Omaha daily bee., 1899-03-26

Makers OF bicycles are affected with the
trust fever The Industrial allment SC
common throughout the country has smit-
ten the trade and papers are being prepared
10 transfer all leading factories into com
pany capitalized at s50,OOO,00O. The transt-
tion is not a radical one. Leading manufac-
turers have in years past maintained q
pretty strong combine, by means of which
prices we're held at the top notch But
factories multi plied, the production Of blcy-
cles increased enormously and the leaders
were forced to come down. Prices tum'
bed from 800 to s75, and then to $780, SAC
and some $25. The introduction or the
chainess type of wheel gave the leaders
an opportunity to stiffen prices. Thousr
the price was first put at 1925, the demor'
allied condition of the trade last year forced
n reduction to $75 the present figure. The
machinery by which the bevel gear Is pro-
duced Is protected by patent, so that prac'
tically all manufacturers OF the chainiess
are operating under license from the pa
,ontees. Being forced to manufacture under
such restriction, 1t was an easy matter 70
bring about the absorption of the factories
BY national trust.
Tho prime mover is A. G. Spaulding OF
sportinr goods fame. Associated with him
have been Colonel Albert A. Pope OF Boston,
president of the Pope Manufacturing COM
pany and r. B. Philip Gormully OF the
Gormully G. Jeffrey Manufacturing company
of Chicago. A company had already been
,orned in New Jersey and licenses to make
bevel-geared machines granted to some OF
the largest concerns in the country. IL Is
upon the foundation afforded by these
licensed concerns that the new organization
is to be built.
Among the concerns which have alreauy
eipned the articles of association are the
Monarch Cycle Manufacturing company OF
Chicago, the Western Wheel works of Chi
cago, the Gormully & Jeffrey Manufacturing
oompapy of Chicago, A. Featherstone & Co.
of Chicago, Tanning Cycle company of Chi
cago Sterling Cycle works of Kenosha, Wis,
Ames &, Frost of Chicago A. D. Meiselbach
of North Milwaukee, II. A. Lozier & Co. or
Cleveland, George N. Pierce & Co. Of Buffalo,
Barnes Cycle Manufacturing company OF
Syracuse, Eclipse Bicycle company of Ell
mira. N. Y, Acme Manufacturing company
of Reading Pa, Crawford Manufacturing
company of Hagerstown, Md, Pope Manufac-
turing company of Hartford, Conn, BLACK
Manufacturing company of Erie, Pa, Lamb
Manufacturing company of Chicopee Falls
and the Shelby Manufacturing company OF
Shelby, Ind Among other concerns whose
co-operaton Is also assured Is the Iver-
johnson company, the overman Wheel COM
pany, the Eagle Bicycle Manufacturing COM
pany the Liberty Cycle company, the In
diana Bicycle company, the Keating and the
Geneva wheel companies and Mckee & Har-
ripgton of New York. There is hardly a
wheel manufacturing concern OF prominence
in the country that will not finally be in
Cluded.
All the companies licensed agree not to
cut prices under pain of forfeiture of license
and the payment of a cash penalty said to
be $4,000, and the subscribers agree not to
manufacture wheels for the next ten years,
but to place themselves at the disposal OF
the syndicate. 1t Is said that 1t will be i'm
possible for the syndicate to produce any
material effect upon the wheel trade Of this
year, particularly as the corporation is now
only in process OF formation, but next year
the individual or joint product, as the case
may be, will be marketed through the
syndicate and all profits of middlemen will
be abolished.
The effect of the trust on "assemblers''-
those who buy parts of wheels and put them
together-is likely to be paralyzing The
combination, with It's enormous capacity for
production, coupled with complete control
OF cycle components through the various
minor trusts, will be in a position to place
chain driven bicycles on the market at a