New-York tribune., 1911-11-29

Clnners in nearly ten years The volume
of business kept on increasing until 1t
reached the ten million mark, and the
losses in bad debts, etc, were SO heavy
that the old lax ana obsolete methods or
conducting that business had to be aban-
Goned The afflliation among the whole
sale jobbers, Samuel Werner, Sol Frank
el Samuel F'leck and Louis Schwab, be-
came inevitable by the financial risks In
yolved These four firms purchased all
the live poultry received in New YORK
CITY and maintained a credit associa-
ton. In order to combat this quartet, the
wholesale or carot. receivers were COM
pelled to affiliate themselves into an asso-
citation. known as the New York Live
Poultry Commission Merchants Protec-
tive Association. This association was
formed under the advice and guidance OF
leading arm OF lawyers and was guaran-
teed by them to be within the bounds OF
the law. II empowered the members to
pool their commissions; that IS, receivers
paid their per cent commission into this
association and were reimbursed pro rata
on the amount of business shown by their
books the two years previous.
Panic ParaIyzes Business.
The panic Of 1907 gave the live poultry
business a hard blow: hundreds Of the deal
ers on the East Side Of town and over in
Brooklyn had their entire capital invested
in real estate on margins and got conf
pletely wiped out; they were unable to
pay their bills, and the only hope the job
bers ever had of getting any money out
OF them was to keep them In business and
take further chances in supplying them
with poultry. This brought the dealers
throughout the entire metropolitan district
into closer affiliatlon and resulted in the
Indictment Of eighty eight live poultry
dealers, including the eight wholesale re-
cevers and the four wholesale dealers in
West Washington Market. This indict-
ment was brought about by a large West
ern shipper who made a contract for
supply of live poultry with B. Baff Son.
but which was said to have proved disas-
trous to both parties in interest At this
iuncture Charles Werner sued B. Baff for
an overdue account. and Mr.. Baff claimed
that the live poultry dealers were a trust
and could not force payment of their claims
in court William Grant Brown was dele
gated by District Attorney Whitman 10
take testimony, which was subsequently
brought before the grand jury and resulted
i'm .he indictment Of eighty eight live poul-
try dealers, including four women. When
the case came 10 trial the live poultry men
brought all books, records, etc, TO court
and explained fully their methods OF doing
! business. trial extending over three
months followed, which was ably defended
by Mr. Jerome for the defendants and
William A. De Ford for the prosecution
The Jurors were three-fourths for acquit-
| tai but were informed in some mysterious
manner that a verdict Of guilty would only
call for a fine OF 5000 TO $3.50 each man. At
the same time there was some talk Of the
| Jurors getting extra compensation for their
absence from business for such protract-
ed period. but that it rested entirely with
the court to so reward them. There were
over six thousand pages of testimony taken,
and when the jury brought in verdict OF
guilty, after celebrating less than two
hours, there was considerable comment
around the court. AT this moment Judge
! Rosalsky became quite vindictive and de-
clared that the imposition of fine was in
adequate to atone for the gravity of the
| misdemeanor for which they stood convict
ed and refused absolutely TO entertain a mo-
| tion for a new trial or TO accept $4,000
bail for each man until the following morn
! ing. Being guilty of a misdemeanor. which
was equivalent to walking on the grass in
one Of the public parks or violating any
other ordinance. relegated thirteen Of the
most honorable and upright merchants in
New York TO the City Prison for over two
weeks, until Judge Bischoff granted them
stay. The daily papers were berating the
! live poultry men as rich capitalists. etc,
but as a matter of fact they are entirely
poor men or men in moderate circum-
stances, not one OF whom has a sufficient
! competence to retire from active business.