New-York tribune., 1921-10-10
Big Electrical
Merger Awaits
Official Sea-
Consolidation Will Bring
Together Large Dislribu~
tors of General Flee
lric Company's Products

Official wise is to-day tue principal
remaining detail standing in the way
Of consummating the great merger
in the Eastern building material sup
ply market anticipated on July % in
the Dow Service Daily building Re
ports.
The merger when completed will
include in it L. B. Latham s. Co..,
Royal Eastern Electric Supply Com
pany, Sibley Pitman Electric Corpora
tion, all of this city, and the Tri- City
Electric Company of Newark all Of
which are dominant distributors of the
General Electric Company's products.
The combination VIII represent q
capital investment raining into mil
lions Of dollars. The reported lamp
distribution alone already controlled
by these New York companies is con-
siderably in excess OF $4,000 900 a
year.
For long time the General Electric
Company has been credited in the East
ern building and equipment market
with desiring to obtain control Of cer-
tain leading supply houses in the cleo
trical trade, so as TO compete in this
territory with the Western Electric
Company General consolidation will
be effected under single management
with L. 3. Latham as president.
The name Of the new company has
not yet been decided, but from appli-
cation made for registration it would
indicate that the consolidation will ul-
timately bear q name symbolic of its
sales market along the Atlantic sea-
board and in ra-distinction to that
tf "a Mas to~ 49,;
Plan Of New Combine
Official statements regarding the
plan and purpose of the new combine
will not be made before November /,
pending the result OF certain surveys
regarding its purposes that Federal
departments and the Lockwood Com
nittee contemplate making into the
proposal
AS far as the general electric trade
is concerned reports are generally cur
rent that certain independents arc
planning heavy competitive battle
for the New York trade, which is just
now beginning to feel the impetus OF
returning activity
Vigorous protestations were made
Friday that the advance in price re-
ceived on that day applying to rubber
covered insulation wire had no rela-
tionship whatever to the negotiations
pending in the distribution markets.
stigaticn completely established ID
the fact that the price advance did not
have its source at distributing points.
but at man uiacturing centers, and was
due TO the advance in the price Of cot
ton, rubber and copper wire. The ad-
vance was expected to become gener-
ally applicable in this market to day
and O-nOrrOW.
General building material market
conditions showed the effect Of two Off
days in the construction industry and
one day Of rain last week
The outflow of common Hudson brick
at SIS TO S16 q thousand, wholesale,
was diminished, and at the weekend
there were Ten barge loads still unsold
at the SIG level. Some OF the MANI
facturers were willing to soil al So in
order to free their barges promptly so
as to return them for rcloadlns before
weather conditions became too cold.
For that reason the Dow Service re.
ports the market at SIS. to which mugt
be added the cost Of haulagc, handlinr
and 10 per cent for delivered prices,
There were still some brick moving out
at SIG, the new high level touched last
week. but this was mostly to firms
speclfylug an especially high grade Of
MATERIAL
Cindor prices have held firmly st
their new levels. Second hand brick is
in fair demand, with prices holding up.
Most OF the used brick IS now coming
from the downtown section, Incidental
to the almost block-square demolition
work making way for the new Federal
Reserve Bank building. 1'his makes
for longer haulage through a section
Of the city whore time consumption is
great in trans portation on account Of
the upraiscd hand of the traffic police,
man.