This only worked because it was a commodity that could be resold without much extra expense, and the cartel wasn't willing to sell at a loss everywhere. Great history lesson!

I'm a kid who went to Herbert H. Dow High School in Midland, Michigan. Then I went on to study Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan in the Herbert H. Dow building. I'm very proud to see this story on HN. There is a (seemingly) out of print book called "The Dow Story: The History of the Dow Chemical Company" if anyone would like a more in depth view of the "bleach wars" and other ways that Dow took on the entrenched German companies.

Great story! Actually shows that monopolies can even be broken without the intervention of government.