The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-21
DISSOLUTION SUIT IS BEING DELAYED Harvester Company to Re-
 adjust Affairs ATTORNEYS CONFER Attitude of Board of Directors To Be Communicated To Depart
 ment of Justice Within
 Month

Washington, September 2O.-That the government is ready to permit the In |ternational Harvester cempanx volun' tariIv to readiust it's organizationt t6 conform to recent interpretations of ths sherman law became known here to- day. t
 Pending the resultlof conferences be- tween Attorney. General Wickersham and attorneys for the company, the threatened dissolution suit is being de- layed.
 Negotiations looking to an under standing between the government and the company have reached the stage, 1t is said, where it will be necessary Tor MT Bancroft, counsel for the company to refer the question of reorganization to the companys board of directors
 Financial circles recently have heard persistent reports that the government was ready to bring an antitrust suit against the comany. Some papers nec- essary for court proceedings were pre- pared The understanding here Is that the government at no time has been in clined to be precipitate as long as the company showed a disposition to meet the demands of federal authorities.
 The attitude of the board of direc- tors of the Harvester company Is ex- pected to be communicated to the de- partment of justice in about month. It is said to have been an impossibility to present the situation to the board of nf the members have been in Europe. The next regular meeting Is scheduled to be held on october 21. The negotia- tions which Attorney General Wicker sham has been carrying on with of- ficals of the Harvester company do not constitute an early new departure in federal regulation of corporations, all though the proceedings are of a char acter only recently instituted. In the case of the so-called electrical trust and that of the Southern Wholesale Grocers associat ton, the corporations recently were permitted to agree to the govern ment demand. These agreements were put in the form of decrees which will be submitted to the United States courts for approval 'a lt
 It is not known definitely that the har- vester company will be able to follow the course of the electrical trust or the grocers' organization, as opposition mas ceN elop in the board of directors.
 Meanwhile the department of justice is continuing It's investigation and agents oi the department are still at work Ne gotiations between Wickersham and Ban croft have not been allowed to become putlic. although it is known that ont condition of the prosecution sthe govern ment insists upon Is that the trust be separated into the four corporations which first composed 1t.
 These were the Mccormick Harvesting Machine company. the Dedring Harvester company. the Milwaukee Harvester com pany and the Plano Manufacturing com pany These four companies were the first to be acquired by the International liar vester company when it was formed in New Jersey in 1902 and capitalized at uad,O0N. 600, of which sso,Ooo.0Oo was paid in cash. eE cf
 The other $so,oooooo of stock was issued for real estate, plants and physical in- vertories,
 Il now owns and operates II plants and four twin mills besides works operated by its affiliated and subsidy companies chief of which is the international liar vester company of America.
 The capital stock of this company ,s s1 .O0O.000 and all but nine Of its shares which are held hv It's directors, are held by the trustees for the benefit of share holders of the International Harvester company. Through this company a sell. ng organization is maintained. All the stock of the International Harvester com pany. except IS shares. which are held bv the directors. is deposited with vot- ing trust, of which George w. Perkins Cyrus H. McCorniick and Charles Deer ing are the trustees.
 The corporations are. said to be so inter related with the voting trust agreement and other stockholdngs. that segEega rion of thcir sl95,000.o00 of assets Into their original form presents a keen prob lem.