The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-06-09
is PHOTO TRUST
Government Asks Dissolution
of Eastman Kodak Company.
Attorney General McReynolds
Alleges Photo Monopoly.
IN PRETENDED COMPETITION
~Anti-Trust" Supplies Made
and Sold by Same Company.
Eastman. Informed, Promises
to Be Good Right Away.
IN PRETENDED COMPETITION

Buffalo, n. Y, June 9.-Dissolutlon
of +ba socalled Eastman Kodak trust
was asked in a civil antitrust SUIT
fiIed here today by order of Attorney
General McReynolds. The federal
.ox,ernment seeks the dissolution oy
eS.,-arsrjr if necessary of the East
-, Kodak company of New Jersey
80 the Eastman Kodak company ol
New York. which are ch1i ~,
o,ono1izing the trade in photosrapii-
IhoiiOt -. in violation of the Sher-
man law. ,,a,,+ +o
- division of the assets ana
1,,1sir,ass of the two companies control
inc 70 per cent of the business IN tlle
I-et.od states into such parts as will
effectually destroy the alleged mono
80 ,r,d restore full and free competi-
ton ,-. +o,. an
iniunction forbidding the fixing OF re,
sale prices of cameras 1lllils, az. nlu
other patented Photographic supplies.
IThis marks the attorney general Ilrsc
aD1Iication of the recent decision OF
1he United State supreme court oeny
ing patentees the right 10 1lA res0ile
prices of retailers.
Jersey. Eastman Kodak company Oh
New York; George Eastman, Henry
A Strong, Walter S HubbeH' anu
Frank S. Noble, all of Rochester, N 4
The bill filed by United states At
+ornev O'Brian is the result of an eX-
tensive investigation of the trust py
James A. Fowler, assistant to the at
torney general, and Clark Mckercher'
special assistant attorney general Mr:
McKercher is in Immediate charge OF
the suit.
The alleged monopoly has been ac-
complished. the petition declares by
the Eastman company absorbing or
acquiring control of great numper
of competitors in the United states
and foreign countries. The bill cites
the number of Photographic manufac-
turing and marketing companies
which with their patents have been
acquired by the Eastman companies.
Restraints, the government de-
clares, have been imposed upon bust
ness of competing manufacturers ana
dealers by the combination's terms
of SALE" under which Eastman-made e
goods were handled exclusively by So
called Eastman dealers, who were not
allowed to handle the goods of COM
petitors until November. 1911, when
the terms of SALE were amended to
restrict only Eastman goods manufact-
ured and marketed under existing
patents. The terms of sale also
fixed resale prices. Injunctions are
Complaint also is made that certain
large retail stores, houses owned by
the Eastman companies, are conduct
ed under the names of the original
owners as competitors of the trust. ."
Unfair competition is charged
through the alleged practice of the
Eastman companies in marketing
through one of its competitors, the
defender company( Rochester) a GER
tain film. as if it were the product of
=,
that it is made by the combina ton 1t
is alleged that the General Paper COM
pany of Germany, the worlds greatest
producer of raw phOtOgra phic paper
sells raw paper in the United States
at a discount to the Eastman COM
panies and refuses to supply other
dealers in this country. The Eastman
Kodak company of New Jersey, a hold
ing company, has an authorized capi-
tai of $35, 900 900 of which $26 0O0 900 has
been issued. The Eastman Kodak
company of New York, the operating
company of the combination. is a So
O00 900 corporation. manufacturing and
marketing Photographic supplies.
Rochester. n. Y. June 9-The East
man Kodak company will adjust it's
methods of doing business to meet the
charges preferred against the COM
pany in the government dissolution
suit. filed today at Buffalo George
announced here today upon receipt of
the news that suit had been begun. Mr..
Eastman, indicated, however. that the
company would refuse to dissolve.
while in the formal part of the
petition filed by the government there
IS a prayer for dissolution, as is usual.
] am informed in all such cases. said
Mr.. Eastman, Il believe that full COM
pliance with the main specific demands
for changes of trade methods freely Of
fered by this company will successfully
meet all criticisms and satisfy the
trade at large and the government.
aside from the economic principles
which would be violated by such disso-
luton. it can clearly be shown that if
the United States is to keep its lead in
the Photographic art which it has
maintained for the last twenty years
of the world, the coordination of the
manufacture of films. plates. papers
and cameras must be continued. No
concern that is unable to furnish pro-
ducts in all of these lines. adapted one
to the other can hope to compete with
the great foreign manufa cturers who
are straining every effort in similar
directions
In compliance with the governments
petition, the company, according to Mr.
Eastman. intends hereafter to opera te
its various retail stock houses under
it's own name and add it's name to their
stationary department Also it Will put
its name upon its stencil goods and
abandon its exclusive sales policy
"One of the main points of this policy
Prospecting dealers in our patented
goods handling no other similar goods
has been to prevent the substitution
of goods that are inferior to ours tc
unsuspecting customers" said East
man. However, desiring to avoid
long and expensive litigation. the waste