The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-09-07
GREAT CONCERN
 CALLED A TRUST Harvester Company Gets the Worst of Missouri Decision TO BE 0UsTED FROM STATE Special Commissioner Brace Decides That New Jersey Company Is Evnding the Laws Of

Jefferson City, Mo, September 6.-Spe- cial Commissioner Theodore Brace, in his report to the state supreme court in the
 buster suit filed today, declared the In ternational Harvester company of New
 Jersey trust and a combine formed for the purpose and with the effect of de- stroying competition in the manufacture
 and sale of harvesting machinery. The International Harvester company of America is declared to be used mere
 ly as a selling agent by the New Jersey company in evasion of the Missouri laws which prohibit the licensing of the New
 Jersey concern by reason of its enormous capital of $2O,00O,000. The subsidiary cor poration, according to Commissioner Brace, once had capital and now 1t has none. Its existence as a separate cor porate entity is mere fiction to evade the laws of states whose policy Is not to encourage such vast accumulation of wealth and power in the hands of few,
 as may injure the welfare and prosperity
 the field of commercial and industrial en- teIpriSe to all tCltizenS
 The commissioner found that the Me
 Cormick Harvester company, the Deerine
 Harvesting Machine company, warder
 Bushnell, Glessner & Co, Plano Manu- featuring company, D. NJ. Osborne & Co., | and the Milwaukee Harvesting Machine company the latter being a respondent were in active competition prior to 1902. In June, 1902, Cyrus H. Mccormick went | to George W. Perkins, of J. P. Morgan
 & Co, of New York and sought his aid | 1n relieving competitive conditions from the manufacturers viewpoint.
 Plans Are Perfected | According to the findings Mr. Perkins | soon was in communication with other | harvesting machine manufacturers anc | perfected plan by which the McCor- mick company and other named compa- | nies, except the Milwaukee company, os. tensibly sold their properties to W. c
 Lane. Lane, the commissioner found pre-. tended to sell them to the Internationa | Harvester company. The original com. panies received stock in the new com pany, apportioned to the appraised valu, l of the properties and for their bills re
 ceivable. The officers of the origina
 companies, except the Milwaukee, signed practically identical contracts at the same
 time in the office of the attorney of J F. Morgan & Go.
 Morgan & Co. previously had purchased
 the Milwaukee company. Lane, the os- | tensible purchaser of the original com
 psnies, the commissioner found was g | fgurehead. The new company was man. | aged by former officers of the old com
 panies as was the International liar vester company of America.
 The whole stock of the New Jer.
 sey corporation was transferred to a l of Perkins, Cyrus H. Mccormick and
 Charles E. Deering, who have contro
 until 1912. The commissioner found that these men practically control the | mower and binder business and have potential control of other lines of har- yesting machinery in the United States Soon after the organization of the so. Another Concern Bought called harvester combine the report says it acquired the D. M Osborne company and operated it ostensibly al an independent concern for two years Other companies acquired in 1903 are the Columbia Cordage company, Mexi | can Sisal company, Illinois Northern Railroad company, Aultman Miller com. | pany, Minnie company and the Key stone company, the last three being manufacturers of harvesting machin- cry.
 | In 1904 1t acquired the Weber Wagon company and patents of the Bettendori Axle company and In 1906 the Kemr company.
 In the first five years the sales of the company In the United States amounted to nearly $200. 0.00O 900. In Mis- souri the company does about 30 per cent of all business in agricultural tools, implements, vehicles and machn- cry; in the binder lines, 90 per cent and in the mower line, 7o per cent, Attorneys for the company contend ed that the organization was a legiti- mate transaction In the ordinary course of trade.
 The commissioner found that this theory could not stand in face of the fact that the old companies turned over their property to the company not yet organized for the purpose, as they asserted, of putting an end to what they called "ruinous competition" The report points out that the com pany was organized to control the bind- CT and mower business and that the companies which entered the combine manufactured practically nothing ex- cept harvesting machinery
 Conclusions In Case Tn his conclusions the commissioner says
 T find that the International Harvester company Is combination created for the purpose of restraining trade, les sening competitor, regulating trade, con- trolling and fixing prices of agricultural implements, tools and machinery sold and offered for sale in Missouri.
 That the International Harvester com pany of America Is maintained by the New Jersey corporation as a separate corporate entity for the sole purpose of
 making sales of it's products and for thai
 purpose 1t obtained license to do busl-
 ness in evasion of the laws which pre-. clude the International Harvester Com
 pany of New Jersey from obtaining a license and by means thereof has secured a practical monopoly in mowers and pow. CT to secure a further monopoly in the sale of agricultural tools, implements anc
 machinery in the state
 'The respondent by becoming a mem. Der of such combination in furtherine the purposes thereof by the evasion, has
 been guilty of a violation of the anti. trust laws and has incurred the penalty substantial ground on which license tc do business in the state should be for. feited" The suit was filed by Gov. H. S. Had ley, when he was attorney general, No vember 12 1907.
 His successor, Attorney General Major obtained much of the evidence. The ac. tion was an information in quo warrantC which asked that all franchises and priv, revoked and that its property be confls cated or a fine imposed.