Fair-trade laws

Fair-trade laws, laws developed for the purpose of preventing a particular business from selling goods at extremely low prices in an attempt to abolish competition. Adopted in 1931, the first law was intended to prevent the large chains of stores from cutting prices to hurt the business of independent retailers. By 1950, 45 states had such laws, but opponents of fair-trade laws insisted that they resulted in increased spending for consumers, and many states repealed them. In 1975, the U.S. Congress abolished remaining fair-trade laws by repealing the Miller-Tydings and MaGuire acts, which had protected them.