The age-herald., 1900-03-17
ATLANTA WANTS
 $5O,OOO DAMAGES Suit Filed Against the Alabama
 Pipe Companies IN UNITED STATES COURT Bill Charges That They Were Members of Gigantic Trust, and Extorted
 Large Sum from Plaintiff
 Through its Workings
IN UNITED STATES COURT


 court of this city, in which the city of At lanta seeks to recover of the Anniston Pipe and Foundry company of Anniston, and the Howard Harrison Pipe company of Bessemer, damages in the sum of s50, 900 for money alleged to have been extorted through the medium of a trust of which de- fendant companies are alleged to have lbeen members.
 It Is claimed that the organization of in- terests is so strong that 1t Is impossible for any one of the companies to secure public work without interference from competitors engaged in the same industry. Every iron and pipe man in the combine, Atlanta claims, is under obligations to pro- tect his fellow conspirator so that the price of iron asked can be greater than the regular price.
 The complaint alleges that through the combine in 1891 it was defrauded out of the amount of money mentioned
 It names the Chattanooga Foundry and Pipe Works, Dennis Long & Co. of Louis~ vile, South Pittsburg Pipe company South Pittsburg, Tenn, and the Adyeston Pipe and Steel company of Cincinnati, as being the principal members of the combine.
 
 business in thlrty-sx states and territories at the time Atlanta made its contract with the Anniston Pipe Works, and the Howard Harrison company of Bessemer, so 1t is set out.
 The fact that these companies are located an the region of the state of Alabama where iron, lime, fuel and all other ele- ments entering into the production of cast {rnr rAi,.n initiates against other companies not sim ilarly situated.
 The plaintiff claims that because of the advantages of location and the exercise of fraudulent means the defendants have sue ceeded in driving all other competitors. in territory where contracts might be other wise secured, out of business.
 Ut Is specifically stated that the defend- ants did on December 2S, 1894, form a com bine to regulate the sale and manufacture of ca pipe. The name of the com bine Is given as the Associated Pipe Works It Is alleged the combine existed from De- censber 2S, 1894, to January 30. 1897.
 The complaint alleges that the combine agreed that upon all work in the thirty-six states and territories a bonus should be charged upon every ton of pipe sold, the amount of the bonus being determined by how much the combination could force the customer to pay. The plaintiff charges that the defendants have collected bonuses rang ing from s to $9 on every ton of pipe sold since the date the trust was formed, the bonus representing the amount charged for pipe over and above a reasonable and fair price for the same, and over and above the price that defendants would have been will ing to sell for if the trust and combination i1fn n6 nd fhar frGn ap1 open competition between the manufactur- CTS for the work.
 The plaintiff alleges that the pipe trust collected $6 per ton as an average bonus on the material sold during the period stipulated. The profits accruing therefrom were over one million.
 Under the operation of the association each corporation was assigned a certain territory in which only tt should be per- mitted ito transact business. When bids were asked for for cast iron pipe, fitting etc, by cities, each corporation would con- suit the corporation whose interest was directly affected under the agreement of the> combines, and all other than the in- terested corporation would bid higher than the corporation indicated. Therefore, ac- cording to the complaint, the price charged for pipe could be fixed at an exorbitant figure with the perfect assurance that there would be no lower bids.
 It is alleged by the Atlanta officials that the combine made it imperative that all the pipe for certain cities was to be divided be- tween the defendants and their associates. Fer instance, the Anniston Pipe Works was to supply Atlanta the Howard Harri- son Iron company Birmingham and St. Louis, the Chattanooga Foundry and Pipe Works Chattanooga and New Orleans the South Pittsburg Pipe Works Omaha and the Dennis, Long and Company Louisville and certain cities in Indiana.
 December 2S, 1894, it is charged, the asso- citation adopted what was designated as an "auction pool plan for bidding on work in the pay territory" The defendants each selected one man, the six constituting an executive committee, with headquarters in Chicago. To this pool was referred all in qu.res for pipe.
 It is charged that this committee was in the habit of meeting secretly and fraud uently bidding for jobs, the one paying the greatest amount of bonus of course to receive the bid This auction pool, it is declared manipulated most of the business. In the spring of 1895 Atlanta desired to extend its water mains and lay additional sewerage pipe. The board of water com missioners accepted the bid of the Annis- ton Pipe and Foundry company at $21 per ton for cast iron and 2h cents per pound for fittings.
 In the summer of 1895 the same company submitted another Ibid to furnish the same variety of material. The bid this time for cast iron was $21 The first contract called for $S386.7S, the second for $96 779.9S. The third contract was given the Anniston Pipe in 1896, and called for $11 ,596.36 The bids then were for the laying of the water mains and at first were higher than expected by the commissioners. The An niston concern, it was charged, made a exorbitant bid, 1t being something Nike $24 per ton for cast iron pipe. The lEIarrison company bid lower, so did the South Pittsburg and other con- cerns, but all bids were designedly so high that the commissioners were forced to reject them and ask for new ones. Then the Anniston company salmIbitted a fodd which was much lower than the ether ones or Its previous bld, and it was finally &C., cepted.
 ton works $56, ,73612