Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1911-05-27
u. 5. Brings Action Against
Combine.
BLACK LIST INDEPENDENTS
Attorney General Alleges Consumers
of Whole Country Have Been
Held Up by Big 0rganiza-
ton of Retailers.

Germs not regarded as proper" trade,
and to violate generally the Sherman
antitrust law, are made in a govern
ment suit brought by Attorney Gen.
eral Wickersham, in the United
States court here against the so-called
lumber trust.
This suit, replete with sensational
allegations, coming SO soon after the
decision of the supreme court in the
oil trust dissolution suit, caused de-
cided sensation.
Ten trade organizations and more
than $50 individuals are named as de-
PENDANTS in this suit. 1t is believed
this action may be the first of several
planned by the department Of justice
against combinations of retailers in
staple commodities and the neces
saries of life to prevent the ultimate
consumer from buying anywhere ex.
cept from local retailers.
Government officials consider the
suit one of the most important ever
brought under the Sherman antitrust
law, inasmuch as its great object is to
Pns oh Shd W Which pre-
vent the ultimate consumer buying
commodities directly from the pro-
Queer
II the courts uphold the govern
ment's contention and rule that such
agreements come under the inhibition
of the Sherman law, it is believed that
many suits will follow with the object
~ irwin IF no
OF the high cost of living.
The governments suit is replete
with sensational allegations, and it is
asserted that builders and consumers
of lumber the country over are at the
mercy of the retailers organizations
in different sections OF the United
States.
PhiIadelphians Involved.
The suit filed is against the East
ern States Retail Lumber Dealers AS
ISOLATION, which is the central body of
nine local organizations covering five
states, the District of Columbia and
the cities of Baltimore and Philadel
phia.
Attorney General Wickersham and
his special assistant, Clark McKer-
cher, have devoted more than a year
to collecting the evidence on which
the suit is based. This evidence In
cludes copies of the alleged agree
ments, blacklists and reports of the
various organizations, branding whole
salers and retailers, who have dared
to violate the rules of the associations
as 'poachers," mavericks" scalp
ers" and "illegitimate dealers" to
whom short shrift" must be applied.
This is the governments first anti
trust suit conforming to the supreme
courts Standard Oil decision, in that
it alleges undue" and unreasonable"
restraint of the trade of the consumer
and the manufacturer.
Elaborate Blacklist Alleged.
The government charges in brief
that by an elaborate system of black.
listing not only individual consumers
but some of the largest industrial cor
porations have been prevented from
dealing directly with wholesalers.
BY alleged unlawful agreements and
acts, 1t is charged, all competition for
the trade of the contractor, the build
er, the manufacturer of finished lum-
Der products and the individual con-
sumner, has been thrown entirely into
the hands of the retailers in the East
ern States Retail Lumber Dealers as
sociation and its constituent organiza-
tions.
The governments bill alleges that
In some localities a wholesale seller
to a consumer has either been heav-
lily fined or expelled from the organi-
cation.
The defendants named in the suit,
who are alleged to have conspired
among themselves and with the assist
ance of the National Wholesale Lum-
Der Dealers association, have pre-
vented wholesalers from selling d.
rectly or indirectly to consumers, are:
The Eastern States Retail Lumber
Dealers association, New York cor
poration.
The New York Lumber Trade asso-
citation, of New York city.
The Building Material Mems asso-
citation, of Westchester county, N. Y.
Inc LUMBER Dealers ASSOCIATION OF
Connecticut.
The Massachusetts Retail Lumber
Dealers association.
The Lumber Dealers Association of
Rhode Island.
The Retail Lumbermen's Association
of Baltimore
The officers and directors, trustees
and members of the above are named
as individual defendants, as well as
the officers and directors and members
of the three following voluntary or.
CARNATIONS:
The New Jersey Lumbermen's Pro-
tective association.
The Retail Lumbermen's Associa.
ton of Philadelphia.
The Lumber Exchange Of the Dis.
trict of Columbia.
The government asks for perma'
nent injunction restraining the de-
PENDANTS from continuing the conspir.