Newark evening star and Newark advertiser., 1912-12-14
Att y-General Wick
ersham Takes Step
to Curb Them.
CONSPIRACY" IS CHARGED
AND SYSTEM is REVEALED
Object of Action Is to Dissolve
Alleged "cornering"
Combination.

Board Of Trade, popularity known as
the butter trust" and the American
Association of Creamery Butter Man.
ufacturers were attacked by the Fed
eral government in a civil antitrust
suit filed here today for the dissolu-
tion of both concerns.
Sweeping charges of a conspiracy
to fix arbitrarily the price of butter
in the interest of big manufacturers
and cold storage concerns and to the
detriment of the farmer, other small
producers and the consuming public
are made by Attorney-G Wick
ersham against the so-called trust,
which he would destroy as a violation
of the Sherman law. Butter making
has drifted to the large manufactur-
ers, the natural increase in volume
of business has been curtailed and
prices to the people of the country
have been enhanced. especially during
the winter season, by the operations
of the "conspirators, according to
the governments petition in equity.
The following are named as de-
PENDANTS: Elgin Board of Trade,
Charles H. Potter. Elgin. ILL.,; H. c..
Christians, Richfield, Wis; ]. p.
Mason, Elgin; Colvin W. Brown, Ell
gin; A. C. Hawley, Jerseyville, ILL.,;
American Association Creamery But
ter Manufacturers (unincorporated)
James A. Walker, Chicago; George
E. Haskell, Lincoln, Neb. William
d. Hoard, Fort Atkinson, Wis;
George L. Mckay. Chicago; E. H.
Forney, Abilene. Kan; Henry
Bridgeman, Duluth, Mimi; Joseph H.
Rushton, Omaha: Charles Harding,
Omaha; Arthur S. Hanford. Sioux
City, Ia; Carl w. Kent. Kansas
City, No.; Henry A. Page, Toledo,
o.; Samuel Schiosser. Plymouth, Ind;
William A. Tilden, st. Paul; Samuel
p wadley, Dubuque. Ia, and w. T.
Sherman White, Chicago.
To Enjoin Defendants.
The bill is signed by Attorney
General Wickersham, James A. Fow-
Ter, assistant to the attorney-gen-
eral; United States Attorney Wilker-
son, of Chicago, and Stanley d. Mont
gomery, Albert G. Welch and Charles
F. Dewoody, special assistants to the
attorney general. Aside from the dis
solution of the two organizations, the |
government seeks to enjoin the de-
PENDANTS from appointing a price
fixing committee; from fixing prices;
from quoting and publishing figures
purporting to be market prices" un-
less they are based upon bona fide
sales of butter; from demanding that
I,n lrfx, hA has DO
in making contracts for butter, and
from making fictitious or wash
sales" of butter to mislead as to the
actual price at which butter is being
sold.
The price of butter fixed on the
Elgin exchange, the government
mountains, is not the result of free
and open competition regulated by
actual bona fide sales under the law
of supply and demand The price-fix-
ing committee OF the board is doni-
mated and controlled, it is alleged, by
large butter manufactures. known as
centralizers, and by cold storage con-
Germs. This committee, the petition
adds. "has acted arbitrarily and with
out any regard to actual values, and
fixed prices wholly in the interest
of the conspirators.
Startling Revelations.
From May to August, when the bulk
of the country's supply is made. the
petition says, large contralizing con-
Germs are buyers. rather than sellers
of butter, buying up the surplus
product and storing it for winter, |
when the price is enhanced. Conse- |
quently, it is declared, the prices of
butter fixed by the board during the
months have been almost in |
variably below the price at which the
product actually has sold upon the
market. while during the winter
months the prices fixed have been
above market and private I
sales.
1t is charged that the American As
sociation Creamery Butter Manufac-
turers, composed of about fortysix
firms and individuals, is used by the
''conspirators'' to maintain these sea-
sonal differences in prices without
regard to trade conditions or COM
petition. All members of the associa-
ton are required, it is alleged to use
the price thus established as the
basis of their contracts for the pur
chase or sale of butter.
Before the summer of each year,
the petition continues, the large cen
tralizing concerns send represent
atives throughout the butter -produc-
ing area, contracting with small
for their entire sea-
sons supply based upon the figures
Of the Elgin board, usually one-half
Or one cent higher than the Elgin
price. Vast quantities of butter are
thus purchased from farmers and
others. it is said. by members of the
defendant association.
How the System Works.
'If, therefore" the petition de-
,lares the price fixed ny the Elgin
BOARD should fall below the real eco
ionic price of butter, as fixed by the
aw of supply and demand, the profit
lccruing from the corresponding drop
n contract prices goes to the large
upon every pound of hut
er which had been purchased in ad-
lance under contract based upon the
slgin price,
Tho u.rsfa,,a hx- xuhfcl, Tho r.ri,.a ~