The sun., 1919-04-01
Company Must Sell Certain of
Its Plants and Properties
Before 1921.
CASE IN COURT SIX YEARS
Eliminating Factories Will
Cut Production 80 Per
Cent, Says President.

United States District Court In March.
1sl3, IL settled and the business of the
company Is brought within the limits OF
The Sherman law. as drawn by the De-
partment OF Justice, has been reached.
the company, II was learned yesterday,
mas Withdrawn Its appeal from the deci-
sion OF Judge Learned Hand In the Dis
trict Court In June. 1915, under which
the company was adjudged a combina-
tion In restraint Of trade In starch, glu-
cose and syrups.
Under the agreement under which the
appeal was withdrawn and the case
brought to an end the company must
dispose Of certain of It's plants and prop
critics before 1891 to buyer who will
be q competitor OF the company and
prove satisfactory to the court Should
the company fail to sell the holdings be-
fore the time limit has expired they will
be sold at auction under an order OF the
Federal court The final decree of dts
solution Of the company In accordance
with the agreement was signed by Judge
Hand In the United States District
Court here late yesterday afternoon.
The plants which will be sold by the
company under the agreement are the
National Starch Company, Oswego; tho
Granite City. ILL.,. plant; the Davenport,
Ill. plant. and the two candy plants Of
the Novelty Candy Company, one In Jer-
ssy City and the other In Chicago. All
of those plants. with others. are owned
by the Corn Products Refining Company
and formed the basis of the dissolution
suit begun by the Government more than
fve years ago. The big plants which
the company viii DO permitted to MAIN
tain and operate are at Argo, III. Edge
water. N. j., and Pekin. III. y consider
able amount Of real estate in Oswego
and indianapolis Is owned by the Ma
tonal Starch Company.
The elimination of the five plants from
the chain operated by the company will
mean a reduction of more than so per
cent in the total production OF the COM
pany, according to President Z. T. Bed
ford. who estimated yesterday afternoon
that by divorcing the properties from
the larger company the amount OF corn
ground by that organization would
b. reduced about $1,000 bushels a day.
The last previous estimate of the amount
Of corn being ground by the company
was made by President Bedford in No
vember OF last year. when he fixed the
daily consumption at 5000 bushels
which indicates a reduction of more than
30 per cent after the other plants are
separated from the refining company.
Resembles Harvester Case.
As to the values of the plants. Mr..
Bedford said he could make no nccurate
estimate Nor would he state just what
the probable cut In the earnings Of the
Corn Products company would be as
result of the elimination of tho proper
ties. He declared that the earnings OF
the Ave plants last yaar. to his best
recollection, were almost equivalent TO
the total pre-war earnings OF the organ
ization, Indicating that they earned in
1918 nearly 100000. The average an
nual operating profit OF the company for
1915, 1914 and 1918 was s3,S71,3s5.
Mr.. Bedford declared that the terms
under which the suit was settled were
virtually the same as those by which the
similar case against the so-called Har-
vester Trust was brought to an end a
few months ago. He. declared that Corn
Products has until 1921 to dispose Of the
properties In question and that they
must be sold to a competitive buyer APP
proved by the Federal court. Should 1t
happen, he said, that the plants under
ban were not disposed of within the time
limit set by the agreement, they will be
sold by the court at auction.
In quarters close TO the company II IL
estimated that the i've plants which must
be sold are valued at between $1,000
600 and s1o000,ooo." Nothing more
DEFINITE or more authoritative on that
phase of the matter could be obtained.
That there will be no readjustment OF
capital and no reorganization Of the
Corn Products Refining Company as a
result of the new turn In Its affairs was
affirmed by Mr.. Bedford. He declared
that the company would continue exact
ly as It had been operating. with the ex-
ception. of course. of the Ave plants
which must be sold.
II was In March, 1s1S. that the suit
against the company was begun by the
Government The defendants named in
the proceedings were the Corn Products
Refining Company. the National Starch
Company, the st. Louis Syrup and Pre-
serving Company. the Novelty Candy
Company. Penick q Ford, Ltd, and
twenty-three individuals. The defend
ants were charged with a conspiracy to
destroy competition in violation of the
Sherman antitrust law and a dissolu-
ton of the company was asked by the
Government Subsequently the company
disposed of some Of the properties In
question in accordance with the wishes
Of the Department OF Justice. The in
terests thus sold were the preserving
plant in Granite City, ILL.,, which was
and the interest which Corn Products
held in Penick & Ford. Ltd. New Or
leans
-
Litigation Lasted Long.
The suit hung fire for n long time and
n was not until June a.. 1915. that a
decree was finally entered IN the United
States District Court in New York by
Judge Hand ordering the dissolution OF
the company and directing the Federal
Trade Commission at Washington TO
frame tho terms of dissolution. A time
limit OF 13o lays was fxed by the decree
In which the terms might be framed and
the dissolution effected. All proceedings
were stopped when an appeal from the
District Courts decision was taken to
the Supreme Court.
Virtually the entire burden OF splitting
up the company under the original de-
cree Of 1915 was placed on the Federal
Trade Commission. The court defined
the practices from which the units were
70 be enjo ned and reserved the right of
making necessary changes in the decree
from time to time after II had left the
hands Of the trade commission. The
decree pi ovided that the defendants
should within 40 days from the time OF
ding or within 100 days from the hand
ing down of an affii native mandate by
The Supreme Court in case OF appeal
present to the Federal Trade Commis-
sion their own plan for q dissolution OF
the so-caIled trust. The nrst limit OF
time was abrogated by the appeal and
the second never became effective for the
refson that the Supreme Court never
made q nnal decision on the appeal
should the defendants fall to comply
with the terms the Trade. Commission
was instructed by the court to work out
its own plan for bringing about situa-
LA ~ a.