The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-14
BANCROFT REPLIES | ID HOUSE CHARGES Important Statements of
 Report Incorrect NO PATENTS OWNED
Claims International Harvester Com pany Is Not Trust-RelatiOns With Steel Corporation Were Reg
 ular-NO Plants Abandoned

Washington, August 13.-That the arguments and conclusions of the so- called Townsend report are based upon clearly erroneous statements of well known facts is the opening assertion in a reply by Edgar Ba ncroft, counsel for the International Harvester com pany, filed yesterday with the House '"Steel trust" Investigating committee in answer to charges made by Brunette D. Townsend, special agent of the de- partment of justice in 1908. The Town send report was filed with the commit tee short time ago.
 "Nearly every important statement of fact relating to the purpose of the investigation" he reply continues, lis either grossly inaccurate or entirely untrue. The general inaccuracy of the report Is shown by it's misstatement even of the names of the president and chairman of the board of the Inter- national Harvester company and the names of the voting trustees. although they were all widely known and a mat ter of public record for four years prior to the making of the report
 "The fundamental charge of combi- nation to create monopoly is based by the report on the charge that the knotter-in the self binder is protected by patents and that the Interna tional owns the patents on all best types of knotterss The truth is that there is no patent whatever on the essential part of any type of knotter and there has not been any such patent in force since 1896, when the Appleby patent expired.
 This fact not only appears on the records of the patent office, but is known to every manufa cturer of self binders and to every principal dealer in them. Neither are there any exist ing patents upon any essential part of the grain binding machine. The many basic patents had all expired in 1896, and there have been no substantial patented improvements since 1S90-- twenty years ago-While the life of a patent as is well known. Is only 1T years" ...-..
 The statement of the Townsend re- grain binders purchased by the Inter- national, all but three have been aban- doned and that repairs are not furnish ed for any others, Is branded by Attor- ney Bancroft as "notoriously and ab- solutelys false"
 He further says that repairs for every type then Cat the time of the report) were and have since been fur nished by the International when and wherever called for
 "The reports charge of a binder fr,ri, f- .l Fwhatever, declared the reply, which also states that the International has had the vigorous competition of one large and six smaller twine manufac- turers in addition to the seven state penitentiary twine mills"
 In reply to the charge that competi- tion has been largely suppressed, MT. Bancroft cites the names of eight firms which he declares are all active com pettors.
 As to the charge that the Interna- tional receives rebates from railroads and special concessions from the Unit ed States Steel corporation, the reply declares that the Harvester company's s relation to the United States Steel cor poration is not different from its re- lations with the competitors with the Steel corporation" and that during the last seven years it has bought from the Steel corporation "10 per cent of its total needs, while 1t purchases 30 per cent from competitors of the Unit ed States Steel corporation. the rest of it's needs having been supplied by the 1nternationals subsidiary corporation, the Wisconsin Steel company"
 As to the charge of increasing prices the International asserts that instead of increasing them its influence has been to prevent increases. On the sub jects of foreign prices the Interna- tional denies that perennial falsehood that agricultural implements are sold abroad cheaper than at home," and declares that the governments own in- vestigation published in the daily con- sular and trade reports of February, March and April, 1909, refutes such as sertions.
 As to the charge that the 1nterna- tional is ''trust' the reply says that it was not a merger of existing corpor- ations, but a new one is which $20,00O,- 900 was invested by persons not here tofore in the harvester business.
 Finally the International denies that any plants purchased by it were closed or abandoned.
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