The Connecticut labor news., 1924-10-18
EVERY KITCHEN COUCED BY ALUMINIUM TRUST, FEDERAL TRADE
 COMMISSION REPORT SHOWS

pires, which will be in 1o37. The mem bers of this pool and its licenses pro- duce a large proportion of the wash ing machines made in this country
 Considerable space in the report is devoted to Andy Mellon's pet, the Aluminium Company of America, more popularly known as the Aluni- mum Trust In addition to the charge, already quoted, that the Aluminium Company controls production and prices, the report says of the com pany and it's subsidiaries:
 The Aluminium Goods Manufactur- ing Company is the largest manufac- turer of cooking utensils in the United States and IS affiliated with the A1u1ni- mum Company of America. The com petitive methods of this company in clude various kinds of price discrin1- ination between customers.
 Census Bureau Studies Trade.
 The Trade Commission IS not the only government agency studying the aluminium industry. From data col 1ected by the United States Census Bureau it has been determined that the aluminium industry Is operating at margin of 1S,7 per cent of the r1anu- lecturers price for his product.
 The bureau report that in 1923, the value of all prsoducts of the entire in- dustry was. in round numbers, $107,- O0O0O0 Wages totaled S20,O0O,OOO, while materials, including fuel, cost S67 100000 The difference between the sum of wages and materials and the value of products Is $20,000,00O. This represents the manufacturer 5 margin from which he must pay only selling costs and salaries of the ex- ecutive force the balance going into | interest on the investment or profit. After presenting its conclusions on the aluminium industry, the Trade Commission takes up conditions in the sewing machine, refrigerator, broom and brush trades. The report says: Manufacturers Fix Prices.
 "The National Refrigerator Manu- lecturers Association, whose mem bers produce more than half Of the total output of refrigerators, has been engaged for several years III price making activities. Just after the Ar mistice 1t was formally agreed to ad- wise on-members that tl1e associa- tion deems that costs make It 1mper- atively necessary to stand firm on present prices and about year later 1t was voted to increase price 20 per cent. Early in 1920 the association employed w. H. Cove, cost and price expert to compile cost and price bull letins for refrigerator manufacturers. The purpose of these compilations, as shown by the records of the associa- ton, was to bring about uniformity and stability of selling prices.
 ' Refrieeraotr Prices "kited'
 Tn the refrigerator industry, where ipersistent efforts were made to pre- vent price reductions and to maintain and increase prices. manufacturers prices advanced more than did those l of any other commodity considered IT this report except aluminium ware during the three years, 1920-1922, and they declined, generally speaking, less
 The vacuum cleaner nnanufactur ers, with their control over new Ecen- sees, were able to maintain prices at an even higher level in 1921 than VI 1920. and recorded only insignifIcSnt declines in 1922. Eleven vacuum cleaner manufacturers, who earned 36.2 per cent in 1920, were thus able to earn 2O6 per cent in 1921, despite the great decline in demand In the aluminium cooking utensil industry the rate of return obtained by eleven
 manufacturers amounted to 197 per cent in 1920 and to 10.6 per cent 1T 1921. With one exception in each year the Aluminium Goods Manufacturing
 Company earned the highest rate o1
 return of any of these manufacturers
 The meagre published figures would
 indicate that the Alnrl.nun Company
 of America has earned the equivalent
 of 24 per cent year on its investment
 during the fifteen year period, l90
 to 1921"
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