The San Francisco call., 1898-01-27
WINE MEN
 DISAGREE They Threaten a Cut-Rate War in California
 Wines. Redundant Vintage of Last Year Is the Cause of the
 Dispute. President Crocker ofthe VVinernakers' Corporation Talks About
 the Trouble.

An overlooked wine market has been the cause of much discussion and no end of dissension between the mer- chants and the producers of the State and is responsible for the rumor that wine would be hereafter placed on the market at a reduction of cents on the gallon.
 That wines have depreciated in value since the redundant crops of the 1897 vintage were thrown on the market is acknowledged by every merchant in the city, but not one will acknowledge that the trouble now at issue between the California Wine Association and the California Wine Makers Corpora tion relative to a reduction of the price of wine has been prompted by spirit of animosity, but all say it Is natural decline in the value of wine which compels the former association to de- mand a reduction from the producers. This they have refused to give and de- clare that if necessary they will go to war with the association In order to preserve the present standard of prices, which range from 13 to 15 cents per gallon.
 
 Wine Makers Corporation, expressed his views and gave his opinion and so- Iution of the present difficulty as fol- lows:
 "The corporation of which I am the president and representative head is organized for the purpose of disposing of the products of California wine pro ducers without a middleman profit and solely to the advantage of these producers.
 .rWhether the wine merchants or the California Wine Association think they are in the right when they stoop to the absurd folly of endeavorfng to cause a reduction in the price of wines mat ters little to the corporation, because such a reduction cannot possibly affect the producers enrolled in its member ship.
 "Such men as Percy T. Morgan of the California Wine Association and Mir Jacoby of the firm of Lachman & Ja- coby and a few others arrogate to themselves the fact that they control therefore dictate to the producers the price that shall be placed on the pro- duction of their vineyards.
 'I have no personal enmity against the individual wine merchants of the city or the members of the California wine ASSOCldtlOD, SalQ MT. CrOcker, ''but still as the representative and president of the Makers Corporation I think my position demands that I should say something in defense of the producers interests by taking a firm stand against their oppressors.'
 Although MT. Crocker expresses in- difference as to the movements of the California Wine Association and their endeavor to cut prices of wine, he nev- ertheless exhibits considerable appre- hension as to whether these merchants intend to institute the threatened rate war His characterization of the in dividual members of the California Wine Association and his pungent re- marks in the allusion to the association as a whole indicate plainly that he places some credence in the reports of a contemplated reduction, and, also, that the California Wine Association is a power in the community.
 "It seems absurd that an organization which in my estimation is depreciating In financial resources daily should pre- suIne to dictate to the wine producers of this State the proper price at which