The sun., 1913-12-14

came the chief film supply man Of his
whole district and was purchasing from
those leading manufacturers who it,
tie later decided to enter the exchange
field themselves through the formation
~ the General Film Company.
Aiken had been active in the busi-
ness for about three years when the
General came into the field. He had
been fearful that the General Film
Company would reduce all other ex-
change men to mere subordnates and
~ had created an offensive and defcn-
sivc alliance with other exchange mon
covering territory az far east az Pitts
burg. The agreement among these men
who. Mr.. Aitken insists. could have re-
'ainod control IL they had stood to-
gether. was that they should all refuse
20 sell out to the General unless they
al agreed to sell. That is TO say he had
worked up an agreement among the
mon in hts part ~ the business to ad-
here TO a uniform plan Of action. If
any selling proposition seemed right
hen committee was 20 meet tho Off
cials II the General Film Company.
But this understanding was not kept.
The two men who were most inmpor-
ant nest to Aitk"n himself received an
uffer that seemed 10 them little less
nan fabulous They came 70 him and
said thar they had been offered $500. 900
md pleaded to be released from their
agreement. They protested that they
nd never expected 10 be worth more
than Sloh 400 apiece at the most, and
that Il was unreasonable to make them
refus" such a golden opportunity 1t Is
said there might have been a possi-
hility OF legal contention. but he decided
that il was useless to try and hold men
who felt that way and told them to go
ahead ~ they liked. lie tore up the
agreement in heir presence.
It was plain that the General re-
garded Aitken "a the insurgent. and he
was not AZ all surprised when he found
oil his films from tho manufacturers
Of this combine suddenly cut on
Instead Of eating humble pie Mr..
Atkcn took what appeared To he his
instructive course and fought az hard
as no knew how. Since he could no
longer get his supply from tho trust"
no did the only thing possible and an
ncXod two independent exchanges that
were getting their pictures from the
then comparatively unimportant lnde-
pendent manufacturers. He had some
30o theatres on his list as regular Gus
toners and II was n heart breaking
task TO keep them supplied with film
which they would accept. In his dos
pcratiou ANkcn went to London and
established an exchange there. hoping
to augment his supply Of ind. pendent
American Aim in this manner Ru'
most of the film he bought IN London
vas useless when he got back. for the
reason that the Independent manufac-
tlr"rs had increased their output al
most 'ep'icicn'lv 20 meet his require
monts aud for the second reason that
/ they wcrH also combining through
common exchange and resented direct
/ importa' over their heads. However
! IL may incidentally ho mentioned that
the London branch was continued and
ia to-day a prosperous part OF what
B m'enr ." called ,ne Aiken system.
Tl's urn " affairs convinced the
hah.t'ol independent thai the only real
way tp protect himself w7e To- max.
/ FIN as well as - h1v and distribute t.
and with certain associates he took %"
first stop in TINT direction hy fpu0ii1g
. tlc American Film N1nufactur.ng com
3 "snr .. I.ns Angeles. A. 'h.. I'M. he
became NOR" or i"ss afhl.p'ed Win
'.I'r.'lI. i'ntr. 80 and iNrsscl n Rau-
+ man IN" three main factors IN tho list
~ independent manufacturers But tho
Fl tact that he was moving into the manu-
fac;uring side Of the business did rpt
I io'er A.tton from pushing ahead v.th
/ l.S oNcharra o0fcrpriscs So hc finally
! c1m' ~ Ncw Yr~k bought ONT IN" -
? d." weaker exchanges and renamed Z