Montana Trade Commission records
Scope and Contents
This collection documents the Board of Railroad Commissioners and the State Board of Food Distributors in their capacity as ex officio the Montana Trade Commission. The Commission was only concerned with trade and price regulation, not the sanitary and inspection functions of the Board of Food Distributors. The records reflect this.
From 1937 to 1962 the Montana Trade Commission maintained a General Correspondence file with letters filed alphabetically by correspondent, by subject, and by town. Since these overlap, the researcher should look in any which might be relevant. For example, a problem with use of coupons by Buttrey Foods in Butte, might be filed under "Coupons", "Buttrey Foods, Inc.", or "Butte." The largest portion of the correspondence deals with complaints against local retailers and the Commission's investigations and negotiations to resolve the complaints. From 1963 to 1973 this system of filing was changed to a straight chronological system. There is also a small series of Interoffice Correspondence.
The second major series is Hearings, which consists of docket files for public hearings conducted by the Commission. The Commission maintained several numbering systems for dockets which can be confusing. For major topical hearings the form was "#1-50" for the first hearing of 1950. These topical hearings deal with proposed regulations and general pricing policy. For hearings on individual violations of regulations the dockets were simply numbered consecutively, starting with #1 in 1947 and running through #205 in 1972. There is a gap from #188 through #204. These dockets have not been itemized in this inventory, since they are useful primarily for their documentation of the functioning of the agency rather than for the information about a specific retailer.
The third major series of the records are Subject Files from a gasoline price survey conducted in 1955-1956. This segment includes correspondence, survey forms, complaints against oil companies, hearing records, freight tariffs, and related material. The study was used as a model by many other states.
In addition the collection contains Court Records from three court cases (1949-1950); Financial Records (1939-1965), including auditor's reports, budget information, a journal and ledger, and voucher distribution records; Minutes (1939-1960) and agenda (1971); reports (1967-1968); and Miscellany, including lists of licenses issued and lists of food distributors arranged by county.
Dates
- Creation: 1937-1973
Language of Materials
English
Conditions Governing Access
Collection open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Researchers must use collection in accordance with the policies of the Montana Historical Society. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collection. In some cases permission for use may require additional authorization from the copyright owners. For more information contact an archivist.
Biographical / Historical
The original Montana Trade Commission was formed in 1919 as an ex officio body of the Board of Railroad Commissioners to regulate public mills. Later that same year the extraordinary session of the legislature gave the Montana Trade Commission the added responsibility of regulating prices of commodities and food. When the extreme inflation of 1919 passed, this responsibility was removed from the Commission.
The 1937 state legislature passed the "Unfair Practices Act" to bar the advertisement and sale of goods at below their cost and the pricing of goods at different rates in different areas of the state. The purpose of the act was to "safeguard the public against the creation or perpetuation of monopolies and to foster and encourage competition, by prohibiting unfair and discriminatory practices by which fair and honest competition is destroyed or prevented." The law was deemed necessary because "the sale at less than cost of goods obtained at forced, bankrupted, close out, and other sales outside of the ordinary channels of trade is destroying healthy competition." In 1939 the Board of Railroad Commissioners, ex officio Montana Trade Commission, was given the duty of carrying out this law. Elaborate procedures for complaints, cost surveys, and hearings were established.
The Montana State Board of Food Distributors was established by Chapter 49 of the 1939 Laws to regulate the quality of foods, inspect places of sale, and license food distributors. The Board consisted of three members, all of whom were to be practicing food distributors, nominated by the Montana State Food Distributors Association and appointed by the governor. In 1943 the State Board of Food Distributors became ex officio the Montana Trade Commission and took over all of its functions.
In 1971 the State Board of Food Distributors was renamed the Montana Board of Trade and came under the new Department of Business Regulation. The following year the Board was renamed the Trade Regulation Division.
Extent
6 linear feet
Abstract
These Montana Trade Commission records (1919, 1937-1973) consists of documents for the Board of Railroad Commissioners and the State Board of Food Distributors in their capacity ex officio as the Montana Trade Commission. Records include general correspondence, filed alphabetically by correspondent, subject, and town; records of public hearings; and a gasoline price survey.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged by series.
Physical Location
20:3-7
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Acquisition information is available upon request.
Separated Materials
Photographs transferred to the Photo Archives
- Title
- Guide to the Montana Trade Commission records, 1937-1973
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by Ellie Arguimbau, 1987
- Date
- 2006
- Description rules
- Finding Aid Based On Dacs ( Describing Archives: A Content Standard, 2nd Edition)
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
- Sponsor
- Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Repository Details
Part of the Montana Historical Society, Research Center Archives Repository
225 North Roberts
PO Box 201201
Helena MT 59620-1201 United States
406-444-2681
406-444-2696 (Fax)
mhslibrary@mt.gov