TRADE: Mad Hatters

Hypercompetitive, bubble-riding, style-mad is the $100,000,000 U. S. millinery industry. The Federal Trade Commission last week published a study of its scrambled distribution methods. Prime thesis of the report: chain and syndicate distributors (who combine the functions of wholesaler and retailer) handle close to half of the total trade, are not the pirates that manufacturing milliners think them: "With a better understanding the manufacturer will come to realize that he has not been the victim of oppression by the syndicate."

Engaging are some of FTC's findings:

> A few weeks after headgear...