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Show Hl NEW YORK. June 20. Nir.e indict- H ments charging restraint of trade in H violation of the Sherman anti-tmst H law were leturned by a federal grand Hf jury here this afternoon against as H many associations and a long list of Hj Individuals comprising the so-called H wire trust, affiliated with the steel in- j Prominent among the defendants H are Herbert L Satterleo, a son-in-law M of J. Pierpont Morgan; William P. H Palmer, president of the American H Steel and Wire company, a subsidiary MM of tho United States Steel corpora- MM tlon, and Frank Jay Gould of Now H York, president of the Old Dominion H Iron and Nail Works company. H Restraint of Trade. H ".What this suit charges," District H Attorney Wise said, "Is a trade agree- H ment in restraint of trade." H i The government does not seek to gjii wi i "" i m inagMB establish a physical or financial merger mer-ger of the properties or Interests Indicated, Indi-cated, but a series of pools to maintain main-tain prices and apportion territory In the elimination of competition. Thus the 3ult appears as a further earnest effort of the government's determination de-termination to deal rigorously with restrictive trade agreements. There la no indication that the evidence evi-dence gathered by the bureau of corporations cor-porations In Its investigation of the steel corporation played any part In the indictments. Only two of the Indicted In-dicted associations contain subsld.ary companies of the giant corporation, namely, the American Steel and Wire company and the Trenton Iron com- i The Defendants. Among the defendants are the following: fol-lowing: Philip H W, Smith, second vice president of the Standard Underground Under-ground Gable company. Pittsburg, Pa., Oakland, Cal., and Perth Amboy, N, J. Associations. Tho Horseshoe Manufacturers' as- soclation, William P. Palmer and others. Lead Encased. Rubber Cable association, associa-tion, William P Palmer and others. Wire Rope Manufacturers' association. associa-tion. Edwin E. Jackson, jr., and others. Fine Magnetic Wire association, Ferdinand Fer-dinand W. Roebling and others. Underground Power Cable association, associa-tion, Philip H "W. Smith and others. Telephone Cable association, Frank N Phillips and others. Rubber Covered Wire association, William P. Palmer and others. Indictments All the Same. The general charges in all the Indictments In-dictments are the same. Thus one indictment in-dictment reads: "Because said corporations, at such times have been and in fact now arc, separate and distinct from each other, their said .ntoratato business from each other busIneBB should havo 'been conducted by each strictly on a competitive baBls, and would be so conducted but for the unlawful conspiracy hereinafter mentioned." It is set forth that tho various associations, asso-ciations, organized under their association asso-ciation names, had each elected a supervisor. su-pervisor. An arbitrary rating was determined, de-termined, It is charged, by the ratio of output, for an agreed time; each member mem-ber was 'obligated to pay $5,000 or less into a fund called "the general deposit," and in case any member failed to abide by the regulations his deposit was forfeited Non-Competltlve Prices. Raw materials wore bought, it is alleged, al-leged, in one of the Indictments at arbitrary and non-competitive prices to be agreed upon by tho association at prices lower, than those for which the 'respective corporations would be enabled to purchase said raw materials, mate-rials, but for the unlawful conspiracy herein described. In the Indictment against tho Bare Copper Wire association It Is charged that tho corporations forming the association as-sociation promised 97 per cent of the bare copper wire consumed in the United States, and that they had absolute ab-solute control of the price. Among the companies named as members of the Rubber Covered Wire association is the General Electric company of Schnectady, N Y Liable to Year's Imprisonment. Upon conviction each of the defendants defen-dants is liable to not more than a year's imprisonment or a fine of 5.000, or both. In the Indictments neither the American Steel and Wire company nor the John A. Roebllngs company, also known as the Trenton iron works, are designated as belonging to the United States Steel corporation. When William Palmer, head of the American Steel and Wire company, was Informed of his indictment, he said: "This is all new to me. I have nothing- to saw At tho office of J. P. Morgan & Co , Thomas F. Lamont, one of the members of that firm, said he had no knowledge of tho associations associa-tions mentioned in the indictment. Frank J. Gould and Edwin E. Jackson, Jack-son, Jr., supervisor of all the associations associa-tions mentioned In the indictments mentioned, are now in Europe. nn |