The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-07-17
WINNER IN DOUBT
! IN TRUST Fight
UDcestainiy. u b Wksther
U. 5. Was vietsr = Bka-
Milan Coffee Case.
EFFORT TO REACH FACTS
Ssaaass Nsssis, b b SaiA, VI Try b
Fsres csaCsssissal hvss6gsiisa
e Whsls PFsessans.
EFFORT TO REACH FACTS

The government Of the United 9ta4es
has been battling with the Brazilian
Coffee Trust two years. and everybody ID
asking: WHO won the fight? The Gov
eminent or the trust?"
Some claim the trust has won its point:
others say the government has won.
There 10 q general dispute over what
has happened. The government tried to
crush the trust, but the trust Ii still do
ing business. Nevertheless. the claim
was made in Congress recently that the
government had accomplished material
results. Representative Medley Of Kan
sas. in a speech. asserted that o saving
Of 900 q year had been obtained for
the coffee consumers Of the country.
About two years ago the government
began an investigation Of the trust which
1t found to be. in the main. syndicate
of international banking houses which
had contracted with the Brazilian gov
eminent TO furnish a loan OF many mil
lions Of dollars. whereby Brasil would be
able to hold back her coffee from the
market and turn It loose to the consumer
only az fast As the price of coffee reached
the point where the Brazilian producers
cared to sell their product.
Great quantities Of coffee. IL Ii alleged.
were stored at New York and disposed
Of through trust agents whenever the
demand for coffee became 80 insistent
that the dealers were willing to pay pro-
hibitive prices
In Force Several Years.
This system was in force for several
years when the government began to
look into the situation.
Former Attorney General Wickersham
became convinced that there was in pro-
cess a serious violation of the antitrust
laws, and brought suit against the syn
dictate Of bankers and their agents.
The Attorney General demanded that
the courts turn the coffee over to the
hands of receivers Under the seizure sec
ton of the Sherman antitrust law. The
courts refused to do this. whereupon the
Attorney General was forced to resort
to slower legal processes
The suit dragged on for many months.
Finally the Department Of Justice threat
ened to prosecute Herman sielcken crimi-
nally. This threat was followed by an
offer from the Brazilian government to
settle the suit. What that government
wanted was merely the sale Of the cof-
fee in the open market. The International
committee took the matter under advise
ment and suddenly reported that the cof-
fee had been sold.
Show US that 1t was a bona fde sale,
demanded Wfckersham-
Suit IL Dropped.
Before Attorney General McReynolds
had been in ONCE many days he an
nounced that good faith assurances" had
been received from Brazil to the effect
that there had been a bona nde sale Of
the coffee. The suit was accordingly
dropped.
Senator Norris Of Nebraska who has
been keeping his eye on the situation.
succeeded through the medium Of . Sem
ate resolution of inquiry in eliciting the
fact that the new Attorney General never
learned who the alleged purchasers of
the coffee were. nor did his department
have an oficial knowledge Of the SUBJ
ject
did Brazil hand Uncle Sam Q sold
brick?' asked Senator Norris.
Back in the confidential papers Of the
State Department probably Is the infor-
nation which would 90 a long way to-
ward establishing whether there was q
real sale or whether II was Just q sham.
Senator Norris is trying to develop the
facts. although at this stage the outlook
for his success Is not very encouraging
He intends at some later date to force
a Congressional investigation of the
whole proceeding.
Meanwhile, the Senate has succeeded In
having -'aced on the statute books law
which makes 1t a criminal offense to i'm
port any commodity into the United
States in such a manner as to violate the
antitrust laws