints are received than can be investigated. For this reason, it is essential that all complaints be carefully evaluated to eliminate those which are of a trivial or borderline nature or which are lacking in public interest. Other factors involved in the evaluation process include the time and expense required to conduct an investigation, whether the matter involves a purely private controversy, and the extent to which the complained of act or practice is susceptible of correction under statutes administered by the Commission.

In all restraint of trade matters, close and effective liaison is maintained with the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice in order to avoid overlapping or duplication in matters where the two agencies may possess concurrent jurisdiction.

In some matters involving deceptive practice charges, the necessary facts can be secured through correspondence at a substantial saving in public funds. As a general rule, however, it is necessary to obtain the relevant facts and evidence by means of interviews

with the complaining party, the proposed respondent, competitors, customers, suppliers, and other informants.

After a matter has been entered for investigation, it is referred to one of the Commission's nine branch offices for assignment to an attorney-examiner. In many cases, work on the same case is performed simultaneously by attorneys from two or more branch offices, with one such office having responsibility for coordination of the investigation.

Upon completion of an investigation, the examining attorney prepares a final report, setting forth the relevant facts and making an appropriate recommendation. This report is reviewed by the attorney in charge of the branch office and is then forwarded to headquarters for study and review by the project attorney who has primary responsibility for the case from its inception to final disposition. Depending upon the conclusion reached, the case is then referred to the Bureau of Litigation for the drafting of a complaint, to the Bureau of Consultation for the negotiation of a stipulation, or to the secretary or the Commission with a recommendation for closing.

In addition to the foregoing, the various branch offices spend a substantial amount of time investigating the manner in which respondents are complying with previously issued orders to cease and desist. This work must be performed with unusual care and attention to detail, since the evidence obtained may be used in support of civil penalty or contempt proceedings.

Investigations are also conducted to assist in the litigation of pending formal cases, since defenses asserted by respondents often raise issues requiring additional facts and evidence.

Matters investigated by the Bureau fall into two broad categoriesrestraint of trade and deceptive practices.

Of the 4,400 applications for complaint received during the year, 884 involved alleged restraint of trade and 3,516 involved deceptive practices. Restraint-of-trade investigations pending at the beginning of the fiscal year numbered 485, to which were added 211 during the year. Of these, 79 were concluded with issuance of complaints and 191 were closed, leaving 449 for investigation at the year's end.

Under section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, the Bureau investigated allegations of such unfair and restrictive practices as price-fixing, collusive bidding, resale price maintenance, interference with sources of supply, and selling below cost with the intent and probable effect of eliminating competition or destroying a competitor. Twenty-three of the complaints which were issued primarily involved such charges.

Numerous important investigations were conducted under section 2 of the Clayton Act, as amended by the Robinson-Patman Act, which