Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 January 1891 — BIG TRUST BROKEN UP. [ARTICLE]

BIG TRUST BROKEN UP.

THE HARVESTER COMBINE IS OUT OF EXISTENCE. -. The Plans of Messrs. McCormick, Desring and Other Manufacturers to Raise the Prices of Reapers Found to Be Illegal, and the Big Trust Collapses. fChicago dispatch.] The American Harvester Trust is a thing of the past It only lived a month or two, in spite of the great things promised about it. When it was organized its capital was said to be $35,000,0C0 —a tidy little sum that would carry most enterprises through all right. The following statement of the dissolution of the trust is given out: “The American Harvester Company states that after securing the opinion of eminent counsel from different States it has been brought face to face with grave legal obstacles to the consummation of the, enterprise for which it was formed. Tli&se are of such a character as that after the most serious and careful consideration the conclusion has been reached that the whole undertaking must be abandoned. In doing so Tt is but adopting the course such counsel have united In iTavising. ” The companies that seceded are said to be the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, the Deering Company, the Whitman-Barnes Manufacturing Company, and Warder, Bushnell & Glessner. These companies are said to have been dissatisfied with the policy of the trust in raising prices, and also in the consolidation of the interests of the supply houses to the disadvantage of their patrons. They stated their objections at Thursday’s meeting, and that precipitated a fight. The result is that they have withdrawn, and now propose to make it interesting for those who still stick to the trust. They intend to cut prices and made a most interesting war ori their old allies, it is said. All this will be pleasing news to the fanners, as a fight must result in a great decrease in the prices of their supplies. Instead of a trust to put up prices it looks as though it would be a war to put them down. “The dissolution of tho American Harvester Company was due entirely to the fact that the organization is antagonistic to the spirit of the law,” said a large stockholder last night. “We made a mistake in the organization of the company. Wo are all law-abiding men, and after hearing the opinions of the best counsel in the country we decided to dissolve. “There have been reports to the effect that tho company broke up because some of the stockholders advocated a radical advance in the prices of machines. This had nothing whatever to do with it. The matter of prices was not mentioned at all. It has also been told that the Farmers’ Alliance in the Northwest had conspired against us and declared the members would not pay the notes we held. This was not true, as we held none of their notes. “The directors met here to consider what should be done. At the meeting wero a large number of the stockholders and they all took part in the discussion. And on learning that our organization was opposed ta the spirit of the law we decided to separate and continue to do businees as we had done before. This is simply and solely the cause.” Col. A. L. Conger of the Akron Mower and Reaper Works said: “All that we did and our reasons for it are stated in that resolution which we adopted. It is simply this: We went into this project in good faith, expecting to perfect an organization that would be for the mutual interest of the manufacturer and the farmer and everybody whose interests had anything to do with it. But when we got ready to proceed to business and place our bonds we met those legal embarrassments which naturally surround any organization of this kind under existing laws. “There is no use denying the fact that wq had made some mistakes in our organization, that is to say, we found that the laws in some States and the laws passed in opposition to such organizations by Congress made a serious embarrassment to our proceedings. Undoubtedly it would have endangered the investments that were carried into the company. We felt that all interests would he best protected by withdrawing and continuing the separate interests as they now are.' “We intended to make an organization that would be beyond criticism. We sought to avoid tho features of the trust. We could not do justice to the various interests without a largo amount of money, which we could not get on account of the legal objections. “There is no present intention of reorganizing. Whether anything is done in the future is open to question. Nothing has been done in that direction yet.” A Mason City, la., dispatch says: William Deering & Co. have notified their agent here that their company,has withdrawn from the American Harvester Company, which undoubtedly will break up the trust A good many men in this section had been discharged by the company will now resume work. A Dallas, Tex., dispatch says: The agricultural implement men here are rejoicing over the receipt to day from Chicago of a telegram from Aultman, Miller & Co. stating that they had withdrawn from the American Harvester Company, to which invoices had already.been turned over. The Farmers’ Alliance, whose State headquarters are here, claim that they dealt the combination its death blow.