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Show .i !j i l1 1" ii li 1. LEGAL FIGHT Charged by Western Association of Rolled Steel Consumers With Violating Trust Act. Utah, Wyoming, Montana Mon-tana and Colorado Interests In-terests Among Plaintiffs Plain-tiffs in Court Action. ' (Chicago Tribune Special Service.) WASHINGTON, July 25. Upon com-! com-! plaint of the Western Association of Roiled Steel Consumers that the United t, States Steel corporation and other steel t' producers act in violation of the federal trade commission act and the Clayton antitrust act in selling rolled steel on a Pittsburg basis, the federal trade com-r com-r mission today announced that It had undertaken a thorough investigation of i the subject, with a view to determining ' whether a formal complaint should be ft issued. In it complaint the Western association urges that Chicago should be made another basing point in fixation ot V steel prices. :. The action, which is undertaken by tho trado commission as a friendly suit, has been pronounced by 13. H. Gary, chairman of the board of the United States Steel corporation, as "the biggest V lawsuit ever tried in this country." j The application for complaint made by the Western association, represented by ' John S. Miller of Chicago, as counsel, says the membership comprises over 700 ! . fabricators of steel. UTAH INTERESTS JOIN IN CONTEST. - These are operating in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska. Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, U tishhigton, Wyoming, Colorado and r- diforma, all being tributary 'to what is known as the Chicago district; that the L'nitcd Stated Sleel corporation mill at Uary produces steel at a cost substan-' substan-' t'ally lower than at the Carnegie plant of ;; li'; siecl corporation at Pittsburg or at oilier corporation plants in Pennsylvania; that over one-llfth of. the rolled steel made i" (ho I'nitcd States is made by the respondent re-spondent at Gary, Ind. r "The applicant submits that the nor-l nor-l inal, reasonable price for rolled steel j s.iould be measured by cost of produc-t10n produc-t10n with addition of reasonable profit, and without addition of a large and urbl-tt-ary Increase which forms no part o? l,,c production cost and Is over and above : such reasonable protit." FRICE DISCRIMINATION i ALSO IS CHARGED. The applicants declare that, despite the thal steel is made more cheaply at '''y, tiie complainants are compelled to u set price plus a freight rate of ''' per ion fi-om 1'iUsburK 10 Uarv, al-'"OiiRli. al-'"OiiRli. in fact, the steel is not actually bJUIiK-j from Pittsburg at all. 1 l '"rt:l'n discriminations in price, cspo-aH cspo-aH to agricultural implement m.mu-'J'lurers, m.mu-'J'lurers, are charged bv the sleel con-sm.iers, con-sm.iers, ami tile whole is alleged to be. reiiiiKn.iiu 10 ibe federal nude coin-lissn,,, coin-lissn,,, N,w a,ul Ulp Cavtui, la-.v that "should be ordered discontinued. j . ron receipt of the complain!, the com- ; .'iiss:on. throusli Victor .MimlocK. actinsl '"'innaii, addressed the follou'iii:; letter! ' l'its;dem o.irv of the sleel corpora- I ! to the raited .Slates t'hamber ' tomm.-rcc. senilis forth the complaint! '"'(I adding: ADDRESSES LETTER TO CHAIRMAN GARY. I ' im1'10 ''ommission is advising von ot j '"-'Iter in order thai you mav'infonn uonibcrs of your organization so thai ., 4n may determine if lie is interested: therein, j ' il.'J'" 'ii, su-'K'!t'd that yen also advise , -,, rilreelly of this matter In order ii,.'. i ",:,y Prepare written state- mnls of his position with regard there-' there-' "t submission to this commission. - Jen slat,,,,,,,,,, should ,o submitted to '"'commission before Sepilember I. 1 0 1 ; . , "lp sbs,.,uent procedure in this mal -" will be us follows: Afler due oppor-miily oppor-miily has been given for all interested ii li. s to submit statements to the commission com-mission regarding their positions and j oilier information deemed neeessarv bv I ne commission has been obtained, public J hearings will be held bv the commission. "Inch Interested parlies are Invited to utend. in order to determine whether the I'PPhealion should be grained or other iiehoti taken, according to the facts so ! ...elcipoil, - " ' '"mestion raised by the applicant , I ., 'Continued ou Page 2, Column 2.) U. S. STEEL GOMPM FACES LEGAL EIGHT (Continued From Page One.) may not be the only question involved in this matter and the remedy suggested by the applicant, namely, to make Chi- j cago a basing point, may not be the only I remedy, or the appropriate remedy, even 1 1 fn the event that the applicant's conten- ' tion is found to be valid. In other 1 words, the whole question of the practice ' of having basing points for making rolled steel prices may be Involved, as well as the question whether Pittsburg, or some j other place, should be the sole basing 1 point, or whether there should be more than one basing point." The board of trade of Superior, Wis., It was announced, also has raised the issue with the federal trade commission and several other complaints have been received. re-ceived. The filing of the complaint of the steel consumers followed an informal hearing before the commission at the request of Judge Gary and. John S. Miller, counsel for the rolled steel consumers. In urging that the commission go into the subject thoroughly. Judge Gary stated: . "The Iron and steel Industry in this country really started at Pittsburg many years ago.; That was then probably the cheapest point of production, largely because be-cause the fuel was there, in immediate proximity, . and the iron ore was brought on the lakes to Conneaut, north of Pittsburg, Pitts-burg, and brought by a short railroad to the furnaces; and the limestones were in that vicinity. It was the cheapest point for assembling of the raw materials, mate-rials, and consequently the cheapest place for producing iron and steel. "That being so, of course the iron and steel products which "were manufactured were sold at a price f. o. b. works, or f. o. b. mill, which meant f. o. b. Pittsburg. Pitts-burg. Then later works were started at other places Youngstown, not very far from there; Johnstown, In the other direction, not very far from Pittsburg and the manufactured products were sold then- f. o. b. Pittsburg." |