Merchants were organized into guilds. Initially formed to regulate trade in a certain product, a guild, when gradually gaining a monopoly, would ask the government to confirm the monopoly and pay taxes. Guilds are self-governing, under State supervision. The organization of guilds varied, but a guild could include up to several hundred houses and could be divided into guilds, each specializing in dealing with a particular part of the guild's overall business: for example, trading. Sell cypress or pine wood in the wood trading district. Both the wards and the constituent associations have directors who are appointed, in turn, by the member houses. The merits of the guilds – which became apparent when the guilds were temporarily abolished in 1841 – 1842 – were to establish commercial rules, facilitate credit, and promote trust in business. business and market stability. However, in doing so, the guilds hindered competition and often manipulated prices. Guilds also contributed to the nourishment of their member houses. For example, the houses of a guild unanimously refused to hire apprentices or employees who had left work in other houses of the same guild. (The very fact that there are such agreements shows that relationships within the houses are not always of an ideally good family nature.) The guild also contributes to regulating the establishment of branches of long-standing member houses.