The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-03-04
ALLEGED ELECTRIC LIGHT BULB TRUST BROUGHT ID COURT Government Claims to Have Unearthed Biggest Mon
 opoly in Country OPERATIONS COVER
 ENTIRE COUNTRY Charged That Manufacturers of Incandescent Light Bulbs Con-
 trol Prices and Make
 Enormous Profits
O.. March s.-The United

O.. March 3-The United ,s,a1es government began here today a fight against what is alleged to be one of the most powerful and complete monop- oles in the country, when suit was filed against 35 concerns engaged in tho manufacture of incandescent electric lights.
 The National Electric Lamp company. which has it's headquarters here. and the General Electric company of New I ork are named as two of the defendants and are charged with being the keystone Of the trust which has it's ramifications in evei state in the union
 Al riding to the governments petition the I'd dvfendant compsnes are banded to- gether in a conspiracy in restraint oi trade and have already gained control of 97 per cent of the country's supply of electric lights.
 The trust is alleged to have its origin soon after 1894. the year in which the United States patents on carbon filament incandescent lamps expired. By 1906 a combination known as the Independent Lamp Manufacturers association is charged with having obtained control of the lamp output and fixed prices. allotted business and prescribed rules of sale for it's members The General Electric com pany of New York is stated to have owned 75.2 per cent Of the stock in the combination which Is accused of obtaining exorbitant profits by restraining trade and forcing higher prices.
 Enormous Profits
 The petition asserts that the profits of the combination as paid in dividends were s5O,00O in 1904 s260, ,O00 in 1909 and s3O0,000 in 191O Last year the company is said to have held $1, 439, ,15s ,93 as an undivided sur plus The capital is now listed at $5, ,0o0, 600.
 The extent of the industry which is thus brought under fire in the govern ment's antitrust campaign is shown in the statement that approximately S0o000oo lamps are sold in this country every year for an aggregate purchasing amount of s1S,OooOoo-
 SeaShinaioa. March J.--The iawsnit filed at Cleveland today against the General Electric company of New York, the West inghouse Electric company of Pennsyl- vania, the National Electric Lamp con- pany of New Jersey and 32 other de- fendants may be the last blow struck at the so-called electrical trust, as 1t is the first. Intimation that the corporations the trust might volun- tarily discontinue the practices to which the government objects Is contained in q statement made by Attorney General Wickersham tonight.
 "The defendants have already indicated a disposition to conform to the require ments of the government said he, ''and the department hopes that dissolution of the combination will be accomplished without prolonged litigation"
 Relates to Light Bulbs
 This suit relates only to an alleged combination and conspiracy in the man. ufacture and sale of incandescent cleo tric light bulbs Other separate actions against combinations alleged to involve illegal agreements relating to the man. ufacture and sale of practically every other appliance necessary to the varied uses of electricity have been in the pro- cess of incubation in the department of justice for months. Whether they will ever be brought into court probably de- bends on the outcome of the suit just filed.
 The General Electric company is the defendant in the present suit, involving the electric light bulb section of the business and alleging unlawful agreements beginning with the machin- cry and ending with alleged price fix ing and control of leaders. The Gen eral Electric is alleged to own more than 70 per cent of the stock of the National Electric Lamp company. The Nesting house company is a defendant on the charge that as the principal competitor of the General Electric and National Electric Lamp companies it entered into unlawful agreements with them for the of purchasing all competition.
 The other defendants range from the Dwyer Machine company of Lynn. Mass, which the petition alleges unlawfully agreed not to furnish lamp-making ma chinery to anyone not in the combination to the Corning Glass company of Corn ing. N. Y, and several other glass com panies, who are charged with making a low price on bulbs to thel trust and a high one to independent 
 Long Investigation
 One. of the interesting features is thnt the governments investigation dates back to May, 190S when the navy department invited bids for furnishing 340,000 incan- descent lamps. Fourteen bids were re- ceived and l3 of them were identical to a penny, s50.esl B. The investigation soon after developed the fact that s0,0o0,000 lamps are used each year in the United States, valued at about SIS .OO0, 900. The defendants In the suit file ] today are charged with controlling the and sale of 97 per cent of that amount.
 The acts of which the government began on August 4. 1s96 when the defendants organized an association called "the incandescent lamp manufac- turers.' In December of that year and It is charged. unlawful price fixing agreements were made.
 The petition declares that in 1901 there were still seven independent lamp com panies operating when the incandescent jamp manufacturers determined to crush absolutely all competition then existing or which should later exist and formed the National Electric Lamp company of New Jersey which proceeded to buy control of all the existing independent save one. The cash for those the governments petition alleges, was advanced by the General Electric company. It also alleges that the General Electric company not only was the chief factor in the organization of the National Electric company but has controlled 1t by the ownership by a large majority of its stock although the petition says the General Electric has represented itself as competitor of the others.
 Organize Monopoly
 The petition seeks to show that as soon as the patents on the manufacture of
 
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