The Portland daily press., 1897-02-08
CALLED LIAR.
Mr.. Havemeyer's AllusiOn to q
Witness.

Witness.
| The LexOw Committee and the Sugar
Trust-Incidential Evidence About the
Price of Coffee.
| New York, February 6.-When the joint
com mitee appointed by the legislature
to investigate trusts and monopol'es In
this state resumed its session this morn
ing, Chairman Lexow directed the ser
geant -at-arms to call the name of John
Il. Searles, secretary Of the American
4 Sugar Refineries company. There was
no response. Then Mr.. Parsons counsel
for Mr.. Searles, announced that that gen
i tleman was on his way to take a train
when he was served with the committee
subpoena. He further stated that he had
received a telephone message from Mr.
Searles at Washington anu lat he had
tried to reach him last night, but iGtled
He promised that Mr.. Searles would ap--
pear before the committee either here or
at Albanyson Monday next and bring the
required date.
II MIR. John Arbuckle then took the
stand. Mr.. Arbuckle had asked to be
called in order to make voluntary state
ment. He wanted to contIadict Mr.. d.
10. Hayemeyer's testimony regarding the
profits In coffee roasting. "Mr. Have
Meyer" said Mr.. Arbuokle, "sa1d that
we made three cents pound ano that
his competition drove the profits down to
, one cent. We are not making anything
now and as matter Of fact. have not
made three cents a pound profit. and
| ,5o,, sr Soa hou Mr. HpvamaUar Can he
making anything when he sells II half
, cent less than we o0."
"Then, as I understand it, you don't
want the sugar company to compete with
you In coffee, and they don't want you to
compete with them In sugar?' asked
, Senator Lexow.
"Weu, I guess that's about 1t. When
!, we heard they had lowered the price of
coffee one half cent We lowered one half
a cent. Then they lowered theirs anothsr
half cent. We heard on all hands that
whatever price we oifersd they would
, undersell u.s."
, "John N. Jarvie, Mr.. Arbuokle's part
, ner, then took the witness chair, also at
his own REQUEST. He read statement OF
the amount of sugar bought by the Ar
buckles in the last few months, showing
, that they had discontinued trading
with the American Sugar Refineries COM
, pany in December, 1886. II would Ike
to say, - said Mr.. Jarvie, t'in regard to
the alleged tremendous profits Of the
coffee business, that in November, 1896,
| the stock Of the Woolson Spice company
, (the Western coffee concern bought out
: by MIR. Havemeyerl sold Tor sl5 a share ans
at par value of $10c. In December, 1885,
the sugar people paid tor their stock
' sl150 a share in order to get control of
0 the company"
. The witness, in reply to question, said
2 that he thought q difference OF two cents
l | in the output cost OF the W0olaon Spice
: company would justify dividend of SO
Q per cent.
y "Do you, as manufacturer, consider
it fair to anlass from the consumers enOr-
9 nous profits to be distributed among the
Q directors and stock holders in the charge
, of unreasonable pricesr he was asked.
Mr. Jarvie;tOok a long time to answer
0 this question. He finally said that the
9 fifty per cent dividend only represented a
( Ave per cent dividend ON the present
. value of the stock. His company had
, paid 81, 600 for single share OF the Wool
i son Spice com pany stock.
q The executive session of the committee
Z was held. 1t lasted about ten minutes.
y At is conclusion, Chairman Lexow an
9 nounced that the committee had deferred
: action in the Searles matter until 10
= Monday next when, it was expected, he
would be present.
II. o. Havemeyer was on hand when
q question he denied that there wore any
!. sugar refineries CLOSED after the consolid-
~ alton in 1891. The witness eaid nbout Eix
refinerisa were closed previous to the con-
solidation, employing about 5000 men:
j. els it true that after the organization
y of the sugar trust you dlsonarged 1,ouo
men of whom only a few We're re-eni-
n ployedf"
II "That is absolutely false. We never
: employed 1000 men in the state of New
. York
+ Mr.. Havemeyer gave lot of figures
70 showing that the price OF ofa sugar has pee neen
o. reduced ten cents per l00 pounos since
: the formation of the trusb.
John Bergen was the next witness. He
It testified that he was employed as q FORE
10 man on the docks of the American S1gal
q Refining company up to 1872 when he
was discharged with 800 or o0O othefs., Al
v the time of the organization OF the sugar
IS trust In 1857. great number of men
]. were discharged.
:, "About how manyr
"About 6, 900 or I, 00O "
3 Mr.. Havemeyer, who was a1ttlng neal
10 the reporters table, smiled at this state'
= ment and said: "That man Is a bigger
liar than he looks
e The witness said the men were not re-
10 employed and had to scatter all over tht
i. country in search of employ ment' Tht
witness said he understood one OF the
renneIies that closed was Delhg IurneC
into a coffee mill. Right ret1nerles were
r trust and there was only one running
l. now.
John Arbuckle again took the stand.
, He wanted to explain that the price o.
Z coffee was very variable and he believed
Il 1t was the most speculative business II
: the world.
ssss sss What proportion of the coffee trade o.
the United States do you controls asked
Senator Lexow.
a"We don't control the trade but we dc
about one-fourth of theHatrade. handling
about 600, 900 bags" IN. -.
big firms to fix the priceY
"No. sir. we have no agreement. we
ONLY fix our own prices.
The witness, however admitted tha
the price fixed by his firm was prett!
generally followed by otner ueafeTs eIs
cacfn 81 hnV