The New York herald., 1922-01-10
LAMP BULB PROFITS
PUZZLE UNTERMYER
81 Per Cent. on 0ne-fifth and
+ j Fer Cent. on FOur-fifths
OF 2asiness Shown.

Accountants attached TO the Lockwood
legislative committee said yesterday that
they had not been impressed with the
statement issued by the General Electric
Company in denial of the committees
charge that the company enjoyed a
monopoly in the manufacture and sale
of incandescent lamps from which il
reaped enormous profits.
The company's statement said that its
total profits from all manufactured arti-
cles. including lamps. for the year 1929
were s26.460.057. samuel Untermyer.
chief counsel to the committee, has
charged that the profit on bulbs alone
IS much greater
When the committee convenes to-day
MIR. Untermyer will embark on an analy-
sis of the company's statement. He
will try to prove that despite the decree
of consent entered in the Federal Court
at Toledo in 1911 by which the COM
pany agreed to abandon its control of
Iesales of its products, the actual effect
has been to tighten the monopoly
through the establishment OF the con-
signee system of distribution.
1t was testified on Friday that 17.2
per cent of the business In lamp bulbs
was allotted to the Westinghouse COM
pany by the General Electric. Allowing
for a deduction OF this proportion from
the admitted profits of S26,460.057, aa
declared in the company's statement
Mr.. Untermyer will analyze the figures
on the basiS of report of the COM
pany's affairs for 1920.
This report has been submitted to the
committee by Price, Waterhouse Co..
certified public accountants. 1t shows
that exclusive of the Westinghouse
company's business. the net sales billed,
or total business of the General Electric
Company for 1920 was S275.75S. .4S7.57.
The total profits available for dividends
is shown as s22.132,2S7. The total sale
cf bulbs was S57.S92,5s0. and the net
profit on bulbs is set down as S19.700,-
73S, or "a per cent. on the total bulb
sale. According to the figures, the diff
ference between the profits on bulb sales
ard the profit available for dividends is
on.y $2.431,549, or slightly more than
! per cent on the difference between
tie bulb sales and the total other busi-
ness. which amounts to S217,S65,907
What Mr.. Untermyer wants to know IL
why the company takes a profit of "a
per cent. on one-fifth of it's business and
approximately 1 per cent. on four-fifths
of its business.
Before putting the officials of the
General Electric Company on the stand
the committee will call several other
manufacturers in an effort to establish
the theory that an enormous profit made
in the manufacture and sale of standard
size bulbs is concealed in the admitted
profits of the company. 1t is Mr.. Un-
termyer's contention that huge profits
which pyramid in almost cirect ratio to
the size and watt consumption of the
bulbs are reaped by che retailing
agents, but that these in the end inure
TO the benefit of the company through
providing a channel for the output OF its
other products.
The charge Is made that the bulb busi-
ness carries the load of the company's
other output: that the consignees of the
bulbs are allowed to collect a generous
margin of profit on the bulbs as an in
ducement TO carry other electrical APP
pliances and accessories on which the re-
tailer's margin is exceedingly narrow
owing TO the competition In this field.
The final act in the committees effort
to correct abuses in the labor unions
came yesterday when James p. Holland.
president of the State Federation OF
Labor, filed with Mr.. Untermyer q certi-
fled copy OF resolution adopted by the
federation approving all the modifica-
tions to tho constitutions and bylaws of
the unions that had been agreed on IN
conferences between Mr.. Untermyer and
the officials of the several unions af-
fcted.