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Show mm r r.TCT ! ftiluULt tonal : STEEL MAKERS ihiees; Giant Corporation Said to Be Favored by Pittsburg Basing System. Opening Argument Made ! Before Federal Trade Commission. (ThMv'0 Tribune Sporinl Service.) WASH I N( iTOX, 1 2. Manufacturers Manufac-turers of Chicno niid the iniildlo west opened their fiht b-t'ure the federal : hade t'omniKsion today against the so- culled PiU.Hljiir basin;; syslcm, by which, it is charged, eastern fabricator.? fabrica-tor.? of si eel .receive a more favorable price from the prodinvrs. John S. Miller of Chicago, attorney f..r the Western Association of liolled iSt'(d (.nnsiiiners, eonipo.d of SuO steel fabricators of the middle west, made the oi..-nin argument before the commission com-mission in support of the application 1 for the issuance of a, eornplaint charg ing discrimination and unfair competi-t competi-t ion against the United States Steel corporation and other steel companies. Others in the delegation opposing the i J'itt.sbur' basing system included At torney General Clifford L. Hilton of Minnesota and Attorney General J. A. Smith of Alabama. Twenty -five attorneys and officers . of steel companies were on hand pre- j pared to dtV'nd tho present system ! against the attacks which, according to j K. 11. Gary, have precipitated the most important case affecting "the industrial ! wolf a re of eommuni t iea ever heard by I n government tribunal. Wickershum in Case. George W. Wiekersliain, former at-; at-; to nicy general of the United States, will make one of the arguments for t ho respondent sleel companies. Henry llnssell Piatt of Chicago, altonyy for the Inland Steel company, is another of the group (if counsel in the case. Mr. Miller charged that under the .Pittsburg basing system, by which the .freight rate from Pittsburg to the des-t des-t ination is addod to the prevailing price of steel, regardless of whether the steel actually may be transported a much shorter distance, the middle western west-ern manufacturers who purchase roll st eel, including shapes, sheet s and bars, are unable to compete with those in the east. Chicago fabricators, M r. Miller pointed out, actually purchase their strl from Gary, Ind., and other Gteel mills in the Chicago territory, but are required to pay the freight rate of $o.l0 per ton from Pittsburg to Chicago. Chi-cago. 1 This added cost in the manufacture, Mi. Miller declared, is pastvd along to the general public in the middle west. Cities and commercial organizations, not only of the middle west, but also I of tho south, have joined hands with tho organization represented by Mr. Miller to break down i lie Pit tsburg basing system. Originally there was a i demand for a dual basing system with one basing point at Chicago and the other nt Pittsburg, but with so many different, sections interested the result sought is the abolition of all basing points. Legality Questioned. Mr. Miller accused the steel companies com-panies of violating t he section of the Clayton antitrust act relating to discrimination, dis-crimination, and the section of the federal fed-eral trado commission act relating to unfair methods of competition. ''That discrimination in prices 1ms been and is practiced is obvious from the statement of the admitted fact as to wlint has been and is being done,"' said Mr. Miller, "in other words, that which they admit is K'ing done is discrimination. dis-crimination. For steel mills in the Chicago district to charge certain customers cus-tomers purchasing rolled steel there produced one price and at the same time charge otl:?r customers purchasing the like commodity a price higher by 27 cents per hundred pounds or other substantial sum is discrimination in price. 'Thq result of the Pittsburg basing bas-ing p rue t ice, if continued, will be to cheek and lesr.on and in great part, at least, destroy the business oc" steed fabricators outside the Pittsburg district dis-trict or compel them to establish themselves them-selves in the Pittsburg district. ' |