The Sentinel=record., 1911-12-21
ANOTHER 4 TRUST 5 -
 ON THE GRILL
AN EFFORT WILL BE MADE TO DISSOLVE THE KEYSTONE
 WATCH CASE COMPANY.
Alleged That it is Conducted In vio- lation of the Sherman AntI-
 Trust Law.

Philadelphia, Pa, Dec. 20.--The federal government late today filed | suit in the United States Circuit | court against the Keyston Watch Case Company, declaring 1t an unlawful combination, in violation of the | Sherman antitrust act and asking | that it be restrained from carrying on 1 an alleged monopoly in the manufac- ture and sale of watch cases.
 i ne government declares the com 1 pany now manufactures and sells l so per cent Of all watch cases man ufactured and sold in the United | States, and that 1t is the intent and | purpose of the defendant, that the company shall monopolize the remain der Of the trade aiii commeree.' In addition to the Keystone Watch | Case Company, Pennsylvania corpor- | ation, individual defendants named
 in the bill, are
 l TheopIhilus zurburgg of Riverside, N. J., until recently president of the | eoinpaay; Caleb F. Fox. Philadelphia. acting president; Edward T. Stotes- bury, Philadelphia, vice president; J. J Mueller, Philadelphia. secretary Charles M. Fogg, Philadelphia, treas urer; F. H. Kaein. Philadelphia, as-
 sistant treasurer, and lIrvin Smith,
 New York. director.
 The bill recitcs that Zurbrugg con. | solidated two firms of watch case | makers, which were absorbed later i 1 by the Riverside Watch Case Com 1 1 pany Zurbrugg and others, the bill 1 says, gained control of a corporation Il named the Keystone Watch Case
 Company and under the name Of the Keystone Watch Company took over
 the old Keystone and Riverside Com paaies in 1899. Later control was ob-
 tained of the New York Standard
 Watch Company, the United States Watch Company and the E. Howard Clock Company.
 | in I506, the Keystone company, the government charges. acquired control of the Crescent Watch Case Com pany, which had previously purchased the entire watch case business ot the American Mailman Watch Com pany and the Bay State Watch Case Company of Boston. It is also alleged the Keystone Company acquired S51 of the 2,000 shares of the American Watch Case Company and the Elgn National Watch Company. A eorpor. ation known as the Keystone Ores cent Watch Case Compaay of Can
 ada, Limited, was then organized to act as a sales agent of the American Watch Case Company of Toronto. The
 capital stock of this corporation Is wned by the Keystone Company. ln 1904, 1t is charged, the Keystone
 Company entered into a contract with
 the EIgin National Watch Company, whereby the Keystone Company was put in exclusive charge of the entire
 export trade or the Elgta Company,
 except the trade with Canada; and in 1909 the Keyston Company, through contract with the Waluham Watch Company, was made sales agent for the latter In all leading foreign coun.
 tri%s except GreaE Britain. France
 and Spain.
 By virtue Of these consultations,
 and contracts, the government bill as
 serts, the Keystone Company, direct ly and indirectly, controlled the trade and commerce in watch cases, so as to enable 1t to practically exclude all competitors and monopolize the trade
 itself It also charses that the defendants induced jobbers to cease | handling any other lines of goods than those made by the Keystone company and it's subsidiaries. kept a blacklist 1 of all dealers who sold movements
 at less than fhe established price, 1 and refused te sell said movements IS well as any of their watch cases
 to jobbers who continued to sell to I retailers. whose names appeared CT ] "saad lists.
 ! Defendants have also urged com
 petitors to sell their plants and bus
 nesses to the Keystone Company"
 the bill adds, Tthreatening them with | destruction should they refuse to do
 so, and have declared their intention
 of acquiring the remainder of the |
 trade and commerce in watch cases
 and have asserted that they would
 spend million dollars If necessary to
 drive ome Of the larger Of it's com petitors out of business and that de-
 fendants would hang crepe on the
 doors, of such competitors factor ies. r