Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1911-06-29
LUMBER TRUST
HEADS INDICTED
Fourteen Secretaries Accused
of Violating Sherman Law.
TWO C0NSPIRACIES CHARGED
Restraint of Interstate Trade and At
tempts to Suppress Competition
Are Main Allegations Made
by Grand jury.

Chicago-The special grand jury in
the United States district court re
turned before Judge Lands indict-
ments against "A secretaries and for
mer secretaries Of wholesale and re-
tail lumber dealers associations in
the western territory, charging a con
spiracy to restrain interstate trade in
violation of the criminal provisions OF
the Sherman antitrust law.
Those indicted are:
Arthur S. Holmes, Detroit, Mich,
secretary of the Michigan Retail Lum-
Der Dealers association and editor of
the Scout, a trade paper owned and
controlled by lumber dealers.
George P. Sweet, also secretary Of
the Michigan association.
Willard G. Hollis, Minneapolis, sec
rotary of the Northwestern Lumber
mems association.
Harry A. Gorsuch, Kansas City,
Mo, secretary Of the Southwestern
Lumbermen's association.
Bird Critchfeld, Lincoln. Neb., sec
rotary of the Nebraska Lumber Deal
ers' association.
E. E. Hall, also secretary of the Ne
braska association.
Harry C. Scarce, Mooresville, Ind,
secretary of the Retail Lumber Deal
ers' association Of Indiana
H. H. Hemenway, Denver, Colo,
secretary of the Colorado and Wyo-
ming Lumber Dealers association.
Louis /. Holman, also secretary Of
the Colorado and Wyoming associa-
ton
H S. Adams, ChilHcothe, O.. secre-
tary Of the Union Association of Lum-
Der Dealers, and also of the Ohio AS
sOciation of Retail Lumber Dealers.
B. N. Hayward, Columbus, o., also
secretary of the Ohio association.
A. L. Porter, Spokane, Wash, secre-
tary of the Western Retail Lumber
mems association.
r. p Bransford, Union City, Tenn,
secretary of the Retail Lumber Deal
ers' association of West Tennessee
and Kentucky.
A. G. Rightor, Pittsburg, Pa, secre-
tary Of the Retail Lumber Dealers as
sociation of Pennsylvania
Three men escaped Indictment by
giving testimony before the grand
jury, thereby wrapping themselves in
the cloak of immunity prescribed by
law. They are Paul Lachmund Mil
waukee, secretary of the Wisconsin
Retail Lumber Dealers association;
George w. Hotchkiss, Chicago, secre-
tary of the Illinois Lumber and
Builders Supply Dealers association,
and at present secretary of the secre-
taries' bureau, and George Wilson
Jones, also secretary of the Illinois
association and assistant secretary of
the secretaries bureau.
Each individual is indicted on two
counts. the first alleging conspiracy
among the retail dealers to restrain
Interstate trade and commerce be-
tween the manufacturer and whole
saler and the consumer, and the sec
ond charging a conspiracy to suppress
and eliminate competition which or
dinarily should exist between whole
saler and manufacturer and the re-
taller in supplying the consumer.
The weight of the governments
case is said to rest on the alleged acts
of the secretaries of the various retail
lumbermen's organizations. These
secretaries are said to have organized
themselves in Illinois in 1905 into the
Lumber Secretaries Bureau OF In
formation.
No charge of conspiracy or co-opera-
ton between the manufacturer and
wholesaler and the retailer was
made.