The Connecticut labor news., 1924-10-18
Secretary of Treasury, Family and Friends, Dominate Combine That Controls Patents on Domestic Utensils.

By International Labor News Service.
 Washington, D. C. Oct 18.-What makes high prices for kitchen uten- si1s, washing machines, refrigerators and other domestic appliances?
 Monopoly price fixing, control of patents and stifing of competition, answers the Federal Trade Commits sion, which is an authority on trade practices.
 The commission thinks 1t has thrown flood of truthful light on the ques- tion of high prices for household ap- p1iances-a question that touches ev- cry woman in the land who has to buy such products out of a'-hln purse. And tbat includes the vast majority of housewives.
 Chief in point of size among the monopolistic producers of household goods is the Aluminium Company of America, in which Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon, his family
 
 Charges Company Monopolizes
 Trade.
 "The Aluminium Company of Amer ica," says the Federal Trade Com mission, ~has practically complete monopoly of the production of alum mum in the United States and Is the only domestic source of supply o1 metal for aluminium cooking utensils with high protective tariff on alum mum, enables<it to control the price of aluminium. The Aluminium Com pany of America is also a manufac- turer of cooking utensils through its subsidiary, the United States Alum mum Company 1t owns, moreover, thirty per cent Of the capital stock of the Aluminium Goods Manufactur- ing Company and exercises sustain tia1 control over it's policy"
 Findings of the Trade Commission on domestic appliances are contained in a report made in response to Senate resolution of the 62nd Con gress.
 Outstanding features of the report are the control exercised by patent pools among manufacturer of washing machines, the shutting out of new com petition in the vacuum cleaner indus try the questionable competitive tao tics of the leading manufacturer of aluminium cooking utensils, which IS affiliated with the Aluminium Com pany of America, the mOnopolist1c posi- ton of the latter company, which has apparently engaged 1T various practices | forbidden by a judicial decree under the Sherman Act, the dominating po- sition of the Singer Company in the Nsewing machine industry, the efforts of trade associations in the refrigerator and broom industries to enhance the prices of their products, and the com petitive methods of retail dealers III kitchen utensils and domestic appli- ances.
 | In the vacuum cleaning industry, the l Commission found, competition was l effectively shut out by an agreement | of the patent owners and the manu facturers to admit no members to the manufacturers association without the consent of three quarters Of the mem berg As the association controlled the basic vacuum cleaner patents, this agreement kept "outsiders" out of the 1 business.
 Probe Reveals Patent PooT. | In the washing machine industry the inquiry disclosed very complete and comprehensive system of patent pool ing Tn 1917 four washing machine Icompanies, controlling g patents and one application, entered into a trust agreement creating the Maytag syndi- cate to hold these patents. In the following year a group of 25 nanufac- turers organized the National House hold Devices Company to defend in fringement suits. This company ac- quired five washing machin. 7atents. In 1921 an agreement Wa> reached by these two groups under which the pat ents of both were pooled. This con-