Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1924-11-07
GIGANTIC TRUST
CONTROLS PRICES
On UTENSILS

Z NaE 4 RlACAaNaHAe ANtAAEAE HAN+ANNF4
OF the production Of aluminium in the
United States and is the only domes-
tic source of supply Of metal for
aluminium cooking utensil manufae-
turers. This fact. combined with Il
/ high protective tariff on aluminium,
Ieuables il 10 eonttol the price of
aluminium. The Aluminium Company
iof America Is also a manufacturer e
! cooking utensils through its subsi-
diary. The United States Aluminium
Company; it owns, moreover, thirty
per cent Of the capital stock Of the
| Aluminium Goods Manufacturing Com
pany and exercises a substantial con
trol over its policy
Findings<f the Trade Commission
on domestic appliances are contained
in a report made in response to a
Senate resolution Of the Sind Con-
gress.
Outstanding features Of tie report
are the control exercised by patent
pools among manufacturers of wash
/ ing machines, the shutting out OF new
competition i'm the vacuum cleaner in
| duStry, the questionable competitive
tactics of the leading manufacturer
| of aluminium cooking utensils, which
| is affiliated with the Aluminium Com
pany of America, the monopoliStie
position Of the latter company, which
has apparently engaged in various
practices forbidden by judicial de-
cree under the Sherman Act, the
dominatino position of the Singer
| Company in the sewing machine in
duStry, the efforts of trade associa-
tions in the refrigerator and broom in
dustries to enhance the prices Of their
products, and the competitive meth
ods of retail dealers in kitchen uten.
sils and domestic appliances.
In the vacuum cleaning industry,
| the Commission found, competition
was effectively shut out by an agree
ment of the patent owners and the
manufacturers to admit no members
to the manufacturers association
without the consent of three-quar-
tiers of the members. As the asso-
citation controlled the basic vacuum
cleaner patents, this agreement kept
"outsiders" out of the business.
Probe Reveals patent Pool'
In the washing machine industry
the inquiry disclosed yer" complete
and comprehensive system of patent
pooling. In 1877 four washing ma
chine companies, controlling pat
cents and one ulicatiofi, entered fntt
a trust agreement creating the May
tag syndicate to hold these patents
In the following year a group of %
manufacturers organized the National
Household Devices Company to de-
fend infringement suits. This com.
pany acquired five washing machine
patents. In 1921 an agreement was
reached by these two groups under
which the patents of both were pooled
This contract runs until the latest
patent expires, which will be in 1887
The members of this pool and its
licensees produce a large proportion
of the washing machines made in this
country.
Considerable space in the report S
devoted to "Andy" MELONS pet, the
Aluminium Company of America, more
popularity known as the Aluminium
Trust. In addition to the charge, al
ready quoted, that the Aluminium
Company controls production and
prices, the report says of the COM
pany and its subsidiaries:
THE Aluminium Goods Manufac-
turing Company is the largest manu-
facturer of cooking utensils in the
United States and is affiliated with
the Aluminium Company of America.
The competitive methods of this COM
pany include various kinds of price
discrimination between customers.
Census Bureau Studies Trade.
The Trade Commission is not the
only Government agency studying the
aluminium industry. From data col
lected by the United States Census
Bupreau, it has been determined that
| the aluminium industry is operating
at a margin of 1877 per cent of the
manufacturers price for his product
The Bureau reports that in 1923,
the value of all products of the en-
tire industry was. in round numbers,
S107, 100000, Wages totaled S20,
900, 600 while materials, including
fuel, cost $67,000,000. The differ
ence between the sum of wages and
materials and the value of products
| is $20,000,000. This represents the
manufacturers margin from which he
must pay only selling costs and sal
aries of the executive force, the bal
ance going into interest on the in
vestment 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-
| facturers' Association, whose men,
bers produce more than half of the
total output of refrigerators, has been
engaged for several years in price
making activities. Just after the Ar
mistice il was formally agreed to ad-
wise non-members that the associa-
ton deems that costs make it imper-
atively necessary to stand firm on
present prices and about year later
| it was voted to increase price 20 per
cent. Early in 1920 the association
! Iemploved w II. Cove, cost and price