The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-12-15
GRAND JURY INDICATES
ALL Of THE COMBINES
Continued from Page I.

OF the association.
AT the time of it's organiza ton the
charter members copied verbatim the
articles of Incorporation and the by
laws of the Denver association. and
these original articles of incorporation
and bylaws have remained without
amendment up to December 2. 1907.
Whatever the articles may say of the
object of the corporation IL is plain
from the conduct of it's affairs by the
members at their meetings that the
great majority of the members have
endeavored to operate along legitimate
lines. They have frequently discussed
subjects of great interest to retail deal
ers. such as the method of preserving
and handling a certain commodity, the
methods of detecting impurities in food
stuffs which they are handling, and
methods of handling economically per
jshable goods. BY these discussions
and by lectures upon these subjects a
great deal of good has been accom-
piished among the members of the as
sociation.
"'The secretary of the association up
TO the 18th day of November, 1907, was
a sala,!ed officer. 1t is his duty to con-
duct the rating department, TO keep the
books of the association and TO be at
the office of the association during BUS
mess hours to attend TO whatever Ous-
mess the members of the association
require of him. The rating department
has been a great advantage to the
dealers. Each member of the assocla~
ton is required to give the secretary a
list of the persons who have been deal
ing With him who have failed or re-
fused to pay their bills within a rea-
sonable time If a customer applies
for credit To the dealer in particular
section of the city the dealer takes the
name of the applicant, his former ad-
dress in the city and the storekeeper
with whom he has been dealing. This
information is communicated to the
secretary and the secretary after in
vestigatior, reports TO the dealer upon
the financial standing of the applicant.
Jensen is Arraigned.
The secretary of the association UP
10 July. 1907, was W. ]. Donnellan.
Since then Lorenzo Jensen has held
the position These TWO men have I'M
dertaken to NEEDLE in matters foreign
TO their duties and entirely outside the
SCOPE of the association. In several in
stances they have acted unwisely and
in a way that justifies us in condemn
ing them in the strongest terms.
The organization has maintained a
paper known as the Retail Merchant,
which is the official organ of the Re
tail Merchants Association OF the
state of Utah. This paper is pub
lished in Salt Lake City in the interest
of retail dealers generally. 1t is de-
voted TO matters of interest to retail
dealers. and In the paper has been
maintained a department entitled
Price Current" which purports to be
a list OF retail prices current in salt
Lake City, Utah. From the sworn evil
dence Of many retailers in this city and
by investigating through persons sent
to inquire at the different stores the
price of different articles, we have
failed To find a single dealer in this
city who is conforming TO this sched-
ule. The editor of the paper secures
the information for this department
by inquiry among the different merch-
ants in the city, and has been assisted
by the secretary Of the association.
The list serves no useful purpose
because each dealer has his own indi-
vidual problem TO work out. Each one
knows what his goods cost MIN. Some
buy better than others. Each one
knows what his expenses are. Some
rent or Main street where rents and
delivery expenses are high; some. own
their own property, some must hire
all help, while others have most of the
help necessary in their own family.
SO in each case the per cent that must
be added TO the cost of the goods to
pay expenses and make fair profit ia
different. This list of current retail
prices should be discontinued.
The price committee Of the associa-
ton was originally used for the pur-
pose of keeping track of wholesale
prices. At different times since the or
ganization of the association the price
committee has investigated the adj
visibility of the members of the asso-
citation buying certain commodities
I'm carload lots from Missouri
river points. and has reported to the
association upon these matters.
Retail Prices Discussed.
Within the last year and a half
the discussion of retail prices has been
precipitated by the report of this COM
mittee. One instance has been brought
TO our attention where the grievance
committee of the association reported
m PPODIe Turn AWaV ?