Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-03-04
CONANT REPORTS ON
THE HARVESTER PROBE
THE BUREAU OF CORPORATIONS
TELLS OF FINDINGS IN
TRUST Investigations
FORMER COMPETITORS
Monopoly Chief Feature Of Comblna.
ton Made Up Of Firms That Had
Competed; Had Bogus
Independents Allied.

ton Made Up Of Firms That Had
Competed; Had Bogus
independents Allied.
| Washington, D. c., March g. The
power of the International Harvester
Co. the so-called Harvester trust
which the federal government is seek
ing to dissolve under the Sherman
law, lies in it's monopolistic position
its superior command Of capital. in
Guiding its connections with J. P
/ Morgan & Co. and John D. Rockefeller
and certain Objectionable competitive
methods, according to Luther Conant
Jr., commissioner of corporations, In
his report on the operations Of the
giant corporation, submitted to Presi
dent Taft today.
"The chief features of the 1nterna'
tional Harvester Co.'s operations,
says Mr.. Conant, "are the substantial
maintenance of it's monopolistic posi-
ton in the harvesting machine bust.
ness, originally acquired through COM
bination, and its extensions on largs
scale into new lines of the farm ma
chinery industry. The company has
been able to do this in part through
the acquisition of some of it's chief
rivals in the harvesting machine bust
ness; in part by using its monpolistic
advantage in these harvesting machine
lines to force the sale Of it's new lines;
in part by certain Objectionable COM
petitive methods; and especially
through it's exceptional command OF
capital, itself the result of combina-
ton"
The harvester investigation was
made in response to senate resolu-
ton passed several years ago. Recent
ly a request was made by representa-
tives of the company that the report
be withheld pending the outcome Of
the antitrust suit, but President Taft
decided to make 1t public.
Arranged by Competitors.
The combination, the report de-
clares, was arranged in 1902 by the
former owners of five leading Compel
ing concerns and was not, as fire.
quently asserted" mere sale Of their
properties to new interests. On this
point Mr.. Conant says:
1T has been represented in formal
testimony by officers of the company
and its financial promoter, G. w.
Perkins, then of the firm of J. P. Nor
gan & Co., that its organization was
not the result of concerted action by
the former competing owners, but
merely of the purchase Of their
properties by new and outside in
terests. Documentary evidence gath
cred by the bureau completely dis
poses Of this contention and shows
that the principal competing interests
considered and discussed among them
selves the formation of this combina-
ton and were active in bringing 1t
about"
Combination Was an Aid.
Great resources came to the COM
pany, it is asserted, through the COM
bination, the financial support Of J.
P. Morgan & Co. and it's fiscal agents,
and large loans secured from John D.
Rockefeller, father-in-law Of men,
Der Of the Mccormick family which
owns large portion Of the total stock
of the corporation,
Bogus Independents.
Between 1903 and 1904 the company
is declared by the commissioner to
have acquired secretly control of d.
M. Osborne & Co., it's chief COM
petitor, the Minnie Harvester Co., the
Aultman- Miller Co., and the Keystone
Co. These are referred to as bogus in
The secret control OF the
Osborne Co., the report says, was
for nearly two years,
while it was being advertised as an
independent concern. These repre-
sensations, it is alleged, were sup
ported by it's managers in sworn state
ments that it was an Independent
company. Two of the chief stock
holders of the Osborne company, Mr..
Conant adds, agreed to refrain from
engaging independently in the same
lines of business for ten years. The
report says that the Harvester COM
pany's claim that the ownership was
concealed in some cases merely to
facilitate the liquidation of the old con-
Germ Is not regarded by the bureau of
corporations as a justification Of the
practice
Pointing to the recent action of the
company IN splitting into Two cor
porations each with $70,000.000 capital
stock, one retaining the old harvester
machine plants and the other taking
over the new lines and foreign bust
ness, Mr.. Conant comments:
IF this is intended as part of a plan
for ultimate disintegration Of the conf
bination, in the opinion of the bureau,
it Is unsatisfactory"
The investigation, the report says,
disclosed low rates Of profit in the
early years of the combination, partly.
owing to imperfect organization and
internal jealousies, but much higher
rates in recent years, averaging about
1215 per cent in 1909-1911 on net
assets exclusive Of good wilD, accord
ing to the bureaus estimates.
Generally speaking, says the COM
missioner, the prices obtained by the
company on foreign sales are relative
ly higher than those in the domestic
market, netting In some cases lower
margin of profit.
MANCHESTER MAN
-~,-~v- rr-D ~