Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-09-14
ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE p1spArcH.l

ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE D1sPATcH.l
| CHICAGO, September 13.-The conven-
tion OF the Pittsburg and Western glass
manufacturers, which met in this citv on
September and 3, will reassemble on Tues
day, September 16, at the Auditorium build
ing to determine whether the proposed
trust" shall be formed or not. Up to this
time the details of the scheme, which was
conditionally agreed upon at the last meet
ing have not been given to the public; but
this evening a welLknown Pittsburg manu-
facturer disclosed the whole scheme to cor
respondent of The DISPATCH and expressed
the opinion that it would certainly 90
through with rush.
The plan which the Manufacturers Com
mittee, of which William Loe fier and
James II. Chambers are the Pittsburg
members, has devised is very ingenious and
| simple, and is quite different from any OF
the organizations to keep up prices, with
which the public is now familiar A cor
poration is to be chartered with capital
stock of $500 for every glass pot represented
IN Its membership. It is hoped to secure
manufacturers operating total of 800 pots,
and Il that is done the capital stock will be
put at S400, 900, and each member will take
stock to the amount of $500, par value for
each pot in his factory, and pay for it either
In cash or in glass, as be prefers,
THE PRODUCT IN BUNCH.
The manufacturers, individually, will
then enter into contracts with the corpora-
tion, binding themselves to sell their entire
product, to wit, for period of 13 months,
and of course will subject themselves to liza
e. !. Al
person or corporation. The proposed cor
poration will then, having thus obtained
control OF the entire window glass product,
proceed to fix price list, in which there
shall be no variation whatever. They will
sell at about 2 per cent off for cash, or take
notes for 80, go or 80 days. and will i'm
mediately turn the proceeds of their sales
over to the manufacturers either in the form
of cash or notes.
The corporation will probably be formed
in Illinois, because the fees and taxes
are much lower, and the laws much
more favorable for carrying out a scheme of
this kind, but as already announced in
The DISPATCH. it will have its head
quarters and principal Office in the city of
Pittsburg. The chief advantage of the
scheme above, briefly outlined is that the
manufacturers going into it do not lose
their individual existence, They will all
~ Oh hlohAuS grass dS DcIOTe, anu turning
out as large product as they can, and will
be paid, of course, for all the goods they can
turn out.
CAN'T LOSE MUCH.
The price to be paid to each manufact-
urer by the corporation will be the same,
the rate to be determined by scale to be
hereafter fixed. The shortness of the con-
tract-13 months-permits the individual
manufacturers to drop the scheme in case
they find it cannot be successfully worked,
and to come out without any very serious
loss, and, while the corporation will not
have SO firm grip on its individual mem-
bers as the United Glass Company has, it is
believed that It's hold will be sufficiently
strong to keep the individual firms to-
gether.
The plan on which the United Glass Com.
pany is formed, as everybody knows, is that
each manufacturer going into it conveys his
plant to it out and out, and takes a certain
amount of stock in return. IL that way
each of the 18 firms composing it became
part and parcel OF it, and it is absolutely
impossible Tor any one of them to compete
with it, or back out of his agreement with
1t, or even to make any serious opposition
to any course that the majority of the stock
holders may determine upon. With the
proposed new corporation any manufacturer
may, at any time, break his contract with it
and sell his goods in the open market.
VALIDITY OF THE CONTRACT.
The most serious Inconvenience that can
happen to him in consequence will be suit
brought by the corporation to recover DAM
ages for breach of contract, in which he will
have the sympathy of the court-which is
often very important advantage-and, be-
sides, he could make a very strong defense
on the ground that the contract, in view Of
all the attendant circumstances, was against
public policy, and, therefore, not capable of
being enforced.
1t is understood that all of the Pittsburg
firms, which were represented at the meet
ings here on September 2 and 8, signed
an agreement TO enter into the scheme pro-
vided that the consent of all other firms
west of the Alleghenies could be obtained.
II the consent of all cannot be had, of course,
the agreement does not bind anybody. The
gentleman above referred to, who is exeep-
tlonally well informed in regard to the mat
ter, says that the new corporation will be
organized and the scheme put into effect,
even if as large proportion as 20 per cent
Of the manufacturers refuse to go into it
THE COMBINE NEEDED.
''The desire of the leading firms for
steady market is so great" said be, "that I
believe they will form this combination
even if no more than IS per cent OF the whole
number joins them."
"What will be done about those who do
not go into it, then?" he was asked.
Nothing at all. Their competition will
have a tendency to break the scale of prices
esta ablished by the combination, but there is
no help Tor il. The union of all large man
ufacturers will greatly strengthen the mar
ket irrespective of what some of the smaller
ones may do"
"How do the jobbers regard the proposed
ombination?"
SIT seems to strike them favorably.
Colonel James 81. Rice, of Chicago, was
present at the meetings on September 2 and
}, and my understanding is that he was sat-
SIZED to see the arrangement go through.
Mr.. Rice is Chairman of the Western job
oers' Association, which includes all those
n Chicago, Cincinnati, st. Paul and the
w est, and is one of the most active men in
t. The jobbers ought to be well satisfied
With the scheme. 1t will give them
fair discount below the prices
harged to other purchaser, which they
10 not always have under the existing ar
and will give them the i'm
,ortant advantage of a steady market. The
corporation will, of course, have its sales
men in the field, but they will not be per-
nitted to sell below the scale Of prices, and
renee the jobber can compete with them on
wen terms"
Red-Hot Church Talk.
ESPECIAL TELEeRAM TO THE DIsPArcH,
AKRON, September 13.-The f:ty-third