Evening star., 1925-06-30
.|CE-BOX MAKERS
ARE FINED $4,000
Sixteen Concerns Plead
Guilty to Violations of Sher-
man Antitrust Law.
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
CHICAGO. June 30.-Sixteen re
frigerator manufacturing companies
pleaded guilty in Federal Court today
10 the indictments in the furniture
cases under the Sherman antitrust
act and were assessed fines ranging
from 5000 to IS ZOO each.
The refrigerator group is the second
class of manufacturers to plead guilty,
most OF the chairmakers having plead
ed guilty recently and were assessed
similar fines.
The refrigerator companies and
their fines were as follows
Fined $5,000-Alaska Refrigerator
Co, Muskegon. Mich; Bedding Hall
Co. Belding, Mich: Challenge Refrig
orator Co, Grand Haven, Mich: Colo
Storage Refrigerator Co., Eau Claire.
Wis; Gibson Refrigerator Co., Green
vile, Mich; Tennessee Furniture Cor
poration, Chattanooga, Tenn.
Fined 81 000-Curney Refrigerator
Co, Ltd, Fond du Lac, Wis: McCraY
Refrigerator Co., kendalville, lnd.'
Rhinelander Refrigerator Co. Rhine
lander, Wis: Seegar Refrigerator Co.
st. Paul, MINI.
Fined 3,000-Illinois Refrigerator
Co, Morrison, H.: Ranney Refriger-
ator Co, Greenville, Mich.
Secretary Gets on.
Fined $4,000 Arlington Refriger-
ator Co. Arlington, VT: Baldwin he
friGerator Co, Burlington, Vt; Dil-
lingham Manufacturing Co, Shey-
boygan. Wis.
The case of William H. Coye, Grand
Ra pids, Mich, secretary of the Re-
frigerator Association, was dismissed
re Roger
Shales, special assistant to the At
torney General, said Mr.. Coye had
not been particularly active in con-
ducting the affairs of the association
for the past two years and that ne
was also a defendant in the pending
indictment against dining room and
bedroom furniture manufacturers.
Only of the IS members of the
association remain to be arraigned.
The fines assessed totaled s6s,O0O.
making a grand total of s234.000 so
far levied against the defendants in
the furniture cases.
"Only Technically Guilty
A statement by E. r. Johnston of
counsel for the refrigerator companies
said:
The National Refrigerator Manu-
featuring Association has been in eN-
lStence Tor a great many years. 1t Is
a voluntary association, composed of
IS of the leading manufacturers of
refrigerators and ice boxes, The &C
tivities OF the association have been
confined to the dissemination of trade
information and meetings of the as
socia ton to discuss conditions in the
trade. The association has no formal
articles of association and has never
had the advice of counsel, either in
of its activities.
decided to plead guilty after consulta-
| tion with counsel and after being ad-
vised that in their past activities
they might have been guilty of tech
nical violations of the Sherman act.
The association members were not
conscious of any violation of the law
in conducting their association, and il
guilty of any infraction of law at ali.
it is merely technical in character.
The members Of the association
emphatically deny that they at any
time conspired or combined to charge
or maintain excessive or non-competi-
tive prices, as charged in the indict
ment."
The statement added that prices
of refrigerators vary greatly and that
the association never had sought t.
monopolize the manufacture and sale.
Two companies, one the Harder
Manufacturing Co. of Cobleskill, y. Y.
were not represented at the hearing
today.