POLITICAL CONTROL OF SULPHUR AND PYRITE
The political control of the important sulphur deposits of the world primarily corresponds to the countries in which they are located. In the case of the United States, the deposits are controlled by private companies. As a strictly war measure, control was exercised over the allocation and distribution of the output. In Italy the government had assumed control of the output and marketing of sulphur. This was largely brought about by the competition of American sulphur and the consequent depression of the Italian industry. In 1906 what was known as the Consorzia Obbligatoria was organized under a law passed by the Italian Parliament, which provided that this company should be administered by a royal commissioner appointed by the Italian government. Under this law producers were obliged to sell their output to this company, which had control of prices and exports. In 1910 restrictions on the granting of new concessions were made. The arguments recently presented for the continuance of government control were the increasing foreign competition, the large war increase in United States production, the minor increase of Japanese production and the possibilities of developments in northern Africa. The intent of this governmental control of the industry is to combine and regulate the efforts of individual producers in order to effectively meet future competition.