The San Francisco call., 1904-06-12
RIVAL CAMPS PRESENT.

AiAdllcIS db 'SSdC.
RIVAL CAMPS PRESENT.
AS on the first day of the hearing Of
these cases the produce commission
men Of the two rival camps were
strongly in evidence. Notwithstanding
the rush of the Saturday trade. Those
who are in the combine were less nu-
merous in the Commissioners COM
Portable leather backed chairs than
were those merchants, to the number
of more than a score of firms, who
withdrew from the Produce Dealers
Protective Association. There was no
difference in the degree of interest on
either side. One part Of the audience
was pleased when Attorney Reinstein
said fiercely that there was nothing to
the cases brought by Lercari and
others. Then the other side smiled
when Attorney Otto Wise thumped the
table in front of him with astonish-
ing vigor, considering the warm
weather, and denounced Attorney Rein
stein in various phrases OF attack.
Reinstein opened the argument. His
principal point was that there had been
no discrimination against the present
complainants, who had tried in vain
to buy certain limited quantities of po-
tatoes and onions from the three de-
fendant firms and had been refused the
goods. The Woodward law, he said,
did not have anything to do with regu-
latlng the quantity of perishable prod
uce to be sold to any purchaser or
with the price.
Reinstein again contended that all
that had happened was that attempts
had been made to buy small lots at
wholesale prices from Wolf & Son. He
complained that the Harbor Commits
sioners, by setting up a rule that a
very small number of sacks or boxes
of potatoes or onions should be sold
to every solvent bidder who wished to
so purchase, were practically estab-
fishing a retail basis on the States
wharves for firms who are wholesalers.
Reinstein also called the attempt to
buy comparatively small lot of goods
from Wolf & Son a trick. There had
been no discrimination If every one was
treated alike, he said.
Attorney Wise denied promptly that
there had been any trick. He said that
the argument of Reinstein was the
most eVdSlNe anu Ills dS1SilSG lI1C AAAOSb
absurd that he had ever heard. To
this somewhat warm beginning Wise
keyed much Of his remarks. He called
attention to an agreement Reinstein
had filed, in which the produce dealers
in the combine had set forth that it
was their purpose to conform to the
Woodward law in their organization.
Ninety-five per cent Of the dealers had,
according to Reinstein, agreed to obey
the law, Wise said, and he grew quite
sarcastic over this and proposed that
a monument to Wolf & Son should,
therefore, be erected on the wharf
where the transaction of which Ler-
carl complained took place.
OTHER CASES HEARD.
When the arguments had been heard,
the matter was taken under advise
ment, the board proceeding with the
testimony in the other cases. Lercari
repeated in substance the complaint
filed against the American Produce
Company. He said that when he had
offered to buy OF B. c. Dalton twenty
boxes Of potatoes, Dalton, representing
the American Produce Company, had
refused to SELL Dalton was quoted as
saying that the reason for his refusal
was found in the rules of the Produce
Dealers Association. Messrs. Baciga-
lupi and Pierretti, witnesses in the pre-
ceding case, corroborated the state
ments of Lercari.
Dalton, when called as a witness, tes-
titled that he had no other reason and
gave no other reason for not selling
twenty boxes except that he did not
wish to break a lot.
In the case against L. Scatena & Co.,
Pierretti and Lercari testified that the
sale of twenty boxes Of potatoes had
been refused on the ground of asso-
citation rules.
Daniel Smith, representative of L.
Scatena & Co.. denied on the witness
stand that he had made any statement
that association rules had anything to
do with the transaction, or that any
money was placed in hie hands with
which to pay for twenty boxes. George
L. Burt. also an employe of L. Scatena
& Co., corroborated the testimony OF
Smith.
When the testimony was all in. in
cluding stipulations as to what others
would have said IL they had been pres
ent, the Harbor Commissioners an
nounced that they would decide all
three cases next Tuesday afternoon at
2 o'clock.