The Cairo bulletin., 1912-09-18
HARVESTER TRUST
CUTOFF BUSINESS
OF $1,000 firms
$4,000 to $4,000 Sod Farm Ma.
chinery Before It Was Form.
ed, Only l4,o0s Now

/ Chicago, Sept. 17.--At last the
/ fight fer the dissolution Of one Of
the Roosevelt good trusts" the In.
lternatonal Harvester Co. Of New
/, Jersey, capital 100000 has be.
, gun.
Robert s., Taylor, of Duluth, who
/ acted in the Standard Oil suit and
the Union Pacific merger case, is
here taking the evidence of the Har-
vester officers. Edwin P. Grosvenor,
special assistant Encouragement,
Is representing the Government, and
the farm machinery combine is rep
resented by f. A. Bancroft and John
H. Wilson. The findings will be
su admitted to Federal Judge Page
Norris, of St. Paul, where the disso-
luton suit was filed.
Clarence S. Funk, general manager
of the harvester company, is the
chief witness. The Governor charges
that the combine controls 90 per
cent OF the harvested business, IS
per cent OF the mower business and
so per cent Of the twine business.
One of the questions asked Funk
was.
Before the organization OF the
international Harvester Co. of New
Jersey, how many firms were selling
farm machinery"
Between $4,000 and 5O.O0e," he
answered.
"How many are now selling farm
machinery"
about $4,000"
Distribution OF Output.
1t is shown by Fnnk's testimony
that the International Harvester Co.
of New Jersey distributes its output
through the international Harvester
Co. of America.
THE International Harvester co.
of America has made no money"
said Funk IL was not organized
to raise the prices of the New Jersey
corporation, and so the selling ex-
penses wipe out the profits"
The combine was organized in
1902 by consolidating the five larg-
est harvester companies in the coun-I
try. Mccormick, Deering, Champ
ion, Plano and Austin. Subsequent
ly, other companies were purchased
One of these, the Osborne, adver--
tised that it was Independent for TIVE
years after it Sold out to the trust.
WHO GXes TIE prices at which
the Internatiopa! Of New Jersey sells
to the International Of America?"
asked Grosvenor.
at Is done by negotiations through
the two offices. They usually agree
on prices"
Companies Are Neighborly.
1t developed that the combine con-
trolls the Wisconsin Steel Co. and the
Wisconsin Lumber Co. which furnish
all the wood and steel used The
products of the present company,
Funk asserted, were sold to the
farmers through jobbers in the
Pacific Coast States and through
general agents in other states. All
excepting the Pacific Coast States, he
said, were divided into five districts,
the Central district being Northern
Illinois, Northern Indiana, Eastern
Iowa, and the eastern division New
York, Pennsylvania, part of Ohio
and Michigan, with the head offices
of the International Harvester Co.
of America and those of the Inter-
national Harvester Co. Of New Jer-
sey in the same building In Chicago.
Have the two companies always
been SO neighborly?" asked Gros-
venor
Always replied Funk
I" On discrimination, Funk said
that before the organization Of the
combine all the manufacturers tried
not to deviate widely from uniform
prices.
William II. Jones said he was for
uer president Of the Plano Manufac-
turing Co. George w. Perkins made
such good offers to him In 1902 that
he sold to the combine.
Lawyers Arranged Sale.
when I received Mr.. Ebert H..
Gary's telegram" said Jones, II
went to New York. He took me to
the office of J., p. Morgan & Co.,
where, he introduced me to George
vs. peskons. 3 Mr. Perkins asked me
|whethafI wanted to sell cut. told
him i would onI.a fair basis didn't
then know to whom he wished me
to sell, but at the end Of the month,
after seeing Mr.. Perkins about Is
times, I was told X to. whom, and !
agreed to accept stock in the new
company for the Plano company"
Why did you sell to one Lane
instead of to the new eomnany?n