Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-06-20
PAPER POOL CRUSHED
Fiber and Manila Association
Pleads for Mercy.
VIOLATES ANTITRUST LAW
Pleads Guilty in Court and Tells
Eard-Luck Story.
TO BE SENTENCED MONDAY
Government Indicts Combine-lt
Dissolves, But Does Not Escape.
Fines May Be Heavy.
70 BE SENTENCED MONDAY

| NEW YORK June 20.-Twenty-three
| of the twenty-five OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
| concerns of the Fiber and Manila Asso-
! ciation against whom indictments were
filed by the May federal grand jury TOR
violation of the provisions OF the Sher-
man antitrust act against combinations
in restraint of trade. pleaded guilty yes
terday before Judge Housh in the United
| States circuit court After an urgent
| plea by counsel representing the manu-
facturers for the leniency of the court
| Judge Hough reserved sentence until
Monday. Under the law heavy fines may
| he imposed 1t came out during the hear
ing that the paper pool had gone to pieces
following the energetic pursuit OF the
trust by the government.
In his remarks to the court united
States District Attorney Stlmson stated
that of the tn concerns not represeh.eu
one had gone out of business ana tne
other had not yet been served with the
Indictment He also said that John II.
Parks, the secretary of the association
and originator of the pooling plan under
which the members of the aSsociatlo,i
were prosecuted, who was also lndlcteo,
| had not yet heen apprehended. lie Is sdiu
| to be in Europe.
When the indictments were handed
down by the grand jury last IuesdaS
they were placed under the seal OF 'ne
court at the request OF Mr.. etillsoil ua AZ
the warrants could be served on the de-
PENDANTS Nearly all the concerns re-
sponded readily to the service, and IL was
decided not to fight the cases The pool
which was for the purpose OF Maintain
ing prices and restricting output, as
stated by Mr.. Stlmsoh' has oeeAl oo'
| doned.
When Judge Hough came into court
| Just before O'Clock there was quite
crowd of interested spectators IN the
room. among them John Norris. spTcia a
representative of the Newspaper Pub
| fishers Association in its campaign
against the combination of paper manu-
| facturers.
When the case United States VS. John
a Parks and others was called Solo
mon NJ. Stroock, counsel for the defend
! ant companies. arose and entered the
| plea of guilty after waving the reading
/ of the indictments. Then he addressed
| the court in part as follows:
Confession of Trust.
| The Fibre and Manila Association was
created two years ago by several manu-
| facturers of wrapping paper. In the year
before the association was formed. the
business necessitated a large investment
| Of capital and brought small returns.
They had gone on for years without max
! ing any money at all.
| This was the state of affairs in 1906.
when these manufacturers decided to get
! together They represented only % per
| cent of the total output of wrapping pa
per of the country, one single mill that
was not a member of the association
making more paper than the entire asso-
citation together. Their purpose was not
to find scheme by which they could
evade the law but one by which they
could place their mills on paying basis
AS soon as the government commenced
| to investigate their association. and as
| soon as they realized they had done some
| thing that was not right, without pressure
being brought to bear upon them they
! started to dissolve the association. NO
| mill ever earned under the agreement
| more than per cent. Several of them
| now face bankruptcy. 1t is true that the
| price of wrapping paper has been IN
| creased but not on account of the FORM
| ing of the association.
One Company's Troubles.
V. K kellogg of Watertown then ad-
dressed the court on behalf of the New
ton Falls Paper Company, one of the de-
| PENDANTS and unfolded hard-luck story.
The 100000 concern had October 1 last
found itself with one of the principal
partners dead, another bed-ridden and
the third a defauter for $4,000; S2o.UO
| of it's notes had gone to protest; *3Oo,VW
| in commercial paper of the concern was
| ahoat and $4,000 in accounts past due
we have never paid a dividend, $1SS
| 600 of the paper is out at present, and
where the money is coming from to pay
this fine is more than l know, said he
Il suppose we will sign notes for it and
| hope to find some one who Will be good
| enough to let us have the money We
are guilty, but I do not think under the
! circumstances the court should be too
| hard u.s.
~, ThcS
defendant companies are charged with
| conspiracy in restraint of trade 1t is
! very clear that they raised prices and
| that they restricted production although
| there is no evidence that they cut the
threats of any of their competitors. They
| have dissolved the association, not with
| out pressure but after this investigation
was started by the United States grand
jury They have pleaded guilty. how
ever and saved the United States the
| cost of a long and arduOus trial. For
this reason l suggest the leniency Of the
| court.
List of Companies.
| The indicted companies are: Allen
| Brothers Company, Sandy Hill, N. Y,
out of business; Amalonmnk Paper Com
pany, North Water Gap, Pa; Bedford
| Paper and Pulp Company Big Island,
! Va; Bayless Pulp and Paper Company,
Austin, Pa; Brownville Paper Company,
Brownville. n. Y; the Champion Paper
| Company, Carthage. n Y: Central Paper
! Company. Muskegon. Mich; Continental
Paper Company. Watertown. n. y: De
Grasse Paper Company. Pyrites n. Y:
the Dexter sulphite Pulp and Paper Com
pany. Dexter. n. Y: Detroit Sulphite
! Pulp and Paper Company, Detroit. Mich;
Fletcher Paper Company. Alpena. Mich. :;
Gould Paper Company. Lyons Falls. n
Y; Hartje Paper Manufacturing Com
pany. Steubenville. Ohio: the Island Pa
per Company, Carthage. n. Y: the Island
! Paper Company. Menasha. Wis: the JEFF
/ ferson Paper Company. Black River. n.
| Y: Newton Falls Paper Company. New
! ton Falls. \. Y; the Orono Pulp and Pa
! per Company Orono. Me-; the Parsons
/ Pulp and Paper Company. Parsons. West
! Va: the PetroskN Fibre Paper (OmnauN