Birmingham age-herald., 1895-04-06
A COMBINE ON GLASS.
BIG MEN IN THE TRADE TO RAISE
 THE PRICE LIST.

A Recent sessicn of the Manufacturers at
 PittsbuIC F Forms n Trust and Arranges & l.
 Wage scaIe For All Manifestations
 Will Be Ruined.
 The combination of tho window glass manufacturers of tho United States was recently successfully oonsummated at meeting of the manufacturers at Pitts burg
 The combination is virtually trust and differs only from the plan first report ed In respect to tho operation of the plants. Instead of one company running the en- tire industry, as will be dono in tho plate glass trade, tho window glass houses will continue under the management of the in- dvidual owners
 Tho entire product of nearly every plant in tho country now in working shape will, however, be put on tho market through the National Association of Window Glass Manufacturers Under the agreement made the manufacturers will receive pro rata share of tho sales, according to tho amount of product supplied to the us. sociation annually.
 All glass will bc sold, at prices equal to tho foreign list, directly to tho jobbers, for which tho manufacturers will receive . fixed price, and, at the end of tho year, profits pro rata to the quantity produced. Selling agencies wi bo established in Pittsburg, Chicago and Now York. or per haps only in Pittsburg, through which all glass will be sold. This means the cur tailment of thousands of dollars of ex- penses to the manufacturers, who have in dividually agents canvassing tho trado at great expense. The proposed arrangement will kill tho window glass broker, rather numerous class which has beon doing business between the manufacturer and jobbor and has been an expensive conven- fence to the manufacturer, jobbor and buyer.
 Tho combination formed recently was the first proposed by the manufacturers of Indiana and is tho outgrowth of a meeting held at Columbus recently, when tho scheme was exploited. It embraces near ly every window glass producing concern in Pennsylvania Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Maryland and Massachusetts, with an aggregate capital of many millions, and is the progeny of necessity.
 The manufacturers had concluded that combination was their only safeguard against bankruptcy, and they formed one more compact, likely to be of greater benefit than any organization ever under taken by the trade. Under the conditions of the past, when every one was going it single handed, all sustained great losses until within the last year American win dow glass has been sold for less than the French product. It is said not to be the purpose of the new association to squeeze the public, but rather to obtain fair re- turn for tho capital invested and prevent the sale of glass below the foreign list and at loss than cost.
 Immediately after the organization was formed the Indiana manufacturers held conference and advanced their price list, showing how the wind blows. The effect of this organization on prices and wages will bo farreaching, as all sectional differ ences are forgotten, and the personal fights of the past are seemingly lost sight of in the efforts to place this important indus try on a paying basis The settlement of wages, which has heretofore been donc separately by tho various sections, is ex pectod to be done in the future by the na tional association exclusively. s.!trti4.