Research On Match Monopoly In Chongqing (1942-1945)

With the continuous expansion of the Anti-Japanese War,the national government fell into serious financial difficulties,such as fiscal deficits,shortage of materials,soaring prices,and so on.In order to increase the treasury,stabilize the people’s livelihood and support the Anti-Japanese War,the Ministry of Finance implemented the monopoly policy in 1941.Match is a military quartermaster,so it was included in the monopoly.Chongqing,as the "capital" at wartime,was the first to launch a match monopoly.The match industry had a good foundation and began to take shape because of its development during the several stages of opening port,revolution of 1941,and wartime.The Ministry of Finance established a match monopoly company in Chongqing in April 1942,and set up offices in Chongqing,Hechuan,etc.While constantly improving the articles of association and organization of match monopoly,it began to gradually implement monopoly control on the production,transportation and marketing of matches in Chongqing.In terms of production,match monopoly companies promoted "civil-made",but they only controlled the raw materials and products of matches rather than made matches.First of all,according to the quality of matches and the level of manufacturing costs,the types and grades of matches were divided.At the same time,standard factories were set up to promote the standardization of match production and improve the quality of matches.Then,in order to alleviate the demand for match raw materials in the rear area,match monopoly companies cooperated with Liu Hongsheng and others set up a Chinese match raw material factory to monopolize match raw materials and reached the reasonable distribution of raw material.However,the production of matches was influenced by rising prices,strict control and insufficient supply of raw material.As a result,it restricted the development of match monopoly.In the purchase and sale aspect,the match monopoly company advocated "the official collection and the commercial sale" to obtain the monopoly benefit.First of all,matches were purchased in accordance with the "unified purchase and marketing" way.And the match committee was organized to assess the price of matches.Then,theprinciple of "division and uniformity" was adopted to divide the match sales area.Each manufacturer was ordered to produce and sell matches only in the designated area and shall not privately raise the price.With the policy,Chongqing area had a good monopoly income.However,due to the unfair purchase and sale policies,the black market and the weak manufacturers’ willingness to buy and sell matches,a series of problem appeared,such as some manufacturers’ violation of the regulations on sale and transportation of matches and fraud,which hindered the implementation of match monopoly.With the gradual victory of the Anti-Japanese War,Chongqing began to abolish the match monopoly system and recover of tax collection in January 1945.Although the monopoly of matches in Chongqing was not implemented for a long time,it did play a role in increasing wartime finance,stabilizing the price of matches,stabilizing the match market,alleviating the raw materials of matches,improving the quality of matches,and promoting the development of match industry in Chongqing during the war.At the same time,there are many problems in the system design and organization management of match monopoly,which made the contradiction between match monopoly organization and match manufacturer,and stifled the vitality of match economic development in Chongqing in wartime to a certain extent.