The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-05-20
PLUMBER TRUST" SUED AS RESULT
 OF THE STANDARD OIL DECISION
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 among themselves to prevent manu- lecturers and wholesalers from selling lumber direct to the consumer Ca con- sumer for these purposes Is held to be a contracting builder, mail order house. farmers cooperative union or the cit izen who buys a pine board to repair his woodshed).
 That hundreds of consumers, in- cluding the largest industrial corpora tions in the country, have been com pelled by alleged unlawful agree ments to buy lumber from retailers at much higher prices than they would have paid to wholesalers
 "The United States government, how ever, the bill says, has never been blacklisted in that class.
 Consumers Classified
 That wholesalers and retailers, in joint conventions and by agreements, have classified consumers into proper" and improper" trade and have pre- pared and exchanged blacklists
 That, although the National Whole sale Lumber Dealers association is not named as defendant, by agreements with 1t, the Eastern States association has organized and circulated blacklists which have affected the lumber trade in New York. North Carolina, Ken lucky, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Mich igan, West Virginia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, South Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey, Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin, Louisiana, Connecticut, Indiana, Florida Georgia, Missouri. Alabama, Rhode Island California, Mississippi. the Dis trict of Columbia, the Canadian prov inces of Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia and British Columbia.
 rIat ac af oil ,blacklists wholesalers have been -di- rected not to sell lumber to retail deal CTS who have dealt with consumers in wholesale quantities and that in the case of wholesalers who have dealt with consumers in retail quantities, the organized retailers were directed not to buy lumber from them.
 That retailers who have sold whole sale lots or have competed outside their allotted territory have been posted to the traders as 'poachers' or 'scalpers' and in some instances havf been heavily fined or expelled.
 "The result of this illegal operation" says the governments bill, has been to close the doors of the wholesale dealer and manufacturer to the consumer in all parts of the United States and to deprive the wholesaler of the trade of a consul mer in a territory covered by retailer except through the medium of the retail yard.'
 The Eastern States association was or ganized in 1902, when retail organizations then existing in the states mentioned be- came constituent members.
 The government charges that the re- tailers before that time, however had arranged with the National Wholesale Lumber Dealers association to classify the trade and the so-called Boston agreement was made, resulting in the N--k @1@ J~ Lumber Dealers association being changed to contain the following pro- vision:
 The Boston Agreement
 "Whenever it shall be determined that any person. firm or cor poration is not legitimate customer for the wholesale trade, according to the principles recognized by this asso- citation best conserving the lumber business, the members shall not there after sell to such person, firm or cor poration."
 A subsequent joint meeting at Bal timore and Pittsburg, it Is charged this was modified to admit arbitration of disputes of classification, but in tenor and effect always remains the same
 The Pittsburg conference, 1t is charged, was between the trades rela- tions committee of the wholesalers and representatives of tho retailers from 13 states and resolution was adopt ed providing that members of the Ma tional Wholesale Lumber Dealers as socia ton shall refrain from selling or in any way furnishing lumber to whole sale firms or individuals not members of their association. or who are known to transact their business contrary to the joint agreements between the Ma tional Wholesale Lumber Dealers as sociation and the various retail associa- tions."
 In March, 1906, the government re- cites. there was a convention of whole salers. fin Washington, at which. it Is alleged, report was presented, the following portion of which is quoted in the complaint:
 we are all in favor of prices and fixed high prices, We should fix the status of a poacher Ca retailer who competes for business in the territory of another) and keep 1t fixed. His place sh hould be the scalper Ca retailer who sells at wholesale prices) and the ille- gitimate dealer wherever he may be found. The narrowness of such view would be pointed out and the most mean and acrimonious cry against it will come from the operator who is selling wherever he can and to wh O. ever he pleases, seemingly without req son and always without care as to cus- tom or channel for distribution. He is a maverick, roaming at will over cur land, drinking of the clearest streams and feeding in the best pastures He must be caught and branded. No asso- citation should permit him membership and no individual should al any time or under any condition permit trading with him, either buying or selling, and simple as the process may seem, you maydepend upon it. If applied, his will be a short shift"
 The bill then alleges that among the or ganizations with which the retailers and wholesalers are in toIch to prevent sell ing direct to the consumer are the Lum- Der Secretaries Bureau of Information, Chicago. ILL; the I.;l,nberman's associa- ton. st. Louis. Mo. and the Lumber