The Minneapolis journal., 1905-11-20
Trust Which Sought to Fasten5 It.
" self n*the Dominion Is
Disclosed.

trOit and Chicago, an arrangement was
found to exist by which United States
firms could not submit figures for work
in Toronto without first notifying, the
association here. Also, the supply houses
in the United States were not to furnish
nonmembers of the association in Can
ada with materials. S@-.
..A Yankees In deal. 4. 2..h
AS an evidence of the part American
houses were. playing in the combine it
is necessary to refer to only one case as
recorded in the minute book of the asso
citation, which was read in court. 1t is
as follows ,~~.' - - SO 4 6 49,. =
'"rhe Ideal Manufa curing company of
members for selling to some one off our
list. subsequently the representative of
this firm appealed before the board and
after an explanation Of the sale assured
the board that his firm very much re
gretted: the circumstance and; would see
that 1t did not occur again. The repre-
sentative stated that when he reached
Stafford he had found it impossible to
do business until such time as his firm
was again on the list. This has been a
lasting lesson to the Ideal company"
Toronto Frightened.
That they succeeded in frightening the
Toronto supply houses, all Of them, into
line it is only necessary to say that the
six outside master plumbers found 1t
impossible to- purchase supplies In To-
ronto, and had to purchase from New
York, Chicago or other smaller American
houses. SO great did the, difficulty and
hardship become that they applied to
the government at Ottawa last May and
asked that the duty on plumbers sup
plies be cancelled. AS a result the min
lister of customs threatened to delve into
the action of the supply houses in To-
ronto unless they 'loosened up to the
employers who did not belong to the
Master Plumbers & Steamfitters' asso-
! citation. .
Bound by an Oath.
They did loosen up little, but not
very much. for they had taken oath to
abide by an agreement with the master
plumbers to bleed nonmembers and the
general public the terms Of this contract
being in part as follows:
"That the members Of the Master
Plumbers & Steamfitters' association
will endeavor to buy all goods for their
work from, and will give the preference
on all purchases, where prices. are equal
to the jobbing and supply houses sign
i ing this agreement. .,,,. -
'tThat the undersigned supply houses
will not sell to the general public plumb
ing goods, steam, hot water or gas
fittings, but where prices are asked from
them they way quote parties wanting ar
idea Of cost not less than 25- per cen1
over the associations purchase prices. :
THAT the undersigned supply houses
! will not sell plumbing goods to the trade
generally, except at an advance of q
per cent on the prices quoted to thu
Master Plumbers & steamftters' asso
1 ciation.'' .:~ II
Signed by Leaders.
a The agreement is signed by the larges
! supply houses in the city, in fact, al
- houses which deal in full line of plumb
: ers' supplies, including the Canads
: Radiator company, the James Robertson
f company, Dominion Radiator company
= Toronto Hardware company, Gurne,
0 Foundry company and other like biz
4 concerns. .-.r
o The smaller master plumbers in tn
8 combine had been forced into line b.
t the fear that If on the outside the,
j. would not be able to obtain supplies Blu
l. a short time ago finding that the non
8 members were obtaining supplies, j. E
n Reeves and James Harrison decided t
e break from the combine, particularly, a
n to their disappointment, they had foun
l. that one of the inside rules of the com
| D1nS) IIldI ITO 1IlSulUSI Ic1AC Oil
work from, any customer Of anothe
member) they had very little chance wit
/ the big fish in getting any Of the ne'
T customers.
> Squeezed and PInched.
r Mr. Reeves having broken away
n therefore, the master plumbers proceede
: to squeeze him out of business, and
was at this point that the Journeyme
| in If
z that the master plumbers had effecte
an agreement with the plumbers unio
4 executive, that union men should ne
I work for nonmembers, or ex-members
\ the association. ....
n Here was the masters chance. The
l obtained the promise Of the executiv
i that the latter would order the unio
men, which meant all his employees
I quit his service. Two orders were issue
by the executive, but the men refuse
i to respond claiming that the relation
\ between them and Mr.. Reeves were of tt
most amicable kind, In fact he was
I some cases paying them more than men
/ bers of the association were paying.
Mr.. Reeves now took his turn at tt
masters, and after obtaining from tt
\ courts an injunction restraining any
\ the master plumbers from interferir
3 with his. men, consulted with crown a
4 torney with the result that proceeding
/ were instituted against the MAST
\ Plumbers association, the supply hous
I and members of the union executiv
charging them with conspiracy to restr1
4 trade and to defraud. '.-.-'.
4 Evidence Sought
The first step in the procuring of ev
dence was the seizure of all the boo
of the Master Plumbers association, al
the examination of these, and the seer
tary, w. H. Meredith, has been pr
+ ceeding all week.
/ According to the evidence, eve
3 plumber rendering for job had to re
lister his application with the central {
4 fee to find out if the would-be custom
was the customer of any other plurnbt
or whether any other plumber had t
+ preference. Before the contract w
4 awarded all the plumbers interested
such a contract would meet and deci
upon the figures, to submit to the Gu
toner The various plumbers prese
would name figure. and when all we
in the average would be struck, viii
4 was the lowest given to the custom
The next tender would be 10 per ce
4 more than the lowest on a $780, contrs
and if over $500 it would be 5 per ce
in excess Of the other. If by any mea
III r. Nat he nyyn or orr