The San Francisco call., 1910-03-09
FISH TRUST CAUGHT
IN NET OF EVIDENCE
State Senate Investigating Conn
mittee Makes Big Haul of
Damaging Testimony
Perjury Prosecutions Threaten
the Men Who Have Long
Controlled Monopoly

The testimony of Frank BeIIanti and
Frank Alioto fs in direct contradiction
10 the sworn statements of several re-
tail hsh dealers and peddIers in Oak
land. The committee will endeavor 10
find out which of these parties fs tell
ing the truth, and. If necessary. will
subpoena every fish dealer aud peddIer
In Oakland Ii seems very strange
that men will come forward and swear
10 one state of facts and that the rep
resentatiVes Of the Wholesale fish COM
PaBies will ATTEMPT to make liars out
of all Of these men.-Siafe Senator
Z. l. WOLFE, chairman Of The state senate
committee investigating The high cost of living.
Representatives of the fish trust
swore before the state senate commit
tee yesterday morning in direct contra
diction to the testimony of numerous
retailers that the patrons of the Por-
toia fish company. an independent COM
pany. were refused fish by the members
of the combine. They even repudiated
the testimony of each other The days
proceedings ended with the members
Of the combine badly disconnected and
glad Of the breathing spell
The variance in testimony was on
vital points. Whether or not prose
cuuons for perjury viii be begun as
a result of the false testimony ad
duced Yesterday remains to be seen.
Needless to say, the attorney general
and the district attorney viii care
fully study the evidence and be gov
erned by il in such proceedings as they
may deem proper.
CONTRADICTORY TESTIMONY
Frank Bellanti, san Francisco man
ager for the American fish and oyster
company. and Frank Alioto. Oakland
manager for the same company. are
the two witnesses who suffered tbe
most as a result Of the grueling exam
lnauon 10 which they were Subjected
by Chairman Wolfe. As a safeguard
Ahoto was excluded from the room
while Bellanti testified. In conee-
quence OF this Alioto in several in
stances contradicted the testimony of
Bellanti on material points
3ellani testified that he had been =
member Of the Independent fish com
pany and that while there was honest
competition the price of fish was
'heaper than when the company was
out OF business He said that the com
pahy was undersold by A Paladinf and
.-ie es1ern hsh company, the dom
MeIlhg factors in the fish combine.
The sensational testimony given NV
rank taraone the day before resulted
sn the announcement on the nart 80
the committee that 1t would ask the
attorney general or the district attor-
Aey, or both Of them, to begin criminal
proceedings Immediately against those
Hms violating the law
Did anybody ever fine you $50 for
eeliing halibut half cent under price,,
asked Wolfe of Bellanti.
No, sir" was the reply
II taraone testified to that. was he
lying continued Wolfe.
he was lying" returned RelIanti
Ihe witness also repudiated Faraone,s
testimony TO the effect that Faraone
could nave no more soles and sanddabs
u ne continued to buy halibut direct
from Puget sound. He also denied that
faraone had told him that a represent
atNe OF the California fish COMPANY
had snatched Bellanti's tag from Fara.
one. Bellanu insisted that he had
never heard of any one being refused
soles and sanddabs because he dealt
with the Portola company
OAKLAND DEALER TEsTIFIEs
That Alioto. the Oakland manager
hao refused 10 sell fish to the patrons
OF the Portola company was also news
10 Bellanti. who added that Alioto ixed
his own price on the fish sent TO him
Ahoto was then called from an ad-
joining room.
Who fxes the price at which Won
sell fish?" asked Wolfe
Frank Bellanti." replied Alioto. The
witness proceeded to say that he had
never refused any one fish althou1b
O. Giusti and P. Pellegrini. both re-
tailers in Oakland, testified yesterday
that they had been refused fish bv the
Oakland branches of the American. the
Western and the California because
they had patronized the PortoIa COM
pany.
i never refused to sell to Pellegrini
Giusti or any other peddler. If they
say l did they are perjuring them
selves. said AliOto, when questioned
on this point after having been ad-
monished by Senator Wolfe that he was
testifying under oath.
THE PRICE OF soLEs
A Biagini of the wholesale firm of
Biagini & Co. testified that Paladini
fixed the price of soles, but he knew IF
10 SolhDiHe. he said he had never re-
fused to sell TO the Portola connanv
The witness admitted that when he
had been a member of the Independent
company, Paladini had refused to sell
him sanddabs and soles. but when he
left that company Paladini told him he
could have all these fish he wanted he
cause he had cut loose from the in
dependent company.
Frank Giometti, a retailer at Clement
street and Eighth avenue said BelIanti
had warned him not to buy fish from |
the Portola company. One morning the
international refused him fish. as ala
the American. but Bellantf told him he
would send the fish out secretly. when
Giometti promised to quit buyinR of
the Portola he had no trouble getting
his fish.
James McKenna and E. ID. Souther
testified that they had weighed large |
quantities of fish en- route TO the nlant
of the HLO grease company's glue fac
tory
". o. Weissich, manager of This
company, and also president of the
Western fish company, explained thai
much of this fish was shad, which the
company salted.
I'm with you in this investigation :,
said Weissich. II want this thing
cleared up in the minds Of .ba v,,hgse /