Evening star., 1907-10-22

ments manufactured by the company
and represents only a little more than
half its output. We make reapers. now
ers, hay rakes. wagons. gas engines:
manure spreaders, cream separators ana
sundry other agricultural implements
and machines and twine for our binders.
and in none Of these lines do we control
the trade. We are forced to adjust our
selves to prices and terms hxed by our
competitors"
ing self-binding harvesters beside your
se!ves?"
There are four active progressive
competing concerns of large capital and
large output-the Acme Company of Pc
oria; Adriance. Platt & Co. Of Pough-
via. N. Y; the Walter A. Wood Company
of Hoosic Falls, N. Y, and other smaller
firms. In the mow:ng-mactfne market
we have the competition of all the above,
besides several other large concerns, such
as the Davis Manufacturing Company of
Ottumwa. Iowa: the Emerson Company
of Rockford. ILL.,. and the Eureka Com
pany of. Utica. In farm wagons we have
from eighty-f1ye to a hundred conlpeti-
tors: in gas engines we have more than
hundred; in manure Spreaders we Rave
from fifteen to twenty; We compete with
ten or twelve twine factories, besides
four or five penitentiaries In which the
convicts are making twine for the bene-
fit Of the state. We have thirty-five or
forty responsible and active competitors
in the hay-rake business. They are scat
tered all over the country And in every
line Of manufacture we must compete
with firms that are independent. well
capitalized. responsible and. so far as ap-
doing a good business and making money
II have been told by representative
men among our competitors tfat their
business has been more profitable and
satisfactory since the combination of the
Mccormick and Deering companies. be-
cause the market Is no longer demor-
allied, competition is conducted on a ra-
tional basis. prices are steady and both
sellers and buyers know what to expect
recall but one failure of any conse-
uuence in our trade since the combna-
tion and that was largely due to mis-
management. All of our competitors
claim to be making money. and they GER
tanly show indisputable evidence of that
fact by enlarging their plants and by In
creasing their capital, their advertising
and their output.
mo monopoly can be maintained" con-
tinued Mr. Funk. that does not control
the sources of raw material. the patents
and the means of distribution. and we do
not control either in the lines of our
trade, In the first place raw material
which is wood and steel. Is free to every
body; the fundamental patents for self
binding harvesterS have all expired, and
everybody has equal access to the rail-
roads for transportation.
The Matter of Exclusive Contracts.
THE International Harvester Company
has been attacked in the courts of
Arkansas, Texas and Kansas on the
ground that it is trust and monopoly.
In Arkansas we were found guilty of
using exclusive contracts with our agents
and prohibiting them from selling other
machines. Several insurance companie IS
were convicted o. the same offense. They
would not permit their agents to work
for their competitors. Exclusive con-
tracts with agents. however, are the rule
all over the world in every kind of bust
ness. and nothing else was used by the
old companies before the consolidation
Never until now have they been consid-
cred unlawful or unfair. but an Arkansal !
court decided that it was restraint of
trade to ask man to work for one en-
ployer exclusively.
I'm Texas the legislature passed a law
making it a penal offense for a man to
sell trust-made goods. Although we had