The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-02-28

he stated in the presence of witnesses that prices had been fixed" and when l asked who had fixed them, he stated that Mir. VanHoose and MT. McLester had done so. l then requested him 10 write me letter quoting prices in order that l might have something on the sub ject right before me.
 Pose As Individuals.
 Now I know perfectly we'll that Mr VanHoose poses as the individual" en- ploye of Arbuckle Bros. and other man- utacturers and this is no doubt the way that he will try to cover up his ac- tions This will be enough about coffee and I will give you other information in regard to other commodities and also publish letters from other manufacturers which are, in my opinion, ever more scandalous than those already published.
 In closing, I am going to quote MT. Van Hooses original letter to me and also few other extracts from the pro- ceedings of the 16th annual convention.
 January 2, 1908, Clabaugh Walters & Grove, city. As many manufactur- CTS use this office in assertaining tn character of business done by an appli- cant for direct buying privileges, if it should be your wish and pleasure to fill out the enclosed list of questions l will appreciate your doing so and returning to this office at your earliest con venience, in order that we may be in a position to furnish such informa- tion to manufacturers who will ask us for same. Also kindly have the sig nature of the party signing the state ment for you properly attested before reputable notary public, as is now , customary in tn csc inquiries. Thanking you in advance for your courtesy, and attention, am yours truly
 (Signed) U. A. VANHOOSE."
 Question No. 13 on the list which he enclosed is as follows: will you pledge yourself to strictly maintain prices on All listed goods ?'
 replied to Mir. VanHoose under date of January 23 as follows:
 Acknowledging your circular letter of the Ed enclosing one of your bnaks to be signed, would say that it is not our desire to make an affidavit to your association, or. for that matter, any other association
 However, we wish to say that we propose to conduct an exclusive whole sale business. No member of our firm is interested in any manner whatsoever with a retail grocery. We shall not handle grain and feed stuffs. Now, as to making a pledge to your associa- ton, that we will maintain the price on all listed goods, would say that we many find, in fact have already found | it necessary to make certain agree ments with the manufacturers from | whom we purchase goods. It will no doubt be advisable for us to make agreements with our customers and we shall certainly respect every one made. But when it comes to lining up in association form and fixing prices. verbally or otherwise we ask you to excuse us. Yours truly"
 Mir. VanHoose was kind enough to re- | ply to this letter under date of January | 27, as follows
 q beg to acknolwedge receipt of yours of the 23d inst, and regret that l you have so entirely misunderstood the drift of the questions which were senL 1 to you. This association makes no at ! tempt to fix or regulate prices and has never done so. Many manufacturers, ! however, use this office for the pur- ! pose of ascertaining views of parties 5 who claim to be wholesale grocers IS to how the managing head of the con 1 cern views the general questions of ! maintaining the prices fixed by each { individual manufacturer on his own 1 individual product. Your answer com 1 ing from men who claim to be experi- ! enced salemen is, however. quite sig nificant Yours very truly,
 1 (Signed) "J. A. VANIOOSE." i Although both of the above letters i are signed by J. A. VanHoose, they are i a mistit When I get further into this matter you will note that they try to i cover up their actions as individuals. The word Individual is certainly work ed oyer time all the way through, but that of course is simply absurd, 1 and I do not believe that they will be able to hide out under cover of same.
 Extraefs fron, proceedinds
 Extract from page 31 (pamphlet above referred to- subject, Rebates"