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.
From the guide to the Montana Trade Commission records, 1937-1973, (Montana Historical Society Research Center)
