Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-01-28
BATHTUB CASE ON
Criminal Proceedings Begin in
Detroit Next Tuesday.
JAIL SENTENCES IN SIGHT
District Attorney Says Fines Will
Not Be the End.
PATENTS USED As A BLIND
Accused Men and Firms Declared to
Have Known They Were Vio-
lating the Law.
JAIL SENTENCES IN SIGHT
PATENTS USED As A BLIND
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star
DETROIT. January 27.--Another great
criminal prosecution under the Shcr-
man antitrust law will begin Tuesday,
when the firms and individuals form
ing the alleged combine known as the
..bathtub trust are placed on trial
before federal jury in the United
States district court.
sixteen companies and thirtytwo men
are included in the indictments. which
were handed down December 6. 1910.
eharging them with forming monopoly
to control the products Of the enameled
ironware industry
United states District Attorney Frank
n. Watson, who has charge of the
prosecution is confident of the strength
~ the governments case. and II con-
.fction is secured he will insist on
iaii sentence His attitude in the mat->
ter is reflected in a statement which
lie made some time ago, when he SAID:
Promises Jail Sentences.
There is no more reason for letting
,he bfr bathtub men who were indicted
here on with fines than for letting go
the small malefactors. That Is the
attitude that will be taken by the gov
eminent in this antitrust case. There
are some men In the trust who Will go
20 Jail"
At the present time a civil suit look
ing TO the dissolution OF the trust Is
bending in the United States supreme
court. where IT was taken on an appeal
by the trusts attorneys; aItel &c
cision had been rendered IA das St....
the government by the uniteu SCatos
circuit court at Baltimore. =, -
This so-called ''bathtub trust mas q
total annual business or $lOO.uUuOV. anu
controls So per cent OF the manuIac.uasu
articles of sanitary enaHeieo
in the United States.
The federal officials charge that as
result of a ten-day meeting az MSus
clemens, Mich, In April, 1910 FUND OF
81 90 was raised to set In motion
plan that resulted in giving to the de-
PENDANTS control Of the business OF six
Teen manufacturers and nearly 40 3on-
bers.
PENDANT there are six and four counts
respectively. charging that the oeienoants
control So per cent OF the annual output
that they have combined to restrain tne
trade manufacturers and 1oboers or
plumbing supplies by refusing to sell TO
iobbers who handled the goods OF 50.
called independents, by the Juggling OF
retail prices and by refusing to sell to-
jobbers who would not maintain the re-
tail prices established by the alleged
agreement of the defendants
To Eliminate Competition.
II IS charged that tho object Of these
uniform retail prices was to make the
price of the articles manufactured by the
combination the Same throughout the
United States, and to eliminate the COM
petition of jobbers, as well manu-
facturera
According to evidence obtained by tho
The Mas ForyrfuO h0
combination made some sort Of ar
rangement with E. L wayman Of Pitts
burgh. whereby wayman dictated prices
TO the trade, and threatened to cut on
the supply OF dealers unless they agreed
10 deal exclusively in products of the
sinks. drinking fountains. wash bowls
and almost every other enameled iron
ware device which Is part Of the sani-
tary equipment Of the average house.
hold.
In securing the indictments IN the
criminal proceedings the government on
Gals took the stand. and the evidence
taken In the civil suit which eliminated
Judge John c. Rose. In the United states
circuit court at Baltimore, October IL.
1911. ordering the bathtub trust to be
DEFENDANTS attempted ' to disguise Ss a' their us
com bnatfon by the subterfuge OF pur-
CHASING the PATENTS on certain tools and
licensing certain firms to use these tools.
Great weight is placed upon the testi-
mony TO be given by l.. l. Wayman, who
. not voluntary witness but whose
testimony in the civil suit has resulted in
an immunity bath in the coming criminal
proceedings. He is described as the al
legged licenser of the combination.
Purchase Of Patients.
1t is said that by giving 100 shares of
the Standard Sanitary Manufacturing
Company as security Weyman obtained
5000 from the Peoples State Bank Of
Detroit. nd that. In using this fund to
purchase several patents 5000 went
back to the Standard Manufacturing
Company for patents that it is alleged
TO have turned over to the combination.
Nayman is also charged with hav-
ing collected So a furnace per day,
from each OF the sixteen companies. on
specially patented furnace. some of
the firms having as many as eighty of
these furnaces in their possession. and
that after two months those firms that
dld not violate the agreement were to
receive rebate of so per cent OF this
contribution. Wayman's collections
are said to have run as high as $500
per day.
in statement authorized by Attor-
ney General Wickersham the Depart
nent of Justice administered the fol-
lowing singing rebuke to the princi-
pals of the bathtub trust on the day
they were indicted: The evidence OBJ
tanned by the government tends to
show that the defendants knew when
they entered into this combination
that such agreement would be un-
lawful. and that they accordingly
sought for device behind which to
conceal the true character of the COM