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Author: 
 
 U.S. Bureau of 
 corporations. 
 
 Title: 
 
 Farm-machinery trade 
 associations 
 
 Place: 
 
 Washington 
 
 Date: 
 
 1915 
 
MASTER NEGATIVE • 
 
 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 
 PRESERVATION DIVISION 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHIC MICROFORM TARGET 
 
 ORIGINAL MATERIAL AS FILMED - EXISTING BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD 
 
 ''KuslneM 
 267 
 
 run35 
 
 v. S. Bureau of corporations. 
 
 ... Earm-machinery trade associations, March 15, 
 1915. Washington, Govt, print, off., 1915. 
 
 xvi, 368 p. diagr. 25*". 
 
 At head of title: Department of commerce. Bureau of corporations. 
 Joseph K. Davies, commissioner. 
 
 1. AKriculttiral macliincry — Trade and manufacture — U. S. 2. Trade 
 aliAiPM>f*awMnt associations — U. S. i. Title. 
 
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 THE LIBRARIES 
 
 GRADUATE 
 
 SCHOOL OF BUSINESS 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 
 BUREAU OF CORPORATIONS 
 
 JOSEPH E. DAVIES, Commissioner 
 
 FARM-MACHINERY TRADE 
 ASSOCIATIONS 
 
 MARCH IS, 1915 
 
 WASHINGTON 
 
 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 
 
 1915 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 ADDITIONAL COPIES 
 
 0» THIS PtTBLICATION MAY BE PROCURED ROll 
 
 rant suPEKrarxENDENT or documents 
 
 GOTEBmCXNT PRINTINO OVHCB 
 
 WASaiNOTOH, D. C 
 
 AT 
 
 m CSNTS PEE COPY 
 
 Page. 
 
 Letters of transmittal ^^ 
 
 Letter of submittal n 
 
 CHAPTER I.— ORGANIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF 
 
 ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 Sec. 1. An organized industry \ 
 
 Organization of manufacturers 2 
 
 Jobbers' clubs 3 
 
 Organization among dealers 4 
 
 2. The development of associations 6 
 
 System of distribution g 
 
 Associations of manufacturers g 
 
 State and interstate associations of dealers 9 
 
 ' Local clubs n 
 
 3. Early activities of associations u 
 
 CHAPTER II.— WHOLESALE PRICE ACTIVITIES OF MANU- 
 FACTURERS' ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 Sec. I, Introduction 2I 
 
 2. Activities of the National Wagon Manufeicturers' Association 22 
 
 3. Activities of the National Plow Association 41 
 
 4. Activities of the National Implement <fc Vehicle Association and its 
 
 special trade departments 4$ 
 
 National Implement & Vehicle Association 46 
 
 Departments of the National Implement & Vehicle Association 47 
 
 5. Significance of cost-accounting system in relation to selling prices 54 
 
 6. Activities of the National Association of Thresher Manufacturers 55 
 
 CHAPTER III.— EFFORTS OF MANUFACTURERS' ASSOCIA- 
 TIONS TO REDUCE COSTS. 
 
 Sec. 1. Introduction 57 
 
 2. Standardization of materials 53 
 
 National Wagon Manufacturers' Association 58 
 
 National Plow Association 63 
 
 National Implement & Vehicle Association 65 
 
 3. Charges for transportation 67 
 
 4. Fire insurance 74 
 
 6. Limiting credit risks 76 
 
 Cooperation in judging credits 76 
 
 Sec uri ty for sales 79 
 
 Credits in the thresher trade 60 
 
 Improving financial condition of dealers 81 
 
 0. Reduction in costs of distribution 84 
 
 in 
 
i" ^ # 
 
 IV 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV.— ACTIVITIES OF MANUFACTURERS' ASSO- 
 CIATIONS WITH RESPECT TO LEGISLATION. 
 
 Pwre. 
 
 Sec. 1. Introduction 89 
 
 2. Taaoition of corporations 93 
 
 State taxation of foreign corporationfl 93 
 
 Federal corporation tax 96 
 
 3. Legislation relating to tariff and foreign trade 97 
 
 4. Patentlaws 102 
 
 5. Industrial indemnity and indemnity insurance 104 
 
 6. Opposition to prison factory legislation 107 
 
 CHAPTER V.-CONCENTRATION IN OWNERSHIP OF WIND- 
 STACKER PATENTS. 
 
 Sec. 1. Introduction HI 
 
 2. Origin of the wind-stacker patents-license system Ill 
 
 8. Controversy between the Indiana Manufacturing Co. and the J. I. Case 
 
 Threshing Machine Co -. 114 
 
 4, Results of settlement with the Case company 119 
 
 5. Significance of the patents-license system - 125 
 
 CHAPTER VI.— RESTRICTION OF RETAIL TRADE TO RETAIL 
 
 DEALERS. 
 
 Sec. 1. Introduction - 128 
 
 The dealers' claim to the retail trade 128 
 
 Negotiations with harvesting-machine companies 132 
 
 2. Cooperation between federated dealers and organized manufacturers... 133 
 
 Establishment of harmonious relations between dealers' and man- 
 ufacturers' organizations 133 
 
 Directories of regiilar dealers 134 
 
 Commercial agency reports 136 
 
 Conferences between representatives of dealers' and manu- 
 
 focturers' organizations 136 
 
 Opposition to manufacturers' branch retail tores 138 
 
 Direct sales in localities where manufacturer has no agent 143 
 
 Dealers' associations and the thresher trade 146 
 
 3. Settlement of complaints against individual manufacturers 147 
 
 Methods of adjustment by State associations 147 
 
 Adjustment by cooperation with jobbers' clubs 150 
 
 Methods of adjustment used by Federation 152 
 
 Court decision against methods used by Iowa Implement Dealers' 
 
 Association 154 
 
 Changes in articles of association following court decisions 158 
 
 Government investigation of protective activities of associations. . 163 
 
 Plan of handling complaints in 1911 and 1912 172 
 
 Negotiations with manufacturers relative to farmers' cooperative 
 
 stores 175 
 
 Opinions of the trade as to protective activities of associations 182 
 
 Protective ac tivities not confined to implement trade 183 
 
 4. Methods used with manufacturers unwilling to settle complaints amica- 
 
 bly 185 
 
 Information Bureau 186 
 
 Information supplied by association secretaries on request of indi- 
 vidual members 189 
 
 Present methods of disseminating information among dealers 192 
 
 
 CONTENTS. V 
 
 Page. 
 
 Sec. 5. Opposition to mail-order or catalogue houses 193 
 
 Sales to mail order houses by manufacturers 193 
 
 Parcel-post legislation 1^8 
 
 Legislation against misrepresentation in advertising 202 
 
 . Farm-paper advertising 203 
 
 Chautauqua home-trade talks 206 
 
 CHAPTER VII.— PREVENTION OF PRICE CUTTING AMONG 
 
 REGULAR DEALERS. 
 
 Sec. 1. Introduction 207 
 
 2. Resale-price maintenance 207 
 
 3. Price agreements among dealers 208 
 
 4. Exchange of information through local clubs 211 
 
 5. Prices based on uniform method of computing costs 218 
 
 6. Significance of cost suggestions as a basis for retail prices 241 
 
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 LIST OF EXHIBITS. 
 
 I Constitution and by-laws of the National Implement A Vehicle Aflsociation. 246 
 2! Constitution and by-laws of the wagon department of the National Im- 
 
 plement &. Vehicle Association • • • * ^ 
 
 8. Constitution and by-laws of tiie sales manageii* department of the National 
 
 Implement & Vehicle Association ; 
 
 4. List of officera and committees of tiie National Implement A Vehicle Assoa- 
 
 ation, as of August 20, 1914 V:\"V"''':, i 
 
 o. List of memben of the National Implement A Vehicle Association, as of 
 
 August 20, 1914 ...........-•••• 
 
 «. List of membew of tiie farm-wagon department of tiie NaUonal Implement 
 
 A Vehicle Association, as of August 20, 1914 
 
 7. List of members of tiie plow and tillage department of tiie National Imple- 
 
 ment A Vehicle Association, as of August 20, 1914 :':r V"; 
 
 8. list of memben of tiie grain drill and seeder department of tiie NaUonal 
 
 Implement A Vehicle Association, as of August 20, 1914 ................ ^^ 
 
 9. List of membeiB of tiie sales managers' department of tiie National Imple- 
 
 ment A Vehicle Association, as of August 20, 1914.. - --- ^6-5 
 
 10. list of members of tiie foreign-trade managers' department of tiie NaUonal 
 
 Implement A Vehicle Association, as of August 20, 1914 ^ 
 
 II Report of committee of National Wagon ManufacUirers' Assormtion, ap- 
 
 pointed in November, 1903, to formulate a plan for tiie better mamtam- 
 ingofprices; report made to association February 3, 1904............... 284 
 
 12. Question sheet relative to prices of members, issued by tiie NaUonal Wagon 
 
 Mwiufactureis* Association January 1, 1906 '.'"': I 
 
 13. Kepiesentative sheets showing differences in standard specificaUons and 
 
 equipment for farm wagons sold in different temtonee, adopted by tiie 
 National Wagon Manufacturers' Association in 1908 .--.• -*» 
 
 14. General letter issued by tiie National Wagon ManufacUirers' Association 
 
 relative to trade conditions in December, 1908 ••" 
 
 15. Revised tire list, wagon deparUnent, National Implement A Vehicle 
 
 • . ^ ^^ 
 
 Association . • 4 j * 
 
 16 "Extra" or '^repair" price list suggested by special committee appomted at 
 
 conference of farm-wagon manufacturers at Chicago June 5, 1912 272 
 
 11 Biper on slandardization of farm wagons, read before AmencauSociety of 
 
 Agricultiiral Engineers by E. E. Parsonage, of John Deere Wagon Ck)., 
 
 December 30, 1913 ; " •• ^* 
 
 18. Recommendations of the National Plow Association to its ^^^^^J^' 0^ 
 
 ing list prices, standard specifications, equipment, etc. , 1907-1909 ...... -OZ 
 
 B. Report of committee on shop costs and seUing expenses to NaUonal Associa- 
 
 tion of Thresher ManufMrtareis, August, 1904 -• ^w» 
 
 m Form of ficease contract used by tiie Indiana Manufacturing Co. autiiona- 
 
 ing the use of its patents, 1914 ^w 
 
 II. Form of patents-purchaie agreement between tiie Indiana ManufacUinng 
 
 Co. aid HMBMii... 
 
 LIST OF EXHIBITS. 
 
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 " ^ 
 
 
 Page. 
 
 22. Form of royalty report required of licensee of Indiana Manufacturing Co. . 305 
 
 23. Constitution and by-laws of the National Federation of Implement & 
 
 Vehicle Dealers' Associations ^'^ 
 
 24. Uniform articles of association recommended in 1904 by the National 
 
 Federation of Implement & Vehicle Dealers' Associations for adoption 
 
 by constituent associations 310 
 
 25. Uniform articles of association recommended by National Federation of 
 
 Implement A Vehicle Dealers' Associations for adoption by local clubs 
 
 of dealers ^^^ 
 
 26. Number of members of retail implement dealers' associations affiliated 
 
 with the National Federation of Implement & Vehicle Dealers' Asso- 
 ciations, 1901-1913 318 
 
 27. Card entitled " Simple susgestions on cost figuring," issued in December, 
 
 1909, for information of dealers 319 
 
 28. "Cost suggestions No. 2," issued by Cost Educational Association in May, 
 
 1910 V - 320 
 
 29. Cost system reconunended for the use of the members of the National 
 
 Implement A Vehicle Association 323 
 
 80. Location and number of members of dealers' local clubs organized from 
 
 January 29, 1913, to May 29, 1914 336 
 
 31. The implement dealer and his problems. Address by the Secretary of the 
 
 National Federation of Implement & Vehicle Dealers' Associations 
 before the members of the National Implement & Vehicle Association, 
 October 22, 1914 337 
 
 32. Resolutions adopted by the National Implement & Vehicle Association 
 
 at the annual convention held October 21, 22, and 23, 1914 349 
 
 V 
 
 
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 LETTERS OF TRANSMITTAL. 
 
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 Department of Commerce, 
 
 Office of the Secretary, 
 
 Washington, March 15, 1915, 
 Sir: I transmit herewith a report of the Commissioner of Corpo- 
 rations on Farm-Machinery Trade Associations. This report deals 
 with the activities of associations of implement and vehicle manu- 
 facturers and dealers. 
 
 Very respectfully, William C. Kedfield, 
 
 Secretary, 
 
 The President. 
 
 #,# 
 
 Department of Commerce, 
 
 Bureau of Corporations, 
 
 Washington, March 15, 1915. 
 
 Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith a report on Farm- 
 Machinery Trade Associations, made to the President under your 
 direction and in accordance with the law creating the Bureau of 
 Corporations. This report deals with the activities of associations 
 of implement and vehicle manufacturers and dealers. 
 
 I desire to mention as especially contributing under my direction 
 to the preparation of this report Messrs. Harry C. McCarty and 
 Worthy P. Sterns, of this Bureau. 
 
 Very respectfully, Joseph E. Davies, 
 
 Commissioner of Corporations, 
 
 To Hon. William C. Redfield, 
 
 Secretary of Commerce. 
 
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 LEHER OF SUBMIHAL. 
 
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 Department of Commerce, 
 
 Bureau of Corporations, 
 Washington, March 15, 1916. 
 Sir : I have the honor to submit herewith a report on the principal 
 associations in the farm-machinery trade. 
 
 AN ORGANIZED INDUSTRY. 
 
 Ahnost every important manufacturer in the farm-machinery in- 
 dustry is a member of the National Implement & Vehicle Associa- 
 tion. The dealers in farm machinery have organized the National 
 Federation of Implement & Vehicle Dealers' Associations, which is 
 composed of niunerous State and interstate associations. These two 
 organizations are national in scope and work in close cooperation. 
 
 EFFORTS OF MANUFACTURERS' ASSOCIATIONS TO FIX WHOLESALE PRICES. 
 
 In the earlier days the various associations of manufacturers of 
 farm machinery, implements and vehicles, had agreements as to 
 uniform prices. Such agreements were difficult to maintain on 
 account of wide variations in the construction and cost of machines 
 of different manufacturers. 
 
 Later, the National Wagon Manufacturers' Association from time 
 to time adopted recommendations that each member should advance 
 prices by the same per cent. Active efforts were made to secure com- 
 pliance with these recommendations. Prices for certain parts of farm 
 wagons, approved by the association, were also recommended to mem- 
 bers for adoption. 
 
 The organized plow manufacturers use standard classifications, 
 standard equipment for various implements, and uniform list prices 
 on some of their products, with differentials for specified variations 
 from the standard adopted. These prices are subject to such discount 
 as individual members may desire to give. Advances in list prices 
 have apparently been used as a means of advancing net prices. 
 
 The National Association of Thresher Manufacturers has at va- 
 rious times approved lists of net " amounts," or prices below which 
 it was claimed members could not sell except at a loss. In 1909, 
 
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 LETTEB OF SUBMITTAL. 
 
 some members who were reported to liave engaged in price cutting 
 were asked to reconsider their prices. 
 
 Both the wagon and plow associations also attempted to secure 
 greater uniformity in construction in order to facilitate price agree- 
 ments. 
 
 UNIFOBMITY OF COBfT ▲CCOUNTB AS A MEANS OF PRICE OONTSOL. 
 
 The fe« of prosecution under the antitrust laws, as weU as prac- 
 tical difficulties in making direct price agreements, led to other 
 methods of influencing prices. 
 
 Cooperation in efforts to maintain prices made it apparent that 
 this object could be more easily attained if each manufacturer made 
 full allowance for every element of cost as a basis for determining 
 profitable prices. For this purpose uniform cost-accounting systems 
 were devised in order that prices based on costs so computed would 
 be sure to afford a profit. Costs were made to include not only every 
 item of actual expense and depreciation, but also provision for in- 
 terest on investment. This plan was adopted by the wagon and the 
 plow associations and later by the National Implement & Vehicle 
 Association, in which they were merged. 
 
 Exchange of information regarding the costs computed in this 
 manner and the prices actually received, affords a means for de- 
 termining prices profitable to all. If the individual members fix 
 their prices accordingly, substantial uniformity in prices may be 
 established as effectively as by an express price agreement. 
 
 ■FFOirrS TO BEDUCaS CX>8T8 OF MANUFACTURE AND DISTRIBUTION. 
 
 These manufacturers' associations have also attempted to increase 
 profits by reducing costs. These efforts have been mainly in stand- 
 ardizing specifications for materials and construction, in securing 
 lower freight rates, in procuring insurance at reduced cost, in limit- 
 ing credit risks, and in eliminating various items of selling expense. 
 
 Some of the suggestions made for reducing the cost of selling goods 
 are significant, especially the elimination of canvassers, commission 
 contracts, and the sale of goods on exceptionally long terms. 
 
 ■FFORTS TO SECURE FAVORABLE LEGISLATION. 
 
 Among "the matters of legislation to which the manufacturers' asso- 
 ciations have given special attention are: Taxation of corporations, 
 industrial indenmity, manufacture of implements and twine at State 
 penal institutions, the tariff, and patents. 
 
 Efforts of manufacturers' and dealers' associations to influence 
 legislation, both State and national, have taken various forms. Mem- 
 ben have been urged to write or telegraph to legislators at a givoi 
 
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 LETTER OF SUBMITTAL. 
 
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 time; delegates have presented the views of the associations before 
 legislative committees, and these associations have cooperated with 
 organizations in other branches of industry when legislation affect- 
 ing their common interests was under consideration. 
 
 The National Federation of Implement & Vehicle Dealers' Associa- 
 tions is affiliated with the National Federation of Retail Merchants, 
 and various manufacturers belonging to the National Implement & 
 Vehicle Association are also members of the National Association of 
 Manufacturers. These affiliations afford a means of cooperation with 
 other trade associations in expression of views regarding proposed 
 legislation. 
 
 EFFECT OF CONCENTRATED CONTROL OF PATENTS ON PRICE OF WIND 
 
 STACKERS. 
 
 The wind-stacker attachment for threshing machines is sold at a 
 uniform price; this is accomplished through a system of uniform 
 patent-license contracts. The principal wind-stacker patents are 
 owned or controlled by the Indiana Manufacturing Co., and most of 
 the stock of this concern is owned by the managing directors of one 
 of the chief threshing-machine manufacturing companies. Manu- 
 facturers using these patents must pay a fixed royalty on each wind 
 stacker made, and agree to maintain a uniform selling price. 
 
 The particular facts with respect to this situation raise several 
 questions of public concern, namely, whether the Indiana Manufac- 
 turing Co.'s control of wind-stacker patents transcends the monopoly 
 contemplated by the patent laws; whether the method by which 
 various patentees are induced to pool their patents is obnoxious to 
 the antitrust laws; whether the control of the said company by the 
 managing directors of one of the licensees is compatible with public 
 policy; and whether the said company may, in its license contracts, 
 lawfully fix the selling prices of wind stackers made under its patents. 
 
 THE CONTROL OF RETAIL PRICES. 
 
 "^he prevention of price cutting among retailers and the raising 
 of retail prices have been a matter of great concern to the implement 
 and vehicle trade. 
 
 The associations of dealers have sought from the beginning to dis- 
 courage the practice of price cutting, and certain small associations 
 in some instances have attempted to fix the prices at which their 
 members should sell. Later, the principal associations gave consid- 
 erable attention to the possibility of securing greater harmony among 
 competing dealers by the organization of local clubs. At the meet- 
 ings of these local clubs the question of prices was often discussed. 
 
 Some implement manufacturers have sought the solution of this 
 problem by fixing retail prices in their agency contracts with dealers, 
 
 \ 
 
XIV 
 
 UlTTER OF SUBMITTAL. 
 
 a practice which has been expressly favored by some dealers' asso- 
 ciations. 
 
 In 1909 a movement was inaugurated by the organized manufac- 
 turers to secure the cooperation of all classes of the trade in aiding 
 retailers to secure higher prices, by educating them to the necessity 
 of computing all items of expense in fixing their prices. Cost sug- 
 gestions enumerating such items were prepared by the manufacturers 
 and given wide circulation among the dealers. The fact that the 
 dealer's were urged to include in their costs allowances for interest 
 on investment, rent of buildings owned and used, and salary for the 
 owner of the business, clearly shows that these cost suggestions were 
 intended as a method of establishing a basis at which dealers could 
 sell at a profit. 
 
 The success of this plan, however, requires that it be followed by 
 all dealers in the same locality. The organized manufacturers and 
 dealers therefore undertook a campaign to promote local clubs which 
 should include all dealers in each locality. The local clubs were urged 
 to adopt these cost suggestions but to avoid price agreements. 
 
 The manufacturers' association has suggested that each local club 
 should ascertain the average percentage of selling cost to sales for 
 all of its members. The use of this average cost by each member in 
 fixing his own prices at once suggests itself. 
 
 Such a practice would tend to raise the general level of retail 
 prices, and would militate against the independent action of dealers 
 in the same locality in making pricea 
 
 OPPOSITION OF DEALEHS TO DIRECT SALES AND SALES THB0I7GH IBREGULAR 
 
 DEALERS. 
 
 The fundamental idea of the federated associations of implement 
 and vehicle dealers is that "to the retail dealer belongs the retail 
 trade." They insist, especially, that it is wrong for any manufac- 
 turer who sells through regular dealers also to use any other method 
 of distribution which threatens to impair the trade of the dealers. 
 Hence, they offer vigorous opposition to direct sales to farmers, to 
 sales made through irregular dealers, and to sales through mail- 
 order houses. 
 
 The opposition to these forms of distribution is based on the claim 
 that sales so made are made at prices which are demoralizing to the 
 trade of the regular dealer, who is obliged to maintain a store with 
 a stock of goods suflScient to meet the demands of the locality. The 
 dealers' associations contend further that the plan of selling through 
 a regular dealer is more economical for the manufacturer than any 
 other plan of distribution, and that the dealer renders better service 
 to the farmer. 
 
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 LETTER OF SUBMITTAL. 
 
 This claim of the dealers to the retail trade has been indorsed by 
 the National Implement & Vehicle Association. The latter, and also 
 various jobbers' organizations, have cooperated with the dealers in 
 enforcing this claim. The dealers' associations have facilitated such 
 cooperation in various ways, including the publication of directories 
 containing the names of regular dealers. 
 
 METHODS OP ENFORCING DEALERS' CLAIM TO THE RETAIL TRADE. 
 
 The great problem of the dealers' associations has been to find 
 some lawful means by which the members may be notified of the 
 name of anv manufacturer who declines to confine his trade to the 
 regular dealer. 
 
 The adjustment of complaints against individual manufacturers 
 who have made direct and irregular sales has been an important part 
 of the work of the dealers' associations. When a complaint of this 
 sort is filed with one of the associations, its secretary endeavors to 
 arrange a settlement, sometimes by collecting a commission and se- 
 curing a promise that such sales be discontinued. Most complaints 
 are adjusted by the secretary. Complaints which can not be settled 
 in this way are referred to a committee of the association before 
 whom the manufacturer is sometimes invited to explain his position. 
 
 Members of some of the earlier dealers' associations agreed to with- 
 draw their trade from manufacturers who refused to settle com- 
 plaints to the satisfaction of the dealers, and until within the last 
 few years the names of such manufacturers appear to have been 
 freely discussed before the entire membership of the various dealers' 
 associations. 
 
 An attempt in 1905 to install an information bureau to furnish 
 dealers with the names of offending manufacturers and jobbers was 
 not carried to completion owing to some doubt as to its legality. 
 Members of the various associations have been notified, however, that 
 upon request to the secretary of the association of which they are 
 members they would be furnished with information as to the trade 
 policy of any manufacturer. 
 
 Court decisions adverse to such activities of dealers' associations, 
 and investigations by the Government, have caused the federated im- 
 plement and vehicle dealers in recent years to be cautious in handling 
 complaints. At present the federated dealers' associations appear to 
 rely principally upon the National Implement & Vehicle Asso- 
 ciation and the various jobbers' clubs to persuade their members 
 to confine their trade to the regular dealer. There are some manu- 
 facturers, however, who will not sell exclusively through regular 
 dealers unless they are compelled to. The dealers desire, therefore, 
 to create amongst such manufacturers a belief that the dealers will 
 
X?I 
 
 LETTER Ot SUBMITTAL. 
 
 Withhold their patronage if they persist in ignoring the dealers' 
 damis. As already noted, the National Federation of Implement & 
 Vehicle Dealers' Associations is aflUiated with the National Federa- 
 tion of Retail Merchants, and the latter organization has sought 
 to secure legislation from Congress under which retail associations 
 may legaUy furnish their members with information regarding manu- 
 facturers whose trade policy they object to. . 
 
 While the organized dealers disclaim any intention of maintain- 
 ing a black list or of instituting a boycott against anyone, it is clear 
 that If they be permitted to dissemmate information of this character, 
 those loyal to the principles of their associations would refuse to con- 
 tmue business relations with offendmg manufacturers even in the 
 absence of am express agreement to do so. 
 
 OPPOSmON TO MAIL-ORDER COMPETTnON. 
 
 A determined fight has been made by the organized dealers against 
 the competition of mail-order houses. They have not only tried to 
 prevent manufacturers from supplying implements to such concerns, 
 but also have conducted a campaign to prevent the establishment of 
 a parcel post, on the theory that such facilities would benefit the 
 mail-order houses. Since the establishment of the parcel post they 
 have urged a revision of postal rates, with a view to increasing the 
 charges on parcels. Their opposition to the mail-order houses has 
 also been the reason for favoring a Federal law to compel all manu- 
 facturers to brand their names upon their products in order to 
 identify manufacturers who sell to mail-order houses, and for favor- 
 ing both Stat^ and national legislation to prevent misrepresentation 
 m advertising because of the belief that such laws would compel a 
 modification of claims made in mail-order advertisements. The or- 
 ganized manufacturers and dealers have also made earnest efforts to 
 curtail the advertising facilities of mail-order houses by persuading 
 manufacturers who sell through dealers not to advertise in farm 
 papers which contain mail-order advertisements, or encourage buy- 
 ing from mail-order houses. 
 
 CDNCaLUSION. 
 
 In conclusion it may be observed that while a large part of the 
 activities of the manufacturers' and dealers' associations in this 
 branch of industry are proper for the protection of legitimate inter- 
 ests, yet there are others of doubtful legality which tend to limit the 
 field of competition and to enhance prices. 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 Joseph E. Da vies, 
 
 ^ ^ Oommisaioner of Oorporatiom. 
 
 The President. 
 
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 \^ 
 
 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF CORPORATIONS 
 ON FARM-MACHINERY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 OEGANIZATION AITD DEVELOPMENT OF ASSOCIATIOKS. 
 
 Section 1. An organized industry. 
 
 Taken as a whole, the manufacture and sale of farm machinery, 
 implements, and vehicles is one of the most important industries of 
 the country. The aggregate investment of companies engaged therein 
 amounts to over half a billion dollars. These goods are made in 
 more than a thousand factories. The employees in these factories 
 number more than 100,000, and probably nearly as many, in one 
 capacity or another, are engaged in the wholesale and retail distri- 
 bution of the product. Of these, over 40,000 are retail dealers. Re- 
 tail sales of farm machinery, implements, and vehicles to the Amer- 
 ican farmer can not be closely determined, but they amount to several 
 hundred million dollars annually. The utility of this equipment in 
 increasing the country's agricultural output is incomparably greater. 
 
 While the total number of manufacturers engaged in this industry 
 is large, the great bulk of the business is in the hands of a compara- 
 tively few companies. The assets of one of these companies amount 
 to about 125 million dollars. The assets of three others amount to as 
 much more. Over three-fourths of the 40,000 retail dealers sell im- 
 plements made by the International Harvester Co. Several other 
 manufacturers are represented by from 10 to. 15 thousand dealers. 
 Most dealers buy from a number of manufacturers, since no manu- 
 facturer can furnish all of the extraordinary variety of articles 
 included in the equipment of the modern farm. 
 
 Probably over three-fourths of the capital invested in the manu- 
 facture of farm machinery, implements, and vehicles is represented 
 in the membership of the National Implement & Vehicle Associ- 
 ation. This membership includes practically all the leading manu- 
 facturers of such equipment.^ The National Federation of Imple- 
 ment & Vehicle Dealers' Associations is not so representative. The 
 membership of its constituent associations,^ however, includes large 
 
 r 
 
 1 See Exhibit 5» p. 259. 
 e8248'— 16 ^1 
 
 > See Exhibit 26, p. 318. 
 
2 
 
 FARM-MACHINBKY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 OEGANIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 s 
 
 numbers of the most influential dealers in those sections of the coun- 
 try where the implement trade is of great importance. 
 
 Practically all of the important farm-machinery trade associations 
 in the United States cooperate with each other under the leadership 
 of these two organizations. Harmonious cooperation between the 
 manufacturers' associations and the dealers' organizations has 
 always been a marked characteristic of their work. 
 
 Organization or Manufacturers. — ^The National Implement & 
 Vehicle Association was organized in January, 1911, as a consolida- 
 tion of the National Association of Agricultural Implement & Ve- 
 hicle Manufacturers, the National Wagon Manufacturers' Avia- 
 tion, the National Plow Association, and the National Association 
 of Grain Drill Manufacturers. The merger of these associations was 
 largely due to the common interest of all branches of the industry in 
 questions relating to raw materials, labor, transportation, legislation, 
 retail distribution, etc., and to recognition that certain phases of these 
 questions could be handled most effectively and most economically by 
 a single association representing the entire industry. 
 
 The executive committee in general charge of the association's 
 activities has large powers. The immediate supervision of the work 
 is in the hands of the secretary and general manager, who devotes his 
 entire time to it. Standing committees consider and report on the 
 more important divisions of the work. The sales managers of 
 various members are onganized in a department to promote harmoni- 
 ous relations between the salesmen of the different manufacturers 
 and to improve conditions in the retail trade. (See Exhibit 9.) 
 
 Special trade departments * of the association, which have their own 
 officers, continue the work of the old wagon, plow, and grain drill 
 associations * in matters of special interest to members in those lines. 
 The most important matters to which these departments give atten- 
 tion relate to conditions arising from competition between members. 
 The secretary and general manager of the association takes an active 
 part in the affairs of these departments. The executive committee of 
 the association also maintains some supervision over their activities. 
 
 The National Implement & Vehicle Association is incorporated 
 under the laws of Illinois as an association not for profit. Its mem- 
 bers are divided into three classes. Active members of the first class 
 are manufacturers of agricultural implements, vehicles, and allied 
 
 1 Tlie membership of these departments Is shown In Exhibits 6, 7, and 8. 
 
 "Efforts to induce the Natiooal Association of Thresher Manufacturers to become part 
 of the National Implement & Vehicle Association when that association was organized, in 
 January 1911, were unsuccessful. However, some of the principal thresher manufac- 
 turers belong to both associations, and the organization of a special thresher depart- 
 ment in the Nation*! Implement & Vehicle Association has been considered. The organl- 
 tttion of departments for carriage manufacturers and gas-engine manufacturers has also 
 been proposed. Probably because of the existence of independent associations in these 
 three branches, none of these departments has yet been organized. 
 
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 lines. Active members of the second class are engaged m the whole- 
 sale distribution of these products, but not in their manufacture. 
 Associate members are manufacturers of materials and supplies pur- 
 cha^d by implement manufacturers. Keceipts of the association in 
 1914, based in part on an estimate of the treasurer in October, 
 amounted to about $28,000, derived almost wholly from dues.^ The 
 regular income of the special trade departments is nommal; each 
 members pays small annual dues. „ . ., * 
 
 Active members of the second class are entitled to all privileges of 
 members of the first class except that they may not vote at elections 
 or hold office. Associate members are entitled to all social privileges 
 of the association, and to attend all general meetings except those of 
 an executive character. They are not entitled to vote. They usually 
 provide entertainment at the annual conventions of the active 
 
 members." , , . ^ ^ i ^ u 
 
 The annual meeting of the association is held m October of each 
 year. At this meeting are read the reports of officers, the executive 
 committee, and the standing committees, as well as a report of the 
 attorneys of the association. These reports, which are submitted to 
 the executive committee before being read, present a summary of the 
 various phases of the association's activities during the preceding year, 
 with recommendations for future work. This work is determined 
 largely by resolutions incorporating the recommendations of the van- 
 ous committees. The various matters touched upon in the resolutions 
 are referred to the secretary or proper committee for action, or for 
 
 report to the executive committee.^ 
 
 Meetings of the executive committee, the standing committees, and 
 of the special trade departments are held from time to time durmg 
 the year. Members are kept advised in regard to matters of current 
 interest by means of bulletins and circular letters issued by the secre- 
 tary and general manager at frequent intervals. Matters that are of 
 common interest to members requiring legal advice are referred to 
 the attorneys of the association. . .« xu 
 
 Jobbers' clubs.— Wholesalers, including representatives of the 
 branch houses of the manufacturers and of other competing whole- 
 sale concerns at the different jobbing centers, have organized clubs, 
 through which the members may cooperate in remedying unsatis- 
 factory conditions of common interest. Some of these clubs have 
 now had fairly successful careers covering over a quarter of a 
 
 iThP scale of dues paid by the different classes of members is shown in Exhibit 1. 
 
 .The "foreword'' of a directory of the associate members, published by the association 
 1„ 1913 contains the following : " This directory of our associate members and their 
 war^aiso carries with It the suggestion that our active members give special considera- 
 tion to these concerns in the making of contracts and the placing of orders. 
 
 • The resolutions adopted at the convention held in October. 1914. are shown elsewhere. 
 (See Exhibit 32, p. 349.) 
 
4 FABM-MAOHINEBT TBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 century. Jobbers' clubs of considerable importance have been 
 organized in Kansas City, Omaha, Minneapolis, Baltimore, Des 
 Moines, Peoria, St. Louis, Sioux Falls, and Dallas. 
 
 There is no national organization of the jobbers' clubs. This is 
 probably due to the fact that the work of each club relates chiefly to 
 conditions peculiar to its own market. Provision has been made, as 
 already noted, to admit wholesalers to limited membership in the 
 National Implement & Vehicle Association. Few have thus far 
 become members. 
 
 Organization among dealers. — ^The National Federation of Im- 
 plement & Vehicle Dealers' Associations is composed of delegates 
 from State and interstate associations of dealers. The aggregate 
 membership of these associations is claimed to exceed 5,000 dealers. 
 They constitute probably about one-fourth of the retailers regularly 
 engaged in the trade in the principal grain-raising States, where 
 nearly all these associations are located, and in some of these States 
 the proportion is larger. Besides the Federation and its constituent 
 associations numerous local clubs have been organized, composed of 
 dealers who are in competition with each other in the same locality. 
 The constituent associations have for several years pushed the organi- 
 zation of these local clubs under the direction of the Federation. 
 This work has been encouraged and given financial assistance by the 
 National Implement & Vehicle Association. 
 
 The object of the Federation, as stated in its constitution, is " to 
 supply its constituent associations and their members with any and all 
 legal and proper information which may legitimately come into its 
 possession and which may be of interest or value to the same." 
 
 The Federation enables its constituent associations to coordinate 
 their activities along similar lines, such as collecting and disseminat- 
 ing information, promoting favorable legislation and opposing meas- 
 ures adverse to dealers, and encouraging the formation of local clubs 
 of dealers for the general education of the trade in the cost of doing 
 business as a means of preventing price cutting. It brings the com- 
 bined influence of the constituent associations to bear on the settle- 
 ment of differences between manufacturers and dealers in regard to 
 trade policies and practices objected to by the dealers.* 
 
 Each constituent association of the Federation is entitled to repre- 
 sentation at meetings of that organization on the basis of one delegate 
 for each 100 members or fraction thereof exceeding 50. Its affairs 
 are managed by an official board, consisting of the president, vice 
 president, and secretary-treasurer, and six directors. The three 
 officers first named constitute an executive committee authorized to 
 perform the duties of the official board between meetings of the 
 
 
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 1 Begarding tlie actiTitiei of dealers' organlsatioiu, Me Bzhiblt 31, p. 337. 
 
 ORGANIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 § 
 
 
 latter. It is the duty of the secretary to receive and file infor- 
 mation transmitted to the Federation by and through its members. 
 It is also his duty to issue to constituent associations and their mem- 
 bers a bulletin quarterly or as often as the official board may decide. 
 It has also been customary for the Federation to recommend topics 
 to be discussed at conventions of the constituent associations. The 
 Secretaries' Association of the National Federation, organized in 
 October, 1913, took over certain detail work of the Federation, such 
 as arranging programs for constituent associations. 
 
 State and interstate associations are organized under articles of 
 association recommended by the Federation. Under these articles 
 4^ any dealer having a regular established place of business, carrying 
 an assorted stock of implements, vehicles, or hardware, reasonably 
 commensurate with the demands of his locality, is eligible to mem- 
 bership. The affairs of these associations are subject to the control 
 of a board of directors. An executive committee composed of the 
 president, vice president, and secretary-treasurer passes on questions 
 of importance to the association between sessions of the board. Close 
 relations exist between these associations and the jobbers' clubs. 
 
 A meeting of the members of each association is held annually, at 
 which the reports of officers and committees are read and discussed. 
 These reports, especially that of the secretary-treasurer, review the 
 activities of the association for the preceding year and make recom- 
 mendations for future work. These reports are usually referred to 
 the committee on resolutions for use in framing resolutions defining 
 the attitude of the members on matters affecting their trade. 
 
 The suppression of price cutting and the improvement of local 
 trade conditions generally is the particular field of the local clubs. 
 Their object, as stated in uniform articles of association recommended 
 by the Federation, is " social enjoyment and entertainment, together 
 with such benefits in a business way as will naturally be brought 
 about by a feeling of fraternity and good fellowship among its 
 membership." 
 
 These articles provide for the definition of the territory within 
 which dealers are eligible for membership; the qualifications for 
 membership are the same as for the State associations. 
 
 A dealer in applying for membership agrees to abide by all the 
 rules and regulations which have been adopted for the government 
 of the club, and also such rules and regulations as may subsequently 
 be adopted. Provision is made for the expulsion of a member by a 
 majority vote or for withdrawal on surrender of membership card. 
 Any member going out of business is considered to have withdrawn. 
 
 The officers provided for consist of a president, vice president, and 
 secretary-treasurer, who ex officio constitute an executive committee. 
 Standing committees on entertainment, grievances, and credits and 
 
i 
 
 VABM'MAOHINEBT TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 
 collections are also mamtained. The grievance committee is ex- 
 pected to investigate and adjust any difference arising between mem- 
 bers of the club. It is the duty of the committee on credits and 
 collections to devise and submit plans to promote the interests of 
 members in respect to credit and collection matters. 
 
 Sietioii 2. The deTelopment of anoeiatioiii. 
 
 The farm-machinery trade reached the degree of organization de- 
 scribed in the previous section only after some 30 years of associa- 
 tiim effort. A general account of conditions in the trade that gave 
 lise to the association movement, of different organizations that 
 have taken part in that movement, and of the nature of their early 
 activities is necessary to a full appreciation of the work done in 
 later years described in the succeeding chapters, 
 
 Syotem of distribution.— As the implement industry developed 
 and it became profitable to seek a wider market, many manufac- 
 turers found it desirable to form connections with jobbing houses 
 at the wholesale centers. These jobbers, by buying from different 
 manufacturers, obtained machines in demand throughout the year. 
 They were thus able to employ their selling force more economically 
 than the manufacturer whose output was small or in demand for 
 only a few months in the year. Because of the large capital re- 
 quired, these jobbers did not often handle threshers and bmders, 
 which werj sold by the manufacturers themselves through general 
 agencies located at wholesale distributing centers. 
 
 The larger and more aggressive plow manufacturers, possibly be- 
 cause their products are in demand so large a part of the year, 
 established branch houses at the most important wholesale centers. 
 They also added other lines, until now most implements not sold by 
 the binder and thresher companies are handled by branch houses 
 of the tillage-implement manufacturers. Some of the branch houses 
 were owned jointly by noncompeting interests— plow, wagon, and 
 seeder manufacturers, for example. This plan did not prove satis- 
 factory Usually the plow mterests took over the whole enterprise, 
 sometimes continuing to job the products of their former partners. 
 On the whole, manufacturers have secured a constantly mcreasmg 
 degree of control over the facilities of distributing their products. 
 
 As the demand for farm machinery increased, its retail sale became 
 of sufficient importance to be recognized as a distinct vocation. In 
 most small towns in agricultural districts, the sale of farm equip- 
 ment and aUied Imes was a profitable business for at least one man. 
 There were few towns where the business was large enough to sup- 
 port more than three dealers satisfactorily. Moreover, these dealers 
 did not find it profitable to handle more than one or two makes of 
 
 
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 OBGANIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF ASSOCIATIONS. 7 
 
 any particular kind of machine. Under these conditions all the 
 machines sold by the regular implement dealers in any one town were 
 made by a relatively small number of manufacturers. When ma- 
 chines made by other manufacturers were sold, the sales were made 
 directly to the farmer himself, or through some one not engaged in 
 the implement business as a regular dealer. 
 
 In addition to the limited number of regular implement dealers in 
 a given locality, the large amount of capital required to handle 
 threshers, binders, and other expensive machinery has frequently 
 made it difficult for manufacturers in these lines to find satisfactory 
 local agents. Indeed, the thresher manufacturers have for years 
 made a large proportion of their sales directly to the farmer or job 
 thresherman, paying the local dealer a commission when he assists in 
 making a sale. Local agents handle binders, but almost always on a 
 commission contract, and are often assisted by the manufacturer's 
 canvassers, experts, and collectors. Wagons, manure spreaders, and 
 other somewhat expensive implements are sometimes sold on commis- 
 sion, but more often on such long time that the economic relations 
 between the dealer and the manufacturer are practically the same. 
 Furthermore, the sales contracts used by the big plow houses leave 
 title in the seller until payment,^ and often provide that credit on 
 unsold goods shall extend into the next season. 
 
 Under the system of distribution in the farm-machinery trade 
 outlined above, except where monopolistic conditions of manufac- 
 ture appeared, the business was peculiarly open to severe competition 
 in prices or terms. In other industries, where the entire output of a 
 manufacturer is taken by the jobbing trade, the temptation to cut 
 both wholesale and retail prices is probably less continuous and less 
 urgent than for the implement manufacturer, whose salaried em- 
 ployees and agents are called on to make prices on thousands of 
 individual sales throughout the season. So, also, there is no such 
 inducement to make concessions in other industries in which the 
 capital required in distribution is smaller and in which it is not 
 necessary to employ so many trained and experienced men. Fur- 
 thermore, in few trades of such importance are there so many retail 
 dealers who enter the business without special training and who, at 
 the close of each season, are so ready to close out their business 
 and realize on their entire investment by a price-cutting campaign. 
 
 An important counteracting influence is found, however, in the 
 fact that the goods are almost entirely articles having a brand name 
 and established custom. In building up this custom the dealer plays 
 an important part, and it is to his interest to keep the agency of the 
 lines he has promoted and to prevent any excessive price cutting 
 
 » The use of the so-called " title " clause in agency contracts with dealers is referred to 
 elsewhere. (See p. 80.) 
 

 FAKM-MACHINEBY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
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 therein. In some lines of implements, moreover, the prestige, or the 
 monopoly position of certain manufacturers, is so great that they can 
 almost always obtain the best dealers and discontinue business with 
 those who are less desirable. They are able not only to fix their 
 wholesale prices but also to exert a strong influence on the retailer 
 with respect to the prices at which the goods shall be sold to the 
 
 farmer. 
 
 Both the competitive and the monopolistic factors in the industry 
 have, in different ways, contributed to a certain instability in the 
 business and have had an influence in inducing the formation of 
 trade associations. 
 
 Associations or manufacturers. — ^The National Wagon Manu- 
 facturers' Association was the first trade organization of any con- 
 siderable importance in the farm-machinery industry. Its records 
 give an account of a meeting as early as December, 1879. There 
 were a number of meetings in 1880, but disagreements in regard to 
 price policy soon developed, and the records show only one meeting 
 in the years 1881-1885. Several meetings were held in 1886 and 
 1887, this period of activity ending in an attempt to form a pool. 
 Annual meetings were resumed in 1891 and have been held regularly 
 
 since that year. 
 
 Manufacturers of threshing machinery met to discuss credits to 
 purchasers in 1884 and 1885, and organized an association in 1888. 
 Manufacturers of binders met at Chicago in September, 1885, and 
 discussed the price situation. The attitude of a single company 
 defeated all attempted agreements. A similar attempt failed in 
 January, 1888, because one company objected to the arrangement 
 for enforcing agreements. Efforts to cooperate for mutual ad- 
 vantage were also made by manufacturers of com planters in 1887, 
 pumps in 1888, hay presses in 1889, and binder twine in 1890. In 
 July, 1899, a meeting of grain-drill manufacturers held in Chicago 
 indorsed an advance of 15 per cent in wholesale prices. No associa- 
 tion appears to have been formed until June, 1902, when representa- 
 tives of a number of the factories met* and organized the National 
 Association of Grain Drill Manufacturers. 
 
 During the eighties several associations of plow manufacturers 
 were organized. All were shortlived except the Northwestern Plow 
 Association, which was organized in 1887. That association met 
 occasionally during the nineties. In June, 1899, the name was 
 changed to the Northwestern Plow & Implement Association, and 
 manufacturers of com planters, disc and lever harrows, and culti- 
 vators were invited to join. Failure of efforts to establish standard 
 prices appears to have caused the members to lose interest in the 
 association. It is claimed that few, if any, meetings were held after 
 
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 ORGANIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF ASSOCIATIONS. 9 
 
 1903 and that the association had virtually passed out of existence 
 in 1907, when the National Plow Association was formed. 
 
 No organization of manufacturers to cover the whole implement 
 
 1^ field was attempted, apparently, until the early part of 1894, when 
 
 the representatives of some 20 prominent concerns in various branches 
 of the industry met at Chicago and organized the National Associa- 
 tion of Agricultural Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers to attend to 
 matters of common interest. Although the implement trade at that 
 time was suffering from an overproduction of machines following a 
 
 ^ falling off in the demand on account of the crisis of 1893, no attempt 
 
 appears to have been made to restrict the output of the different 
 ^ ^ members nor to influence the prices and terms of their sales. 
 
 To reduce the expenses of membership in two or more organiza- 
 tions and to secure a greater degree of uniformity by vesting control 
 of common interests in a single association, a consolidation of several 
 
 A, of the principal associations was proposed in 1909. When this 
 
 proposition was first made some opposition developed among mem- 
 bers of the plow and wagon associations, who feared that if the plan 
 should be carried out it would limit the effectiveness of their work. 
 
 / The plan of organizing special departments for the different 
 
 branches of the trade appears to have met this objection, and the 
 
 f- National Association of Agricultural Implement & Vehicle Manu- 
 
 facturers, the National Wagon Manufacturers' Association, the 
 National Plow Association, and the National Association of Grain 
 Drill Manufacturers were reorganized as. the National Implement & 
 Vehicle Association in January, 1911. 
 State and interstate associations of dealers. — ^During the 
 
 '♦ eighties attempts were made here and there to organize the dealers 
 
 for the improvement of conditions in the retail implement trade. 
 The most ambitious of these was a convention of the " Retail Imple- 
 ment Dealers' Association of the West and Northwest," held in 
 
 J Chicago in September, 1885. This association failed to obtain desired 
 
 cooperation from the binder manufacturers and apparently never 
 
 # held a second meeting. In the same way nothing further is heard 
 
 of the Implement Dealers' Association of Northern Iowa, after a 
 meeting at which its members assented to a schedule of retail prices 
 prepared early in 1886. 
 
 Hardly three years later, however, an association was organized 
 which, since 1888, has steadily promoted the interests of the retail 
 
 1^ implement trade. A meeting of a few dealers was held at Kansas 
 
 City in the fall of 1888, and as a result, in February, 1889, the asso- 
 ciation of Kansas Retail Implement Dealers was organized. Two 
 years later, having admitted members from other parts of the 
 Kansas City jobbing territory, most of whom were located in Mis- 
 
10 
 
 FARM-MACHINEBY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 souri, its name was changed to "The Western Retail Implement 
 Dealers' Association," and later the word "Vehicle" was added. 
 Since January, 1914, it has been the Western Retail Implement, 
 Vehicle & Hardware Association. In 1889 there were about 20 
 members; in the fall of 1913 about 1,600. 
 
 In other sections of the country the early efforts of the dealers to 
 cooperate through associations were not so successful. For example, 
 a dealers' association in the Red River Valley of Minnesota and 
 North Dakota was reported to be making a success of cooperative 
 buying in 1889, but nothing further is heard of it. The Northwest- 
 em Implement Dealers' Association was organized in St. Paul, Minn., 
 in 1889, and in the early nineties State and interstate associations 
 were organized in Illinois, Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, 
 Michigan, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Missouri. Some of these were 
 very active for a time, but most of them accomplished very little. 
 
 Smaller associations continued to be organized— a district asocia- 
 tion in northeastern Nebraska in 1894; one in North Dakota and one 
 in southeastern Nebraska in 1895; one in northern Iowa in 1897, and 
 another in 1898; one in Montana in 1899; and one in southern 
 Nebraska about 1900. Toward the end of the nineties it became 
 clear that the Western association had demonstrated that there was a 
 field of work in which State and interstate associations could be per- 
 manently successful. It is a matter of no surprise, therefore, that 
 about that time the dealers organized or became more active in Ohio, 
 Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, North 
 Dakota, South Dakota, and Texas. 
 
 The most notable step in the organization of the retail trade was 
 taken in 1900, when the National Federation of Implement & 
 Vehicle Dealers' Associations was established. Delegates from the 
 Western association, Illinois Retail Implement Dealers' Association, 
 Iowa Implement & Vehicle Dealers' Association, the Nebraska & 
 Western Iowa Implement Dealers' Association, and Retail Imple- 
 ment Dealers' Association of South Dakota, Southwestern Minnesota 
 & Northwestern Iowa met in Chicago September 21, 1900, to form 
 a central organization to represent the general interests of the various 
 State and interstate associations. The estimated membership of the 
 associations represented in 1901 was about 2,000 dealers. 
 
 In October, 1913, the Federation represented the 16 associations^ 
 lliven below : 
 
 Western Retail Implement & Vehicle Dealers' Association. 
 
 Iowa Implement Dealers' Association. 
 
 Tri-State Vehicle & Implement Dealers' Association. 
 
 »At tlie last annual convention. In October. IftU. representatlvea were present from 
 two other aasociatlons, namely, the Pacific Northwest Hardware 4 Implement AaaociaUoo 
 and the Montana Implement Dealers' Association. 
 
 OBGANIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 11 
 
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 Michigan Retail Implement & Vehicle Dealers' Association. 
 
 Minnesota Retail Implement Dealers] Association. 
 
 Texas Hardware & Implement Association. 
 
 Illinois Retail Implement Dealers' Association. 
 
 Wisconsin Retail Implement & Vehicle Dealers' Association. 
 
 Mid-West Retail Implement Dealers' Association. 
 
 Retail Implement Dealers' Association of South Dakota, 
 Southwestern Minnesota & Northwestern Iowa. 
 
 Colorado Retail Hardware & Implement Association. 
 
 The Mississippi Valley Implement & Vehicle Dealers Asso- 
 ciation, -r 1 J. T-W 1 7 
 
 North Dakota & Northwestern Minnesota Implement Dealers 
 A-Ssociation. 
 
 Virginia & North Carolina Retail Implement, Machinery & 
 Vehicle Dealers' Association. 
 
 New York State Retail Implement & Vehicle Dealers Asso- 
 ciation. O TT I.- 1 
 
 Pennsylvania & New Jersey Retail Implement & Vehicle 
 Dealers' Association. 
 
 Their combined membership amounted to over 5,000 dealers. 
 
 Local clubs.— Local clubs developed more slowly than the State 
 and interstate associations. As early as 1896 the Western associa- 
 tion recognized the importance of such organizations. Later, sev- 
 eral State associtions undertook to establish local clubs to deal with 
 local competitive conditions, especially the matter of prices. In 
 October, 1907, it was reported to the National Federation that the 
 movement had not been as general as had been hoped for. In recent 
 years, however, the development of the cost educational movement 
 has been attended by a vigorous growth of local clubs. (See pp. 
 
 218-243.) 
 
 Recently a number of district associations have been formed as 
 branches of State or interstate associations among dealers in south- 
 em Michigan, central Michigan, northwestern Ohio, and northern 
 Illinois. They assist in the work of the larger associations, and also 
 of the local clubs in the same territory. 
 
 Section 3. Early activities of associations. 
 
 To enhance the profits of their members is the prime motive of trade 
 associations. Fixing a satisfactory price seems an easy way to solve 
 the problem. It is not surprising, therefore, that a proposed advance 
 of 25 per cent in the wholesale price of farm wagons December 16, 
 1879,* is the first notable item found in implement-association records. 
 In September, 1885, the Retail Implement Dealers' Association of the 
 West & Northwest, just organized (see p. 9), asked the harvesting- 
 
 ■ ' 
 
 lOn the above date the National Wagon Manufacturers' Association advanced the price 
 of the standard farm wagon from $52 to $65. In February, 1880, there was another 
 advance but, on reports of retail sales at $75 and of new manufacturers starting up, the 
 price was reduced In May. Soon afterwards the leading concern asserted its Intention to 
 make its own prices. 
 
12 
 
 FABM-MACHINBBY TRADB ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 machine manufacturers to fix the retail prices of binders, which were 
 regarded as being abnormally low, and to make the dealers forfeit their 
 commission on all sales, if they cut these prices. The binder manu- 
 facturers failed to grant the requests of the dealei-s. However, at that 
 time and later the commission-agency contracts of some companies 
 fixed the ntail price which the dealer was supposed to maintain un- 
 der the terms of his contract In the same year the Northwestern 
 Plow & Cultivator Association was said to have checked the alleged 
 "ruinous" downward course of prices in their products.* In May, 
 1886, the Implement Dealers' Association of Northern Iowa agreed 
 on a schedule of prices for various machines. 
 
 In 1886 and 1887 the members of the National Wagon Manufac- 
 turers' Association attempted to form a pool. Production in excess 
 of an allotted proportion was to be penalized. In the fall of 1887 the 
 Northwestern Plow Association was hoping to relieve the situation 
 by cutting down the output of its members, and it was reported in 
 October of that year that uniform prices at a slight advance had been 
 established. Apparently, the association secured a temporary im- 
 provement in the situation, but in the fall of 1888 the failure of the 
 association to "restore" prices was ascribed to the refusal of the 
 smaller manufacturers to adhere to association prices and the conse- 
 quent general violation of association rules. 
 
 Apparently, associations of implement manufacturers have never 
 attempted to exclude competitors as a means of restricting competi- 
 tion in prices. As early as 1885, however, the regular retail imple- 
 ment dealer had become convinced that profits could be protected 
 only by excluding irregular competition— that of the blacksmith, the 
 general storekeeper, the grain-elevator man, and the farmer-agent. 
 This is shown in one of the suggestions of the Retail Implement 
 Dealers' Association of the West & Northwest to the binder manu- 
 facturers in that year, which reads as follows: 
 
 Do not sell or appoint as agent any person who is not a legiti- 
 mate implement dealer.* 
 It does not appear, however, that anything was accomplished at 
 
 that time. 
 
 Association efforts similar to those noted continued intermittently 
 throughout th6 decade, but they did not prevent a large reduction in 
 implement prices from 1880 to 1890. Lower prices were the result 
 of cheaper raw materials, improved manufacturing processes, larger 
 output by individual concerns, and energetic competition among 
 manufacturers. Moreover, the machines were being improved from 
 year to year. The following prices for machines at Fort Dodge, 
 
 ipiow mannlartiirerB In other sectlong of tbe country were working along the same 
 
 Ilnea. 
 •A UmltatkMi of the output wai also urged. 
 
 OEGANIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 13 
 
 ^ 
 
 ')% 
 
 m 
 
 
 «. 4 
 
 # 
 
 ^ I 
 
 Iowa, are believed to be representative of the decline referred to 
 above: Binders sold for $315 in 1880 and for $130 in 1890; 14:-inch 
 walking plows for $28 in 1880 and $14 in 1890; standard farm 
 wagons for $85 in 1880 and $50 in 1890. The decline in the average 
 price of 10 implements in general use was over 50 per cent. 
 
 While efforts to raise prices were predominant in early associa- 
 tion work, reductions of cost were by no means entirely neglected. 
 An expense annoying to manufacturers has always been that result- 
 ing from the abuse of the manufacturer's warranty by customers. 
 Modification of the wagon warranty was one of the topics discussed 
 at the National Wagon Manufacturers' Association meeting in De- 
 cember, 1879. A conference of southern wagon manufacturers was 
 called in April, 1888, to obtain, if possible, a reduction of the wagon 
 warranty from 12 to 6 months. It was claimed in 1888 that the 
 Northwestern Plow Association had reduced the selling costs of its 
 members. An important topic in the discussions of the thresher 
 manufacturers' association, organized in 1888, was methods of 
 reducing losses on credits. 
 
 The organization of the Western Retail Implement, Vehicle & 
 Hardware Association^ in February, 1889, was in part for the 
 purpose of bringing the combined influence of the members to bear 
 on certain "methods adopted by the Kansas City Association of 
 Implement Dealers^ in loading goods." The association expressed 
 its belief that these methods constituted " an attempt to force us to 
 buy of certain manufacturers." Transportation questions early en- 
 gaged the attention of the associations. In 1893, one of the associa- 
 tions cited the following cause of complaint: 'The inequality of 
 freight rates charged by railroad companies, and the very great 
 reluctance manifested by said railroad companies in paying for goods 
 damaged, broken or lost by the carelessness of their employees." 
 
 Proposed changes in the tariff and State legislation hostile to for- 
 eign corporations in Michigan appear to have been the immediate 
 reasons for the organization of the National Association of Agri- 
 cultural Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers, which occurred on 
 April 18, 1894. In addition to questions of State and National legis- 
 lation and litigation in matters of common interest to its members, 
 the association at once turned its attention to transportation and 
 credit problems. The scope of its activities increased, and that of its 
 successor, the National Implement & Vehicle Association, now covers 
 the field indicated by the list of its standing committees.* 
 
 iThen the Association of Kansas Retail Implement Dealers. 
 
 ■ This association was compof?ed of the wholesale dealers or jobbers at Kansas City. 
 
 • The list of standing committees in 1914 is as follows : Advisory committee (composed 
 of former presidents) ; agricultural extension; attorneys and litigation; credits and col- 
 lections; dealers' associations; foreign commerce and tariff; freight transportation; in- 
 snrance; manufacturing costs; membership; National legislation; patents; State legis- 
 lation; and workmen's accident compensation. 
 
14 
 
 FABM-MACHINERY TBAOE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 It is evident, therefore, that associations in the farm-machinery 
 trade even in their early years appreciated the importance of reduc- 
 ing costs. They realized, however, that cost reduction was of no 
 value without maintenance of prices. The course of prices has always 
 been the matter of first concern with them. It is desirable, there- 
 fore, before attempting further consideration of their activities to 
 review some of the characteristics of farm-machinery prices. 
 
 Variation in types of machines and their equipment as made by 
 different manufacturers has always been a marked characteristic of 
 the farm-machinery industry. This lack of a common type has ren- 
 dered impossible any satisfactory statistical treatment or comparison 
 of prices. Indeed, it has been impracticable to determine what should 
 be accepted as standard types of wagons, plows, harrows, binders, 
 etc., even for a single season. As will be shown later in Chapter II, 
 the efforts of the wagon association and the plow association to secure 
 standardization of the products of their members have been both 
 energetic and persistent Their purpose is evident. The desired har- 
 mony in prices could not be secured unless there was some way of 
 determining the actual relation existing between the prices of differ- 
 ent manufacturers. 
 
 The difficulties in the way of establishing a standard plow are 
 strikingly illustrated by the fact that as late as 1910 an official of a 
 leading plow concern estimated that it was making 2,000 different 
 styles of plow bottoms. Differences in equipment interfere with 
 standardization quite as often as difference in design. For example, 
 in 1907 the secretary of the National Plow Association was endeavor- 
 ing to ascertain from the members which of nine different articles 
 they included in the regular equipment of their gang plows. The 
 great variation possible in the equipment of farm wagons is illus- 
 trated by the list of extra parts shown in Exhibit 13, page 266. 
 
 Differences in design and equipment are baffling, but added to these 
 are the frequent changes in materials; iron or steel have been sub- 
 stituted for wood, canvas for leather, pressed steel for malleable 
 
 iron, etc 
 
 Another marked characteristic of the business has been the manu- 
 facturer's discrimination in prices to different customere and in dif- 
 ferent localities. Discrimination almost invariably creeps in even 
 under circumstances most favorable for maintaining uniform prices 
 to different customers. It may appear in the price itself, m changed 
 discounts, in special service— canvassing, exporting, advertising, 
 etc.— in freight allowances, in extra parts, or in extra equipment. 
 The methods are too numerous to mention and are often carefully 
 
 concealed. 
 
 Variations in prices on the same article in a single season are 
 doubtless due partly to the uncertainty of the manufacturer or dealer 
 
 V* 
 
 m 
 
 \ 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 ORGANIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 15 
 
 in regard to what competitors are doing and partly to the fact that 
 machines left on hand at the end of one season may depreciate in 
 value before the opening of the next. This price variation may be 
 illustrated by the retail prices of farm wagons for one season. The 
 Bureau found retail prices for 3J-inch skein standard wagons in 1911, 
 running from $60 to $100. The prices of one that had a very large 
 sale ranged from $65 to $90, while another leading make sold in one 
 State as low as $62 and in an adjoining State as high as $85. These 
 figures might easily convince an association price committee that 
 prices had not been satisfactorily maintained. 
 
 Such conditions, also, make it difficult to determine the general 
 price level for a given season. Although satisfactory statistical 
 treatment is, therefore, impracticable, some facts in regard to imple- 
 ment prices are clearly established. The very great decline in prices 
 from 1880 to 1890 has already been noted, although the exact extent 
 is difficult to determine. Old machines, old horses, and old cows 
 were often taken in trade at fictitious values. During this period the 
 6-foot binder was sold to farmers as low as $65 in some instances, 
 and at least as late as 1888 as high as $175. In August, 1890, an 
 implement-trade paper reported that binder prices had never been 
 more irregular and competition never more reckless than in that year. 
 In June of the same year it reported the price of the binder in the 
 United States as "about $145." Taken altogether, the evidence is 
 convincing that the average retail price in that year was above $100 
 and below $130, but it would be impossible to obtain an estimated 
 average worth considering. 
 
 This uncertainty of prices in the binder business largely due to the 
 manufacturers' practice of contracting with irregular dealers (see 
 p. 12), seriously affected the whole implement trade and for years 
 was the chief concern of the retail dealers' associations. The better 
 class of dealers had always been bitter against the use of the binder 
 manufacturers' canvasser, which was later denounced by the Western 
 association as " an unnecessary expense, a most prolific source of price 
 cutting, and a demoralization of trade, not in keeping with good 
 business principles." The dealer and canvasser, working together, 
 often sold at lower prices, on longer terms, and to poorer credit risks 
 than the dealer would accept when working alone. The attempts 
 made in the eighties to have the binder manufacturers fix the retail 
 price have already been noted. Later some of the leading manufac- 
 turers printed retail prices in their contracts, and the attempted con- 
 solidation of binder manufacturers in the fall of 1890 fixed the retail 
 price of a 6-foot binder in its contracts at $135. Nevertheless, in 
 January, 1892, the president of the Western association said that 
 competition had brought profits so low that in many cases it was a 
 question how long the dealer could hold out. 
 
18 
 
 FARM-MACHINEBY TBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 In view of these conditions, representatives of all the binder manu- 
 facturers, who were really pushing their business in the great grain- 
 growing section, met in Kansas City in December, 1891. As the 
 result of this meeting a petition was forwarded to the general offices 
 of the 11 companies represented, asking them to fix the wholesale and 
 retail prices of their products. 
 
 In January, 1892, the Western association of dealers adopted the 
 following resolution: 
 
 That it is the sense of the meeting that the wholesale manufac- 
 turers do away with canvassers and agents and that the price 
 given to these agents be taken from the price of the implements 
 and given to the retail dealer, and that the manufacturer through 
 his agent will cancel any contract with any retail dealer that is 
 found cutting prices during the season. 
 In the same year the chairman of the Western association's har- 
 Toeler committee wrote: 
 
 What we desire of manufacturers of harvesting machinery is 
 
 that • ♦ ♦ they d^ould say how their goods should be sold, 
 
 have fixed prices on the goods, and compel all agents to maintain 
 
 prices and terms * ♦ *, 
 
 Similar views were frequently expressed by representatives of the 
 
 dealers at that time. 
 
 At the close of the year 1893 the demoralization of prices in the 
 harvesting-machine trade was reported to be as bad as ever, and it 
 was stated that the efforts of the manufacturers to prevent price cut- 
 ting had been frustrated by some manufacturer taking advantage of 
 any agreement by cutting prices, but that a strong dealers' association 
 could control the situation. 
 
 In January, 1894, the harvester committee of the Western asso- 
 ciation reported that the manufacturers recommended "that the 
 retail implement dealers should establish a uniform retail price 
 among themselves." At the same meeting, however, the president of 
 the Western association said: 
 
 It is not the province of this association to regulate prices in 
 any way. It would be impossible if undertaken. 
 
 State associations in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Illinois gave 
 considerable attention to prices in this year, and a local association in 
 northeastern Nebraska is reported to have successfully maintained a 
 fetail-price schedule during the season of 1894. 
 
 The results obtained by the associations in their attempts to improve 
 conditions in the harvesting-machine trade were so unsuccessful that 
 during the second half of the decade most of the State associations 
 either disbanded or practically suspended operation. The Western 
 association not only maintained its existence but continued to grow. 
 It held steadily to the price policy announced in 1894, but neverthe- 
 
 OBGANIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 17 
 
 
 # 
 
 less continued its efforts to bring about conditions under which retail 
 prices would be maintained or advanced to a more profitable level. 
 
 The Implement Dealers' Bulletin, established by the Western asso- 
 ciation in 1896, was effective in this work. In 1896 it advocated the 
 organization of local clubs as of paramoimt importance. In 1897 
 special attention was given to the maintenance of territorial lines 
 between agents for the same machine. In 1898 a letter was published 
 suggesting that the manufacturers establish the margin of retail 
 profit. But always the editor was urging the responsibility of the in- 
 dividual dealer to maintain a profitable price. It does not seem pos- 
 sible that the cordial relations arising from the annual conventions 
 and continued admonitions of the Bulletin could have failed to have 
 an appreciable influence on retail prices. 
 
 It is not possible to measure the effects of these efforts to stop 
 price cutting. The degree of success of dealers' associations in accom- 
 plishing their purposes appears to have been largely measured by the 
 number of members represented by its officers or committeemen in 
 their negotiations with manufacturers. State and interstate associa- 
 tions of dealers had, however, materially curtailed the number of 
 direct and irregular sales, even when their members constituted a 
 relatively small proportion of the total number of all dealers in the 
 territory represented. Nevertheless, a single dealer outside the influ- 
 ence of the associations could demoralize the trade of an entire county. 
 Consequently, in later years, though the organized dealers continued 
 to be active in soliciting members for their State and interstate asso- 
 ciations, they became even more desirous of securing the membership 
 of all eligible dealers for their local clubs. 
 
 An account has already been given of the organization of the 
 National Association of Agricultural Implement & Vehicle Manu- 
 facturers in 1894. This association took much the same attitude 
 toward wholesale prices as the Western association toward retail 
 prices. The wagon manufacturers and the plow manufacturers con- 
 tinued their meetings throughout the decade. It is not clear from 
 the fragmentary information available that anything was accom- 
 plished except to maintain more harmonious relations than would 
 otherwise have existed and to give the different manufacturers more 
 exact information as to the prices of their competitors. 
 
 Apparently, implement manufacturers and implement-dealers were 
 not greatly interested in association work in the later nineties, be- 
 cause the great prosperity of the American farmer in 1897-1899 
 brought with it equal, if not greater, prosperity for the implement 
 business. At the close of the nineteenth century, however, the costs 
 of raw materials in the implement industry showed a marked in- 
 crease. For 20 years the manufacturers had pushed the substitution 
 68248'— 15 2 
 
.-,1 
 
 
 FARM-MACHINEBY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 of iron and steel for wood. But even with the relatively decreased 
 demand for wood materials the supply of hardwood was being ex- 
 hausted in certain sections and its price was going up. The effect 
 of the earlier large combinations in the steel industry and the world- 
 wide boom in this industry which occurred at the close of the decade 
 showed itself in the closing months of 1899, when prices averaged 100 
 per cent higher than in December, 1898. At Pittsburgh gray-forge 
 pig iron had advanced from $9.25 to $21.75, Bessemer pig iron from 
 $10.45 to $25, and steel billets from $15.25 to $43. 
 
 These conditions, which considerably reduced the very large profits 
 of the years immediately preceding, brought the associations in other 
 branches of the industry into renewed and effective activity and 
 facilitated the combination of the chief binder manufacturers in a 
 single company. The effects on the costs of farm implements are 
 well illustrated by data available in regard to the binder business. 
 A binder that cost $38 in 1898 and 1899 cost $50 in 1900. The aver- 
 age price of all binders of this make sold in 1899 was about $90; in 
 1900, a little less than $100. The aggregate cost of all machines 
 sold in 1898 by one of the largest binder manufacturers would 
 be increased about 17 per cent, if 1900 costs for the different ma- 
 chines were substituted for the 1898 figures. The advance in its 
 average selling price was about 9 per cent. Sales of machinery, not 
 including repairs or twine, which amounted to between $19,000,000 
 and $20,000,000 in 1898, for a certain group of companies increased 
 to almost $29,000,000 in 1902. In spite of this increase of practi- 
 cally 50 per cent in sales, statements from companies which did this 
 business show that the net profit thereon fell off very markedly. 
 These data show further that their cost of producing $100 worth of 
 harvesting machinery in 1898 was only $42, while in 1902 it had in- 
 creased to $51.* Their selling expense had also increased from $21 
 in the earlier to $27 in the later year, and in consequence the profit 
 declined from 37 per cent on net sales in 1898 to 22 per cent in 1902. 
 Even imder these circumstances, however, they earned a high rate of 
 profit on their investments. The average price realized for all 
 binders sold by these concerns in 1900 was nearly $105, and in 1902 
 less than $100. During these years, as earlier, concessions were fre- 
 quent, and in some cases large. 
 
 While no such precise data are available in regard to the situation 
 in other branches of the industry, there is evidence that the factory 
 cost of farm wagons, plows, and seeding machines also increased. 
 
 The annual meetings of the wagon manufacturers during the 
 nineties have already been referred to. Although in 1891 it was an- 
 nounced that their object was not to advance prices, nevertheless 
 
 ^This increased manafacturlng cost was probably in part doe to the growing export 
 trade and the larger production of rakes. 
 
 'tt\ f H 
 
 •1> 
 
 
 
 
 OEGANIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 19 
 
 ft w 
 
 prices continued to be their principal interest. In 1895, for example, 
 a resolution adopted by the association asserted that an advance of 
 over 50 per cent in the prices of material made an increase in selling 
 prices necessary. In the two following years a conmiittee worked on 
 the preparation of a uniform price list, but on December 15, 1897, 
 this committee reported " that owing to the difference in construction 
 of the various wagons made by the members of the association, it is 
 impossible to formulate a uniform price list." 
 
 The only meeting of the wagon association in 1897 was the one at 
 which it received this report. There is no record of any meeting in 
 1898. The members seemed convinced of the impracticability of 
 /) filxing prices, and consequently of the futility of association work. 
 But the latter conviction, if it existed, was short lived; in 1899 the 
 association met seven times. Increased cost of materials and the 
 necessary advance in prices was almost the only topic discussed. At 
 a meeting April 6, 1899, 15 members gave estimates of the increase in 
 cost of materials, which ranged from $3.45 to $5.07 per wagon. Two 
 methods of dealing with prices were suggested at this meeting, 
 namely, information as to each other's prices and independent action 
 in advancing prices. At a meeting on June 21 an even more marked 
 increase in costs was reported, and on September 6 the association 
 recommended that prices for January 1, 1900, should be 20 per cent 
 higher. 
 
 In 1899 the wagon manufacturers sought to obtain a more powerful 
 means of controlling prices, namely, the consolidation of the leading 
 factories. Early in the year about 20 companies signed an agreement 
 to combine their interests, but apparently they were not able to satisfy 
 New York underwriters as to the prospects for a wagon trust. The 
 project was not given up, however, for from time to time during the 
 next 10 years different schemes were brought to the attention of trust 
 promoters, and it was not until 1909 that apparently the conviction 
 was forced upon the advocates of consolidation either that wagon 
 manufacture did not lend itself to trust manipulation or that greater 
 activity in the enforcement of the antitrust acts made such a course 
 dangerous. 
 
 Information in regard to the plow situation is even less definite 
 than that in regard to wagons. The same evident dissatisfaction 
 with the results of association work ended in an attempted combina- 
 tion of interests in 1899. As the completion of the consolidation 
 would necessarily take time, in order to meet the immediate emer- 
 gency due to increased cost of materials, in Jime, 1899, the association 
 recommended an advance of 20 per cent on plows, corn planters, 
 harrows, and cultivators to take effect on the business of 1900. 
 
 In the meantime, plans for the consolidation of the plow industry 
 met with a much greater degree of apparent success than attended 
 
20 
 
 ]fABM-MACHIN£BY IBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 * 
 
 like efforts of the wagon manufacturers. In 1901 the American Plow 
 Co. was incorporated, and stock was to be taken by nearly all the 
 leading plow manufacturers, but finally the refusal of one or tw© 
 important concerns to enter the combination defeated the whole 
 project. Practically all effort at cooperation appears to have been 
 abandoned until 1907. 
 
 Up to the period of high cost beginning with 1899 the grain-drill 
 manufacturers had cooperated in an informal manner, and as mem- 
 bers of the National Association of Agiicultural Implement & 
 Vehicle Manufacturers. The National Association of Grain Drill 
 Manufacturers was formed in 1902. Apparently, however, some of 
 the strongest manufacturers were convinced that association effort 
 could not satisfy their purposes, and in March, 1903, about half the 
 coimtry's output of grain drills was consolidated in the American 
 Seeding Machme Co. 
 
 The organization of the International Harvester Co., in August, 
 1902, brought about 90 per cent of the binder production and over 
 80 per cent of the mower production under the control of that com- 
 pany. The formation of this consolidation was followed by the sub- 
 stantial elimination of price concessions to dealers, although no 
 formal advance was made in prices for several years. 
 
 "^ 
 
 « 
 
 «V) 
 
 m * 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 f. VA 
 
 CHAPTEK II. 
 
 WHOLESALE PEICE ACTIVITIES OF MANTTTACTUEERS' 
 
 ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 Section 1. Introduction. 
 
 \ Trade associations of implement manufacturers have made various 
 
 efforts during the last 15 years to advance prices for the benefit of 
 their members. In view of the great complexity of implement-price 
 statistics (see p. 14) , the great amount of time and expense necessary 
 for the examination of accounts of individual companies, the wide 
 variety of conditions involved in the operations of different concerns, 
 and numerous other factors affecting the movement of prices that 
 would have to be taken into consideration, it is impracticable to 
 measure accurately the results of these efforts. The official records 
 of these associations indicate, however, that a considerable influence 
 has been exercised on prices, and sometimes they indicate its extent. 
 They also show, at least in part, the methods which were adopted to 
 influence the course of prices and the purposes which actuated the 
 associations and their members. 
 
 The general advance in commodity prices during the last 15 years 
 is a matter of common knowledge. During this period substantial 
 increases have taken place in the wholesale and retail prices of dif- 
 ferent kinds of farm machinery and implements, though in some 
 branches there have been at times marked decreases. Generally 
 speaking, data gathered by the Bureau relative to the prices for these 
 years show comparatively little uniformity of movement, and for 
 most branches of the business the movements of prices might be 
 largely accounted for by changes in the cost of production and dis- 
 tribution or other normal influences of supply and demand. Never- 
 theless, the prices of farm machinery have been frequently influenced 
 to some extent, in some cases by monopolistic conditions and in others 
 by concerted action of members of associations in particular branches. 
 
 In some branches of the farm-machinery industry where advances 
 had been particularly marked, improvements in the machines or 
 advances in the cost of materials probably account in a large meas- 
 ure for the increase in prices. For example, the advance in the 
 prices of farm wagons has been especially notable, amounting to 
 possibly 25 per cent, but during the period under consideration the 
 
AjS 
 
 9ABM-MAGHIKEBY TRADE ASSOGIATION& 
 
 WHOLESALE PBICE ACTIVITIES. 
 
 23 
 
 advance in the cost of materials used by wagon makers has probably 
 been even greater. Materials, however, are only one element in 
 the cost of production, and an advance in the cost of materials may 
 be offset by reductions in cost in other directions, so that the total 
 cost is not necessarily increased. For example, the margms between 
 total costs and prices for the International Harvester Co. for most 
 kinds of machines were higher from 1908 to 1911 than from 1903 
 to 1907. However, for farm wagons, that concern, while doing about 
 15 per cent of the business in the United States in 1910 and 1911, was 
 making only a small profit thereon.^ 
 
 In general, the farm-machinery business in the United States has 
 been prosperous for well-managed concerns. The net earnings of 
 the International Harvester Co. in 1911 were nearly three times its 
 earnings in 1904. Furthermore, according to figures compiled by 
 that company, the aggregate outstanding capital stock of 304 of its 
 competitors increased from about $46,000,000 in 1902 to $228,000,000 
 in 1912-13. Of these 304 companies, 107, or over one-thu'd of the 
 total, were organized after 1902. Much of the new capital has been 
 invested in the manufacture of farm engines, tractors, etc., the use of 
 which has increased rapidly in the past few years. The number of 
 new concerns formed to manufacture some of the older lines, such as 
 plows, farm wagons, or grain drills, forms a relatively small propor- 
 tion of the total. Such information as is available in regard to these 
 branches of the trade does not indicate that the associations of manu- 
 facturers producing these lines succeeded in enhancing prices in any 
 marked degree. Nevertheless, the concerted activities of the associ- 
 ations clearly show intent on the part of their members to increase 
 prices and profits. 
 
 In the following sections of this chapter is given an account of 
 the activities of the various associations in regard to wholesale prices 
 and terms, particularly agreements, recommendations, and measures 
 calculated to produce a general enhancement of prices. 
 
 Section 2. Activities of the National Wagon Mannfactnren' Association. 
 
 The rapid advance in the cost of materials for farm wagons dur- 
 ing 1899 and the consequent revival of association activity on the 
 part of the manufacturers in that line have already been noted. 
 (See p. 19.) At the meeting in September, 1899, when they decided 
 to advance prices 20 per cent, a committee was appointed to receive 
 estimates of costs and selling prices, but this action was reconsidered, 
 as only about 10 of the 20 members present were prepared and willing 
 to furnish these figures. 
 
 ^ Bei»ort of the Commissioner of Corporations on ttie International Harvester Co., p. 241. 
 
 il); ' ' 
 
 », 
 
 ^. 
 
 
 i*4 
 
 At the next meeting, on November 22, 1899, a greater degree of 
 confidence in each other prevailed among the members. In address- 
 ing the members the president ascribed unsatisfactory prices to 
 mutual distrust and said that the worth of the association was in 
 establishing confidence among its members. He held that informa- 
 tion " coming from first hand " would steady the members and take 
 away the fear which prompted them "to make ridiculously low 
 prices." 
 
 Full discussion followed regarding advances each manufacturer 
 expected to make in 1900. At its close a committee on classification 
 of wagons was appointed, and each one present promised to bring 
 \ to the next meeting his estimate of the cost, f . o. b. factory, and the 
 selling price of a 3-inch and 3i-inch wagon, with 26-inch poplar box, 
 lazy-back spring seat, gear brake, and box brake. A motion "that 
 all the discussion as taken down by the stenographer be eliminated 
 entirely from the minutes of this meeting, and that it shall not be 
 written out at all in longhand," was carried. Thus, they established 
 the policy of free confidential discussion of each other's costs and 
 prices, and study of actual conditions, which was effectively con- 
 tinued through 1900 and 1901. 
 
 At the meeting in December, 1899, reports of members on costs and 
 selling prices were collected. These reports showed a striking dif- 
 ference in costs and prices. The costs of a 3J by 10 inch skein, 
 28-inch double-box farm wagon, IJ by | inch tire, lazy-back spring 
 seat and box brake, f. o. b. factory, ranged from $30.65 to $46.70; 
 the lowest time prices to dealers, in carload lots, from $47 to $61.56 ; 
 to jobbers, from $43.25 to $54.50.\ 
 
 Thus, wagons answering to the same general description showed 
 variations in cost of over 50 per cent. These differences can be 
 accoimted for by differences in specifications, in volume of output, 
 and in efficiency of production, and partly also by differences in 
 the method of cost accounting. Only the first of these conditions 
 would have any considerable effect on quality. Therefore, the prices 
 to dealers given above, which vary over 30 per cent, probably in- 
 dicate the actual difference in the wagons themselves more accurately 
 than the costs. 
 
 As already noted (see p. 19), a committee had been appointed in 
 1896 to formulate a uniform price list for farm wagons. Conviction 
 of the impracticability of this plan led to its abandonment. It ap- 
 peared practicable, however, to attempt the formulation of a uniform 
 price list for tires and extra depths of boxes, and the committee was 
 continued for that purpose. This was a simpler task, but the fol- 
 
 * Apparently, the confidence of the manufacturers In each other was not so strong that 
 the reports from different manufacturers were submitted to anybody but the committee 
 which averaged them. The records were destroyed. 
 
24 
 
 1"ABM-MACHINEBY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 lowing remarks of the chairman of the committee at the meeting of 
 December 20, 1899, are quoted in full, because of the indication 
 they give of the difficulties of price control by the wagon manufac- 
 turers: 
 
 We got together to-day to try and get some kind of a report 
 to present but ran against a great many obstacles and we come 
 to you now for a little instruction. In the first place, one gen- 
 tleman figures his iron at 2 cents; another at 2i cents, and a 
 third at 2| cents. One man thinks he ought to figure iron at 
 just what it costs him, and I believe in figuring at a little above 
 cost, and then there was a question as to whether it was desired 
 that we present a report as to the net amount to be charged extra 
 for different widths and thicknesses of tires on different sizes of 
 wagons, or whether we should present a list price. If a list 
 price, then we have got to know something about the discount 
 you want to figure. If a net price, we want to know something 
 about how you figure your profit, and what profit do you want 
 to make? 
 
 My idea was that we figure all wide tires on a basis of 2^ 
 cents; we figure iron at 2^ cents; it may not be that price to-day. 
 It is possible some wagon makers buy it cheaper than that. It 
 will cost at our place $2.26, while here in Chicago it will prob- 
 ably be $2.28 or $2.29, and at some places over $2.40. 
 
 We are not very far off on boxes, yet we do not exactly know 
 how to present that report, whether we shall figure what the net 
 price, or the gross price shall be. 
 
 I would like to hear some expressions of the gentlemen here 
 as to how they are accustomed to figure these things. I think in 
 figuring wide tires you want to leave yourself some leeway, and 
 I will say right here for myself that we are in the habit of figur- 
 ing all our tire on the basis of. 2^ cents for iron, and then to our 
 jobbers we figure to get 25 per cent profit over that. I figure the 
 cost of a set of wheels with regular tires, and I figure the cost 
 of a set of wheels with all variations and thicknesses and that 
 is the difference in the cost; that takes in your labor and your 
 wide rims, and the difference in making the weld and setting the 
 tires. 
 The committee was instructed to assume that iron used in the 
 manufacture of farm wagons cost $2.30 f. o. b. Chicago and poplar 
 lumber $40 per M feet. They were also instructed to take no account 
 of the cost of certain accessories, namely, grain cleats, antispreader 
 chains, and top-box fasteners. 
 
 The actual extent, and also the lack of uniformity, in the advances 
 made as the result of the resolution adopted in September, 1899 (see 
 p. 19) , is indicated by statements by representatives of the different 
 companies October 30, 1900, which read, in part, as follows : 
 
 Company 1: " Our advance January 1, 1900, over January 1, 1899, 
 was $8.50.'^ 
 Company 2 : " Our advance, $8, over January 1, 1899." 
 
 ] ' 
 
 WHOLESALE PRICE ACTIVITIES. 
 
 25 
 
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 VI. 
 
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 4 
 
 ^ ■', •■# 
 
 L 
 
 Company 3 : " January 1, 1899 was a low-water mark in prices and 
 our maximum advance was $10." 
 
 Company 4 : " Can not give exact figures but our advance in price 
 was $7 only." 
 
 Company 5 : " Have reduced price $2.50 from highest notch and are 
 now $5 over January 1, 1899." 
 
 Company 6: "* * * an advance of $4.50." 
 
 Of the 27 concerns that reported, 10 gave either $10 or 20 per cent 
 as their advance on January 1, 1900. 
 
 A drop in the price of iron in the early part of 1900 caused a meet- 
 ing of the association to be called, in the belief that some of the manu- 
 , facturers might be inclined to reduce the price of wagons. The fol- 
 T lowing is a list of questions, which were answered by the 29 members 
 * present at this meeting held in April, 1900 : 
 
 (1) Have you made any concessions in prices since last meet- 
 ing? 
 
 (2) What do you think will be the course of the market in iron 
 and other material during the next few months? 
 
 (3) Do you think it advisable to make any reduction on the 
 present price of wagons ; if so, how much ? 
 
 (4) Will you agree to maintain present prices of wagons, imtil 
 neit meeting of the association? 
 
 (5) What is your situation in labor? 
 
 At this meeting a member asserted that as the members had stood 
 together on an advancing market they should do so on a declining 
 one. The prevailing answer to question 4 in the list above was that 
 prices would be maintained if other manufacturers maintained them ; 
 that is, there was a definite agreement to maintain existing prices, 
 although there was no uniformity in those prices. 
 
 After full discussion by the members the following report of a 
 committee was indorsed at the meeting of April 26, 1900 : 
 
 Your committee concludes that there is nothing in the present 
 situation which justifies any change in the price of wagons. 
 
 That while the price of iron is slightly lower, indications are 
 that a further material reduction will not occur in the immediate 
 future. 
 
 That the price of lumber is being maintained and dry stock 
 more difficult to procure. 
 
 That increase in the cost of production of wagons is greater 
 by reason of the increased cost and scarcity of labor. 
 
 That the present dull period was anticipated some time ago 
 and your committee advise that the members of this association 
 proceed with confidence to maintain their established prices. 
 
 In September, 1900, however, because of the considerable reduction 
 in the price of iron, although wood stock and other material and 
 labor had not fallen, the association voted that if any member of the 
 association deemed it necessary to reduce prices such reduction should 
 
20 
 
 FABM-MAGHINEBY TEABB ABSOGIATIOK& 
 
 I 
 
 not b© more than 5 per cent below January 1, 1900, prices. On Octo- 
 ber 30, reductions were reported, as follows: 
 
 Company 1 : " Have reduced $2.50." 
 
 Company 2 : " * * * we reduced nearly $3.'* 
 
 Company 3 : " Have now reduced it $2." 
 
 Company 4 : "Advanced $10 and reduced to $7.** 
 
 Company 5 : " * * * have made no reduction.** 
 
 Company 6 : " We have made no reduction under high prices, ex- 
 cept in two cases." 
 
 Company 7: "We figure our present prices same as January 1, 
 1900." 
 
 Nearly all reported reductions since the beginning of the year, but 
 
 apparently prices were still over $5 higher than in the previous year. 
 One of the members said, " Prices are up now and we ought to keep 
 them up." 
 
 In May, 1901, members reported their cost of production under 
 the following instructions: 
 
 Please fill out this sheet and bring it to the next mer;ting 
 May 29, 1901. 
 
 Do not sign, or make any other marks of identification. 
 
 Please give your costs on the following wagons, and figure 
 on the regular style, two-horse, cast-skein farm wagon, such 
 as sold the Mississippi Valley trade, and do not include anti- 
 spreader chains, top-box holders, nor grain cleats. 
 
 Gears and beds (poplar) separately. 
 
 I* * * ♦ # # • 
 
 In figuring costs please be careful to include all material, 
 labor and expense (general and incidental) ; in fact, total costs 
 for delivery on board cars at your factory. Except coat of sell- 
 ing. Base your figures on cost of May 15, 1901. 
 
 A compilation was made from these reports, but the descriptions 
 are so indefinite that the figures are of slight value. They show the 
 same wide range of costs as before. At this meeting the association 
 recommended an advance of 5 per cent on all shipments after July 1, 
 1901, but in November, 1901, one-third of the members reported that 
 they had made no advance. About the same number reported an 
 advance of 5 per cent. 
 
 The year 1902 was marked by dissatisfaction with old methods of 
 work and* the adoption of new ones. It was asserted that the low 
 prices complained of were due to lack of knowledge in regard to 
 costs of production and distribution quite as often as to pressure of 
 competition. A meeting on April 23, 1902, was devoted principally 
 to an elaborate explanation of costs by one of the members. This led 
 the association to enter into a " cost-finding campaign," referred to 
 the next year as " the most important work yet undertaken by this 
 association." 
 
 In the discussion of costs by different members at the time of the 
 institution of the cost-finding campaign it was brought out that the 
 
 WHOLESALE PBICE ACTIVITIES. 
 
 27 
 
 i|» 
 
 ♦ 
 
 i« -*' 
 
 4> 
 
 "4 
 
 u 
 
 charge for general expenses, or " co-expense," as it was called, varied 
 from 38 per cent of shop-labor cost to 153 per cent of that cost. The 
 total cost of a wagon as determined by reports at this meeting in 
 April, 1902, varied from $35 to $48.37, with an average of $42.43. 
 The records of the association, however, give no specifications for 
 the wagon on which reports were made. It was voted unanimously 
 " that each member pledges his word of honor that he will go home 
 and figure in detail the present cost of his wagons and add to them 
 a fair profit and immediately change his present selling price in 
 accordance, regardless of what price his competitor is making." A 
 form of schedule for collating costs on a uniform basis was pro- 
 vided for the use of members. No rule appears to have been estab- 
 lished, however, as to what was a fair rate of profit. Moreover, it 
 is obvious that this method alone fails to bring about uniformity 
 of prices, inasmuch as two concerns making substantially the same 
 kind of wagon, but with different costs of production, would have 
 to make different prices for substantially the same article. 
 
 During 1902 a committee was appointed to take into consideration 
 the possibility of improving terms of credit. It was found that 
 any joint action in regard to terms was not feasible, and two years 
 later the committee was discharged. 
 
 An attempt to establish prices for tires in 1900 had apparently 
 worked successfully, and the policy of making prices on parts was 
 carried still further in 1902 by a vote that the selling prices of boxes 
 and extra top boxes should not be less than 10 per cent over the aver- 
 age cost as shown in the cost compilation. A price of 35 cents apiece 
 was also established for lock chains, which had been furnished free 
 by a considerable number of manufacturers up to that time. An at- 
 tempt to fix the price at 25 cents a set for top-box fasteners failed. 
 A committee on publicity was appointed for the purpose of spread- 
 ing information in regard to the low return on investments in wagon 
 manufacture and discouraging new enterprises. 
 
 Recognizing that the great variation in wagons was unnecessary 
 and made list prices on complete wagons impossible, a committee was 
 appointed in the latter part of 1902 to make up standard specifica- 
 tions based on the old Government standard wagon. A committee on 
 cost accounting and one on the general reorganization of the associa- 
 tion were also appointed. It had been found that the terms of manu- 
 facturers' contracts with jobbers interfered in some cases with ad- 
 vancing prices, but before the close of 1902 all members of the asso- 
 ciation who sold through jobbers reported that their contracts pro- 
 vided for advances in price in accordance with advances in the cost 
 of materials. 
 
 Relatively small results were obtained during 1903. The com- 
 mittee on costs pushed its work energetically throughout the year. 
 
28 
 
 FABM-MACHINBBY TBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 A report from the committee on standardization was accepted, but 
 apparently without direct results. The recommendation made by the 
 committee on reorganization, for the employment of a commissioner 
 who should have control of and regulate prices in the different 
 localities for each manufacturer, giving due consideration to the 
 usual difference in prices of the various brands of wagons, was con- 
 sidered, but a new committee was appointed to formulate a plan for 
 the better maintaining of prices.* A committee on labor statistics 
 was also appointed and did more or less work during the year, but 
 apparently without any important result. 
 
 On February 3, 1904, the committee, which was appointed in the 
 preceding November, to formulate a plan and recommend measures 
 by which prices could be better maintained made a report.^ This 
 report outlined the plan which formed the basis of the subsequent 
 price policy of the association, and it should be noted that a similar 
 policy has been followed by associations in other branches of the 
 farm-machinery industry since that time. Starting from the ac- 
 cepted fact that, because of variations in the specifications of various 
 factories, it would be impossible at that time to fix standard selling 
 prices for complete wagons, the committee recommended as a first 
 step the establishment of a minimum price on boxes. It recommended 
 that this, if successful, be followed by similar action in respect to 
 other parts, such as seats, brakes, and extra width and thickness of 
 tire. The preparation of list prices for a complete wagon, with uni- 
 form variations of price in accordance with variations in specifica- 
 tions, was suggested as a possible future undertaking. 
 
 The committee recognized that the proposed work was one that 
 could not be carried through successfully without thorough organiza- 
 tion and the expenditure of a considerable amount of money. It 
 recommended that an assessment should be levied upon each member 
 of the association equal to one-quarter of 1 per cent upon the shop 
 pay roll for the year 1903; that a committee, to be known as the 
 executive committee, consisting of from 9 to 12 representative manu- 
 facturers, should have charge of the work, and should employ a 
 competent man as secretary. This secretary should gather detailed 
 information as to materials, construction, estimated costs, and sell- 
 ing prices under the direction of the executive committee, and should 
 tabulate the information and present it to the committee without 
 mentioning the names of members. The committee should then 
 prepare a schedule of minimum prices on wagon boxes for different 
 
 iThe committee was known as the Reorganlaatlon Committee. Its members were 
 F. D. Suydam, of the MUbum Wagon Co., Toledo, Ohio ; W. C. Nones, of the Kentncky 
 Wagon Manufacturing Co., of Louisville, Ky. ; E. Louis Kuhns, of the Studebaker Bros. 
 Maimlacturing Co., of South Bend, Ind. ; C. A. Gelger, of the Troy Wagon Works Co., of 
 Troy, Ohio ; and F. L. Mitchell, of the Mitchell ft Lewis Co., Ltd., of Bacine, Wis. 
 
 * This report will be found In full as Exhibit 11, |^ 2M» 
 
 WHOLESALE PRICE ACTIVITIES. 
 
 29 
 
 4 
 
 classes of the trade based on this report and send a copy to each 
 member of the association. This report should be the unanimous 
 recommendation of the committee, and upon its adoption by the 
 association all members thereof should agree to be governed thereby 
 in their business. 
 
 This plan was submitted to all members by mail. At the commit- 
 tee meeting on April 15, 1904, it was reported that 39 concerns, 
 having a pay roll of $2,500,000, were in favor of putting it into 
 operation; 6, having a pay roll of $150,000, were opposed, and 11, 
 with a pay roll of $270,000, were undecided. The committee then 
 took charge of the work.^ They were asked to open their accounts 
 to the secretary for evidence on prices and terms for boxes and other 
 parts of wagons. This information was to be divulged to no member 
 of the committee or of the association. At this meeting it was rec- 
 ommended that a member representing the Southeastern Department 
 of the association should be added to the committee. 
 
 In carrying out the recommendations of the committee, the work of 
 standardizing specifications and prices for parts of wagons was first 
 undertaken. The secretary was instructed to obtain and tabulate 
 information relative to wagon boxes, extra or tiptop boxes, box 
 brakes, and spring seats. Each manufacturer participating was 
 requested to send a copy of his latest catalogue and price list at once 
 to the secretary. Shortly afterwards the question of standardizing 
 wheel heights was taken up, and also the sizes for extra widths of 
 tires on standard farm wagons for all territories. A schedule of 
 charges for tires ^ adopted in October, 1900, was readopted in August, 
 1904, as minimum prices to dealers, prices to jobbers being 12 J per 
 cent less. It was voted that this list apply to all wheels regardless 
 of height. Later, in 1904, a minimum price was adopted for gear 
 brakes and for box brakes. 
 
 At a meeting of the committee in August, 1904, it was decided that 
 the minutes should be made to read "recommend" instead of 
 "agree." The proceedings of the association in September of that 
 year make it clear, however, that there was a definite purpose to 
 
 ^ In the meantime six more members were added to the five that had already been 
 appointed (see footnote on p. 28). The committee then became known as the " Wagon 
 Makers* Committee " or the " Committee of Eleven." Later it became the executive com- 
 mittee of the association. The six members added were as follows : H. M. Kinney, of the 
 Winona Wagon Co., of Winona, Minn. ; W. H. Weber, of the Weber Wagon Co., of Chicago, 
 111. ; W. Schuttler, of the Peter Schuttler Co., of Chicago, 111. ; W. A. Rosenfleld, of the 
 Moline Wagon Co., of Moline, 111. ; George R. James, of the James & Graham Wagon Co., 
 of Memphis, Tenn. ; and Frank Slosson, of the Bain Wagon Co., of Kenosha, Wis. Sub- 
 sequently, C. F. Milburn, of the Chattanooga Wagon Co., of Chattanooga, Tenn., also 
 became a member of the committee as the representative of the southeastern department 
 of the association, a separate organization composed of a number of farm-wagon oiana- 
 facturers in the Southeastern States. 
 
 « See Exhibit 15, p. 271. 
 
30 
 
 FABM-MACHINEBY TRADE ASSOCIATIONa 
 
 establish fixed prices on all parts sufficiently unifonn in character 
 to make that course practicable. Their own opinion as to the char- 
 acter of this policy is indicated by a vote of the association that— 
 
 No member of this association in adopting any of these recom- 
 mendations mention the association or this committee — that it be 
 done of their own volition and that it is not proper information 
 for the travelers, jobbers or dealers. 
 
 In September, 1904, the association adopted the recommendation of 
 the committee that a 26 inch by 10 foot 6 inch box, the shop cost of 
 which was $10.52, should be sold to the jobber for $11.50 and to the 
 dealer for $13. Other prices recommended and adopted were as 
 follows: 
 
 lO-indi «xtra top box 
 
 Two-leaf spring seat, with lazy back. 
 Feed boxes 
 
 The allowance for grain cleats was fixed at 50 cents for metal and 
 25 cents for wood. It was also decided " that the present prices for 
 wagons shall be rigidly maintained for the coming year." 
 
 In 1905 the work toward a more uniform product was pushed 
 vigorously. In June standardized wheel heights were adopted, and 
 the number of the different heights of wheels was reduced to five. 
 It is said that 41 heights of wheels had been made by different manu- 
 facturers. The secretary made a preliminary report on terms, and 
 was instructed to select a territory in which it would be easy to bring 
 about a favorable change and try to secure the views of the manufac- 
 turers and jobbers and bring them together in conference. At this 
 meeting the roll call of the members indicated that a large majority 
 had complied with the resolution fixing prices on various parts of 
 wagons. One of the manufacturers claimed that his concern had 
 already saved several thousand dollars on minor parts in this way. 
 
 At a meeting in November, 1905, the association decided to advance 
 prices on 3i-inch wagons not less than $2 on January 1, 1906, .with a 
 proportionate advance on other sizes. At the same meeting the 
 secretary reported that he had made arrangements for a conference 
 with jobbers and manufacturers at Kansas City on the subject of 
 terms. The executive committee suggested " that the parties in in- 
 terest • • • confer, with the object of bettering the conditions 
 on terms." The association was pledged to lend all assistance 
 
 possible. 
 
 The progress of the work of the association gradually brought 
 out the fact that its new policy looked to a more definite control of 
 
 WHOLESALE PBICE ACTIVITIES. 
 
 31 
 
 f 
 
 ^' ' 1^ 
 
 ■~4 
 
 prices and that the secretary was expected to investigate prices re- 
 ported to him as below the recommendations of the association. 
 Members were urged to give careful attention to their costs and to 
 compilations of selling prices furnished them from information 
 gathered by the secretary. Those who found their selling prices 
 below the average were urged to advance them. In order to enable 
 the secretary to carry on his work more effectively, in November, 
 1905, it was recommended — 
 
 That it be agreed that each member will, when called upon to 
 do so, furnish to the secretary original papers such as letters, 
 bills, contracts, for his information and guidance only. 
 
 He was also instructed to visit each of the factories after this 
 advance in price was made effective in order to verify the selling 
 prices of the different manufacturers. 
 
 In January, 1906, the secretary issued a bulletin beginning as 
 follows : 
 
 The sole purpose of this bulletin is to learn from each member 
 the status of his prices for 1906 with relation to the increased 
 cost and the resolution passed at our meeting November 16, 1905. 
 
 Inclosed with this bulletin was a list of questions.* Concerning 
 these questions, the secretary said: 
 
 We must have the complete restoration of faith and confidence 
 in each other, consequently only frank and absolutely depend- 
 able answers will do to the questions I ask you to answer on the 
 accompanying sheet. 
 
 During 1906 the association gave considerable attention to costs 
 of materials and standardization in order to reduce such costs, and 
 work was undertaken for improving conditions in the retail trade. 
 (See pp. 58 and 218.) Nevertheless, the principal interest of the 
 association continued to be their effort to establish satisfactory prices. 
 At a meeting of the executive committee in March it developed that 
 existing methods were not satisfactory, because they allowed "con- 
 siderable latitude on the part of individuals and the recommendations 
 of the association [were] not carried out in a way that seemed desir- 
 able." In the hope of obtaining better results, the secretary was 
 instructed to ask manufacturers for " prices, terms of sale, discount 
 for cash and place of delivery, upon which such wagons are sold to 
 jobbers, semi jobbers, and retail dealers " in " Kansas City territory," 
 "Minneapolis territory," "Southern territory," etc. 
 
 It was also decided that when the association recommended an 
 advance in prices " the trade shall be notified thereof by circular let- 
 ters or postal cards, all of even date, to be mailed from each factory 
 days before the date set for such new prices to go into effect." 
 
 » This Ust of questions is shown In full In Exhibit 12, p. 265. 
 
O'CI 
 
 FASM-HACM1N£B¥ TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 These notices were to be mailed on receipt of advice from the secre- 
 tary and on a day to be fixed by him. 
 
 The practice of a full discussion of costs, which had apparently 
 worked so satisfactorily in the years following 1899, was continued. 
 At a meeting in March, 1906, 17 manufacturers reported the increase 
 in cost of producing a 3J-inch standard wagon over that of January, 
 1005. These reports varied from $2 to $4.05. 
 
 There was more or less^ anxiety in regard to the legality of work 
 that was being undertaken by the association. In July the execu- 
 tive committee submitted their proposed recommendations in regard 
 to prices to their attorneys, who advised them " to go ahead " and 
 that it would be safe to include the words " 5 per cent " in recom- 
 mending the advance. The attorneys considered that the fact that 
 prices at which wagons were sold were not uniform and that the 5 
 per cent advance was merely recommended rendered the whole trans- 
 action legal so far as the Sherman act or State antitrust statutes 
 were concerned. Upon this assurance of the legality of their pro- 
 cedure, the association adopted the recommendation of the executive 
 committee : 
 
 That every member of the association prepare a letter notify- 
 ing their trade, including jobbers, of an advance of 5 per cent 
 over present prices, to take effect from and after the date the 
 secretary notifies them to send them out, and that the secretary 
 notify them to date and send them out when he has received a 
 copy of printed letter from every member of this committee and 
 from such other members of the association who are not members 
 of this committee as the secretary may deem necessary. 
 
 Up to September 17, 1906, the secretary had received from 34 dif- 
 ferent manufacturers their letters announcing this advance, which 
 were to be sent according to his instruction on September 15. 
 
 At an executive committee meeting later in the year the secretary 
 called attention to the differences in the cost figures submitted. It 
 was admitted by all that mistakes had been made, that the subject of 
 costs was not thoroughly understood by all members, and that it was 
 essential to have accurate figures to work upon in determining what 
 course to pursue in the matter of prices. Nevertheless, one member 
 of the committee said : 
 
 The question of costs of your wagons given in the association 
 will do and has done more to bring the wagon business up to 
 where it is now than any other one subject. 
 
 This comment is interesting because of the claim for effective 
 work by the association. In this connection the member said: 
 
 While we can not undertake to regulate selling prices, we 
 can educate those that are making these lower reports as to their 
 costs, and we can accomplish a whole lot of good that will not 
 show in open meeting, but will show in personal results. 
 
 WHOLESALE PBICE ACTIYIHES. 
 
 33 
 
 
 4 
 
 Commenting on these remarks, the president of one of the impor- 
 tant companies advocated additional help for the secretary, saying : 
 
 An association with the money invested that this association 
 has, can well afford to spend $2,000 or $3,000 a year more money 
 if we can by doing that get a balance wheel for everybody, and 
 a man in whom we have confidence that when he shows us or 
 tells us that we are in error regarding what the other fellow is 
 doing that we will believe him. ♦ ♦ ♦ Now, if I have been 
 in error to start with I will continue to be in error, but if he 
 finds that I have figured a certain wagon much below the aver- 
 age, why, when he comes to our place, he says, "How do you 
 figure that a 3 J wagon figures what you have ? Let me see your 
 figures ? " and I give them out, and he says, " You are wrong on 
 your wheels," or You are wrong on your gear; " I am only too 
 glad to change it as I am getting expert help at a minimum cost. 
 
 In spite of the dissatisfaction with results referred to above, it was 
 reported that estimates of the money value of the association made 
 by different members were very gratifying and showed that the dues 
 paid by the members were profitable investments. 
 
 Reports to the secretary late in 1906 and early in 1907 illustrate 
 the great range in prices received by manufacturers for 2-horse farm 
 wagons. The prices reported were the lowest at which the manufac- 
 turer would sell. In Kansas City and Dallas territory, minimum 
 cash prices on 3J-inch wagons to the dealer by carloads at the factory 
 varied from $51.30 to $65. The time prices for the same wagons 
 were $54 and $70. There is no information available as to the 
 maximum prices received by the individual manufacturer, but if they 
 were known the variation shown above would probably be increased. 
 
 However, uniformity is not essential to a general advance in prices, 
 and at a meeting in March, 1907, it was voted to recommend that 
 every member immediately prepare a letter notifying his trade of an 
 advance of 5 per cent in his prices on wagons, extras, and repairs, 
 to take effect as soon as the members should be notified by the sec- 
 retary that he had received a printed letter announcing the inten- 
 tion of every member of the executive committee to make the ad- 
 vance, and also of as many other members as the secretary might 
 deem necessary. The secretary fixed April 20 as the date when the 
 advance should go into effect, and members were urged to send their 
 letters promptly to the trade. An inquiry made by the secretary 
 shortly afterwards indicated that the advance had been made by 
 almost every member, as well as by the International Harvester Co. 
 and the Studebaker company, two of the largest manufacturers of 
 farm wagons outside the association, and also by various jobbers. 
 
 In June, a similar inquiry was made to ascertain the extent to 
 which the advances on tires, boxes, and extra boxes recommended by 
 68248'— 15 8 
 
t) 
 
 S4' 
 
 FABM-MACHINEKY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 the association had be^ put into effect. It was found that the recom- 
 mendations had been followed by nearly all the members. The 
 secretary announced his intention of visiting the factories of various 
 members who had not put the recommendations into effect, in order to 
 take the matter up with them. 
 
 Meantime, several members appear to have become apprehensive 
 that the action taken by the association in advancing prices was 
 illegal, and at a meeting of the executive committee held in June, 
 1907, the secretary read several communications from members on 
 the subject and stated that he had replied to them that the associa- 
 tion was in no way violating the National antitrust laws, and that 
 there seemed no grounds for apprehension, as the work and procedure 
 of the association was and had always been merely recommendatory 
 •ind in violation of no law. A committee was appointed to report on 
 the matter later if necessary. A few days later the secretary issued a 
 bulletin on the subject of antitrust legislation. This read, in part, 
 as follows: 
 
 The three essential points to the National act and the real basis 
 of all State acts on this question are these : 
 The entering into a fixed or binding agreement between two or 
 
 more persons. 
 
 The fixing of price on any article of commerce. 
 
 The controlling or regulating of the volume of output of any 
 article of commerce. 
 
 You certainly are aware that we do not do any one of these 
 three things, for in every case, whatever advice we give, it is 
 merely in the nature of a recommendation with no penalW at- 
 tached to its nonacceptance or nonperformance, and I am frank 
 to say to you that we never passed a recommendation that was 
 carried out unanimously by every member of the Association, 
 and were it not for the fact that the large majority who receive 
 these recommendations recognize their wisdom and business 
 value, they would amount to nothing, as every member is at lib- 
 erty to accept or reject them at his pleasure, so that in following 
 the recommendations that we pass you are not violating the law 
 any more than if these recommendations or suggestions were sent 
 out in book form as the wisdom of some individual author; so 
 I trust if you have any apprehension on this score, this explana- 
 tion, which is based on fact, will dispel it 
 
 This matter was again taken up for consideration at a meeting of 
 the association held at Chicago in September, 1907, and on advice of 
 an attorney who had been consulted it was voted " that the actions 
 of this association recommending minimum or fixed prices for extra 
 wagon boxes, spring seats, brakes, lock chains, or any other parts of 
 wagons, be now rescinded and that all such action be expunged from 
 the minutes." One of the members present called attention to the 
 fact that this resolution only expunged those recommendations that 
 
 f 
 
 <! 
 
 tV 
 
 i 1 
 
 ^^ 
 
 4 
 
 WHOLESALE PEICE ACTIVITIES. 
 
 35 
 
 established fixed prices, but still left in effect the percentage ad- 
 vances that had been recommended both on wagons and the parts of 
 wagons. 
 
 The general question had already been considered by the executive 
 committee at a meeting held just prior to the meeting of the general 
 association. The point was raised whether, in view of the fact that 
 questions were continually coming up as to the legality of the proceed- 
 ings under the antitrust laws, it would not be well to have some 
 attorney present at all meetings of the executive committee and of 
 the association, so that if members got " on dangerous ground " the 
 attorney could check the matter " then and there." One member of 
 the committee said : 
 
 My idea is that there is a good deal in the phraseology you use, 
 and we can pass the resolution and then let the secretary consult 
 with the attorney and put it in the proper shape to avoid trouble, 
 but the substance, the meat in the resolution, can be preserved. 
 
 At a meeting of the executive committee held at this time an 
 advance in the prices for 1908 was recommended. Although a major- 
 ity of the members of the association favored an advance of 5 per 
 cent, it was voted to recommend that the members of the association 
 should not take any orders for shipment beyond March 1, 1908, at 
 the prices then prevailing. An effort was also made to improve the 
 terms on which wagons were being sold. 
 
 It was thought that the increase in the costs of manufacture justi- 
 fied better prices for wagons, and in this connection the secretary sug- 
 gested that at definite times in each year the questions of costs and 
 price adjustment should be considered, and that each manufacturer 
 should fix certain dates between which orders might be taken at prices 
 then prevailing. 
 
 A little later the effects of the financial depression of 1907-8 
 began to be felt. At a meeting of the executive committee in Decem- 
 ber, 1907, it was decided that under the existing conditions it would 
 be unwise to suggest any price policy for 1908 except to recommend 
 that the existing prices be maintained and that no wagon maker 
 should take orders for shipment later than July 1 except at an 
 advance. A meeting of the association was also held in December 
 1907, at which a resolution was adopted urging its members to 
 discontinue the use of the commission contract, and further resolu- 
 tions were passed defining the terms for commission contracts when 
 used, and fixing maximum terms on straight sales in different sec- 
 tions of the United States. The object in both cases was to shorten 
 terms of credit as much as possible. In June, 1908, the recommenda- 
 tion in regard to terms was reaffirmed by the association, and " each 
 member was urged to continue shortening their selling terms in every 
 territory wherever possible." 
 
S6 
 
 FABM-MACHINERY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 At the meeting in December, 1907, the members of the association 
 also voted to cooperate in furnishing information to a committee ap- 
 pointed for each distributing territory to look into the subject of a 
 standard price list and equipment for complete wagons. In carrying 
 out this plan the secretary issued a bulletin in February, 1908, which 
 read, in part, as follows: 
 
 You will recall that at one of our recent meetings the pre- 
 paring of a STANDAiu) or UNIFORM PRICE LIST was recommeuded. 
 Tliis proposition has been before the wagon manufacturers 
 several times during the past 25 years, and although much de- 
 sired, never has been quite successful; but as nothing of this 
 character is impossible, we are going to make another effort, 
 which I am sure will be successful with your cooperation. 
 
 Our first attempt will be to find a base wagon, and to ascer- 
 tain how a standard wagon should be equipped in each sellmg 
 territory, which will draw the line between necessary equipment 
 and extras that are often given awav and unnecessary. 
 
 Another benefit that should be derived is the equalization of 
 differences that now exist between sizes of the same description 
 
 of wagon. ...... .11 i_ . *^ 
 
 We trust, therefore, that special attention will be given to 
 
 filling out and returning promptly the enclosed blanks, which 
 
 we are only sending to those akeady having trade m certain 
 
 selling territories. 
 As a result of the investigation thus undertaken, a list of standard 
 equipment for each territory was adopted by the association in 
 December, 1908.^ (See Exhibit 13, p. 266.) 
 
 The industrial depression of 1908 was especially trymg for manu- 
 facturers of farm wagons. For several years sales had been pushed, 
 and the falling off in demand found large stocks in the hands of the 
 dealers. Under these conditions factories were not operated on full 
 tune. In April, 1908, the executive committee recommended to the 
 association that the curtaihnent of production, which had apparently 
 been initiated by the manufacturers severally, be continued and that 
 selling prices be maintained. The secretary reported that the 5 per 
 cent advance in prices that had been recommended in 1907 had not 
 only been made effective, but had been maintained during the inter- 
 vening months of light trade. In June, 1908, the association re- 
 affirmed the recommendations regarding output and prices that had 
 been adopted in April. It was felt by some of the members that as 
 overhead expenses had not decreased in proportion to sales it would 
 hardly be fair to take costs as a basis for selling prices. 
 
 Some idea of the strain under which the industry was laboring 
 at this time may be obtained from the fact t hat the number of 
 
 iln referring to the purpose of making this compilation, the secretary made the follow- 
 inc remarks at a meeting of the executive committee in April. 1908 : 
 
 thit^tU^e^s^m^s?^ ':Jr.o'lVl^^^^.x:kl^^^^^ 
 
 £ ihat is U8^^ the territory, and prevent a member going into a new terrltorj. 
 SrMshlng a lot of extras not required and without charge. 
 
 ^ 
 
 WHOLESALE PRICE ACTIVITIES. 
 
 37 
 
 H 
 
 %^ 
 
 »• 
 
 »\ 
 
 •y 
 
 wagon manufacturers as listed by a leading trade paper decreased 
 from 129 in 1906 to 98 in 1909. This was not due to any extensive 
 consolidation of competitors. The executive committee, convinced 
 of the need of exact information in their efforts to improve the 
 situation, agreed to submit to a leading firm of certified public 
 accountants full information as to actual conditions in their busi- 
 ness for the five years 1903 to 1907, inclusive. This seems to have 
 been the first resort to the help of such experts. Apparently nothing 
 was accomplished at that time, but five years later a very complete 
 report on the costs of wagons in the factories of leading members 
 of the association was made by them. (See p. 52.) 
 
 Toward the end of 1908 the trade situation for the farm-wagon 
 manufacturers became even more difficult. The rapidly increasing 
 use of the cheap farm truck, the manure spreader, and the automo- 
 bile was cutting down the demand for standard farm wagons. Of 
 25 manufacturers reporting to the secretary on this subject, 16 said 
 that they were making farm trucks. Many of them admitted that 
 there was very little, if any, profit in this trade. The secretary 
 reported that 36 concerns outside of the association, 20 of which 
 were not wagon manufacturers, were making such trucks, and that 
 they were combined with boxes from outside manufacturers and 
 sold as complete wagons at lower prices than the regular farm 
 wagon. The rapidly increasing business of the International Har- 
 vester Co., which was held to be due to the exceedingly long terms 
 granted by that company, also caused much anxiety. A similar 
 source of uneasiness was the very large cash discount given by the 
 Moline Plow Co. on the Mandt wagon, which was rapidly increasing 
 the wagon business of that concern. 
 
 In spite of these conditions, in October, 1908, the secretary was 
 able to report that there was little price cutting in or out of the 
 organization. He said: 
 
 The answers to Ques. 5 as to continued maintenance of prices 
 need no comments, for after twelve months of dull trade and 
 poor business it shows a wonderful strength of purpose and a 
 most intelligent comprehension of the actual conditions of 
 trade * * *. At several of the fall meetings of industrial 
 associations like our own, a very strong effort has been exerted 
 to have their members realize that manufacturing will be con- 
 ducted under greater rather than less expense than in the past, 
 and any idea of selling the product at lower prices is not to be 
 thought of. 
 
 At a meeting of the association in December, 1908, the conditions 
 of the trade were fully considered, and at the conclusion of the dis- 
 cussion the following resolutions were unanimously adopted: 
 
 That this association recommends an advance of 10 per cent 
 over present selling prices. 
 
38 
 
 FAKM-MACHINBRY TBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 WHOLESALE PRICE ACTIVITIES. 
 
 a9 
 
 That no orders be taken after May 1, 1909, without this 10 
 per cent advance being applied. ^ .oAn 
 
 That no orders be taken between this date and May 1, 190^, 
 for shipment later than May 1, 1909, except at 10 per cent ad- 
 vance over present selling prices. 
 
 That it is recommended that each member send out notice to 
 his selling forces, including traveling salesmen, jobbers, and 
 dealers, of this proposed advance, and that such notice be mailed 
 by or before December 20, 1908, and that a copy of such notice 
 will be mailed immediately to the secretary. 
 The reasons given by the association for this advance may be sum- 
 marized as follows : Greater increase in costs than in prices in the 
 past;^ decrease in profit per wagon during recent years of large 
 trade ; decreased rate per wagon not sufficient to pay fair profits on 
 large investment still necessary under the decreased demand ; in- 
 creased investment because of increased prices of material with the 
 certainty of further increase ; failures of manufacturers under exist- 
 ing conditions; poorer representation in the retail trade because of 
 decreased retail profits; ability of the farmer to pay a fair price, 
 and expectation that the advance would not decrease demand.' 
 
 Shortly after this meeting the secretary reported that he had 
 received notices of the proposed advance from 38 of the 39 members. 
 He reported that two large outside concerns also intended to put the 
 advance into effect, but that they hesitated to confer with repre- 
 sentatives of the wagon association, largely because of the fear that 
 it might have the appearance of collusion and be so advertised. It 
 was estimated that the proposed advance would yield to members 
 an additional profit of approximately $1,500,000. Shortly before 
 the time for the advance to become effective, the secretary reported 
 that no member of the association had notified him that they would 
 not put the advance into effect, and at a meetmg of 29 members held 
 April 28, 1909, all of them announced their intention of makmg the 
 fuU advance of 10 per cent. It was also arranged that invoices for 
 shipments after May 1, when the proposed advance was to go into 
 effect, should show on their face whether the order had been taken 
 before or after May 1. This precaution was evidently taken to pre- 
 vent any of the members from takmg orders at the old prices after 
 the date fixed for the advance. Furthermore, the association 
 adopted a resolution reaffirming the action taken in December, 1908, 
 making the advance apply on wagons, parts of wagons, and extras 
 
 in all territories. 
 It was claimed at this time that the 39 members of the wagon asso- 
 • ciation made three-fifths of the total output of farm wagons. A 
 committee had been app ointed to call upon the International Har- 
 
 lA compilation of retunis from members purported to show that from 1897 to 1907 
 costs bad advanced 42 per cent and prices 30 per cent. ia « 97<L 
 
 . Tbe full text of the letter setting forth these reasons U shown in Exhibit 14. p. 270. 
 
 f 
 
 H 
 
 
 vester Co., the Studebaker Brothers' Manufacturing Co., and other 
 large outside concerns to learn their attitude toward the advance. 
 Delay in putting the advance into effect on the part of some of the 
 outside concerns caused some apprehension, but a little later it was 
 reported that the International Harvester Co. had advanced their 
 prices 5 per cent, and it was announced that this advance of only 5 
 per cent had been made in several other instances. It was found 
 that the members of the association had not met with much success 
 in booking orders at the 10 per cent advance, and that the advance 
 of only 5 per cent made by outside factories had made it imprac- 
 ticable for the members of the association to demand more. Accord- 
 ingly, the executive committee of the association voted in July, 1909, 
 to recommend " to the membership of this association that all orders 
 taken from and after the date of this meeting be at an advance of not 
 less than 5 per cent over prices in effect April 30, 1909." ^ 
 
 There was a tacit understanding entered into at this meeting 
 that the " members of the committee who had voted for the passage 
 of any important recommendation, especially those related to in- 
 creased costs, would notify the secretary in every case where they 
 contemplated changing the general policy in carrying out such rec- 
 ommendations, and that the secretary should have discretionary 
 power to notify the other members of the committee or the associa- 
 tion as he might deem best." 
 
 In commenting on the results, the secretary in November, 1909, 
 
 said : 
 
 We stand on the threshold of 1910 with our prices 5 per cent 
 
 higher than in 1908 as a general thing, and in some cases 10 per 
 
 cent higher. 
 In February, 1910, the secretary of the association sent out a com- 
 pilation of wagon prices in certain specified territories for the infor- 
 mation of members. These prices were those made to carload, cash 
 buyers, f. o. b. factory, with all freight equalizations and allowances 
 of every kind deducted. A somewhat similar list had previously 
 been sent out by the southeastern department of the association (see 
 p. 29) to its members, who were cautioned to note that the prices 
 shown were not regular selling prices of the different concerns repre- 
 
 iThe following comment was made by the secretary when sending this resolution of 
 
 the executive committee : 
 
 As to the certainty of maintaining the five per cent advance there can be no 
 Question for right along our outside competitors have realized the necessity of it 
 and most of them have put on that amount, also the indications that we will have 
 a laree croo and good prices insure it. Let us therefore not be disappointed in not 
 bringing down everything we shot at, for if what we have accomplished during 
 the past six trying months is considered, we have made great gain : 
 
 First. Prevented the lowering of 1908 prices. ,^ .. ,. ^, 
 
 Second. Stimulated some trade early in the year that would not have come ordi- 
 narily, and it has kept us moving. ^ , ^ , .. * ^, #.«.««„«» 
 
 Third Made a five per cent advance absolutely sure by standing for ten per 
 cent till our competitors who might have made none committed themselves to five 
 
 Fourth. Advanced prices and conditions for a better trade basis in 1910. 
 
40 
 
 FARM-MACHINERY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 sented. In January, 1010, the members of the southeastern depart- 
 ment reaffirmed the recommendation made by the association in 
 December, 1908, as to the necessity of an advance of 10 per cent in 
 
 prices. 
 
 The members of the National Wagon Manufacturers' Association 
 held a meeting in May, 1910, at which it was shown that an advance 
 in selling prices made in 1909 approximating 6 per cent was being 
 maintained by all. In October the secretary reported : 
 
 The recommendation passed at last meeting as to the main- 
 tenance of prices then existing has been generally kept, and m 
 some few cases higher prices have been obtained, while lower 
 prices have been made in a few special cases. 
 
 The matter of a uniform net price list for extras or common repair 
 parts was taken up by the secretary in the early part of 1908. He had 
 been instructed to prepare such a list and was authorized to determine 
 the amount of profit that should be added over shop costs and over- 
 head expenses. The difficulties in preparing this list are suggested 
 in a bulletin sent out by the secretary shortly afterwards. In this 
 bulletin he gave the average cost for two members who " look well to 
 their costs," and also the highest and lowest prices to dealers and to 
 jobbers, reported by the manufacturers belonging to the association, 
 on various specified parts of a SJ-inch farm wagon. The costs and 
 prices given were as follows: 
 
 Extra part. 
 
 Axle, with skeins 
 
 Bolster, wood, no stakes. 
 
 Beach, complete. 
 
 Toogae: 
 
 Drop, complete 
 
 stiff, stick 
 
 ETener.... •••*.•**••••. • 
 Neck yoke ■ 
 
 Shop 
 cost. 
 
 tl.M 
 
 .86 
 
 3.00 
 
 L18 
 
 .68 
 
 .40 
 
 Price to dealer. 
 
 Low. 
 
 S3. 88 
 
 .86 
 .79 
 
 rm 
 
 L43 
 
 .47 
 .60 
 
 High. 
 
 K25 
 1.89 
 1.60 
 
 465 
 
 &49 
 1.16 
 1.16 
 
 Price to Jobber. 
 
 Low. 
 
 12.75 
 .78 
 .71 
 
 9L61 
 
 1.35 
 
 .48 
 
 .14 
 
 High. 
 
 13.65 
 L70 
 1.60 
 
 S.90 
 
 118 
 
 .W 
 
 LOB 
 
 The secretary made the following statement in this connection: 
 
 Comment on the above is unnecessary, as fi^r^ show for 
 themselves and also point out the fact that while in some in- 
 stances fair returns are being obtained for these parts, in other 
 cases these extra Jists apparently have not been revised in many 
 years, and with the increase in cost of materials, and workman- 
 ship, these parts are netting the factory little, if anything, above 
 cost. 
 The list prepared by the secretary was submitted by him in Decem- 
 ber, 1908, but as several members considered it too high he was 
 
 ^ 
 
 WHOLESALE PRICE ACTIVITIES. 
 
 41 
 
 1 ' 
 
 1 ^^^^ 
 
 
 directed to revise the list and send copies of it to all members as 
 the recommendation of the association. 
 
 These instructions to the secretary were apparently carried out in 
 1909, and in October, 1910, he was directed to again " furnish a copy 
 of the suggested base upon which to complete list of of catalogue 
 prices subject to any discount which a member might see fit to make." 
 
 It was understood that the prices of this list should be net prices, 
 subject only to a regular cash discount of about 5 per cent. It was 
 pointed out that if members desired to use the same discount as 
 quoted on wagons it would be necessary only to increase the amounts 
 to the extent that when discounted they would bring the same net 
 results. It was suggested that the members' old price lists of extras, 
 made when wood materials were low in price, needed revision not 
 only to " correct " the margin of profit but also to prevent loss. The 
 later revision of the list in 1912 by a committee of the farm-wagon 
 department of the National Implement & Vehicle Association is 
 referred to elsewhere. (See p. 50; also Exhibit 16.) 
 
 Since 1911 the farm-wagon department of the association has con- 
 tinued the work of the National Wagon Manufacturers' Association. 
 Various phases of its activities are referred to on pages 47-M. 
 
 Section 3. Activities of the National Plow Association. 
 
 Before the National Plow Association was first organized, in April, 
 1907, some understanding had apparently been reached by the various 
 plow manufacturers in regard to the classification of common types 
 of walking plows.* At any rate, immediately following the organi- 
 zation of that association, the members proceeded to adopt a schedule 
 of list prices for steel walking plows and lever harrows, with speci- 
 fied differential charges for variations from the scheduled types. 
 This list was subject to the discount of individual members. For 
 certain other classes of plows and tillage implements no uniform list 
 price was recommended, owing to great variations in equipment and 
 weight. 
 
 Standard equipment for disc harrows and cultivators was adopted, 
 a standard equipment committee was created, and the secretary was 
 directed to investigate the list prices of different members on com- 
 mon parts of various implements. Members who found it necessary 
 to make an irregular price on any implement on which the association 
 had recommended a list price were expected to notify the secretary. 
 In April, 1909, it was announced that, with only minor exceptions, all 
 members of the association had adopted the recommendations made 
 by the standard equipment committee, and that most of the members 
 
 iThlB may hare been the result of the work of the earlier association, known as the 
 ** Northwestern Plow ABSOclation/' whose records have not been available for exami- 
 nation. 
 
42 
 
 ]>ABM-MACHIN£BY TBADS ASSOCUTIONa 
 
 WHOLESALE PRICE ACTIVITIES. 
 
 43 
 
 had adopted the new list prices recommended by the association for 
 extra plowshares for the trade in 1909. It was decided that members 
 should use their influence with their branch-house ipresentatives to 
 induce them to adhere to the recommendations of the standard equip- 
 ment committee. It was also decided that when imy member, because 
 of competition, found it necessary to furnish equipment different 
 from the standard equipment recommended he should report the fact 
 to the secretary for investigation and report to the association. 
 
 At a meeting of the National Plow Association in October, 1900, 
 the secretary made a report on the advantages of list prices for all 
 implements and the objections thereto. This report read, in part, as 
 follows : 
 
 OBJECTIONS. 
 
 First. List prices not practicable on account of difference in 
 construction, weight, and cost. ,,,.,,.. i, 
 
 My answer is that take for illustration a 16" high-lift sulky 
 plow. It is used for the same purpose and all niembers having 
 adopted the same equipment, I believe uniform list prices could 
 be established based on the highest or average member's cost. 
 The same condition applies to harrows, cultivators, etc. 
 
 Some may say that all walking plows of the same style and 
 size cost the same, but I have records in my office of several 
 members' costs on a plow in which their cost of material varies 
 68 cents, and their cost of productive labor varies 56 cents. The 
 total cost of material and labor is $5.52 ; hence, if there is a differ- 
 ence in the members' factory costs on a walking plow sellmg at 
 the same list price of 20 per cent, I hardly believe there could 
 be a greater difference in any other implements. 
 
 Second. Uniform list prices would tend to furnish competitors 
 with more information regarding net selling costs, which possibly 
 would result in cutting prices. ^ , , . 
 
 My answer is that each and every member would control his 
 discounts the same as the present on walking plows and lever har- 
 rows. If one member had an advantage over another m the con- 
 struction and cost of any certain implement on which list prices 
 were based on the highest cost, it would enable him to give a 
 larger trade discount, but it would not be necessary to make ^e 
 same trade discount nor the same cash discount on all goods. He 
 could make his discount 40 per cent on plows, 45 per cent on 
 . harrows, 50 per cent on cultivators, etc. 
 
 ADVANTAGES. ' 
 
 First. It would better enable you to make a profit on special 
 styles or sizes of harrows, cultivators, and planters, which are 
 usually made in small quantities, as goods made in small quan- 
 tities can not be manufactured as cheaply as those made in larger 
 quantities. By adopting list prices you provide agamst such 
 conditions, the same as has been done on three and four section 
 lever harrowa 
 
 # 
 
 > 
 
 
 As you are aware, up to two years ago, it was customary to sell 
 all sizes of lever harrows at a net price per section and usually 
 based on the cost of a two-section size, which secures the adoption 
 of the list prices you have and will receive about the same ratio 
 of profit on the three and four section sizes as on the similar sizes. 
 
 Second. A factor of great importance is that from present 
 indications, your next purchases of raw materials will cost more 
 than your last and that you will be obliged to increase your 
 selling prices if you intend to have the same ratio of profit. 
 In view of the proposed advance in your selling prices, it seems 
 like an opportune time to adopt list prices and with list prices 
 once established, it would simplify the modifying of selling 
 prices by only changing the discounts to accommodate any 
 changed conditions in cost. 
 
 Third. It would benefit the majority of the retail dealers if 
 the manufacturers' list prices would be the basis for their selling 
 
 prices. 
 
 Fourth. The list prices would represent a great saving of 
 time in checking up the contracts as received ; also minimize the 
 number of errors which always necessitates considerable corre- 
 spondence. . 
 
 We have not trespassed upon any of the National or State 
 antitrust laws by attempting to regulate production or to regu- 
 late the net selling prices of implements, and by establishing 
 uniform list prices, it would not in any way regulate the net 
 selling prices. 
 
 I believe this subject to be of great importance and that it can 
 be made very profitable, but there may be some objections which 
 I do not know about, hence I hope all members present will dis- 
 cuss this subject freely; also decide to call a special meeting for 
 the purpose of recommending or establishing uniform list prices. 
 
 All members present except three favored considering the subject. 
 The president was requested to appoint a committee of three to meet 
 with the secretary to consider this subject and report their recom- 
 mendations at the next meeting. 
 
 The records of the association do not show that any further action 
 was taken in this matter. 
 
 In April, 1910, it was reported that all members of the plow asso- 
 ciation were complying with the various recommendations on stand- 
 ard equipment, that had been made by the association. Later in 'the 
 year some of the wholesale houses at Dallas, Tex., were reported to 
 be furnishing certain parts as regular equipment which the associa- 
 tion had recommended should be considered as extras. The plow 
 association instructed its secretary to visit Dallas and, if the equip- 
 ment recommended by the association did not meet the approval of 
 the wholesalers, to endeavor to reach an agreement on some equip- 
 ment satisfactory to all. 
 
 Through the efforts of the association, the Oliver Chilled Plow 
 Works, one of the largest plow manufacturers in the United States, 
 
44 
 
 FABM-MACHINERY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 and one which did not belong to the association, was induced in 1910 
 to adopt the list prices of the association on wood and steel beam 
 steel plows, and also to advance the list price of wood-beam chilled 
 plows to the price of steel-beam chilled plows, the price of some of 
 the latter also being advanced. 
 
 That this advance in list prices was expected to effect an advance 
 in net prices is indicated by the comment by the secretary of the asso- 
 ciation in reporting this matter to its members in November, 1910. 
 In this connection he said : 
 
 * ♦ ♦ While all of these changes represent a large profit to 
 the Oliver Co., they also represent a profit to all other chilled 
 plow manufacturers * * *. 
 In the latter part of 1907 the National Association of Agricultural 
 Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers inaugurated a movement to 
 bring about shorter terms for the various lines of farm machmery. 
 The terms for plow goods and tillage implements were referred to the 
 National Plow Association. That association took up the mattei 
 with considerable energy, and in January, 1908, a resolution was 
 adopted directing the secretary to notify each member to instruct 
 his branch-house manager or agent at each trade center to meet at 
 once with similar representatives of other companies to consider and 
 recommend shorter terms of payment for 1909. Meetings of this 
 sort appear to have been held by the jobbers' clubs at Kansas City 
 and Omaha, and attempts were made to interest the clubs at Minne- 
 apolis and Dallas. It was conceded that it was not convenient for 
 all manufacturers to adopt the same terms. 
 
 The president of the association pointed out m April, 1908, that 
 changes in terms could not be effected by concerted action, but would 
 have to be worked out gradually. He expressed his own views that 
 each member should make shorter terms. . . t ioaq 
 
 All members present at a meeting of the association m June, 1»U», 
 expressed their approval of certain terms that were discussed, but the 
 minutes of the meeting state that the terms and cash discount ap- 
 proved were not in any way to regulate or have any bearing on the 
 
 net selling prices. ,, , ... ir ^ 
 
 In March, 1909, a resolution was adopted by the association callmg 
 upon its members to use their best efforts to improve the system of 
 note settlement and to discourage the practice of carrymg plow goods 
 or extending dealers' accounts from fall to spring terms. At the 
 annual meeting of the association shortly afterwards it was an- 
 nounced that the discount dates had generally been shortened from 
 one to three months. 
 
 At the annual meeting of the association in April, 1910, the secre- 
 tary read the terms of payment recommended by the association for 
 that year and stated that, on reviewing the terms in force by some of 
 
 WHOLESALE PMCE ACTIVITIES. 
 
 45 
 
 t 
 
 ■*'i 
 
 # I €t 
 
 
 V^l 
 
 the large jobbers in Omaha, Kansas City, St. Louis, and Indianapolis 
 territories, he had found that they compared very favorably with the 
 terms of the plow association; that in some cases the maturity date 
 was one month later, or the cash discount date one month earlier. 
 It was recommended that the members continue the 1910 terms for 
 trade in 1911 and that any member might be privileged to make 
 shorter terms. 
 
 Even more strongly perhaps than in the case of the members of the 
 National Wagon Manufacturers' Association the members of the 
 National Plow Association seem to have been impressed with the fact 
 that to secure harmonious prices among competing manufacturers a 
 uniform system of cost accounting is quite as necessary as standard 
 specifications and standard equipment. Accordingly, a cost commit- 
 tee was appointed by the plow association to prepare a uniform ac- 
 counting system. Its report made in 1908 was a detailed explanation 
 of every possible item that it was considered necessary to include in 
 the computation in order to determine actual costs of goods. These 
 items covered not only the cost f. o. b. factory, but also the cost of 
 making sales to jobbers and to dealers, respectively, as well as cost of 
 freight to delivery points, when the freight was paid by the manufac- 
 turers. The report was urgent in directing special attention to the 
 fact that ample allowances should be made to cover waste and losses 
 of materials and workmanship; that no item of unproductive labor, 
 maintenance of plant, depreciation, donations, claims for breakage or 
 defective goods, or even exchange on customers' checks should be 
 overlooked. Furthermore, members were advised to include interest 
 on their investment. The inclusion of this item was deemed to be so 
 important that the cost committee made a supplemental report on the 
 subject in April, 1909. This recommended that an interest charge of 
 5 per cent on the capital, surplus, and undivided profits be included 
 by each company as a part of the cost, and that the amount of inter- 
 est paid on borrowed capital be added thereto. The original report 
 of the committee had already been printed in pamphlet form and sent 
 to members for their use in considering the committee's recommenda- 
 tions. The supplemental report, which had been approved by mem- 
 bers at the second annual meeting, in April, 1909, also appears to 
 have been sent to them in printed form. Members were not required 
 however, to adopt the cost system recommended. In the annual re- 
 port of the secretary in April, 1909, it was stated that several mem- 
 bers had asserted that this cost system alone was worth all their 
 expenses on account of the association. 
 
 After the National Plow Association became a part of the National 
 Implement & Vehicle Association, in 1911, the work of the former 
 association was continued by the plow and tillage-implement depart- 
 ment of the latter, as shown elsewhere. (See pp. 47-54.) 
 
46 
 
 FARM-MACHINEBY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 Section 4. Activities of the National Implement & Vehicle Atiociatioii 
 and its special trade departments. 
 
 National Implement & Vehicle Association.— Notwithstanding 
 efforts that had been made by the wagon and plow associations, and 
 also by the National Association of Agricultural Implement & 
 Vehicle Manufacturers/ to make their members realize the ad- 
 vantage of an accurate knowledge of their own costs, it was alleged, 
 after the National Implement & Vehicle Association was formed, 
 that the trade in these lines and in others was still affected by un- 
 intelligent price competition arising from a lack of such knowledge. 
 
 To assist members in all branches of the industry in installing a 
 uniform method of cost accounting, and to supplement the activities 
 of its special trade departments in their efforts to promote harmony 
 of prices by securing the adoption of standard specifications and 
 eiiuipment, the National Implement & Vehicle Association main- 
 tains a committee on manufacturing costs (formerly known as com- 
 mittee on costs). At the annual meeting of the association in Octo- 
 ber, 1911, the report of this committee attributed a high proportion 
 of the failures in business to a lack of knowledge of costs. The 
 report pointed out that, in many cases, prices were not fixed upon 
 costs, but upon prices fixed by competitors, regardless of possible 
 wide disparity in construction or values. This, it was asserted, led 
 to price cutting, mutual loss, and the furtherance of disastrous com- 
 petition. Keference was made to the fact that, although in some 
 cases printed pamphlets showing methods of figuring costs had been 
 distributed, yet the prices that were still being made on certain 
 machines was evidence of the fact that the principles advocated in 
 these pamphlets had not been put into general practice. The con- 
 cluding paragraph of the report read as follows : 
 
 There is no incentive to cut prices on goods already sold too 
 low, if the manufacturer is familiar with the facts, and the last 
 word of the committee is — ^get in touch with your cost. 
 
 iThe National Association of Agiicnltural Implement k Vehicle Manufacturers had 
 provided for the appointment of a committee on costs at least as early as 1905, for at 
 the annual meeting of the association in that year a committee on costs 'made a report 
 to the members, calling attention to the failure of many of the members to maintain an 
 adequate system of cost accounting and suggesting a cost formula of general applicftion, 
 which was recommended to members for their adoption. The association ordered this 
 report to be printed. At the annua) meeting of the association in November, 1910, how- 
 ever, the chairman of the committee expressed some doubt as to the usefulness of such 
 a committee in the work of the association (which covered various branches of the in- 
 dustry). He reported that a letter had been addressed to the 200 active members of the 
 association, to which 58 replies had been received. This letter aslied whether the member 
 addressed had a satisfactory cost system and whether he would be willing to change if a 
 satisfactory uniform system could be devised. The replies were such that the chairman 
 asserted that it would be useless to attempt anything along the line of a uniform cost 
 system for the members of the association, since results would not be commensurate with 
 the work involved in such an undertaking. He also stated that he agreed that a cost 
 eonunittee had no standing or place in an organization like the National Association of 
 Agricultural Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers, and he recommended the dlscontlna- 
 ance of the committee, or that the committee be continued only in an advisory capacltj. 
 
 WHOLESALE PRICE ACTIVITIES. 
 
 47 
 
 ]r 
 
 % 
 
 *f 
 
 The obvious motive behind these cost-educational efforts was to 
 
 advance prices. 
 
 This recommendation of the cost committee was followed in De- 
 cember, 1911, by a request to that committee from the executive com- 
 mittee of the association to formulate a list of cost items, essential 
 in making up complete costs, to be printed and distributed to the 
 members of the association. The list thus prepared was a revision 
 of the cost system which had been adopted by the plow association 
 a few years earlier (see p. 45), and is shown in full as Exhibit 29 
 on page 323 of this report. In submitting the revised list at the 
 annual meeting of the association in October, 1912, the committee 
 said: 
 
 This plan was devised by a committee of the National Plow 
 Association of which your present conmiittee was a part. It 
 has been used with much success. 
 
 While this system was applied to tillage implements, yet its 
 fundamentals apply to all lines and with the necessary adjust- 
 ment of details to meet conditions should be of assistance to 
 many. It is entirely unnecessary for your committee to present 
 further argument as to the necessity of using a cost system in 
 modern business, but we would urge that your present system 
 be tested on the essential points brought out in the foregoing. 
 
 Departments of the National Implement & Vehicle Associa- 
 tion. — Since the early part of 1911, the special trade departments of 
 the National Implement & Vehicle Association have continued the 
 work of standardization and the discussion of costs and prices, for- 
 merly conducted by predecessor associations. 
 
 The National Association of Grain Drill Manufacturers, which 
 became the grain-drill and seeder department of the National Imple- 
 ment & Vehicle Association, had apparently made less progress along 
 the line of standardization than either the farm-wagon or the plow 
 association. In May, 1913, however, the grain-drill department took 
 up the matter of standardizing the equipment for certain grain 
 drills, especially to determine what parts of the equipment should be 
 considered as extras. A proposal to eliminate a number of unneces- 
 sary sizes of grain drills and special equipment was favorably re- 
 ceived. At another meeting of the grain-drill department in June, 
 1913, the conclusion was reached that close attention should be given 
 to costs of production and that increasing costs demanded a readjust- 
 ment of selling prices. 
 
 At the first meeting of the plow and tillage-implement department 
 of the association, in May, 1911, the standard equipment which had 
 been adopted by the National Plow Association was approved and 
 the seci'etary was instructed to notify all manufacturers. In con- 
 sidering the subject of standard equipment, the question of furnish- 
 
48 
 
 FABM-MACHINEBY TRADE ASSOCIATIONa 
 
 ing hard oilers with disc harrows was brought up, and the consensus 
 of opinion was that, if furnished, they should be charged for as an 
 extra. The secretary was instructed to see the International Har- 
 vester Co. in regard to this, and also with regard to furnishing 
 doubletrees and neck yokes, and automatic markers with com 
 planters, and to report to the department thereon. It was ordered 
 that copies of the cost sheets of one factory for wood-bar harrows, 
 which had been checked by several members and found to correspond 
 approximately with their own, be sent to all makers of wood-bar 
 harrows. The question of equipment for listers was raised, and the 
 secretary was instructed to write one concern which was imderstood 
 to be furnishing extra plates in excess of the standard equipment. 
 The secretary was also directed to take up the matter of standardiza- 
 tion for plow-beam- billets with several steel companies. Further- 
 more, the executive committee was instructed to prepare and furnish 
 all members with cost sheets, bringing costs up to date, on plows, 
 harrows, cultivators, and corn planters. 
 
 At another meeting of the plow and tillage-implement department, 
 in May, 1912, the matter of standard equipment was discussed at 
 some length. It was voted that hard oilers be considered as part of 
 the standard equipment for disc harrows at the discretion of the 
 manufacturers. It was thought that advances in the cost of mate- 
 rials, and the prospect of further advances, emphasized the necessity 
 of at least maintaining the existing prices of implements. A com- 
 plaint was read from one of the members relative to the sale of 6 and 
 8 shovel cultivators in Indiana and Michigan. It was the sense of 
 the members that the difference between 6 and 8 shovel cultivators' 
 heavy extension gangs, as shown by the actual cost, should be at 
 least $1, and the difference between 6 and 8 shovel light gangs, such 
 as the Eagle claws or curved beams, should be 50 cents, and that this 
 recommendation should be included in the standard equipment rec- 
 ommendations. 
 
 Each member present at a meeting of the plow department, held in 
 April, 1913, expressed himself regarding conditions in the material 
 markets and in the trade for the ensuing year. It was voted that 
 manufacturing conditions required that contracts for materials 
 should be made to cover a period of 12 months ending July 1 of any 
 year. The prices of individual commodities were considered item by 
 item, and the conclusion was reached that there was a general 
 tendency for prices to increase, which was thought to indicate the 
 probable necessity for reviewing the figures of manufacturing costs. 
 Another meeting was held a month later (May, 1913), at which the 
 steel situation was discussed. The members seem to have thought 
 that, in view of the circumstances then surrounding the implement 
 business, they deserved greater consideration from the steel pro- 
 
 >- 
 
 WHOLESALE PBICE ACTIVITIES. 
 
 49 
 
 
 m 
 
 ducers in the matter of prices. The opinion was expressed that some 
 advance in implements would be necessary to cover increased costs, 
 but it was thought that this should be measured conservatively if 
 volume of trade were to be maintained. The matter of prices for 
 implements for 1913-14 was also discussed, one member taking the 
 position that the conditions surrounding each business differed suffi- 
 ciently to make it unsafe to follow a competitor, either as to prices 
 or terms, without an accurate knowledge of one's own situation. It 
 was stated that to improve the situation it was necessary for the 
 manufacturers to act, and that if all were to act simultaneously all 
 necessary changes would be made without disturbance to the trade, 
 Y' and the results would be exceedingly gratifying. 
 
 At a meeting of the farm-wagon manufacturers held April 20, 
 1911, at which the farm-wagon department of the National Imple- 
 ment & Vehicle Association was organized, a general discussion took 
 place, revealing a practically unanimous belief in the necessity for 
 the maintenance of existing prices, although it was claimed that 
 higher prices were justified by manufacturing costs and expenses. 
 The discussion of costs was postponed until a later meeting, at which 
 fuller information would be* available concerning work along cost 
 lines then being carried on at the factories of members. The next 
 meeting of this department, of which there is any record, took place 
 June 5, 1912. There were present representatives of 11 concerns, 
 which it was claimed represented 75 per cent of the farm-wagon out- 
 put of the United States. It was unanimously agreed that prices 
 ought to be higher and that none of those present would take orders 
 at the existing prices after December 31, 1912. In September, 1912, 
 a compilation of replies to certain questions relative to conditions 
 in the farm-wagon business was read and discussed. This showed 
 that 17 out of 23 companies had made no general change in selling 
 prices during 1910, 1911, and 1912. Twenty expressed the opinion 
 that prices ought to be higher. After discussion it was voted to rec- 
 ommend that after January 1, 1913, wagons should not be furnished 
 at less than a 5 per cent advance over the existing prices, and that no 
 orders for shipment after April 1, 1913, should be taken except at a 
 further advance of at least 5 per cent. At the next meeting, in 
 November, 1912, this resolution was reaffirmed, but the date (April 
 1) was changed to June 1. 
 
 The members of the wagon department also decided to take care 
 of the alleged increase in costs by greater economies in manufacture, 
 especially to eliminate certain sizes of wagons, in order to curtail 
 expense incident to variety in detail of manufacture. (See p. 52.) 
 In June, 1912, the matter of eliminating certain wheel heights and 
 substituting lower ones was discussed, the secretary being instructed 
 
 08248*— 15 i 
 
•>-* 
 
 50 
 
 FABM-MACHINEBY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 to ascertain the views of the members. The problem of standard- 
 izing wide tires was also taken up at this time, A letter was sent 
 out to all members of the department, manufacturers and dis- 
 tributors as well, asking whether they would agree on certain speci- 
 fied widths for wide ims. The returns showed 23 favorable replies 
 and 2 adverse ones. A committee was appointed to canvass the 
 matter further, apparently to look into State laws relative to wide 
 tires, with the object of establishing standard sizes. In the mean- 
 time the net price list for tires, which had been issued in August, 
 1904, and recommended to the members of the National Wagon 
 Manufacturers' Association for adoption in 1907, was again reissued 
 by the farm-wagon department of the National Implement & 
 Vehicle Association in May, 1911. (Sec Exhibit 15, p. 271.) The 
 prices recommended in this list were intended for use as net prices 
 in connection with price lists issued by the several manufacturers. 
 They were based on tires for standard wheels with no reduction on 
 
 wheels of less height. 
 
 In June, 1912, the wagon department appointed a committee to 
 recommend the proper basis for a uniform gross list for extra and 
 repair parts for farm wagons. The committee, consisting of the 
 representatives of some of the principal manufacturers, confined its 
 labors to the size of wagons commonly used throughout the Middle 
 West, the consensus of opinicMi being that a high list should be 
 adopted giving the dealer a " good big profit." In November the 
 committee presented its report to the wagon department of the asso- 
 ciation (see Exhibit 16, p. 272), showing not only the gross lists 
 of six leading companies with the discount of each, but also a gross 
 list recommended for adoption by the members, which it was pointed 
 out, if discounted 50 per cent, wotdd result in net prices that would 
 show a fair margin. The committee was careful to state, however, 
 that it did not recommend a discount of 50 per cent, or any other 
 discount, but did suggest the adoption of the gross list, each manu- 
 facturer to determine the proper discount to apply after investi- 
 gating his own costs in the regular way. It also recommended a 
 similar list for mountain-wagon parts by adding 30 to 40 per cent 
 to the list recommended, which would enable the quoting of a uni- 
 form trade discount applicable to both lists. Shortly afterwards one 
 of the leading factories belonging to the farm- wagon department, in 
 sending out to its branch houses new lists based upon that recom- 
 mended by the wagon department, announced a discount of 50 per 
 cent to dealers and stated that the principal competing manufacturers 
 had agreed to adopt a list that would net them 50 per cent of the list 
 
 prices. 
 
 Impressed with the necessity of having an accurate knowledge of 
 
 the difference between the amounts of money paid out and the 
 
 t\ 
 
 t^- 
 
 WHOLESALE PRICE ACTIVITIES. 
 
 51 
 
 t 
 
 ^\ 
 
 $■1' 
 
 h ! 
 
 ( 
 
 amounts taken in, for determining whether business was conducted 
 at a profit or at a loss, the president of the farm- wagon department, 
 who is the head of a prosperous factory, and who has been active 
 in the association work for years, prepared a detailed cost formula 
 in 1913, which was asserted to be especially adapted to the need of 
 the farm- wagon industry. The items of general and selling expense 
 in this formula were intended to be similar to the deductions from 
 gross income made by manufacturing corporations in making re- 
 turns of net annual income to the United States Internal Revenue 
 Bureau under the Federal corporation-tax law. The only item for 
 interest shown to be included in this formula as a cost of the busi- 
 ness was that paid on bonds or other indebtedness to an amount not 
 exceeding the amount of paid-up capital stock outstanding at the 
 close of the year. Allowance for repairs to buildings and equip- 
 ment, and for guaranty or warranty expenses, were specifically in- 
 cluded in the factory expense. The costs reported for materials 
 included freight, probably an allowance for losses and waste, and 
 perhaps an interest charge for carrying stock. It is not unlikely 
 that similar allowances for lost and wasted time were also included 
 in costs of productive labor, although they were not shown in detail. 
 Charities and contributions, cash discounts, shortage expense and 
 allowances, general expense not otherwise classified, bad debts and 
 losses, and depreciation on buildings and equipment were reckoned 
 as part of the expenses. 
 
 When this formula was submitted to the members of the farm- 
 wagon department, in June, 1913, it aroused considerable interest. 
 The method of handling certain costs created some discussion, spe- 
 cial attention being apparently directed to what would be the most 
 logical method of charging interest on investment in materials. 
 
 In presenting this formula the president of the wagon department 
 pointed out that " the very great benefit in having associations make 
 comparisons is in seeing how the costs vary in the different plants 
 and what the averages of the comparative cost are. In this way the 
 figures of one plant are a check on the figures of the other." The 
 "paramount importance" of similar or common specifications for 
 comparing the costs at different factories was also explained. 
 
 For purposes of comparison, members of the department pre- 
 sented the costs of their concerns based upon a wagon of the size 
 in most general use. In reporting the result of this comparison the 
 minutes of the department state that the figures showed a wide dis- 
 crepancy, indicating that cost methods of all members were not uni- 
 form, and that there was need of such imiformity as had been pro- 
 posed by the president of the department. It was the prevailing 
 opinion that useful facts could not be obtained until a proper basis 
 of comparison was arrived at. It was suggested that a firm of cost 
 
^1 
 
 52 
 
 FABM-MACHINEBY TBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 accountants be employed to visit various plants to take the specifi- 
 cations of a few standard wagons and check up costs on those wagons 
 from the systems in use, according to the formula offered by the 
 president. Accordingly, it was voted that the president of the de- 
 partment enter into an arrangement of this sort, the compilation 
 to be presented at a meeting of the farm-wagon department, and 
 the cost to be borne by the department. 
 
 The report of the accountants on the cost of standard wagons at 
 the factories of five of the largest manufacturers was made at a 
 meeting of the department held in September, 1913. The minutes 
 of this meeting state that the information proved to be interesting 
 and valuable, especially in view of the statement that the costs were 
 built up in the same manner from the same basis at every plant. It 
 was asserted that the figures were undoubtedly a surprise to many, 
 in that they showed an advance over figures previously submitted. 
 It was held that this fact constituted a very forcible suggestion to 
 every manufacturer that the most important step to take before 
 maldng up his selling prices for 1914 was to very carefully check 
 over his costs on the basis of this report. 
 
 At this meeting considerable attention was given to the situation 
 with respect to a standard 1-horse wagon shipped into the southern 
 and southeastern sections of the United States. It was stated that 
 the difference between the prevailing selling prices in that territory 
 for wagons made largely by local manufacturers and the actual costs 
 to those shipping into that section was so small as to emphasize 
 strongly the need of giving these conditions special attention. 
 
 In further commenting upon the report of the accountants, the 
 minutes of the department made the following statement : 
 
 It seemed to be the consensus of opinion that while in making 
 up future selling prices these increased costs could not be ab- 
 sorbed out of profits, yet would have to be taken care of either 
 by additions to present selling prices or economies in manufac- 
 ture that would offset it. The latter course seemed to be more 
 generally favored, but could hardly be accomplished except 
 through standardization and elimination, for the costs of pro- 
 ducing wagons under present conditions and present trade 
 demands would admit of little economy, yet if several sizes of 
 wagons really unnecessary at this time could be eliminated and 
 certain parts of wagons brought to a common standard much 
 economy would result, for every size of wagon duplicates the 
 large variety of detail in manufacture. 
 
 During 1914 members of the grain-drill, farm-wagon, and plow 
 and tOlage implement departments of the National Implement & 
 Vehicle Association made some progress in plans for standardizing 
 the factory products of their members, especially in the direction of 
 reducing the variety of sizes and types and retaining certain sizes and 
 
 ^\ 
 
 ^ 
 
 m 
 
 ,,.1^ 
 
 « 
 
 / 
 
 WHOLESALE PRICE ACTIVITIES. 
 
 53 
 
 ^ 
 
 ' 
 
 types as standard. At the annual meeting of the National Implement 
 & Vehicle Association in October, 1914, its committee on manufactur- 
 ing costs strongly urged the standardization of cost accounting. In 
 this connection the committee pointed out that — 
 
 with the adoption of a standard system of cost accounting, the 
 comparisons of costs among the members of an association not 
 only become an easy matter, but is one that will imdoubtedly 
 bring most profitable results. * * * 
 
 In order to bring about such results among the members of the 
 association the committee recommended the establishment of a cost- 
 accounting bureau in charge of a competent man acting under the 
 direction of the executive committee through the secretary. The 
 committee expressed its opinion of the functions of such a bureau as 
 follows : 
 
 1st. To perfect cost systems applicable to the various lines, 
 with a set of blanks to be used in compiling cost figures, in such 
 a way that all reports from any given industry would be upon a 
 uniform basis. 
 
 2d. To have submitted to it, from time to time, tabulations of 
 costs on certain standard productions by the members of the 
 association, for the purpose of making comparisons and averages, 
 with a view of proving the correctness of the cost figures, and 
 where the costs submitted by some member seem out of line, to 
 go into the details with such member and endeavor to correct the 
 apparent inaccuracy. 
 
 3d. To cooperate with those members who have no cost systems 
 in establishing this important feature in their organizations. 
 
 The desirability of installing a bureau or department in charge of 
 an expert to handle both manufacturing and selling costs, including 
 the information on cost accoimting furnished to retail dealers, had 
 already been referred to by the president of the National Implement 
 & Vehicle Association in his opening address at the first session of 
 this convention of the association. In referring to the matter he 
 pointed out that this work was being seriously handicapped by not 
 having some one to devote his whole time to it. 
 
 On the subject of price discussions or the formation of price lists 
 by the association the secretary in a recent letter to the Bureau of 
 Corporations called attention to an excerpt from the minutes of a 
 meeting of the executive committee held June 3, 1914. This excerpt 
 reads as follows: 
 
 One of the members of the committee stated that any discussion 
 concerning prices would in his judgment be clearly contrary to 
 existing laws, and that if it was ever considered to be* within the 
 function of this or any other committee in the association to dis- 
 cuss or act upon that subject, he would be compelled to withdraw. 
 The committee unanimously concurred that discussion or action 
 on prices was entirely contrary to the purposes of the organiza- 
 tion and would not be permitted. The point was raised not 
 
64 FARM-MACHINERY TRADE ASS0CUTI0N8. 
 
 because of any actions previously taken, or proposed for the 
 future, but because it was deemed wise to have a complete under- 
 standing on the subject. It was brought out, however, that our 
 attorneys had advised that under certain conditions it was legal 
 to formulate uniform ^gross price lists, but it was the unanimous 
 conclusion of the comfmittee that no discussions or any action on 
 same now or in the future would be permitted. 
 
 In considering matters of standardization, it was decided that 
 no consideration be given or reference made to the charging extra 
 for nonstandard equipment. 
 
 4 * 
 
 Section 6. Sigmfieanoe of cost system in relation to selling prices. 
 
 That the cost-accounting movement with its supplementary activi- 
 ties in respect to standard specifications, equipment, etc., has been 
 adopted by the members of the National Implement & Vehicle As- 
 sociation as a means of establishing a higher price level and as a 
 method by which to establish an approximate standard of prices 
 for competing concerns admits of no doubt. The computation of 
 cost includes interest, not only on borrowed money but also upon the 
 investment, besides every possible item of expense, as well as allow- 
 ances for all services rendered. This figure which is denominated 
 "cost"* is obviously the equivalent of a profit-yielding price. The 
 fundamental idea of cost in cost accounting comprises outlay and 
 waste and excludes any element of profit. The question whether a 
 price computed in this manner is high or low is quite another matter, 
 depending principally upon the rate at which the interest is com- 
 puted. 
 
 In the present instance this question has more than an academic 
 interest. If the laws of the United States forbid direct regulation 
 of prices by competitors among themselves as agreements in restraint 
 of trade, it should be determined whether they do not also forbid the 
 regulation of prices by indirection, through concerted action of com- 
 petitors in adopting a uniform system of cost accounting, in ex- 
 changing information in regard to their costs, and through recom- 
 mendations to fix prices in accordance with the cost. The adoption 
 of common standards of cost and the exchange of information in 
 regard thereto is mainly to secure a similar course of action on the 
 part of each member. 
 
 While prices of different makers of similar machines under this 
 system tend to be approximately the same, yet the fact that the 
 prices of each are based upon his own costs, even though compari- 
 sons are made, theoretically, at least, contemplates differences in 
 prices to correspond to differences in costs. There would be a tend- 
 ency toward the elimination of such differences, however, unless 
 there were differences in quality corresponding to the differences in 
 
 »Tlie recommendations of the National Implement ft Vehicle Association as contained 
 tn Its cost pamphlet state that the inclusion of the Item of Interest Is optional. (See 
 Exhibit 29. p. 323.) 
 
 WHOLESALE PRICE ACTIVITIES. 
 
 55 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 cost, in which case the prices would be substantially equalized by 
 this method. The principle, however, of such a determination of 
 prices through costs is not in harmony with the principle of com- 
 petitive prices. It is evident, moreover, that the plan of meeting 
 to discuss and compare costs computed on this basis involves the 
 possibility of agreements in respect to adoption of prices based upon 
 the highest costs reported, or of agreements to add a high, uniform, 
 arbitrary rate of profit, or even direct agreements on prices. 
 
 The question to be emphasized here is whether competing manu- 
 facturers should be permitted to establish and maintain even ap- 
 proximately uniform prices by concerted action in comparing costs ; 
 and whether such proceedings are free from the dangers and objec- 
 tions incident to more direct methods of fixing uniform prices among 
 competitors. 
 
 Apart from this aspect of price regulation, it may be a proper 
 function of trade associations to assist members to adopt a proper 
 system of cost accounting that shall accurately measure amounts 
 actually expended for or chargeable to production. The adoption 
 of standard specifications, recommended by associations, is often of 
 advantage to both manufacturers and purchasers and tends to pro- 
 mote economies in industry and commerce. Frequently, however, the 
 purpose in establishing standard or uniform equipment is to deprive 
 the purchaser of some convenience that he has formerly received 
 without any corresponding reduction in price. The meeting of com- 
 petitors to compare and discuss costs as a basis for prices is, how- 
 ever, as already stated, peculiarly susceptible of being used as a cloak 
 for conferences to make agreements on prices. 
 
 Section 6. Activities of the National Association of Thresher Mannfac- 
 
 turers. 
 
 So far as shown by the records now available, the thresher manu- 
 facturers' association paid less attention than the wagon manufac- 
 turers to costs and standard specifications as a basis for determining 
 prices, nor did they, like the plow manufacturers, adopt a schedule of 
 gross prices. 
 
 In 1904, however, a committee of the thresher manufacturers' asso- 
 ciation, which had taken up and compared manufacturing and selling 
 costs of the various sizes and kinds of threshing machinery, reported 
 a schedule of net "amounts" below which, in the opinion of the 
 committee, threshing machines could not be manufactured and put 
 upon the market except at a loss. Twenty-four sizes of separators 
 were listed and 14 sizes of tractor engines, while " amounts " were 
 also shown for weighers and baggers, self-feeders, horse powers, at- 
 tached swinging stackers, steel tanks, etc. Details of the method 
 used in determining these amounts were not explained. This sched- 
 ule of net " amounts " suggested in 1904 was readopted at the annual 
 
i 
 
 56 
 
 FABM-MACHINEKY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 meetings in 1908 and again in 1909 and 1910, with slight modifi- 
 cations. In 1909 one or two concerns which were reported to have 
 engaged in considerable price cutting were asked to reconsider their 
 
 « 
 
 The National Association of Thresher Manufacturers has also 
 kept up an agitation against price concessions involved in the prac- 
 tice of receiving old machines, in excess of their value, in payment 
 for new machinery, and also against concessions made by paymg 
 freight charges, which the association believed should be paid by 
 customers. It is claimed that this agitation at the association meet- 
 ings has been productive of great improvement from the standpomt 
 of the members. Thresher manufacturers generally use high list 
 prices with high commissions. The association recommends the 
 adoption of lower list prices and lower commissions, corresponding 
 more nearly with the prices actually received and commissions ac- 
 tually paid. It is urged that this would not only result m the 
 establishment of more satisfactory relations with dealers, but would 
 also bring about greater stability in prices. . ^ x 
 
 The selling price of the pneumatic stacker (which is an important 
 part of the threshing outfit) is fixed by the license contracts of the 
 different manufacturers with the Indiana Manuf acturmg Co. (bee 
 Chap. V.) 
 
 
 c 
 
 / 
 
 • 
 
 CHAPTER m. 
 EFPOKTS OF MANUFACTUEEES' ASSOCIATIONS TO REDTTCE COSTS. 
 
 Section 1. Introduction. 
 
 Legal and practical limitations upon the activities of associations 
 in respect to prices have caused much attention to be given by the 
 associations to the possibilities of securing increased profits by 
 reducing costs. The efforts of the manufacturers' associations in 
 this direction have been mainly to reduce factory costs through the 
 adoption of standard specifications for materials; to secure the 
 lowest possible freight rates; to reduce the costs of fire insurance; 
 to limit credit risks and improve the financial condition of dealer- 
 customers ; and to reduce or eliminate various items of expense inci- 
 dent to the method of selling goods through retail dealers. The 
 federated associations of dealers have also taken an active interest 
 in some of these matters, and at times they have cooperated with 
 the manufacturers' associations, especially in respect to freight 
 charges and the reduction of selling costs. These topics are dis- 
 cussed in some detail in succeeding sections of this chapter. 
 
 So far as shown by the available records, the manufacturers' asso- 
 ciations have made no systematic effort to regulate one of the princi- 
 pal costs of manufacture, namely, wages paid to employees. Little 
 or no effort appears to have been made to aid members having differ- 
 ences with labor organizations. 
 
 In 1901 the handling of labor difficulties was proposed as a field 
 of activity for the National Association of Agricultural Implement 
 & Vehicle Manufacturers, but the executive committee decided that 
 it could not see its way clear to take up the subject. Plans of strike 
 insurance had been discussed, but apparently with the same result. 
 The passage of legislation to regulate the hours of labor has been 
 opposed as class legislation, and in March, 1911, the members of the 
 executive committee of the National Implement & Vehicle Associa- 
 tion voted that the association should join the National Council for 
 Industrial Defense ^ if it could be done without financial obligation, 
 
 . y -• 
 
 »Thls organization was established by the National Association of Manufacturers, the 
 object, as stated by its officers, being to provide " a separate and specific medium througli 
 which* constant, watchful attention might be given to the matter of vicious class legisla- 
 tion which is ever being urged in the Federal Congress by organized labor." (Page 3841. 
 vol. 4, Hearings on Lobby to Influence Legislation, pursuant to S. Res. 92, 63d Cong.. 
 let Sess.) gj 
 
68 
 
 FARM-MACHINERY TRADE ASSOCUTIONS. 
 
 but subsequently affiliation with this organization was left to each 
 member to determine for himself. Moreover, the reports of the com- 
 mittee on State legislation have at times referred adversely to bills 
 introduced in various State legislatures fixing hours of labor, and in 
 February, 1912, the members of the association were urged to write 
 their Senators and Representatives in Congress in opposition to a bill 
 providing for an eight-hour day for work done for the United States, 
 in view of the effect its passage would have as a precedent. 
 
 In October, 1912, the report of the committee on national legisla- 
 tion also referred to the status of several bills that had been intro- 
 duced in Congress in the interest of labor, including the bill provid- 
 ing for the eight-hour law, anti-injunction bills, and bills relating to 
 trial by jury in contempt cases. It was recommended that members 
 give strict attention to such matters and call the attention of the 
 committee to any bills of interest to manufacturers in the lines repre- 
 sented by the association. 
 
 * The members of the National Implement & Vehicle Association 
 have also advocated the passage of legislation to promote vocational 
 training — a measure also favored by the National Business League 
 of America. (See p. 91.) One phase of the relations between manu- 
 facturers and their employees that has received consideration in 
 recent years is the matter of industrial indemnity legislation, dis- 
 cussed in Chapter IV. 
 
 Section 2. Standardization of materiali. 
 
 National Wagon Manufacturers' Association. — ^Efforts to re- 
 duce costs by the adoption of common or standard specifications for 
 materials purchased in the rough or in finished form may be said to 
 have been systematically be^n in 1904 by the National Wagon Man- 
 ufacturers' Association, which had just been reorganized as the re- 
 smlt of the report of a committee appointed to devise a plan for the 
 improvement of the business. (See p. 28.) It was asserted that sub- 
 stantial savings could be effected if uniform specifications could be 
 established and the use of materials of special dimensions be discon- 
 tinued. The purchase of materials for members was decided to be 
 entirely outside the province of the association. The secretary was 
 instructed', however, to get in close touch with mills producing various 
 kinds of wood stock purchased by wagon manufacturers in the rough 
 and to investigate and report what the standard dimensions for such 
 stock should be. Furthermore, the association recommended stand- 
 ard heights for wheels and standard lengths and widths for tires for 
 adoption as soon as the shop conditions at individual factories would 
 
 permit. 
 
 An advance in the price of steel bars caused a meeting of a number 
 of implement and vehicle manufacturing concerns to be held in March, 
 
 ^4 
 
 \ 
 
 4 
 
 m 
 
 -{ 
 
 REDUCTION OF COSTS. 
 
 59 
 
 1906. At this meeting a committee, composed of representatives of 
 some of the largest interests in various branches of the industry, was 
 appointed to confer with the steel manufacturers. This resulted in 
 an agreement by which the latter made a special price of $1.40 per 
 hundred pounds on 150,000 tons of steel bars to the manufacturers of 
 implements and vehicles. Later in the year a standing committee on 
 materials was appointed by the National Association of Agricultural 
 Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers, after a special committee had 
 made a report on the cost of iron and steel. 
 
 In the meantime the members of the farm- wagon association were 
 confronted with unsatisfactory conditions in securing bent-wood 
 stock used for wheel rims, hounds, etc. They felt that prices had 
 been arbitrarily advanced to an unwarranted extent. To reach a 
 better understanding with producers, a conference was held with rep- 
 resentatives of the Vehicle Woodstock Co., a concern which marketed 
 the products of a large number of the bending factories. The re- 
 sult of the conference was unsatisfactory to the wagon manufactur- 
 ers, and in the latter part of 1906 or early in 1907 several members 
 of the farm-wagon association formed a mutual company, known as 
 the National Wagon Stock Co., to supply their own bent stock. The 
 wagon manufacturers' association also made a protest to an associa- 
 tion of the spoke manufacturers against existing prices of spokes, 
 pointing out that if prices were advanced the wagon makers would 
 be forced to produce their own supply of spokes. 
 
 To induce competition among the producers of various kinds of 
 wagon wood stock, the members of the wagon-makers' association 
 decided to establish a bureau of the association to encourage as many 
 mills as possible to take up the cutting of wagon stock. In the early 
 part of 1907 several thousand copies of a letter were sent out to mills 
 and shippers of hardwoods and wagon-box materials, requesting 
 each to return a sheet listing materials for sale, including axles, 
 bolsters, reaches, hubs, bottom boards, poles, felloes, bent hounds, 
 rims and poles, spokes, eveners, singletrees, neck yokes, plank, and 
 box boards. It was planned to send out a similar inquiry monthly, 
 the wagon manufacturers being furnished with a compilation of the 
 replies in order to aid them in supplying their wants. In order that 
 the seller should come in contact only with actual buyers, it was pro- 
 posed that the various members of the wagon association should 
 advise the secretary of their needs once a month or oftener, so that 
 he could direct them where they could be supplied. 
 
 The secretary, in explaining the conditions which had led to the 
 establishment of this material bureau, asserted that as a large de- 
 mand for wagon stock existed among the wagon manufacturers, with 
 the mills, brokers, and lumber associations against them, the only 
 way to meet the situation was by the same kind of an organization 
 
CO 
 
 FABM-MACHINERY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 that bad brought the wagon manufacturers success in the selling field. 
 Accordingly, as a help in the work of the material bureau, he pro- 
 posed a conference of the buyers of the different companies belonging 
 to the wagon association to discuss prices, grades, contracts, etc., and, 
 in this connection, he pointed out that a dollar saved in buying stock 
 was surer profit than a dollar advance in the price of wagons. Each 
 buyer was asked to come to the proposed meeting with a sheet show- 
 ing rough and finished dimensions in order to determine what sizes 
 should be declared standards, the adoption of which would induce 
 mills cutting to such dimensions to accumulate stocks marketable at 
 any time from which the wagon manufacturers could draw at will. 
 Furthermore, certain specified dimensions were adopted as standard 
 for singletrees and neck yokes, common parts in which there was little 
 individuality, in the belief that if manufacturers of such parts would 
 be induced to turn them out in large quantities the price to the wagon 
 manufacturers would be reduced. 
 
 One of the most important results of the conference of wagon 
 buyers, held in September, 1907, was a proposal to bring about the 
 adoption of certain grading and inspection rules to govern the pur- 
 chase of hardwood lumber. As a result of this proposal, grading 
 and inspection rules for wagon stock were adopted by agreement with 
 the National Hardwood Lumber Association and other hardwood 
 lumber associations. In February, 1909, a conference was held be- 
 tween committees representing the wagon manufacturers' association 
 and the spoke manufacturers' association, at which certain grading 
 and inspection rules for white-oak spokes were agreed upon, to be 
 submitted to the respective associations for approval. 
 
 In the meantime, to afford the members of the wagon association 
 a quick and effective means of getting quotations on materials, the 
 secretary issued a pamphlet in June, 1908, containing the names of 
 producers of different kinds of wagon-wood stock intended for the 
 exclusive use of the members of the wagon association. In Septem- 
 ber, 1908, a similar list was issued of the names of the manufacturers 
 of various iron and steel parts entering into the construction of farm 
 wagons. 
 
 Other methods of reducing the cost of wagon materials proposed 
 in 1908 were the substitution of square front-hounds for bent front- 
 hounds on all drop-pole 2-horse wagons, as fast as the shop conditions 
 of each member would permit, and also an attempt to induce the 
 various iron and steel mills to carry stocks of tires provided standard 
 lengths were adopted by the wagon manufacturers' association. Mem- 
 bers were later urged to conform to this recommendation and also 
 to adopt standard heights for bolsters. It was also suggested that 
 if the wagon makers could adopt a standard form of oval or round- 
 edge tire the iron and steel mills in making their rolls could be 
 
 REDUCTION OF COSTS. 
 
 61 
 
 ' 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 ..^ -m 
 
 assured that one form would be satisfactory to all wagon manu- 
 facturers. 
 
 In a bulletin referring to the work of the material bureau issued 
 in the spring of 1909 the secretary claimed that the adoption of 
 standard dimensions, of grading and inspection • rules for wagon 
 stock, and of grading and inspection rules for oak wagon-spokes, 
 which had been brought about by the bureau, were worth all that 
 the association work had cost, and he expressed the belief that the 
 vahie of the bureau would be better appreciated when stock became 
 more difficult to secure as the wagon manufacturers came into the 
 market for materials. 
 
 The operations of the material bureau do not appear to have been 
 entirely satisfactory to producers, one of whom reported that certain 
 other producers had expressed the opinion that the object of the 
 bureau was to get material cut to the size desired by the wagon manu- 
 facturers, who would offer such prices as they pleased, knowing that 
 the material could not be marketed elsewhere. The secretary of the 
 wagon association in calling the attention of members to this com- 
 munication stated that he had replied that there was no recognized 
 market regarding price and that the operations of the bureau did not 
 hamper the buying ability of any of the members of the wagon 
 association. He pointed out to the members of the association that 
 if conferences of the buyers were held he believed that better condi- 
 tions would be created in the wagon-stock market, because, if the 
 wagon manufacturers could figure on such materials as plow and 
 implement makers figured on iron and steel, the interests of the 
 wagon manufacturers would not be injured and trade jeopardized 
 by the constant fluctuation of prices. 
 
 An improvement in the trade outlook in 1909 caused the members 
 of the wagon association to approach the market cautiously to avoid 
 forcing the prices of materials upward. It was felt that, since 
 the action of traveling buyers sent out by different wagon manufac- 
 turers in bidding for material had much to do with general advances 
 in prices, it would be of considerable advantage to furnish these buy- 
 ers with accurate information as to prevailing prices. The secretary 
 had already been instructed to formulate a plan for gathering, tabu- 
 lating, and distributing information concerning the prices and market 
 conditions of wood materials. He suggested that a meeting of the 
 buyers could be held several times a year to devise ways and means 
 by which individual manufacturers could be better able to cope with 
 various associations and organizations that were being formed among 
 the producers of materials. He asserted that there was no reason 
 why, through the interchange of information, many dollars of profit 
 could not be added by the savings in more intelligent purchasing. 
 The matter was thorougly discussed at the annual meeting of the 
 

 fABM-MACHINERY TBADE ASBOCIATIOKa 
 
 associatioii in November, 1909, and the aecretary's suggestions were 
 approved. 
 
 The proposed meeting of the buyers was held at Chicago in De- 
 cember, 1909. The secretary of the association was directed to gather 
 and tabulate information regarding the prices paid by members for 
 a few standard sizes of materials, and also the amount of stock on 
 hand. A bulletin containing this information was issued to mem- 
 bers in February, 1910. Attention was called to the fact that in the 
 large majority of cases the prices ranged very close together. The 
 secretary expressed the hope that it might be possible to keep the 
 prices from taking a wider spread by making a simUar comparison 
 at frequent intervals. A short time before a bulletin had been sent 
 to the mills and producers of wagon stock relative to the plans of the 
 material bureau for 1910, in which it was stated that the competition 
 among wagon manufacturers for suitable material was as free and 
 open as it had ever been and was likely to continue so, as it was no 
 part of the object of the material bureau to establish conditions that 
 would enable the wagon manufacturer to secure control over the 
 prices of supplies and materials. He pointed out that while the 
 wagon manufacturer was benefited by the larger field in which to 
 buy materials when stock was cut to standard dimensions, yet there 
 had been no overproduction, and stocks had been sold at fair prices, 
 although the demand had been li^t He also pointed out that be- 
 fore the adoption of standard specifications nearly every factory had 
 its own specifications, which restricted the market on stock cut to 
 such dimensiona 
 
 An effort was made to enlist the aid of several wagon-manufactur- 
 ing companies outside the association in the support of the material 
 bureau from whose work they had benefited. In presenting the 
 advantages of the bureau to these manufacturers, stress was laid 
 upon the advantage that would result if a common or general market 
 price for wagon material of standard dimensions could be estab- 
 lished, or published in a way that would be generally understood. 
 Attention was called to the fact that manufacturers of furniture and 
 chairs by standardizing their requirements had been able to establish 
 a sort of common value between the mill and the consumer. Several 
 of the wagon companies outside the association expressed a willing- 
 ness to contribute to the maintenance of the material bureau, but 
 some refused to pay as much as requested. 
 
 In the meantime the successful result of the efforts toward stand- 
 ardization led to the suggestion that the movement be carried fur- 
 ther. Kevised grading and inspection rules for wagon box-boards 
 were also recommended for adoption to the National Hardwood Lum- 
 ber Association and the Hardwood Manufacturers' Association. An 
 agreement in regard to this revision was reached with the National 
 
 X«i|. 
 
 m 
 
 n 
 
 
 EEDUCTION OF COSTS. 
 
 6a 
 
 Hardwood Lumber Association in June, 1910. Members of the 
 wagon association were requested to use these rules in purchases sub- 
 sequently made in order to make them effective at once. 
 
 In September, 1910, it was pointed out that every important item 
 of wood materials for farm wagons had been standardized except 
 hubs and hounds, and the fact that each wagon manufacturer insisted 
 upon a special pattern of hub made it difficult for the hub manu- 
 facturer to buy his raw materials or accumulate finished stock with- 
 out first having orders and specifications on hand. It had been 
 suggested that if three different types of hubs could be adopted as 
 standard a large variety would be cut out and enable the hub manu- 
 facturer to turn out hubs for the open market, which it was thought 
 was the only thing that would make competition in that line. Fur- 
 thermore, the secretary was directed to notify all interested in the 
 California trade that bolsters of 42 inches should be considered as 
 standard and the manufacture of bolsters of 44 inches should be 
 discontinued. 
 
 At about this time the secretary reported that 22 of the 27 members 
 of the association had either abandoned the use of bent- wood front 
 hounds as recommended by the association (see p. 60) or were in 
 process of doing so. He expressed the belief that the influence of the 
 majority would undoubtedly accomplish the completion of the 
 change. 
 
 In the latter part of 1910 the secretary of the wagon association 
 pointed out that manufacturers felt that, in being obliged to pay 
 prices which were the same as Pittsburgh prices, plus Pittsburgh 
 freight rates, on steel bars shipped from points hundred of miles 
 nearer the purchaser, they were paying an arbitrary tax in addition 
 to prices which already included at least a fair manufacturing profit. 
 He suggested that if all the consumers were of like mind there were 
 several ways in which a readjustment of basing points could be ef- 
 fected. The matter was discussed by the members of the National 
 Wagon Manufacturers' Association and by the executive committee 
 of the National Association of Agricultural Implement & Vehicle 
 Manufacturers, but the records do not show that any definite action 
 was taken beyond the adoption of resolutions recommending that 
 individual members use their influence to eliminate the additional 
 freight charge, and that the materials committee of the National 
 Association of Agricultural Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers 
 urge the steel manufacturers to base steel prices upon Chicago, Gary, 
 and other points, as well as Pittsburgh. 
 
 National Plow Assoclation. — During the four years of its exist- 
 ence, from April, 1907, to December, 1910, the National Plow Associa- 
 tion did not attempt to maintain a material bureau like that of the 
 wagon manufacturers' association. No attempt appears to have 
 
4 
 
 
 FABM'MACHINEBT TRADE ASSOCIATIONS 
 
 been made to bring the plow manufacturers and the producers of 
 materials used by them into communication, but some efforts were 
 made to encourage the former to adopt standard specifications for 
 certain common parts. (See Exhibit 18, p. 282.) Soon after the 
 plow association was organized an investigation by the secretary had 
 disclosed the fact that the mills were rolling about 40 different sections 
 of plow beams, and from 100 to 125 different sizes. It was pointed 
 out that if the number of sections could be reduced to four or five, 
 and if several of the principal steel mills could be induced to equip 
 themselves to turn out these standard sections, it would place the 
 plow makers in much better position than to be tied up with one or 
 two mills who had rolls for special sections. 
 
 Another inquiry showed that 33 different patterns of neck yokes 
 were in use among the members, many of whom purchased finished 
 neck yokes. The secretary suggested that if this number could be 
 reduced the mills could carry a stock of rough and finished patterns, 
 probably resulting in lower costs and selling prices. Early in 1909 
 a standard neck yoke was adopted for sulky and gang plows, and also 
 for walking, riding, and disk cultivators and listing plows. It was 
 agreed that all members should adopt the patterns recommended as 
 early as possible. 
 
 Instructions were also given to the secretary to take up the ques- 
 tion of standardizing certain other common parts, such as poles, 
 singletrees, steel seats, harrow tee&, etc. The work of standard- 
 ization did not progress as rapidly as expected. In urging members 
 to cooperate in the movement the secretary declared that, even if the 
 saving in a single piece was small, the saving to one member on a 
 year's consumption of harrow teeth alone would more than pay his 
 dues in the association. 
 
 In the latter part of 1910 the secretary issued a bulletin to mem- 
 bers, asking their views on the subject of grading and inspection 
 rules for yellow-pine pole stock. The replies showed that, while 
 all members required the same quality of material, no two specifica- 
 tions were alike. It was the consensus of opinion among the mem- 
 bers that uniform grading and inspection rules were much needed 
 and would benefit both the producers and consumers, and, after 
 discussing the matter, it was finally concluded to refer the matter 
 to the National Association of Agricultural Implement & Vehicle 
 Manufacturers, as much of this class of material was used by a 
 large class of manufacturers not members of the plow association, 
 who were members of the National Association of Agricultural Im-. 
 plement & Vehicle Manufacturers. Nothing further seems to have 
 been done along this line until the matter was taken up by the plow 
 and tillage-implement department of the National Implement S^ 
 Vehicle Association in May, 1912. (See p. 66*) 
 
 4X 
 
 /> 
 
 •J 
 
 b' 
 
 K% 
 
 I 
 
 t 
 
 t> 
 
 -i 
 P 
 
 BBDTJOTION OF COSTS. 
 
 65 
 
 National Implement & Vehicle Association. — The material 
 bureau, which had been established by the National Wagon Manu- 
 facturers' Association, was continued along similar lines by the 
 National Implement & Vehicle Association. It was decided, how- 
 ever, to confine its activities for a time to gathering information 
 relative only to wood materials, including hard and softwood lum- 
 ber and dimension stock. It was thought that if the work of the 
 bureau proved satisfactory in regard to wood materials its activities 
 could be extended to other lines if desired. The matter of price 
 was left to the mill and customer. As a part of the work of the 
 bureau it was also decided to continue efforts of the wagon and plow 
 association to aid members in disposing of surplus materials or 
 machinery that had accumulated from various causes. From time 
 to time members are requested to list such material as they may have 
 for sale or which they may desire. A compilation is made from 
 these lists and sent to all members. 
 
 The executive committee of the National Implement & Vehicle 
 Association abolished the standing committee on materials, but the 
 discussion of matters pertaining to the cost of materials continued 
 to engage the attention of the members of the special trade depart- 
 ments of the association. 
 
 At a meeting of the farm- wagon department in April, 1911, ma- 
 terials was one of the subjects discussed. One member called atten- 
 tion to the fact that the existing price for bois d'arc^ felloes was 
 resulting in a loss to every manufacturer, and that it was apparent 
 from investigations made that the supply of this material was ap- 
 proaching exhaustion. At this meeting attention was called to the 
 closing of the business of the National Wagon Stock Co.. of Little 
 Hock, Ark. (see p. 59), whose plant had, it was claimed, been the 
 means of protecting the wagon manufacturers of the United States 
 against exorbitant and organized advances in the prices of bent rims 
 and other wagon material for the four preceding years, and it was 
 stated that a proposition was being considered whereby a company 
 at Little Rock was to take over the machinery and equipment of the 
 National Wagon Stock Co. and continue the manufacture of bent 
 rims provided they could be assured of the patronage of the wagon 
 manufacturers. A resolution was adopted pledging the support of 
 the wagon manufacturers present at the meeting, the prices to be 
 adjusted by a committee of the wagon makers. In November, 1912, 
 
 * Under ^ate of Aug. 16, 1911, the secretary of the National Implement & Vehicle Asso- 
 ciation issued a bulletin stating that a report of the Forest Service of the United States 
 Department of Agriculture on the subject of bois d'arc or osage orange had been pub- 
 lished under the direction and at the expense of the farm- wagon department of the Na- 
 tional Implement & Vehicle Association, and that a copy would be mailed to each member 
 within a few days. 
 
 68248"— 15- 
 
66 
 
 YABM-MACHIKEBY TBABB ASSOOUHOKS. 
 
 however, it was decided to sell the property of the National Wagon 
 Stock Co. 
 
 A meeting of the buyers of four of the principal companies* manu- 
 facturing farm wagons was held in November, 1913, to consider the 
 possibility of improvement in methods of buying. The record of 
 this meeting states that no definite action was taken, but it was 
 decided that each of those present should study ways and means and 
 report suggestions at the next conference that should be held. 
 
 At a meeting of the plow department of the National Implement 
 & Vehicle Association in May, 1911, the secretary was instructed 
 to take up the matter of standardization of plow-beam billets with 
 several steel companies and report. In May, 1912, the members of 
 the plow department, in considering a suggestion of the Yellow Pine 
 Manufacturers' Association that the adoption of grading and in- 
 spection rules for yellow-pine pole stock might be of mutual interest, 
 directed the secretary to ascertain the views of the members of the 
 plow department upon this matter. The results of the secretary's 
 investigations are not shown in the records of the association. 
 
 In the early part of 1913 the plow department held a meeting at 
 which special consideration was given to the material situation with 
 reference to its probable effect on selling prices. It was thought that 
 contracts for materials should cover a period of 12 months ending 
 July 1 each year. At a meeting in May it was shown that the market 
 price of steel remained unchanged and that the producers were ap- 
 parently determined to maintain prices regardless of the circum- 
 stances surrounding the plow and tillage-implement business, which 
 the plow manufacturers believed deserved consideration in order 
 that their volume of business and that of the producers should not 
 be affected adversely. It developed that comparatively few of the 
 manufacturers had bought and that a number of the largest of them 
 were not inclined to buy under existing conditions. This situation 
 was evidently a reason for a suggestion of the secretary of the asso- 
 ciation to the executive committee of the association, which was as 
 follows : 
 
 We believe also that this association represents such a large 
 consumption of common materials, i. e., iron and steel, that by 
 properly directed cooperation much benefit might be obtained in 
 correcting some of the conditions under which we contract and 
 are supplied. 
 
 The desirability of creating a standing committee or department 
 of purchasing agents of concerns belonging to the National Imple- 
 ment & Vehicle Association was brought up in November, 1913, but 
 it was thought that the matter should be referred to the executive 
 
 * These companies were the John Deere Wagon Co., the International Harvester Co., tlw 
 Studebaker Corporation, and tbe Mandt Wagon Co. (Moline Plow Co.) 
 
 «^ 
 
 EEDUCTION OF COSTS. 
 
 67 
 
 ^. 
 
 -4tj 
 
 •* 
 
 41 
 
 ^ 
 
 i^\ 
 
 
 
 committee of the association for consideration. No record is avail- 
 able to show that any steps have been taken to establish such a 
 department. 
 
 Section 3. Charges for transportation. 
 
 The manufacturers' associations have been active in promoting 
 the interests of their members in respect to freight rates and rules 
 governing the transportation of goods. In these matters they have 
 often received considerable assistance from the dealers' associations. 
 When the National Association of Agricultural Implement & Ve- 
 hicle Manufacturers was organized, in 1894, it was proposed that the 
 executive committee should look after the matter of railroad freights 
 and transportation charges. A committee on freight and classi- 
 fication, to work in the interest of members in respect to anything 
 affecting the cost of freight transportation, was one of the first stand- 
 ing committees to be created. It was recognized that the combined 
 influence of the members would accomplish much more effect in nego- 
 tiating with the railroads than could be accomplished by the indi- 
 vidual manufacturers. 
 
 One of the first matters taken up was to petition Congress for the 
 passage of a law requiring railroads to adopt a uniform freight 
 classification throughout the United States. Negotiations with the 
 Western Classification Committee in the latter part of 1894 resulted 
 in an agreement that the latter would not make certain proposed ad- 
 vances. In November, 1896, however, the freight committee reported 
 that an unsuccessful effort had been made to get the Western Classi- 
 fication Committee to make reductions in certain articles that had 
 recently been advanced by changes in classification. The committee 
 pointed out that there was still recourse to specific or commodity 
 rates. 
 
 From this time on, similar efforts continued to be made by the 
 National Association of Agricultural Implement & Vehicle Manu- 
 facturers and the National Wagon Manufacturers' Association to 
 induce the various railroad classification committees to take action 
 favorable to the implement and vehicle manufacturers, or to refrain 
 from putting into effect rates or rules that threatened to affect the 
 manufacturers adversely, such as changes in rates, classifications, 
 and rules governing minimum carload weights, car demurrage, rates 
 on mixed shipments in carload lots and on damaged goods returned 
 for repairs. Efforts were made for the freight committees of the 
 two associations to cooperate more closely with each other, especially 
 after 1901, when the members of the National Association of Agri- 
 cultural Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers decided to employ a 
 permanent secretary experienced in traffic matters. 
 
 fi 
 

 
 68 
 
 FARM-MACHINEBY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 After the National Plow Association was organized, in 1907, a 
 freight transportation committee was created, but this committee 
 does not appear to have been especially active, due probably to the 
 fact that many of the members of the plow association also belonged 
 to the National Association of Agricultural Implement & Vehicle 
 Manufacturers. 
 
 In July, 1908, the chairman of the committee on freight and trans- 
 portation of the National Association of Agricultural Implement & 
 Vehicle Manufacturers was instructed to file complaint with the In- 
 terstate Commerce Commission, protesting against proposed general 
 advances in rates. He was authorized to join or cooperate with any 
 organization represented for that purpose. The records of the asso- 
 ciation do not show that any action was taken along this line until 
 May, 1910, when a conference of shippers of different commodities, 
 at which the National Association of Agricultural Implement & Ve- 
 hicle Manufacturers was represented, was held at Chicago, and a com- 
 mittee appointed to address a letter to each of the presidents of east- 
 ern railroad lines suggesting that the matter of an advance in rates 
 be referred to the Interstate Commerce Commission. A meeting of 
 the various shipping interests to be held at Omaha was called to 
 consider proposed advances in rates in western trunk-line territory. 
 
 Subsequently a truce was arranged whereby the railroads agreed to 
 withdraw temporarily the proposed increases pending adjudication jy 
 the Interstate Commerce Commission. The shippers' committee rep- 
 resenting various commercial interests, appointed a special committee 
 of 12 members, including the secretary of the National Association 
 of Agricultural Implepaent & Vehicle Manufacturers and the freight 
 traffic manager of the International Harvester Co., to go to Washing- 
 ton to represent the interests of the shippers. Hearings were held 
 by the Interstate Commerce Commission. Prior to one of these hear- 
 ings held at Chicago, the members of the subcommittee of the ship- 
 pers' committee had preliminary meetings and invited the coopera- 
 tion and interest of every shipper. The National Association of 
 Agricultural Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers was active in its 
 support of this committee, furnishing money and the assistance of its 
 officers. Finally, in February, 1911, members of the National Im- 
 plement & Vehicle Association were notified by the secretary that the 
 Interstate Commerce Commission had decided these cases, known as 
 the Eastern and Western freight cases, against the carriers. It was 
 pointed out that during the fight the association had applied its ener- 
 gies to problems confronting the implement and vehicle lines, although 
 irooperating with shippers of other commodities in the main issue. 
 
 In the meantime members of the National Association of Agricul- 
 tural Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers were notified that the secre- 
 tary would assist them in procuring refunds of high charges that had 
 
 ^-J 
 
 4 
 
 i3^ 
 
 H 
 
 A 
 
 BEDUCTION OF COSTS. 
 
 69 
 
 been made. The matter of establishing a bureau in the secretary's 
 office to handle freight claims for members was considered, and the 
 latter was instructed to write all members having no regularly or- 
 ganized traffic department to ascertain whether he could render as- 
 sistance in respect to claims arising in transportation matters. There 
 was also considerable cooperation in respect to freight matters be- 
 tween the National Federation of Eetail Implement & Vehicle Deal- 
 ers' Associations and the National Association of Agricultural Im- 
 plement & Vehicle Manufacturers. In 1909 it was reported that these 
 two organizations were working together for an improved bill of 
 lading. 
 
 When the National Implement & Vehicle Association was organ- 
 ized, in 1911, the former secretary of the National Association of 
 Agricultural Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers was employed as 
 freight traffic manager to devote his entire time to the traffic work 
 of the association, continuing the activities of the National Associa- 
 tion of Agricultural Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers in this 
 respect. It had become customary for the earlier association to issue 
 bulletins and circular letters from time to time, advising members 
 not only of proposed traffic changes but also of other matters affect- 
 ing the cost of transportation. This practice was continued by the 
 National Implement & Vehicle Association. One of the first bulle- 
 tins issued by the freight traffic manager of this association related to 
 a proposed change in the rules of the western trunk lines governing 
 the storage of implements in transit. Soon afterwards members of 
 the association were requested to express their views on a bill to 
 regulate express companies, which had been introduced in the Illi- 
 nois Legislature. These are merely illustrative of various topics 
 mentioned in the bulletins and circular letters of this department of 
 the association. 
 
 At the annual convention held at Chicago in October, 1911, a com- 
 prehensive report by the freight traffic manager, who was also chair- 
 man of the freight transportation committee of the association, 
 called attention to various phases of the transportation problem and 
 the manner in which the work of the department was conducted in 
 looking after the interests of members. It called special attention 
 to the facilities enjoyed by the association for securing information 
 regarding important traffic changes and to the importance of audit- 
 ing freight bills, and in this connection stated that during the period 
 from January 1, 1911, to October 11, 1911, the department had ad- 
 justed overcharge and loss and damage claims for members aggre- 
 grating about $9,700. 
 
 Later the secretary of the association was instructed to urge the 
 freight traffic department to endeavor to interest each member in some 
 
 i» 
 
TO 
 
 FABM-MACHINEBY TRADE ASSOCIATIONa 
 
 phase of the work of that department, and it was reported that at that 
 time about 60 per cent of the members were actively cooperating. 
 
 The annual report of the freight traffic department, at the con- 
 vention held in October, 1912, called attention to changes in the 
 various railroad classifications during the preceding year. An 
 interesting feature of the department's work was shown in its report 
 of negotiations with the Southern Classification Committee. The 
 report stated that the latter committee issued a revised classification 
 embodying a large number of drastic changes to become effective 
 June 17, 1912. After analysis by the freight traffic department of 
 the National Implement & Vehicle Association, the committee was 
 notified that the proposed changes were not acceptable to the mem- 
 bers of the association, and it was the intention of the association to 
 ask the Interstate Commerce Commission for a suspension of the 
 changes pending an inquiry as to their reasonableness. The commit- 
 tee immediately notified the association that it did not desire a con- 
 test over the matter and that they would gladly meet representatives 
 of the association in conference to discuss the various objectionable 
 items. Several conferences were held, and as a result the committee 
 promised to withdraw the objectionable changes. 
 
 The report also stated that the work of the department had greatly 
 increased and that members were depending upon it more and more for 
 assistance in handling their minor difficulties and still more largely in 
 resisting arbitrary action on the part of the carriers in large issues, 
 such as classifications and tariffs, where indi\4dual resistance or 
 effort would avail but little. The report gave members certain 
 specific advice to assist them in their transactions with carriers. 
 
 As to the value of a cooperative association in freight matters, the 
 report said: 
 
 The appeals taken to the Interstate Commerce Commission, 
 the many times we have appeared before State and interstate 
 railroad bodies and our constant conferences with them is suf- 
 icient evidence of what it is possible to do for a cooperative 
 organization along these lines. The value of our representing a 
 large number of shippers of any one commodity can not be over- 
 estimated, for today the Interstate Commerce Commission, State 
 commissions and the railroads themselves are regarding the 
 wishes and claims of the majority of shippers rather than indi- 
 viduals or shippers having a large volume of business. In fact, 
 there is a strong leaning, and very properly too, in endeavoring 
 to determine what will be the greatest good to the greatest num- 
 ber; therefore, I say that this work of our association needs no 
 further justification than showing that it has now and will con- 
 tinue to have an increasing beneficial effect in bringing about a 
 greater measure of square deal between carrier and shipper as 
 time goes on. 
 
 n' 
 
 
 ¥ 
 
 BBDUCTION OF COSTS. 
 
 71 
 
 At the close of the convention the association adopted the following 
 resolution : 
 
 Whereas, there are no problems confronting the manufacturer 
 of greater importance today than those of freight transportation, 
 
 Be it resolved, That special attention be given all of the recom- 
 mendations submitted in the report of the freight transportation 
 committee. 
 
 Another resolution adopted read as follows: 
 
 Whereas, sufficient and efficient transportation is necessary to 
 the prosperity of the whole country. 
 
 Therefore, he it resolved, That we favor such laws and regula- 
 tions as will give transportation companies sufficient earnings to 
 meet all necessary cost of maintenance and operation and to 
 provide all facilities required by the growth of communities, and. 
 
 Be it further resolved, That we favor cooperation between the 
 transportation companies, producers and snippers' associations 
 to promote such results. 
 
 At the annual convention of the association in October, 1913, the 
 freight traffic manager of the National Implement & Vehicle Asso- 
 ciation reported that during the 11 months preceding his depart- 
 ment had received over 23,000 freight bills for auditing, of which 
 between 10,000 and 11,000 were for $8 (the minimum amount checked 
 by the department) or more. Overcharges, amounting to $1,578.07, 
 were discovered. Claims to the amount of nearly $12,000 had been 
 adjusted during the year ended October 1, 1913. He also stated that 
 during the preceding 11 months 41 bulletins, giving information 
 relative to all important changes in traffic matters affecting members, 
 had been issued. He called attention to the rulings of the Interstate 
 Commerce Commission on changes that had been proposed in the 
 Western Classification, and also to other matters of freight classifi- 
 cation in which the members of the association were interested. He 
 asserted that the association in cooperation with others had been 
 able to prevent the cancellation of half rates applying on returned 
 shipments in Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Illinois, Iowa, 
 Kansas, Nebraska, and two or three other States. In addition, he 
 advocated that hearings before classification committees should be 
 held at points accessible to shippers and, furthermore, that the mak- 
 ing of rates should not be done behind closed doors, or at the dicta- 
 tion or suggestion of any faction or set of shippers. The report also 
 specified various matters regarding shipments, etc., to which members 
 were advised to give their attention. The report concluded by urging 
 the support and cooperation of members in the work of the freight 
 traffic department, and stated that the aim of that department was to 
 assist the traffic manager of each member. 
 
 In October, 1911, the traffic manager of the National Implement & 
 Vehicle Association explained to delegates to the dealers' Federation 
 
 •♦ y "^ 
 
4 
 
 72 
 
 FABM-MACHINERY TRADE ASSOCIATIONa 
 
 BEDUCTION OF COSTS. 
 
 73 
 
 that the Western Classification Committee had voted to eliminate 
 binder twine from carload shipments of implements and to raise the 
 minimum carload weight to between 24,000 and 30,000 pounds, de- 
 pending upon the length of the car. The Federation adopted a reso- 
 lution condemning the proposed changes as an unjustifiable attempt 
 on the part of the railroads to increase their revenue, also asserting 
 that such a change would be disastrous to small dealers, compelling 
 them to overload or pay local freight on practically all their goods, 
 resulting in increased cost to the farmer. 
 
 In January, 1912, the freight traffic manager advised members of 
 the National Implement & Vehicle Association in regard to the 
 changes proposed by the Western Classification Committee. Among 
 the changes specified was that taking binder twine out of the agricul- 
 tural-implement classification and placing it under the head of cord- 
 age. Accordingly, the association filed a petition with the Interstate 
 Commerce Commission, asking for the suspension of items objection- 
 able to members of the association. A hearing was held before the 
 suspension board of the Interstate Commerce Commission, at which 
 the National Implement & Vehicle Association was represented by 
 about 50 persons, including members of its freight transportation 
 committee, its attorneys, representatives of companies belonging to 
 the association, representatives of the dealers' National Federation 
 and constituent organizations, and witnesses drawn from outside. 
 In a bulletin to members the secretary stated that the outcome of 
 the matter was most important, for, if made effective, the increased 
 freights, expenses, and inconveniences would amoimt to many hun- 
 dreds of thousands of dollars, and there was hardly a member of 
 the National Implement & Vehicle Association that would not be 
 affected if the privilege of mixing implements should be disturbed. 
 
 The Interstate Commerce Commission extended the date on which 
 the new classification should become effective, and, in April, 1912, the 
 secretary, attorney, and traffic manager of the National Implement & 
 Vehicle Association, and the secretary of the dealers' National Fed- 
 eration attended a hearing on the new classification held by the 
 Interstate Commerce Commission in Washington. Early in Janu- 
 ary, 1913, announcement was made that the Interstate Commerce 
 Commission had rendered its decision in the case, supporting many 
 of the claims of the association and holding that the railroads must" 
 grant the mixing privilege, but consenting to the placing of binder 
 twine in the cordage classification. The secretary of the National 
 Implement & Vehicle Association, in commenting upon this decision 
 in a general letter to members, characterized it as a victory for that 
 association. In this letter he said, in part : 
 
 In fact, while this controversy was pending, both the Official 
 and Southern Classification Committees realizing that such 
 
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 r 
 
 ^ 
 
 r 
 
 -^ 
 * 
 
 ■^ 
 
 % f-HL 
 
 changes could not be made arbitrarily, have used more pacific 
 means, and by consultation with manufacturers and organiza- 
 tions representing certain lines, differences have been equalized 
 rendering the suspension of either the Official or Southern Clas- 
 sifications unnecessary, and has led the Commission to suggest 
 that hereafter in proposing classification changes the shippers 
 be given timely notice and afforded an opportunity to attend a 
 fair and impartial hearing in order that these adjustments may 
 be amicably made, if possible. 
 
 This contest with the carriers over Western Classification #51 
 has cost money and time, requiring no less than five hearings, but 
 by the presentation of a united front and the constant coopera- 
 tion of our members the effort represents, we believe, the best 
 organized resistance the carriers have met with, and has thor- 
 oughly convinced them and impressed the Commission that not 
 only was there merit in our contentions, but that we were deter- 
 mined justice should be done. It is improbable that we shall 
 again have to go into a similar contest; in fact, we are constantly 
 securing adjustments and changes through conferences with the 
 carriers that heretofore would have been difficult, if not im- 
 possible. 
 
 The Bulletin of the dealers' Federation, in commenting on this joint 
 victory of the manufacturers and dealers, quoted a transportation 
 man who had attended all the hearings, as follows : 
 
 You implement men got about everything you were after, but 
 some others did not fare so well. Your being so well organized 
 accounts for it. 
 
 A general advance of 5 per cent in rates proposed by the eastern 
 railroads was called to the attention of the members of the National 
 Implement & Vehicle Association in a bulletin issued in October, 
 1913, and members were asked to express their opinion as to whether 
 or not the association should oppose the advance proposed. Shortly 
 afterwards members of the association were notified that it was felt 
 that the association should protest this advance in rates until it was 
 demonstrated as necessary and just, not overlooking the fact that 
 the markets of the members of the National Implement & Vehicle 
 Association were now open to the world and that manufacturers in 
 Canada would invade the trade as rapidly as possible, their progress 
 being determined to a large extent by the freight rates. No record is 
 available to show what further steps were taken in this matter by the 
 National Implement & Vehicle Association.^ 
 
 » The dealers' associations have also devoted considerable attention to -the matter of 
 freight transportation charges. Some of these activities have been undertalcen in co- 
 operation with the manufacturers' associations, as already shown. One of the most 
 important phases of this work that dealers have attempted has been the installation of 
 facilities by which the freight bills of its members might be audited and overcharges 
 refunded to their members. In March, 1910, the secretary of the National Federation 
 pointed out that dealers were losing i good deal of money each year from this cause. He 
 suggested that a freight auditing bureau might be established. No active steps to install 
 such a bureau appear to have been taken until March, 1912, when it was announced that 
 the Western association had engaged an auditor and that the work of auditing freight 
 
u 
 
 FARM-MACHIKEBY TRADE ASSOOIATIONS. 
 
 Seetion 4. Fire insunuice. 
 
 At a meeting of the National Wagon Manufacturers' Association 
 in 1880 the question of the feasibility of a mutual insurance com- 
 pany was discussed but apparently without result. The subject does 
 not appear to have been brought up again imtil 1906, when the secre- 
 tary of the wagon association issued a bulletin calling attention to 
 the organization of the Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers' Fire 
 Insurance Co. under the guidance of a special committee of the Na- 
 tional Association of Agricultural Implement & Vehicle Manufac- 
 turers. At the annual meeting of the latter association in Septem- 
 ber, 1905, the executive committee had been empowered to organize 
 a mutual fire insurance association on lines approved by the com- 
 mittee, and soon after the convention of the National Association of 
 Agricultural Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers in 1906 the in- 
 corporators of the Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers' Mutual 
 Insurance Co. met at Indianapolis and completed the organization 
 of the company as an enterprise distinct from the association largely 
 to avoid the necessity of accepting undesirable risks from members 
 who otherwise might feel entitled to special consideration on account 
 of their membership in the association. The new company became 
 affiliated with the National Association of Factory Mutual Insurance 
 Companies. Later, at a meeting of the executive committee of the 
 National Association of Agricultural Implement & Vehicle Manufac- 
 turers, in November, 1908, a recommendation of the association that 
 a committee confer with the National Fire Protective Association to 
 evolve and standardize all implement factories was referred to the 
 committee on insurance. The records do not show whether the pro- 
 posed conference was held, but, in February, 1909, the secretary of 
 the association in following instructions of the insurance committee 
 requested members to furnish certain statistics which, when tabu- 
 lated, might be used to secure a reduction in the insurance rates. 
 
 Early in 1911 the Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers' Mutual 
 Fire Insurance Co. of Indianapolis reinsured its risks and went out 
 of business. At the annual convention of the National Implement & 
 Vehicle Association in October of that year the committee on fire 
 insurance pointed out that the real basic principle for discussion of 
 fire insurance was fire prevention, and members were advised to 
 "fight the risk and not the rate." Soon afterwards the secretary 
 
 bills was JQst getting under wmy. Other State associations were quick to take similar 
 action, and at the annual meeting of the National Federation in October, 1913. it was 
 reported that f relight auditing bureaus had been established for 11 of the constituent 
 assoelations, and that their aggregate cash collections to that time had amounted to over 
 110,000. It was stated that this tangible benefit had enabled these associations to in- 
 crease their membership very materially. A committee of the Federation was appointed 
 to consider the practicability of concentrating the freight auditing service in the hands 
 of the Federation. 
 
 ^' 
 
 « 
 
 > 
 
 -4 
 
 BEDUOTION OF COSTS. 
 
 76 
 
 of the association issued a bulletin calling attention to the saving in 
 the cost of insurance that could be effected if members would equip 
 their factories with sprinklers and other fire-preventing devices. In 
 this connection, he advised members that there were a number of con- 
 cerns which made a business of equipping plants with these safety 
 devices, furnishing all necessary funds and taking as their remunera- 
 tion the saving effected in the cost of insurance. 
 
 In the simmier of 1912 the National Implement & Vehicle Associa- 
 tion started a movement to determine the interest of members in the 
 establishment of an insurance department in the association. After 
 investigation, the insurance committee of the association decided 
 that a more practical plan would be to engage the services of a large 
 and responsible firm of insurance brokers, and, in February, 1913, an 
 agreement was entered into with one of these concerns whereby the 
 latter agreed to cooperate with the members of the association in all 
 matters pertaining to the various classes of insurance and to make 
 inspections of all plants when desired. Members were requested to 
 correspond with these brokers and give all information requested 
 without reservation. At the annual meeting of the implement manu- 
 facturers in the latter part of 1913 it was announced that these ar- 
 rangements had already effected savings amounting to some thousands 
 of dollars, the saving to some members being in excess of their annual 
 dues in the association. It was also announced that this particular 
 feature of the association's activity had resulted in securing the mem- 
 bership of two large concerns with which the secretary had been 
 negotiating. The insurance committee pointed out that it should not 
 be forgotten that the association could help its members, not only in 
 fire-insurance matters but also in respect to floater, liability, and 
 boiler insurance. The members of the association were addressed by 
 an insurance expert on the subject of fire protection and the expert 
 inspection of risks and policies. He emphasized the desirability of 
 fire prevention and explained that the savings in premiums in three 
 to seven years would cover the cost of installing automatic sprinklers 
 and other devices to prevent fire. He pointed out that the matter of 
 inspections was often of more interest than the insurance rate.* 
 
 ^ Dealers have also been interested in plans to reduce the cost of fire insurance to their 
 members. A movement to furnish dealers with fire protection at lower costs than paid 
 to regular Insurance companies led to the adoption of a plan of reciprocal insurance in 
 1897 by the members of the Western Retail Implement & Vehicle Dealers' Association, 
 composed of dealers in Kansas and Missouri. An organization known as the Reciprocal 
 Underwriters was formed, following a plan that had been adopted by the lumber dealers' 
 association of Missouri and Kansas. The Reciprocal Underwriters adopted the estab- 
 Ushed rate made by the old-line insurance companies, refunding at the end of each fiscal 
 year that part of the premiums that had not been paid out for losses or expenses. 
 
 Other dealers' associations began to take an interest in the subject of mutual insur- 
 ance, largely because of its importance as a means of increasing membership. Mutual 
 insurance associations were formed by members of the dealers' associations in Iowa, Min- 
 nesota, and other States. In 1905 an arrangement was proposed whereby the privilege 
 
16 
 
 f ABM-MACHINERY TKADE ASSOCUTlONS. 
 
 Section 5. limiting credit riiki. 
 
 Many implement dealers lack business experience, and the trans- 
 actions between manufacturers and wholesalers, on the one hand, and 
 dealers, on the other, are conducted largely upon a credit basis (see 
 p. 7), so that it is desirable for the manufacturers, in order to guard 
 against loss, to exercise care in determining the extent to which credit 
 may be safely extended to a prospective dealer-agent ; to retain some 
 sort of security for goods shipped, in case of insolvency or fraud on 
 the part of the dealer; and, further, to assist in any movement 
 intended to improve the business standing of dealers generally. 
 
 Cooperation in judging CREorrs. — The investigation of the credit 
 standing of prospective dealer-customers has for the most part been 
 left by the manufacturers' associations to the individual members. 
 A credit system or plan that had been adopted by the southeastern 
 department of the National Wagon Manufacturers' Association, in 
 reporting to each factory undesirable dealers or those who engaged 
 in questionable practices, was discussed and approved by the execu- 
 tive committee of the wagon association in 1906. The executive com- 
 mittee of the National Association of Agricultural Implement & 
 Vehicle Manufacturers advised all members of that association to 
 join the National Association of Credit Men. A handbook of infor- 
 mation on various phases of the subject of credits, consisting of 
 articles contributed by members of the credit committee, was pre- 
 pared. In 1907 and 1908 members of the National Plow Association 
 discussed the merits of a certain hardware credit-reporting agency, 
 but no definite action appears to have been taken beyond referring 
 the matter to the executive committee of the association. 
 
 The installation of a bureau for the exchange of credit informa- 
 tion was an innovation proposed to be taken up by the National 
 Implement & Vehicle Association. This plan, it was thought, would 
 afford members an opportunity to get reliable information from the 
 actual experience of the dealers' creditors, as shown by the ledger 
 transcripts of the latter — something that could not be secured 
 through the channels then in use. During 1911 the secretary and 
 general manager of the association spent much time investigating 
 
 of becoming subscribers to the Reciprocal Underwriters was extended to the members of 
 all the constituent associations of the National Federation of dealers' associatiODS, on the 
 same terms. 
 
 In lail the secretary of the Western association stated that the success of the Reclp 
 roeal Underwriters had been phenomenal. He asserted that It had saved over 54 per 
 cfsit of the regular board rates, or over a quarter of a million dollars to its subscribers. 
 He also claimed that Its success had in certain cases caused old-line companies to offer 
 lower rates to regain the business. The Retail Implement Dealers' Mutual Fire Insurance 
 Co., of Minnesota, has also repotted a successful career. Indeed, the secretary of the 
 company, who is also secretary of the Minnesota Retail Implement Dealers' Association, 
 asserts that the interest of the members in the association is chiefly In the insurance 
 feature. In short, the insurance branch of association activity is looked upon as one of 
 the strongest Inducements to membership in dealers* aasociationa. without which tiM 
 latter would lose one of their beat drawing cards. \ 
 
 . 
 
 ^ 
 
 > 
 
 REDUCTION OF COSTS. 
 
 77 
 
 the practical establishment of a credit-information exchange bureau. 
 In August he reported that after studying a number of such plans 
 the conclusion had been reached that for a beginning the association 
 could not do better than to follow the rules under which the National 
 Association of Credit Men operated. At the annual convention in 
 October, 1911, however, the committee on terms and credits reported 
 that the plan of establishing a credit bureau had been temporarily 
 set aside on account of the pressure of other important work. 
 They recommended that when the bureau was inaugurated it pro- 
 ceed along the lines followed by the National Association of 
 Credit Men, namely, the exchange of personal experience of those 
 interested in the dealer. This plan was explained as follows : 
 
 A member submits a list of names of customers that he would 
 like to secure information in reference to how they are paying 
 their bills; if they discount or pay when due; the amount that 
 they would be owing at the time the report was made, and the 
 amoimt of goods bought for future delivery. The membership 
 that would be interested in this account would make report, and 
 in return for this information would get a summarized copy 
 from the office as soon as it could be compiled. 
 
 The report of this committee suggested that the bureau might also 
 take up the tracing of lost debtors and possibly the reporting of 
 insolvent and " judgment-proof " concerns, and those who had made 
 disastrous failures, but were reengaging in business and endeavoring 
 to secure goods from members of the association on credit. It was 
 stated that such information would not be furnished in the form of a 
 black list, nor anything of that character, but by ways and means 
 entirely within the law and without liability to the association. The 
 report concluded by recommending that a credit-information ex- 
 change bureau be established as soon as possible. The committee 
 expressed the opinion that while there was no question of the de- 
 sirability of knowing the financial condition of customers some 
 method was required to concentrate this information in a systematic 
 way to be passed out to the members of the association. Subse- 
 quently, in June, 1912, the executive committee of the association 
 voted that the credit exchange department be considered as one of 
 the four principal departments of association activity. 
 
 At the next annual convention of the National Implement & Ve- 
 hicle Association, in October, 1912, it was reported that it had been 
 found on investigation that the establishment of the proposed credit 
 bureau would require a larger sum of money than the association 
 had at its command and it would, therefore, be unwise to start the 
 work until the funds were at hand. 
 
 While these plans were under discussion the secretary of the asso- 
 ciation had made some attempt to locate missing debtors. In a post- 
 
1' 
 
 78 
 
 ITABM-MACHINEBT TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 script to a bulletin issued in March, 1911, he inquired if any member 
 could furnish information as to the whereabouts of three concerns 
 whose names were given, and in April, 1911, another bulletin was 
 issued inclosing two sheets on which members were requested to list 
 the names of lost debtors, one of the sheets to be returned to the 
 secretary and the other to be retained by the member reporting. In 
 the bulletin inclosing these sheets the secretary stated that the find- 
 ing of lost debtors could be conducted while preparations were being 
 made for the establishment of the credit bureau. He called atten- 
 tion to the fact that the membership of the National Implement & 
 Vehicle Association extended over the entire country and that a large 
 proportion of lost debtors would probably again engage in the same 
 line of trade. He urged, therefore, that it would pay each member 
 to have its collection department furnish the association with a list 
 of such delinquents to be bulletined under key to the entire member- 
 ship. On May 8 a list of some 60 names that had been received in 
 answer to this bulletin was sent to each member of the association, 
 who was requested to turn the list over to his collection department 
 with the request that any information available be reported to the 
 association. In sending names for inquiries of this sort members 
 were asked not to include any who were not lost delinquents nor any 
 other than dealers. A few days later a bulletin was issued, which, 
 among other things, stated there were a number of unreliable debt- 
 collecting agencies operating throughout the country on various 
 ingenious schemes concerning which the association could give in- 
 formation to its members. 
 
 Discussion at a meeting of the sales managers' department of the 
 National Implement & Vehicle Association in June, 1913, brought 
 out the fact that there was no general practice among the members 
 in requiring dealer-agents to submit a statement of property. It was 
 found that some companies required such statements from new cus- 
 tomers, others only in cases of doubtful customers. Some of those 
 present reported that the statements received were very inaccurate, 
 due largely to a lack of desire on the part of traveling men to get 
 them. It was suggested that some time in the future it might be 
 possible to make the association a clearing house for property state- 
 ments furnished by all dealers, copies to be issued to manufacturers 
 who were interested. Recently the National Implement & Vehicle 
 Association has submitted to the dealers for their consideration a 
 form of property statement drafted for the purpose of securing uni- 
 formity in the credit information furnished to the manufacturers by 
 the dealers. This proposition has been favorably received by the 
 dealen^ Federation.^ 
 
 
 4 
 
 > Some of the local clubs of dealers have attempted to compile credit ratings of farmers 
 tai their locality* but the amount of work luTolved In such a compUation hac discouraged 
 
 BEDUCTION OF COSTa 
 
 79 
 
 Sbcuritt for SALES. — One of the first committees created by the 
 National Association of Agricultural Implement & Vehicle Manu- 
 facturers was a committee on credits, to which the association re- 
 ferred the question of the advisability of a uniform form of contract 
 and kindred matters relating to credits. In January, 1897, the presi- 
 dent of the association stated that a committee was considering the 
 matter of uniform order blanks and financial exhibits, but had not 
 made sufficient progress to justify a report. So far as shown in the 
 earlier records of the association, however, this committee made no 
 report on this subject. The executive committee had already reached 
 the conclusion that the chattel mortgage laws in many States were 
 both unfair and inequitable to mortgagor and mortgagee and had 
 appointed a committee to attempt to draw a form of law to cover all 
 of the States, for the benefit of the association and all others indi- 
 rectly interested. 
 
 The secretary of the Western Retail Implement & Vehicle Dealers' 
 Association was present at the second annual convention of the 
 National Association of Agricultural Implement & Vehicle Manu- 
 facturers, in October, 1895, and explained to the manufacturers the 
 efforts that had been made by the Western Retail Implement & 
 Vehicle Dealers' Association to have changes made in the chattel- 
 mortgage law of Kansas, which provided that such a mortgage 
 should run only for one year, after which it must be renewed if the 
 note remained unpaid, an additional fee being required for recording 
 the renewal. He stated that his committee would be glad to answer 
 inquiries on the subject from the manufacturers and receive their 
 suggestions. 
 
 At the convention held in November, 1896, the chairman of the 
 committee on credits of the National Association of Agricultural 
 Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers presented an oral report, in- 
 dorsing the desirability of a "good straightforward" bankruptcy 
 act, and later a resolution was adopted by the association authorizing 
 the president to prepare a petition to Congress to pass the Torrey 
 bankruptcy bill. In September, 1899, the executive committee of the 
 
 others. The experience of a local organization of dealers in Jackson County, Mich., Illus- 
 trates this. The club was organized In 1904, and later, after the members had entered 
 into certain agreements. Including one requesting all members to add not less than 25 per 
 cent, or one-fourth of the cost, to make a selling price, It was decided to adopt a code to 
 be used in rating farmers living in the county, the compilation to be made from informa- 
 tion furnished by members of the club from their experience. The plan was explained at 
 A meeting of the State association in 1905, and one of the members pointed out the neces- 
 sity for the dealer to have information upon which to determine whether credit should be 
 extoided to farmers, especially to newcomers. He called attention to the fact that the 
 various mercantile agencies furnish such information regarding business men, merchants, 
 and manufacturers, but it was different in the case of farmers to whom the implement 
 dealers sold goods. Considerable difficulty seems to have been experienced in keeping the 
 information up to date and some of the members of the club have expressed the opinion 
 that the preparation of such a list involves more time and labor than is warranted bj the 
 
^ k^ 
 
 I 
 
 80 
 
 FABM-MACHINEBT TItADE ASSOCIATIONa 
 
 association decided to take no action on a suggestion that it appeal a 
 court decision in which it was held that labor liens had priority over 
 chattel mortgages under certain conditions. 
 
 The matter of uniform State laws governing chattel mortgages 
 was discussed at a meeting of the executive committee in the fall of 
 1908 and referred to the committee on State legislation. 
 
 During 1008 the National Association of Agricultural Implement 
 & Vehicle Manufacturers arranged for its attorneys to draft forms of 
 sale and commission contracts, uniform in particular features, to be 
 used by members of the association. One of the objects was to pro- 
 vide for the possibility of retaining certain security for goods sold or 
 delivered to a dealer in a foreign State until the mtinufacturer had 
 received settlement or payment therefor. The various forms drafted 
 by the attorneys were submitted to members for their criticism or 
 approvaL 
 
 In connection with a proposition to shorten terms (see p. 35) the 
 National Wagon Manufacturers' Association during 1907 made an 
 effort to devise a form of commission contract which would be more 
 favorable to the members than the contracts then in use. 
 
 At a meeting of the executive committee of the National Plow 
 Association held in September, 1909, the subject of a uniform promis- 
 sory note was brought up, but, as it was a matter of great importance 
 to manufacturers in other lines, requiring legal advice, it was decided 
 to leave this and two other similar matters to the National Associa- 
 tion of Agricultural Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers. 
 
 At ft meeting of the sales managers' department of the National 
 Implement & Vehicle Association in June, 1913, one of the questions 
 submitted for consideration was, "The title clause in contracts — 
 what is its real value?" In discussing this topic many of those 
 present reported that these clauses were used for their moral effect 
 »nd because they could generally be relied upon except when the 
 dealer became involved in bankruptcy. It was generally admitted, 
 however, that they should not be considered in determining credit 
 risks, as the decisions of the courts in bankruptcy cases had impaired 
 their value. 
 
 CitEorrs IN THE THRESHER TRADE. — ^Thrcshing outfits, consisting of 
 engine and separator with an attachment for stacking straw and 
 chaff, are usually sold to a distinct class of purchasers, called thresh- 
 ermen, who thresh grain on contract. The outfits are so expensive 
 that few of the purchasers are able to pay for them in cash. This 
 makes it necessary for the manufacturers to sell to them on credit, 
 taking assignments of earnings as security. The investment of capi- 
 tal over such long periods, and the expense of collecting amounts 
 due on the obligations of the threshermen, and in keeping track of 
 the latter to avoid losses and to protect security of the character 
 
 A 
 
 il 
 
 -/ 
 
 »l 
 
 / 
 
 ^fflk 
 
 > 
 
 %> 
 
 ^ 
 
 EEDUCTION OF COSTS. 
 
 81 
 
 ^ 
 
 mentioned, cause heavy expenses to the manufacturers. Indeed, the 
 principal matter considered at the first meeting of the thresher 
 manufacturers in 1884 was the prevailing custom of extending cred- 
 its to purchasers. It was held to be the most urgent problem then 
 demanding attention, and it was decided that the extreme terms to 
 be made should provide for full payment not later than the first day 
 of the third January following the sale. The records, however, do 
 not show how closely this plan was adhered to. The thresher asso- 
 ciation maintained a bureau from 1898 to 1902 to furnish data to 
 enable members to act wisely in the matter of extending credits. 
 In November, 1909, the association adopted the following resolution : 
 
 Resolved^ That it is the sense of this Association that for the 
 year 1911 no greater discount be allowed for cash than 6 per cent 
 to agents or purchasers ; that on single sales the agents be allowed 
 a maximum discount of 5 per cent if cashed in thirty days from 
 date of delivery, and that the date for agents cashing all his 
 season's business be fixed (not exceeding ninety days from date 
 of delivery) in the agent's contract when made, and that pur- 
 chasers be not allowed any cash discount later than ninety days 
 from delivery of the goods. 
 
 This resolution was affirmed in April, 1910. It was reaffirmed and 
 somewhat amplified at a meeting in November, 1910, when the follow- 
 ing resolution was adopted : 
 
 Resolved^ that it is the sense of this Association that in 1911, 
 no greater discount will be allowed for cash than six per cent, to 
 the purchaser, and that purchaser be allowed no cash discount 
 later than October 1st, of the year in which sale is made. 
 
 That the maximum discount to the agent be five per cent on 
 single sales if the sale is cashed in thirty days from date of 
 delivery and that the date of the agent's cashing all the season's 
 business be fixed in the agency contract not later than December 
 1st of the year in which the sale is made at a discount for cash 
 not to exceed six per cent plus interest from October 1st. 
 
 In the latter part of 1911 this plan was reported to be produc- 
 ing satisfactory results, and all members favored its continuance, 
 but in 1912 it was reported that more complaints on price cutting 
 and selling on extremely long terms had been received than ever 
 before. In 1913 several matters affecting credits were discussed, 
 among them that some cash payment should be insisted on in each 
 case; that the period of credit on separators and small outfits be 
 restricted to two years, with an extreme period of three years on any 
 kind of threshing machinery. Resolutions were adopted recom- 
 mending that members endeavor to increase cash payments and to 
 bring about shorter terms. 
 
 Improving financial condition of dealers. — One of the objects of 
 the systematic campaign (see pp. 218-243) undertaken by the manu- 
 facturers to educate dealers to a better knowledge of their costs of 
 
 68248"— 15 6 
 
82 
 
 FABM-MACHINEBY TBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 BEDUCTION OF COSTS. 
 
 83 
 
 doing business was to improve the financial condition of the latter in 
 order to make them better credit risks. It was felt that if the retail 
 implement business could be put upon a more profitable basis much 
 would be accomplished toward lessening the large number of failures, 
 retirements, and other changes taking place among the dealers each 
 year. 
 
 The effort of the National Implement & Vehicle Association to 
 establish a sales managers' department was due largely to the in- 
 fluence which it was believed that such a department could exert 
 in carrying on the cost-educational movement, and apparently to 
 impress the members with the importance of the cost-educational 
 work as a matter of improving credit risks. A resolution was 
 adopted in October, 1911, requesting the members of the association 
 to instruct their salesmen to take up and discuss the subject of the 
 cost of doing business with the retail dealers with whom they came 
 in contact, with a view to improving the condition of the retailers, 
 and thus making them more permanent in the trade than had been 
 the rule theretofore. Shortly after the convention the secretary and 
 general manager issued a bulletin impressing upon members the fact 
 that it was necessary for them to do something more than merely sell 
 goods to the dealer if they desired permanent customers. He pointed 
 out that resolutions mean nothing unless they are followed, and 
 inquired of each member what he was doing to improve the condi- 
 tions of the customers who needed it and, furthermore, if the mem- 
 bers had ever requested their travelers to make an effort to induce 
 dealers to reckon their costs in order to know positively whether they 
 were making a profit. He stated that both he and the cost committee 
 of the association would appreciate information as to what each mem- 
 ber was doing along these lines. 
 
 This bulletin was followed by another in November, 1911, on the 
 subject of "Cost education: What it means to you and your cus- 
 tomers," in which it was stated that the number of answers received 
 in reply to the former bulletin had not been very large. In com- 
 menting upon the value of the work the secretary and general 
 manager went on to say: 
 
 We have always contended that credit could not be safely 
 extended without some knowledge of the business experience of 
 the applicant, and whether he has qualified by reason of this 
 experience, or business knowledge, to succeed. We also had the 
 impression that the retailers of the lines we represent needed 
 business education, perhaps more than any other. ♦ ♦ ♦ 
 
 It is difficult to refuse an ex-farmer credit who has a deposit 
 of $5,000 in the bank and a good reputation for honor and integ- 
 rity in the community, still unless you or your travelers do 
 something to help him get started in the safe business lines, the 
 
 Jj 
 
 -1 
 
 •1^ 
 
 ./ 
 
 > 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 chances are that he will eventually fail, losing all his own money 
 and a lot belonging to you or some one else who is unfortunate 
 enough to stick to him until the crash comes. 
 
 ♦ * * Y^Q are firmly of the belief that the sooner that all 
 our members realize that it is profitable to assist their customers 
 in this way, the sooner we shall have better conditions prevailing 
 in the retail trade. If some one connected with each house 
 would, every thirty days, send to their selling forces information 
 of this character, either original or borrowed, the improvement 
 would be noticeable within a very short time, just as the efforts 
 made by the dealers themselves to spread cost education through 
 their conventions, etc., has brought about very satisfactory 
 results. 
 
 The importance of the cost-educational work of the association was 
 discussed and emphasized at a meeting of the executive committee 
 held December 23, 1911, and the conclusion was reached that it 
 should be urged at every opportunity, especially in its relations to 
 the retail dealer. In this connection, the secretary of the association 
 was instructed to ascertain how the Western Retail Implement & 
 Vehicle Dealers' Association would regard a proposition to employ 
 an expert bookkeeper and cost accountant in the territory of the 
 members for a year, the cost to be divided between the two asso- 
 ciations. 
 
 A meeting of the sales managers of the National Implement & 
 Vehicle Association was held at Chicago in February, 1912. One 
 of the topics discussed was the responsibility of the salesman as to 
 credits. The matter of cost education as related to dealers was con- 
 sidered and a thorough consideration given to what could be done 
 by the sales managers through their travelers or otherwise to improve 
 existing conditions. At this meeting a former manager of a branch 
 jobbing house at Kansas City outlined some of the benefits that 
 would accrue from a sales managers' department, citing his experi- 
 ence where the cultivation of better acquaintance with his com- 
 petitors had been worth thousands of dollars in handling trade and 
 in the making of credits. The sales managers present at this meeting 
 indicated their interest in the cost-educational work by unanimously 
 expressing their willingness to aid the work and support a feasible 
 plan when devised. No verbatim report was made of the personal 
 experiences recited at this meeting, since it was thought best that the 
 utmost freedom of expression should prevail. In the bulletin con- 
 taining a report of this meeting, members of the association were 
 reminded that it was their duty to build up the sales managers' de- 
 partment, not only by their personal attendance but also by urging 
 competitors to attend. 
 
 The efforts that have been made to carry on the cost-educational 
 work are described in more detail elsewhere. (See Chap. VII, sec. 5.) 
 
^ 
 
 84 
 
 PARM-MACHINEBY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 J 
 
 BEDUCTION OF COSTS. 
 
 85 
 
 Section 6. Beduotion in costs of distribution. 
 
 Manufacturers, wholesalers, and dealers alike contend that there 
 are certain unnecessary or excessive expenses that have grown up 
 under the present system of selling through retail dealers. Manu- 
 facturers and wholesalers complain of various practices on the part 
 of dealers that tend to increase selling costs, while dealers believe 
 that unduly aggressive competition on the part of manufacturers 
 and wholesalers has a similar tendency. Furthermore, manufac- 
 turers, jobbers, and dealers alike are opposed to price cutting by 
 dealers. Nevertheless all classes in the trade recognize that if the 
 dealer is to continue to be an important factor in the distribution of 
 machines the system of which he is a part must not impose too great 
 an expense upon the industry. This is looked upon as a vital prob- 
 lem, the solution of which requires close cooperation between the vari- 
 ous manufacturers and wholesalers, and also between manufacturers 
 and wholesalers on the one hand and dealers on the other. 
 
 The smaller manufacturers and wholesalers are especially con- 
 cerned with the increasing cost of distribution. The recent develop- 
 ment of several large companies into full-line houses, with excep- 
 tional financial resources, carrying a large variety of the principal 
 kinds of farm machinery, has been a matter of deep concern to 
 smaller companies. The abundant resources of the large companies 
 permit them to employ expensive selling organizations, to spend 
 much money for advertising, and to carry goods with dealers on con- 
 signment or on unusually long terms. By these means the larger 
 companies absorb the services of an undue proportion of the total 
 number of dealers. The net result of the situation is that the smaller 
 short-line manufacturers are seriously handicapped by the expense to 
 which they are put in selling the output of their factories. In many 
 cases it is probably true that the aggregate selling expenses of the 
 manufacturer, the wholesaler, and of the dealer, equals or exceeds the 
 factory cost of goods. 
 
 Owing perhaps to the fact that the larger manufacturers are mem- 
 bers of the National Implement & Vehicle Association, no positive 
 action along fundamental lines has been taken by that organization to 
 relieve the smaller concerns. Members of that association, however, 
 are strongly impressed with the necessity for curtailing what is de- 
 scribed as the " increasing cost of distribution." In October, 1913, the 
 chairman of the executive committee of the National Implement & 
 Vehicle Association told the delegates to the National Federation of 
 dealers' associations that this is one of the greatest problems now 
 confronting the manufacturer. The delegates were urged to make 
 vigorous and persistent use of their influence in eliminating certain 
 practices by which the manufacturers thought the cost of distribu- 
 
 m 
 
 — ( 
 
 M 
 
 ^ 
 
 tion was unnecessarily increased. Specific practices of this sort that 
 were complained of by the manufacturers, included excessive de- 
 mands upon the manufacturer for donations, and for personal and 
 financial help in selling and setting up goods sold to farmers; expense 
 arising from failure of dealers to live up to the terms of their agency 
 contracts, and from failure to pay adequate attention to new and use- 
 ful machines; lax methods of conducting business; and excessive 
 demands for carrying over unsold goods. On account of the great 
 number of new dealers who enter the retail implement trade each 
 year the manufacturers believe that a constant campaign is needed to 
 agitate matters of this kind. 
 
 The entire Federation was invited to be present at the annual 
 convention of the National Implement & Vehicle Association in 
 October, 1913. In extending this invitation the secretary of the 
 National Implement & Vehicle Association said : 
 
 The time has arrived, we believe, that the retailer of the lines 
 we represent ought to understand fully the situation relative to 
 the manufacture of these lines and the problem connected 
 with it. 
 
 At this convention one of the features was a discussion between 
 the chairman of the executive committee of this association and the 
 president of the Iowa implement dealers' association on the subject 
 of problems of distribution, the object being to find some way to 
 reduce selling costs by the process of elimination of needless expense. 
 The Bulletin, the official organ of the federated dealers' associations, 
 in commenting upon this discussion, expressed the hope that it would 
 do much toward securing that real cooperation between manufac- 
 turer and dealer which it was apparent had become necessary if the 
 dealer was to continue to be the medium through which the product 
 of the implement factory reaches the farmer. At this convention of 
 the manufacturers' association a resolution was adopted urging upon 
 members the positive necessity of reducing to a minimum the cost of 
 marketing products and soliciting the cooperation of the dealers. 
 
 The dealers recognize the fact that the manufacturer will natu- 
 rally endeavor to reach the user of his products through the channel 
 that affords the greatest volume of business at least cost for distri- 
 bution. In referring to this fact the secretary of the Western asso- 
 ciation declared that the dealers have it in their power to demon- 
 strate that they offer the cheapest channel of distribution and that 
 they must make this fact clear to the manufacturers. 
 
 While the danger to the regular implement dealers of competi- 
 tion from direct selling concerns is believed by many to have been 
 greatly exaggerated, one result has been to create a belief among 
 dealers that they are required to pay too much for goods sold to them 
 through wholesale houses. Furthermore, the federated dealers' asso- 
 
» . 
 
 86 
 
 FABM-MACHINEBT TBADE ASSOCIATION& 
 
 REDUCTION OF COSTS. 
 
 87 
 
 eiations claim that they aro studying methods of catalogue houses to 
 enable the dealers to compete with them successfully. In this connec- 
 tion the question has been raised whether there is not some way in 
 which dealers can get nearer the source of supply. The solution of this 
 problem through cooperative buying in quantity direct from the fac- 
 tories, by uniting the orders of a number of dealers, has been opposed 
 by manufacturers. Another plan under which it is proposed that 
 dealers shall sell from syndicate catalogues and deliver goods ordered 
 therefrom has met with little favor from the regular trade and has 
 been disapproved by the National Federation of Implement & 
 Vehicle Dealers' Associations. 
 
 The dealers' associations have made little progress in efforts to 
 secure lower prices from manufacturers and wholesalers, through 
 the curtailment of expense which they claim could be effected if man- 
 ufacturers and wholesalers would discontinue the employment of 
 canvassing salesmen and the sale of goods on extremely long terms. 
 In this direction the interests of regular dealers and of manufac- 
 turers without exceptional resources are much the same.* 
 
 One of the most recent proposals of the dealers to reduce the cost 
 of distribution is to reduce the needless variety of different types 
 and sizes of different kinds of farm machinery and implements, 
 which it has been customary for dealers to carry in stock. This 
 method of reducing costs was brought up by the National Federa- 
 tion at a conference with manufacturers representing the National 
 Implement & Vehicle Association in October, 1913. The latter as- 
 sured the dealers that the manufacturers were even more deeply 
 interested in the advantages of standardization than were the dealers. 
 The dealers were told that the farm-wagon department of the Na- 
 tional Implement & Vehicle Association was then engaged in an 
 effort to standardize wagon construction to the extent of eliminating 
 certain sizes and that it was expected that the wagon manufacturers 
 would soon present a request for the cooperation of the dealers. 
 
 The character of the warranty, as an element in the costs of dis- 
 tribution, has been a matter of difference between competing manu- 
 facturers, and also between manufacturers and dealers. As between 
 manufacturers and dealers the question of warranty is as to which 
 shall beai* the expense of replacing . broken parts. Manufacturers 
 claim that dealers are too liberal in this respect, especially when the 
 expense can be shifted to the former. 
 
 The matter of warranties came up prominently in 1913 by reason 
 of legislation on the subject which had been passed in the Prov- 
 ince of Alberta, Canada, and in the State of North Dakota. The 
 Alberta act provided that notwithstanding any agreement farm ma- 
 
 1 See report of the Commissioner of Corporations on the International Harvester Co., 
 pp. 270-288. 
 
 #' 
 
 #'< 
 
 f ■> 
 
 chinery should be sold under an implied warranty guaranteeing it 
 to be of good material, to be properly constructed both as to design 
 and workmanship, to be in good working order to satisfactorily per- 
 form the work for which it was intended, to be free from latent and 
 other defects, and to be in every way so designed and constructed as 
 with proper care and use to have reasonable durability. It was felt 
 by members of the National Implement & Vehicle Association that 
 this law would work a great hardship upon every manufacturer 
 selling goods in that province. Later it was announced that the act 
 had resulted in the withdrawal of a number of concerns from doing 
 business in Alberta and had caused others to restrict their business 
 to those only who were considered choice credits, and it was asserted 
 that the law bore even more heavily upon the farmer whom it was 
 intended to benefit. It was thought that the law would render the 
 manufacturers' collections difficult, and it was reported that several 
 instances had occurred where farmers had repudiated their obliga- 
 tions. The passage of a similar law in North Dakota in 1913 (Ses- 
 sion Laws, chap. 218) was also called to the attention of the members 
 of the National Implement & Vehicle Association in an effort to 
 arouse them to protest the passage of such laws. These laws were 
 regarded as having been brought about by the unfair dealings of 
 one or more concerns, although the law placed the restriction upon 
 all. The secretary urged that an effort be made to enlighten both 
 dealers and consumers as to the ultimate effect of such laws in in- 
 creasing the expense of doing business and in advancing prices. 
 
 At the present time (March, 1915) both the National Implement 
 & Vehicle Association and the National Federation of Implement & 
 Vehicle Dealers' Associations are active in devising methods of 
 eliminating and curtailing the expenses incident to the sale of farm 
 machinery through the retailer. At the annual meeting of the Na- 
 tional Implement & Vehicle Association in October, 1914, the retiring 
 president stated his belief that — 
 
 no problem confronting us today exceeds in importance that of 
 economically marketing and distributing our products. 
 
 The report of the executive committee of the association pointed 
 out that the expense of selling farm machinery had increased very 
 materially from year to year until it had become one of the manu- 
 facturers' heaviest burdens. The committee on dealers' associations, 
 however, declared that, so far as agricultural implements are con- 
 cerned, the retail dealer is a necessity and is the best medium in the 
 distribution of the manufacturers' goods to farmers. The report of 
 this committee called attention to the expense involved in the tend- 
 ency on the part of manufacturers and dealers to yield to demands 
 for excessive service. It also cautioned the manufacturers against 
 
 «f- i '■'' ^ 
 
88 
 
 FARM-MACHINERY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 placing agencies too close together and against overloading dealers 
 with more goods than they require. 
 
 At this convention the sales managers' department reported that 
 its members had held two important conferences with the dealers 
 during the year, at which various topics of mutual mterest had been 
 discussed. At these conferences various suggestions for the more 
 economical conduct of the retail trade were considered, such as the 
 more careful use of advertising matter sent to dealers for distribu- 
 tion, cooperation in replacing defective parts and in returning them 
 to the factory, and the use of a common form of property statement 
 to be submitted by dealers seeking credit for goods ordered. The 
 most important result of the conferences between the manufacturers 
 and dealers appears to have been the appointment of the secretaries 
 of the various constituent associations of the Federation as a commit- 
 tee to act with the manufacturers' association in an effort to advance 
 the standardization movement by assisting in the elmiination of un- 
 necessary sizes and types of machines, wagons, etc. This step was 
 taken at the request of the manufacturers that the Federation appoint 
 a committee for this purpose. In making this request the manufac- 
 turers declared that, unless such standardization could be effected, 
 they would be compelled to advance prices. Furthermore, they as- 
 serted that the standardization could not be accomplished without the 
 cooperation and support of the dealers. At the meeting of the 
 Federation held in October, 1914, the delegates adopted the following 
 resolution : 
 
 By the ever increasing multiplicity of styles and sizes, manu- 
 facturers and jobbers have added cost upon cost to their overhead 
 expense. There are too many travelers, executives and canvassers 
 who add to the cost of the goods to the dealer. Many of these 
 wastes m cost of distribution should be eliminated and all un- 
 usual styles and sizes should be discontinued. Keforms along 
 this line should be assisted by the retail dealer, so that he may be 
 enabled to sell goods at lower prices to the consumer, obtain a 
 fair profit and give good service. 
 
 At the same meeting at which the above resolution was passed and 
 at which the secretaries of the various associations were appointed as 
 a committee on standardization, the Federation delegates also ap- 
 pointed a, committee to investigate and report at the next annual 
 meeting whether some plan could not be adopted by which dealers 
 could get some of the smaller articles in their line, outside of trade- 
 marked goods, at lower prices. 
 
 ^ 
 
 *5 
 
 -< 
 
 T 
 
 m 
 
 ; 
 
 'J^m 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ACTIVITIES OF MANUFACTURERS' ASSOCIATIONS WITH RESPECT 
 
 TO LEGISLATION. 
 
 Section 1. Introduction. 
 
 The executive committee of the National Association of Agricul- 
 tural Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers was given general charge 
 of all matters of legislation affecting members and their patrons. 
 A standing committee on legislation was created, with instructions 
 to keep a sharp lookout for such matters, but its duties were after- 
 wards divided between a committee on national legislation and one 
 on State legislation. In 1895 the committee on legislation recom- 
 mended that the efforts of the association in the matter of legislation 
 should not be confined to the prevention of obnoxious laws or their 
 repeal when enacted, but that effort should be made to frame and 
 secure the passage of laws, both State and national, that would 
 protect and promote the interests of the members without impairing 
 the rights or interests of the general public. To secure the enact- 
 ment of such kws, the executive committee was empowered to confer 
 with other associations of manufacturers with reference to coopera- 
 tive action. 
 
 In 1895, the executive conmiittee was authorized to subscribe to 
 the membership of the National Association of Manufacturers and 
 to appoint delegates to its next convention. In October, 1898, a so- 
 called conference committee was given charge of proposed coopera- 
 tion with kindred associations to secure national legislation, and in 
 October, 1908, a recommendation was approved that the association 
 cooperate with the National Association of Manufacturers along such 
 lines as their common interests might justify. The same year a pro- 
 posal was made to employ men at State capitals to report on measures 
 introduced in State legislatures, and, for a time, a committee, known 
 as the " States Committee," was maintained with a member in each 
 State to look after legislation and report all obnoxious measures. In 
 1910, however, the States committee was discontinued. 
 
 So far as shown by the records, the wagon, plow, and grain-drill 
 manufacturers' associations, as organizations, gave little attention to 
 matters of legislation. Many of the members of these associations 
 were also members of the National Association of Agricultural Im- 
 plement & Vehicle Manufacturers, and, largely for this reason, legis- 
 

 •III 
 
 rARM-MACHINERY TRADE A8800IATI0NS. 
 
 > 
 
 ACTIVITIES WITH RESPECT TO LEGISLATION. 
 
 n 
 
 lative matters were left to be handled by the latter association, which, 
 with its larger membership, was thought to be more influential. 
 
 The principal matters of legislation to which the manufacturers' 
 associations have devoted attention, are those relating to taxation 
 of corporations, industrial indemnity, and manufacturing opera- 
 tions ftt State penal institutions. Considerable attention has also 
 been given to legislation relating to credits and collections, the tariff, 
 and patents. 
 
 The associations of implement dealers have l»een most active in 
 opposing the enactment of parcel-post legislation (see p. 198), and 
 have also given much attention to legislation relating to manufac- 
 turing operations at State penal institutions (see p. 107) and to com- 
 mercial transactions. In such matters they have sometimes received 
 the support of the jobbers' club in the same distributing territory. 
 
 The matter of employing legal counsel to look after the general 
 interest of the association was brought up at a meeting of the execu- 
 tive committee of the National Association of Agricultural Imple- 
 ment & Vehicle Manufacturers in January, 1897, but it was thought 
 best to ascertain what the National Association of Manufacturers 
 proposed doing in the matter. In November, 1898, the chairman of 
 the executive committee was authorized to employ legal counsel when- 
 ever he found it necessary to do so. In November, 1900, a committee 
 on attorneys and litigation was created, and the chairman was in- 
 structed to accept the proposition of a firm of Chicago attorneys to 
 act as counsel for the association. Since 1900 this arrangement has 
 apparently been renewed annually. By direction of the association 
 the attorneys have conducted litigation in which the association has 
 been interested, especially suits to determine the rights of foreign 
 corporations under the laws of various States. 
 
 The National Implement & Vehicle Association has continued the 
 work in respect to legislation and litigati(m formerly conducted by 
 the National Association of Agricultural Implement & Vehicle Manu- 
 facturers. The standing committees on attorneys and litigation, 
 national legislation, State legislation, tariff, patents, and others, 
 have been retained. Furthermore, at the convention in October, 
 1911, a committee on political action was created, to secure united 
 political action on the part of business men against what was char- 
 acterized as existing tendencies toward adverse class legislation. In 
 recommending this step, the committee on State legislation reported, 
 in part, as follows: 
 
 Your committee are of the opinion that the public should know 
 and realize the importance of these conditions, and that it is up 
 to the business men of this countrv to act together as a unit 
 upon this problem, for upon its solution along right lines de- 
 pends as much as upon any other one thing the future growth 
 
 i 
 
 <^ I % 
 
 t |> 
 
 4 r P 
 
 and prosperity of this country. And again we emphasize, in 
 this connection, the importance of the business men unitmg for 
 
 political action. 
 
 ♦ ♦ * Throughout this report we have endeavored to point 
 out to you, as your committee sees it, the importance of business 
 men entering the political field, and we have intentionally stated 
 business men instead of business interests, because the trend of 
 recent legislation, National as well as State, has been against the 
 corporation and " the interests," so called, and which at the out- 
 set was aimed at the big interests known as the trusts and later 
 at the railroads, but which to-day, if not being actually leveled 
 at, is reacting upon all legitimate business interests, and justly 
 or unjustly, our businesses are all being tarred with the same 
 stick, known by both political parties as "the interests," and, 
 therefore, practically speaking, we are all political outcasts. 
 
 In the minds of your committee, the important step to be taken 
 now is the formation of, or domination of a political organiza- 
 tion which shall be of sufficient strength and sanity to keep us 
 safely building upon the foundation structure of our constitu- 
 tion and not upon the quick sands of many of the present-day 
 political theories. 
 The committee on political action was invited to be present at a 
 congress of the National Business League of America, described as 
 " an alliance of leading diversified interests of the United States for 
 the promotion of national legislation and the advancement of 
 American commerce and industries." This congress, held at Chi- 
 cago in the latter part of 1911, authorized the appointment of a com- 
 mittee to formulate a declaration of principles and purposes, reflect- 
 ing the demands of the commercial, industrial, and business interests 
 represented— something that the two dominant political parties 
 might be asked to embody in their platforms. The executive com- 
 mittee of the National Implement & Vehicle Association directed its 
 committee on political action to continue negotiations and cooperate 
 with the National Business League and report to the executive com- 
 mittee of the National Implement & Vehicle Association when 
 definite action was finally determined upon. The National Business 
 League held another meeting in June, 1912, and adopted the plat- 
 form that had been formulated by its committee. The resolutions 
 adopted by the National Implement & Vehicle Association in 
 October, 1912, substantially embodied this platform. 
 
 The report of the committee on State legislation at the convention 
 in October, 1912, referred to the organization of the Chamber of 
 Commerce of the United States of America at Washington, D. C, 
 in April, 1912, for the purpose of forming a representative body 
 of commercial organizations and interests which by representation 
 could be consulted in relation to the commercial needs of the United 
 States in both domestic and foreign trade. One of the principal 
 
 ^r f^ 
 
92 
 
 FABM-MACHINERT TBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 ACTIVITIES WITH RESPECT TO LEGISLATION. 
 
 9S 
 
 objects of the Cliamber of Commerce is to be watchful of legislation 
 affecting the business interests of the country. 
 
 In referring to membership in the Chamber of Commerce of the 
 United States, the executive committee of the National Implement 
 & Vehicle Association reported as follows: 
 
 Our membership in, and affiliation with many of the more 
 important commercial organizations of the country, puts us, as 
 it were, in the very center of things, enabling us to bulletin all 
 important information quickly. The Chamber of Commerce 
 of the United States, i*ecently formed to unite as far as possible 
 business organizations in or^er that the wishes of the majority 
 might at any time be reduced to concrete form for the benefit 
 of the President, Congress, or any other department of the 
 Government, when questions of domestic or foreign interest 
 arise — we are membei*s of, and cooperating with this organiza- 
 tion we expect it will develop in time to be a most valuable aid 
 to our work. 
 
 In a pamphlet issued by the National Implement & Vehicle Asso- 
 ciation during 1911, the scope of the duties of its committees on 
 national and State legislation was explained as follows: 
 
 Our committee on National legislation, composed of live man- 
 ufacturers, act as an advisory body to direct the general office 
 as to action which should be taken to alarm our members when 
 pernicious or detrimental legislation is introduced at the na- 
 tional capital, or to counsel their cooperation and support to 
 legislation of beneficial character. 
 
 Our committee on State legislation are watchful for the in- 
 terests of our members in such legislation as relates to labor, 
 taxation, transportation, rights of corporations within and with- 
 out the State, etc. 
 
 The committee on national legislation in its report to members at 
 the annual convention in October, 1912, suggested : 
 
 That every member of this organization constitute himself a 
 committee of one to give strict attention to the next session of 
 Congress calling the attention of your next committee on Na- 
 tional legislation to any bills you deem of interest to manufac- 
 turers in our lines, expressing at the same time your views to 
 assist the committee in determining its course. This suggestion 
 is not made to relieve the committee of its duties, but to bring 
 about proper interest in important legislation which heretofore 
 has had too little attention from the average business man until 
 too late. 
 The duties of these committees and various recommendations re- 
 garding their methods of work are also referred to elsewhere in the 
 
 i-eport. 
 
 At the annual meeting of the National Implement & Vehicle Asso- 
 ciation in October, 1913, the attorneys of the association reported 
 that the multitude of different laws affecting corporations in the dif- 
 
 il I • 
 
 
 ferent States was a serious burden upon business enterprise; that 
 there was an opportunity for the association to do a great amount of 
 effective work; and that although there were organizations which 
 could furnish copies of bills embodying legislation affecting business, 
 it was nevertheless necessary for the interested parties to protect 
 their rights. In this connection, they suggested that an association 
 might be organized among the secretaries or managers of several 
 large associations of manufacturers and dealers to provide some 
 method of investigating and correcting such proposed legislation. 
 The report of the committee on State legislation also indicated the 
 difficulties of handling the situation in a practical way, involving the 
 necessity of analyzing all bills presented and of securing the cooper- 
 ation of those interested to appear either by committee or otherwise 
 before the various legislative committees. They asserted that no one 
 organization could alone furnish service of this sort unless it was 
 organized for that express purpose, and, in this connection, suggested 
 that, as the desired information could be procured through reliable 
 channels, a special committee composed of representatives from 
 various commercial organizations through the country might be or- 
 ganized to direct all activities regarding such legislation. The com- 
 mittee suggested that a plan of cooperation with other organizations 
 might be inaugurated to start a movement among the business inter- 
 ests of the country either for a campaign of education as to needed 
 legislation or for promoting efforts to modify or repeal detrimental 
 legislation. 
 
 Section 2. Taxation of corporations. 
 
 State taxation of foreign corporations. — Most of the members 
 of the National Implement & Vehicle Association are organized as 
 corporations under the laws of some State. As their products are 
 sold in many different States, the payment of franchise fees and 
 other taxes imposed on foreign corporations by laws of the different 
 States is quite an expense. Various plans of relief have been con- 
 sidered. To avoid the liabilities under such laws, members of the 
 association are advised to conduct their business in such a manner 
 that it will be interstate in character. To accomplish this, consider- 
 able attention has been devoted to an effort to devise satisfactory 
 forms of agency contracts between manufacturers and dealers. Fur- 
 thermore, the association has for years advocated the passage of a 
 national incorporation law, and until such a law can be passed the 
 manufacturers favor uniform State laws governing corporations. 
 Many of the questions submitted to the attorneys of the association 
 relate to methods of conducting selling operations in order to avoid 
 payments required by the corporation tax laws of various States. 
 
 <^ 
 
94 
 
 FABM-MACHINEBY TEADE ASSOCIATIONai 
 
 ACTIVITIES WITH RESPECT TO LEGISLATION. 
 
 95 
 
 I 
 
 This matter of State taxation was one of the most important 
 problems confronting the implement and vehicle manufacturers at 
 the time the National Association of Agricultural Implement & 
 Vehicle Manufacturers was organized, in 1894. Many of the mem- 
 bers, organized as corporations, owned warehouses in other States, 
 to which shipments were made for reshipment. To determine 
 whether such companies were engaged in interstate commerce in 
 a sense to render them exempt from the payment of a franchise 
 fee, it was decided to test the law in the State of Michigan by bring- 
 ing a friendly suit in the name of a manufacturing company, incor- 
 porated in Ohio, against a Michigan dealer. Arrangements were 
 made with both parties to the suit, the expenses, including attorneys' 
 fees for both sides, being paid by the association. It was felt that 
 a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States favorable to 
 the association would establish a precedent of great benefit. 
 
 The United States Circuit Court for the Eastern District of 
 Michigan decided in favor of the manufacturing company on the 
 ground that the statute of the State of Michigan was unconstitu- 
 tional as an attempt to regulate interstate trade. On appeal to the 
 Supreme Court of the United States the judgment of the circuit 
 court was affirmed, but the higher court did not find it necessary to 
 pass upon the constitutional question, as the contract upon which 
 the suit was brought had been consummated or made in the State of 
 Ohio, and, according to the terms of the Michigan law, the contract 
 would have to be made in Michigan for the law of that State to 
 apply. (Holder v, AultmaU; 169 U. S., 81.) 
 
 While this decision did not clearly define interstate trade, it indi- 
 cated one way in which the foreign corporation tax laws of the 
 States might be avoided. It was decided to put the decision in con- 
 cise form, and to send it to all members of the association, accom- 
 panied by a letter advising them not to pay a franchise tax in States 
 where their business was not located. In case of suit, they were to 
 refer the matter to the secretary of the association that a test suit 
 might be brought. The association proposed "to hold harmless" 
 any member engaged in interstate commerce, who might be sued for 
 refusing to comply with statutes affecting foreign corporations which 
 were deemed to be unconstitutional. 
 
 In 1906 the attorneys of the association were directed to institute 
 two other suits, at the expense of the association, to test the foreign 
 corporation laws of Texas and Kansas, respectively. 
 
 As in the Michigan case, the object of these suits was to secure an 
 opinion from the Supreme Court of the United States as to whether 
 companies, such as those in whose names the suits were brought, were 
 engaged in interstate trade in a sense that would bring them under 
 the commerce clause of the United States Constitution in such a way 
 
 « I* 
 
 m 
 
 ;r. 
 
 
 # I • 
 
 as to free them from the operation of State corporation franchise 
 tax laws. In the Texas case, however, it was not necessary for the 
 court to pass upon this point, since the allegation of the company 
 that it was engaged in interstate business was not denied by the 
 State. The court refused, however, to aid the company in recovering 
 taxes that had been paid, as the money had been paid voluntarily an i 
 not under compulsion of law. (Gaar, Scott & Co. v. Shannon, 223 
 U. S., 468.) 
 
 In the Kansas case the Supreme Court of that State decided that 
 the manufacturing company, in whose name the suit was brought, 
 could not maintain an action in the State courts unless it complied 
 with the foreign corporation laws of the State, even though the 
 orders taken by a traveling salesman were sent to Illinois for ap- 
 proval and shipment. On appeal by the company — there being no 
 appearance for the defendant in error — the Supreme Court of the 
 United States reversed this judgment without rendering a written 
 opinion. (Wilson-Moline Buggy Co. v. Hawkins, 223 U. S., 713.) 
 
 Early in 1911 the executive committee of the National Implement 
 & Vehicle Association instructed the attorneys of the association to 
 commence suits to test the right of the State and county taxing 
 bodies in Arkansas in seeking to tax notes and credits arising out of 
 the sale of goods. It was held by the association that, as the trans- 
 action was purely one of interstate commerce, to tax notes and 
 credits taken in the State for goods manufactured outside the State 
 was to tax property outside the State. 
 
 In referring to the activities of the National Implement & Vehicle 
 Association in bringing these suits, the committee on attorneys and 
 litigation at the annual meeting in 1912 made the following state- 
 ment: 
 
 No one company can afford to appeal these cases and take 
 them to the Supreme Court. It would be much less expensive to 
 pay an unjust tax, or an unjust tax assessment, rather than go to 
 that expense and annoyance and trouble. The association has 
 taken this work from the manufacturers in many cases in the 
 past to the great benefit of the membership. 
 
 A decision of the Supreme Court of South Dakota in a suit^ to 
 which none of the members of the National Implement & Vehicle 
 Association was a party was considered to be so important to the 
 members of that association that its attorneys were instructed to 
 procure the appeal of the case to the Supreme Court of the United 
 States. The expense of this appeal was to be borne by the association 
 assisted by the National Association of Credit Men and the National 
 Association of Manufacturers. 
 
 A resolution adopted at the convention in 1912 advised the mem- 
 bers to give greater heed to the recommendations of the attorneys as 
 
 1 Sioux Remedy Co. v. Cope, 133 N. W. 683 (1911). 
 
96 
 
 FABM-MACHINERY TBADE ASSOCIATIONa 
 
 ACTIVITIES WITH RESPECT TO LEGISLATION. 
 
 97 
 
 to noncompliance with State laws relative to franchise taxes and 
 license fees, where a strictly interstate business was being conducted 
 in a foreign State. 
 
 The members of the implement and vehicle manufactuers' associa- 
 tion have repeatedly adopted resolutions favoring a national incor- 
 poration law as a means of relief from the liabilities imposed by State 
 laws. At the annual meeting of the association in October, 1912, the 
 attorneys of the association made a similar recommendation. They 
 advised that a national incorporation law " should be specific in de- 
 fining the powers of the corporation and prescribing its limitations 
 and be so framed that when a corporation is incorporated thereunder 
 its managers may know definitely and specifically what their powers 
 and rights are ; what limitations are placed upon them and that out- 
 side of such limitations imposed by the act, that they shall be as 
 free as individuals to transact their business and sell their wares 
 throughout the United States and wherever the American flag flies, 
 unhampered and unencumbered by State lines and State statutes." 
 
 Federal corporation tax. — Although the National Implement & 
 Vehicle Association favors a Federal incorporation law it was op- 
 posed to the Federal law of 1909 taxing corporations. In the early 
 part of 1910 the attorneys for the implement association had advised 
 that no reports be made to the Government under the corporation 
 tax law, unless accompanied by a letter protesting the constitution- 
 ality of the act. Members of the association were urged to confer 
 with the secretary of the association before making any report. In a 
 letter to members of the association dated in January, 1910, the chair- 
 man of the executive committee said, in part : 
 
 We are aiding indirectly those who are expecting to contest 
 the constitutionality of the act, and directly those favoring an 
 amendment or repeal of the act, but * * * we regretfully 
 believe that incorporated companies must face the issue and 
 prepare to make their imports. 
 
 Members were advised that the attorneys of the association believed 
 the law to be unconstitutional. Forms of protest to be filed by mem- 
 bers against the collection of the tax, and also against the publicity 
 feature of the act, were inclosed in this letter. It was reported that 
 steps had been taken to secure an amendment or repeal of the pub- 
 licity clause. A circular letter dated February 4, 1910, and signed by 
 the chairman of the executive committee, read, in part, as follows : 
 
 Your executive committee has been active individually and 
 by cooperation with other associations and interests in the effort 
 to induce Congress to repeal the publicity clause in the corpora- 
 tion tax law. The repeal * * ♦ would require an amend- 
 ment of the tariff act of August 5, 1909. Such an amendment 
 brought in to the House would be open to amendment for every 
 
 ^> 
 
 
 < 
 
 -^ 
 
 s 
 
 item in the tariff law, both in the House and in the Senate, 
 and would result in opening up the tariff question and you can 
 realize as well as I do what a paralysis this would cause to busi- 
 ness generally. It is very much to be regretted that the offensive- 
 ness of this particular clause was not as fully realized when the 
 bill was imder discussion as at this time. 
 
 On June 9, 1910, the secretary of the National Association of Agri- 
 cultural Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers issued a circular letter 
 to members advising them that the various suits brought to test the 
 constitutionality of the law had been reassigned for hearing at the 
 October term of the Supreme Court, and members were urged "to 
 immediately request your Representatives in Congress to have the 
 law so amended that payment of the tax will not be required until 
 the Supreme Court renders its decision. An amendment such as we 
 suggest would avoid the necessity of payment of the tax at this time 
 and a refund of the amount in case the law is declared unconstitu- 
 tional." 
 
 In July, 1911, the secretary issued a bulletin quoting a bulletin of 
 the Wisconsin Manufacturers' Association relative to the payment of 
 the penalty for failure to comply with the Federal corporation-tax 
 law, advising members to pay under protest, and later in the month 
 members were advised of the text of a bill introduced in Congress to 
 provide for a refund or abatement of the tax under certain conditions. 
 Later, the secretary stated : 
 
 We have taken the matter up with the American Association 
 of Public Accountants with whom we have been working since 
 the bill was introduced and will be prepared to do our part at 
 the proper time. * * * it is probable that later we will want 
 the cooperation of every member in stirring up their Congress- 
 men, at which time you will be duly advised. 
 
 This was followed in a few days by another bulletin urging mem- 
 bers to write their Congressmen at once along lines suggested in the 
 bulletin, commending another bill introduced on the same subject on 
 December 5. Members were requested to notify the secretary of the 
 association when they wrote their Congressmen, and a little later 
 the secretary notified members of the replies that he had received 
 from members who had written their Congressmen. He also com- 
 mended a suggestion that large results might be obtained if the 
 members could arouse interest on this subject among the local busi- 
 ness associations with which they were connected. 
 
 Section 3. Legislation relating to the tariff and foreign trade. 
 
 The importance of tariff legislation to manufacturers in the imple- 
 ment industry is shown by the fact that the organization of the 
 National Association of Agricultural Implement & Vehicle Manu- 
 
 68248*'— 15 1 
 
98 
 
 l-ABM-MACHINEKY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 ACTIVITIES WITH RESPECT TO LEGISLATION. 
 
 99 
 
 facturers, in April, 1894, was due very largely to the tariff legisla- 
 tion of that year. Earlier in the year, in February, representatives 
 of a number of concerns engaged in the manufacture of various kinds 
 of farm machinery met at Chicago and appointed a committee to 
 protest against the free admission of agricultural implements from 
 other countries, except under reciprocal arrangements. It was 
 claimed that the work of this committee resulted in securing an 
 amendment to the Wilson tariff bill, providing that the then existing 
 duties be retained on specified articles from countries that imposed 
 an import duty on like shipments from the United States. The 
 success of this committee afforded a concrete example of the value of 
 collective action among implement manufacturers in different lines, 
 and helped to bring about the formation of the National Association 
 of Agricultural Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers. 
 
 After the association was organized, resolutions intended to pro- 
 mote foreign trade were adopted from time to time, such as urging 
 upon Congress the importance of maintaining the consular system 
 upon a high standard of efficiency and favoring the establishment of 
 a strong American merchant marine. In 1896 the association selected 
 a representative to accompany a party of members of the National 
 Association of Manufacturers to South America to investigate trade 
 conditions. Subsequently the association devoted considerable time 
 to discussing ways and means of extending the trade of its members 
 in South American countries. At the convention held in October, 
 1898, resolutions were adopted, recommending that a special com- 
 mittee be sent to confer with officials of the Department of State 
 regarding the interests of the members of the association in the so- 
 called Kasson treaties of reciprocity that were being negotiated. 
 
 In November, 1905, a committee was appointed to consider the 
 interests of the association as to the tariff and reciprocity, and, in 
 that connection, to appear before any committee of Congress at any 
 time in its discretion. The report of this committee, made in August, 
 1906, recommended a very considerable reduction in the duties on 
 the materials used in the manufacture of implements, particularly 
 iron and steel. An extensive discussion among the members of the 
 executive committee followed the reading of this report, and the 
 question was raised, assuming the accuracy of the facts reported, 
 whether it would be best for the association to undertake an agitation 
 for a revision of the tariff, with its possible disadvantageous conse- 
 quences (See p. 59.) The committee was directed to continue its 
 investigations, and, in December, 1906, a standing committee on the 
 tariff was created. In November, 1908, this committee was author- 
 ized and directed to attend the hearings of the Ways and Means Com- 
 mittee on matters affecting implements, with the idea of securing a 
 reasonable tariff on implements and vehicles and a material reduc- 
 tion on certain raw materials which the implement manufacturers 
 
 A\ 
 
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 ij) 
 
 ^ I > 
 
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 % 
 
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 } 
 
 1 -ll^ 
 
 believed to be overprotected. The executive committee also ordered 
 the report of the tariff committee, made at the convention a short 
 time before, to be published, providing it had been revised in ac- 
 cordance with the wishes of the association. 
 
 The association favored the creation of a Federal tariff board, and 
 in 1910 elected one of its members to a place on the National Tariff 
 Commission Association. Members of the National Association of 
 Agricultural Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers were urged to 
 write their Senators and Congressmen at once, recommending the 
 passage of a bill making an appropriation for the Tariff Board. 
 
 In the latter part of 1910 the tariff committee reported to the 
 executive committee that tariff matters were in such shape as to 
 need no further attention from the association, "it being under- 
 stood that there would be no further agitation on the part of our 
 members for the present." It was announced that the National 
 Tariff Commission Association had signified its approval of the 
 Tariff Board. 
 
 One of the first matters to engage the attention of the executive 
 committee of the National Implement & Vehicle Association in 
 January, 1911, was reciprocity with Canada. The committee 
 adopted a resolution favoring a decided reduction in the tariff on 
 agricultural implements, vehicles, and allied lines imported into the 
 United States from Canada, provided the Canadian Government 
 would reduce its tariff to the same basis on like lines imported from 
 the United States. The secretary of the association and the chair- 
 man of the executive conunittee were instructed to prepare a resolu- 
 tion on the subject and embody it in a letter to the President of the 
 United States, and the secretary was directed to inform members 
 and to urge them to write their Congressmen that proper attention 
 be given the subject. 
 
 During February, 1911, the secretary visited Washington in con- 
 nection with the Canadian reciprocity agreement and appeared 
 before the Committee on Ways and Means to communicate the ap- 
 proval of the association. He reported his impressions of the situa- 
 tion in a bulletin dated February 8. In it he also stated that, as the 
 president of the association expected to be in Washington when the 
 bill reached the United States Senate, the association would not 
 only be ably represented, but also be kept well informed concerning 
 the situation and be in position to respond to any call which might 
 be made for assistance. On February 20, members were again 
 recommended to write their Senators at once, urging them to sup- 
 port the confirmation of the Canadian reciprocity agreement. The 
 bulletin added: 
 
 We appreciate the assistance you have already given, but 
 another strong letter from you to your Senators may stir them 
 to action, so please give it prompt attention and send us copy. 
 
->■ 
 
 100 
 
 FAKM-MACHINEKY TBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 ACTIVITIES WITH RESPECT TO LEGISLATION. 
 
 101 
 
 l> 
 
 %t 
 
 ^ 
 
 Before the Senate had ratified the reciprocity agreement, another 
 bulletin to the same effect was sent out. This letter, dated May 2, 
 also warned members that the issue might be befogged by a bill ^^ 
 that had been introduced to place agricultural implements and farm 
 wagons on the free list— a bill which the letter asserted to be purely 
 a tariff matter having no connection with the reciprocity agreement. 
 The work of the tariff committee of the association in 1911 was sum- 
 marized in a report to the convention held at Chicago in October, 1911. 
 In this report it was stated that the committee had deemed it advisable 
 not to agitate the question of tariff revision during the preceding 
 year. It was asserted that the failure of Canada to ratify the treaty 
 of reciprocity that had been negotiated left the field open for sug- 
 gestions of such tariff changes as would be of benefit to the members 
 of the association. 
 
 In March, 1912, the secretary advised members that special ar- 
 rangements had been made at Washington to procure quickly and, 
 without the usual delay in making requests of the various depart- 
 ments, the latest and most complete information concerning foreign 
 trade in which the members of the association were interested. 
 
 From time to time the secretary of the National Implement & 
 Vehicle Association has issued general bulletins advising members 
 of changes in the tariff laws of foreign countries and of news of the 
 export trade as shown in the consular reports of the Government. 
 
 In the early part of 1912 the secretary wrote members for informa- 
 tion regarding their export trade to Kussia to ascertain the effect of 
 the abrogation of the treaty with Russia on the American implement 
 trade stating: 
 
 It is essential that business men give such matters as this and 
 others not yet separated from political influence, more attention 
 than they have m the past if we are to avoid the lo^ of our 
 choicest opportunities through their political aspect or influence 
 being made paramoimt. 
 At the annual convention held in October, 1912, the committee on 
 tariff reported that it had been deemed desirable to look into but one ^ 
 question of great importance, namely, the Russian situation, as re- ' 
 
 gards the possibility of a prohibitory tariff being placed on Ameri- 
 can agricultural machinery as the result of differences growing out 
 of the abrogation of the commercial treaty. A committee was ap- 
 pointed to continue work at Washington necessai-y to bring about a 
 friendly settlement of existing difficulties between the United States ^ 
 and Russia, and it was recommended "that they should lose abso- 
 lutely no time as the danger is certainly grave." A resolution was 
 adopted urging the necessity of immediate action in the negotiation 
 of a new treaty with Russia to avoid " terrific loss," and the secretary 
 was directed to forward a copy of this resolution to all interested 
 
 4 
 
 a 
 
 1 * 
 
 commercial bodies of this country and to asK their cooperation and 
 
 support. 
 
 The report of the tariff committee was chiefly devoted to the 
 Russian situation. It said, in part, however: 
 
 We did not deem it advisable to agitate nor to undertake to 
 suggest in the matter of the revision of our tariff on steel, feeling 
 that it is not within our power at this time, owing to the politi- 
 cal situation and the further fact that there seems to exist such 
 large differences of opinion on that question among our own 
 members, and the further fact that the Government will un- 
 doubtedly succeed in creating a tariff board, and the fact that 
 if such a board is created it would give our association a direct 
 body to work with, if in your judgment it was advisable. For 
 the above reason we pass over that question. 
 
 The convention adopted a resolution advocating " that all legisla- 
 tion for the revision of protective tariff rates should be based upon 
 actual changes in economic differences between American and foreign 
 countries scientifically determined by a nonpartisan tariff commis- 
 sion." Resolutions were also adopted approving the reorganization 
 of the consular and diplomatic service, the maintenance of the service 
 on a uniformly high standard of efficiency, and the adoption of meas- 
 ures for the creation of an American merchant marine and favoring 
 a bill making the owners of vessels liable for loss or damage of 
 cargoes, etc. 
 
 At the convention in October, 1913, the committee on foreign com- 
 merce and tariff reported that a satisfactory settlement of the Russian 
 tariff situation might be expected, but that implements manufactured 
 in other foreign countries were gaining a strong foothold in Russia. 
 The report of the committee also called attention to the prospect for 
 trade for American implement manufacturers in various foreign 
 countries. 
 
 To assist members of the National Implement & Vehicle Associa- 
 tion in extending their trade in foreign markets, a separate depart- 
 ment, composed of the foreign-trade managers of various members of 
 the association, was organized in April, 1914. The president of this 
 department, at the annual convention of the association held the 
 following October, stated that — 
 
 Its object is to collect and distribute among our members 
 general information on matters of export that will enable them 
 to seek an increased trade among our foreign friends at the least 
 possible expense. 
 
 At the time this department was organized the following resolution 
 
 was adopted: 
 
 Resolved, That the members of this department cooperate in 
 furnishing information relative to the foreign trade, to any rea- 
 sonable extent, on request, and that copies of all inquiries and 
 answers be filed with the secretary. 
 
102 
 
 FARM-MACHINERY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS 
 
 ACTIVITIES WITH RESPECT TO LEGISLATION. 
 
 103 
 
 Topics considered at the first meeting of the foreign-crade man- 
 agers' department included the following: Quoting prices to the 
 foreign trade, methods of handling Russian trade, foreign terms and 
 credits, preparation of foreign-trade catalogues, and hindrances to 
 agricultural development in the Argentine. In connection with the 
 work of this department, it has been suggested that the association 
 establish bureaus in countries where members wish to build up their 
 trade, and also a bureau and showroom in New York City. 
 
 Section!. Patent laws. 
 
 A revision of the patent laws of the United States was advocated 
 at the annual meeting of the National Association of Agricultural 
 Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers in 1897, and an improvement of 
 the patent system was urged at the convention held in 1898. A 
 standing committee on patents appears to have been created for the 
 first time in November, 1898. 
 
 In 1907 the report of the committee on patents stated that, although 
 it might be thought too great a task for the association to suggest modi- 
 fications of the patent laws, it might be wise " to sow seeds " in order 
 that the manufacturers might at some time reap the benefit. Accord- 
 ingly the committee made certain suggestions which were later in- 
 dorsed by the association. It opposed the extension of patents and the 
 existence of patent-holding companies, and advocated that foreigners 
 be subjected to the same requirements that foreign nations impose 
 upon American inventors. In the administration of the patent law, 
 it was recommended that greater care be observed in the issuance of 
 patents and that the standard, as to the sufficiency of invention to 
 warrant the issue of a patent, be raised. Furthermore, it was rec- 
 ommended that a competent and adequate force of Patent Office 
 employees be provided for; that abandoned applications be cited 
 against new applications and be open to public inspection after a rea- 
 sonable time ; and that an improved and more appropriate system of 
 classification and indexing of patents be adopted. In January, 1908, 
 the chairman of the committee on patents was authorized to appear 
 before the House Committee on Patents to ask for legislation along 
 the lines indorsed in those recommendations. 
 
 In September, 1911, the secretary of the National Implement & 
 Vehicle Association directed the attention of the members to three 
 bills to modify the existing patent system which were considered 
 inimical to patentees. One of these bills provided for the forfeiture 
 of patent rights under certain conditions and the other two aimed 
 at the adoption of a compulsory system for the manufacture of pat- 
 ented articles under license. It was urged that if these latter bills 
 should become law competitors could compel the owner of a patent 
 to grant a license or shop-manufacturing privileges and thus destroy 
 
 <f 
 
 Iff 
 
 m 
 
 ■m 
 
 ^ 
 
 the incentive to invention through the destruction of the patent 
 monopoly. It was said : 
 
 d^ These bills seem not only unconstitutional, but ridiculous, tor 
 
 they destroy the very foundation upon which many great manu- 
 facturing institutions are established * * *. We recom- 
 mend that you immediately register vigorous protest with your 
 Representative and Senators against these bills . We 
 
 should not wait until the next session of Congress to make 
 known our objections, but should stamp out at once this move- 
 ^ ment for compulsory patent license. 
 
 At the convention held in October, 1911, the patent committee 
 
 condemned the movement for compulsory patent licenses. Specific 
 
 ^ objections to these bills were pointed out, and members were urged 
 
 to take a positive stand against their enactment and make their 
 
 opposition known to Representatives and Senators. The committee 
 
 % reported that for several years it had supported the movement to 
 
 secure the establishment of a court of patent appeals, and that the 
 
 need for such a court had become apparent by reason of conflicting 
 
 decisions rendered by the various courts of appeal. A separate 
 
 court of patent appeals was urged, and members were requested to 
 
 ^ make their wishes known to the President of the United States and 
 
 % their Congressmen, when called upon to do so, for the enactment of 
 
 a bill pending in Congress providing therefor. 
 
 A resolution was adopted expressing the opposition of the asso- < 
 ciation to giving authority to the Commissioner of Patents to grant 
 licenses to other than the patentee to manufacture the patented 
 article as proposed by a recent bill introduced in Congress. The 
 • opposition of the association was also expressed to a provision con- 
 
 tained in a Senate bill forfeiting a patent on terms and conditions 
 therein provided. The association took the view that the rights of 
 foreign patentees should be limited by the same rules and regulations 
 ,^ by which patentees of this country are limited in the country where 
 
 the original patent was granted. 
 A At a meeting of the executive committee held December 23, 1911, 
 
 the committee on patents was requested to draft a bill requiring that 
 all laws or treaties passed relative to patents be made on a reciprocal 
 basis, and that the committee give special attention to pending legis- 
 lation relative to patents and ask the cooperation of the conunittee on 
 National legislation if necessary. 
 m At the convention in 1912 the committee on patents reported that 
 
 its work during the preceding year had been principally along the 
 line of opposing legislation to revise the patent laws. It reported 
 that the compulsory patent measure had been so vigorously opposed 
 by this association and others that it was dropped, but the propa- 
 ganda was later revived. It was asserted that the object of foreign 
 
% 
 
 104 
 
 FABM-MACHINEBY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 countries in adopting compulsory license measures was "to stifle 
 American inventors," and that it seemed incomprehensible that seri- 
 ous consideration should be given to the adoption of a system that 
 had been " primarily devised abroad to throttle American progress." 
 It was stated that the revision of our patent law would have far- 
 reaching effect and was a matter of too great importance to be under- 
 taken hastily, and that the objections to the compulsory license 
 system were so great that the committee urged that there be no 
 cessation on the part of members in opposing such a measure. It 
 added that, aside from this attempted revision of the patent laws, 
 the patent situation had apparently been very satisfactory so far as 
 the members of the National Implement & Vehicle Association were 
 concerned. 
 
 At this convention the association attorneys notified members that 
 they had been informed that the patent committee of the House of 
 Kepresentatives had a bill before it which declared that it should not 
 be lawful to insert a condition in a contract relating to the sale, lease, 
 or license of any patented article or process, the effect of which would 
 be to prohibit or restrict the purchaser, lessee, or licensee from using 
 any article or class of articles, and that it should not be lawful to 
 insert in any contract a condition requiring the purchaser to acquire 
 from the seller any article or class of articles not protected by the 
 •patent. This situation was pointed out for the " serious considera- 
 tion " of the members of the association. 
 
 The convention adopted the following resolution: 
 
 Whereas our patent laws have afforded inventors and owners 
 of patents protection. 
 
 Resolved^ That we continue our efforts in opposing any revi- 
 sion of the patent laws which contemplates a compulsory license. 
 
 In June, 1914, the patent committee of the National Implement & 
 Vehicle Association decided to offer its services as mediator for the 
 adjustment of any dispute among members of the association in 
 regard to patents. 
 
 Section 5. Industrial indemnity and indemnity insurance. 
 
 So far as shown by the records of the various associations of im- 
 plement and vehicle manufacturers, their activities in respect to labor 
 matters have been devoted chiefly to the subject of employers' lia- 
 bility or workmen's indemnity compensation, especially in respect to 
 State legislation placing risks upon the employers. (See pp. 57 
 
 wid 58.) 
 
 One of the first matters taken up by the executive committee of the 
 National Implement & Vehicle Association after the formation of 
 that organization, in January, 1911, was industrial indemnity legis- 
 lation. The National Association of Agricultural Implement & Ve- 
 
 <r 
 
 - U V 
 
 
 ACTIVITIES WITH RESPECT TO LEGISLATION. 
 
 105 
 
 hide Manufacturers had provided for a committee on industrial 
 indemnity and insurance shortly before this time, and a conference 
 had been held at Columbus, Ohio, with members of a similar com- 
 mittee acting for the National Association of Manufacturers. In 
 March, 1911, it was decided that the National Implement & Vehicle 
 Association should take an active interest in industrial indemnity 
 and legislation on the subject pending in various States, cooperating 
 with other organizations working toward the passage of fair and 
 equitable laws. The secretary of the association was instructed to 
 write each member of the committee on State legislation that in part 
 his duties were to immediately ascertain from his representatives at 
 the capital of his State just what bills or legislation were pending 
 which would be of interest to him as a manufacturer. If inimical 
 to his interest, he was requested to report the matter at once to the 
 chairman of the committee on State legislation in order tha the asso- 
 ciation might cooperate with him and with other commercial bodies 
 in the State to secure the amending of such bills, so that they would 
 be fair and equitable. 
 
 The executive committee took immediate action on the industrial 
 indemnity legislation then pending in Wisconsin and Illinois by in- 
 structing the members of the State legislation committee in those 
 States to immediately notify all the association members resident 
 therein to name representatives who could act for them and be sub- 
 ject to call if the chairman found it necessary to use a delegation. 
 The members of the State legislation committee were also notified 
 that the association expected them to get in touch with what was 
 going on in their State legislatures of special interest to manufac- 
 turers and report at once to the chairman of the committee with sug- 
 gestions of what action should be taken. As much of the legislation 
 then pending was considered by the manufacturers to be drastic and 
 discriminatory, every member of the association was urged in self- 
 protection to interest himself and send his views to the association 
 office. It was advised that — 
 
 It is not always possible to head off inimical laws, but by coop- 
 erative organization it is possible to modify them, and these new 
 industrial indemnity laws are of this character. 
 
 The secretary of the association in his report to a meeting of the 
 executive committee in June, 1911, stated that, if it had not been for 
 the cooperation of the association in securing modifications in the 
 terms of some of the industrial indemnity laws that had been passed, 
 they would have been passed in a much more drastic form. He said 
 that some of the committee members had sacrificed largely of their 
 time and money in working for the modifications ; that in Wisconsin 
 the bill had been much improved by the attention given and work 
 
 VL.^^# 
 
1 
 
 106 
 
 FARM-MACHINEBY TKADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 done by certain members of the association in that State, and that in 
 Ohio one of the members of the association had not only framed 
 most of the provisions of the compensation law but had been of 
 much service in securing its passage through both houses of the legis- 
 lature. He reported that in Illinois the members of the association 
 had given a larger proportion of time and attention to this question 
 than was given by any other line of business. 
 
 An advance in the rates of industrial indemnity insurance com- 
 panies led to a suggestion in June, 1911, as to the possibility of creat- 
 ine some plan of mutual insurance among the members. An effort 
 was made to collect from the records of members reliable statistics 
 for use in case it should be decided to organize a mutual industrial 
 indemnity insurance company. No further steps seem to have been 
 taken in this direction. 
 
 Accident prevention and industrial indemnity laws received much 
 attention at the annual meeting of the association in October, 1911. 
 The report of the committee on industrial indemnity insurance 
 suggested that the members of the association might imite with 
 other manufacturers in their respective States to assist in securing 
 the adoption of a fair and equitable law. The committee recom- 
 mended that steps be taken to reduce accident risks at the factories 
 of the members, and also suggested the interchange of information 
 among members as to devices for safeguarding dangerous machinery. 
 This report also called attention to the recommendation of the State 
 legislative committee advocating more complete organization among 
 manufacturers. (See p. 91.) The members of the association 
 adopted resolutions favoring a national employers' liability law and 
 expressing the sense of the association that it was far better to pre- 
 vent accidents than to obtain low settlements after their occurrence. 
 In this connection, the executive committee of the association was 
 instructed to employ such methods as were deemed best to educate 
 all members in thfe prevention of accidents. The committee en indus- 
 trial indemnity insurance was also empowered to cooperate with 
 committees of other organizations in safeguarding the interest of 
 members in a reasonably uniform way. In 1912 the members 
 adopted resolutions referring to employees' compensation legislation 
 as a vital problem to be solved rather than to be resisted, and recom- 
 mended legislation of a uniform and constructive character based 
 upon a plan of making such compensation compulsory on employers 
 and employees, the cost of administering the law to be borne by the 
 Government, the fund to be contributed by employers and employees. 
 
 Since 1912 the activities of the association in lespect to industrial 
 indemnity legislation seem to have been based upon this recommenda- 
 tion. Careful attention has also been given to the prevention of 
 accidents. 
 
 J 
 
 
 ^ I # 
 
 iH 
 
 ACTIVITIES WITH RESPECT TO LEGISLATION. 
 
 107 
 
 Section 6. Opposition to prison factory legislation. 
 
 For some years the various associations of implement and vehicle 
 manufacturers and dealers have opposed State legislation providing 
 for the manufacture of binder twine and implements in prisons. The 
 dealers have attacked proposed legislation on the ground that it is 
 unjust discrimination against implement dealers; that it is unconsti- 
 tutional and unprofitable for States to engage in manufacturing 
 enterprises; that it tends to discourage invention, etc. They have 
 opposed such legislation because the prison output has been generally 
 sold directly to farmers at prices less than the prices at which dealers 
 can sell goods made at factories employing free labor. Moreover, 
 there has been little profit to dealers in handling the prison product 
 since they have had to pay about the same price as paid by the farmer. 
 
 It is claimed that the implement manufacturers' and dealers' asso- 
 ciations have been successful in efforts to prevent or delay the passage 
 of such legislation in several States. In other States, however, nota- 
 bly in Minnesota, where the manufacturing operations have been 
 conducted apparently with a considerable degree of success, such 
 opposition seems to have had little effect. 
 
 Until recently opposition to legislation authorizing prison manu- 
 facturing operations has been less in evidence among the associa- 
 tions of implement and vehicle manufacturers and jobbers' clubs than 
 the dealers' associations. In July, 1910, however, the implement 
 jobbers of Minneapolis appealed to the National Association of Agri- 
 cultural Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers for financial aid and 
 moral support in opposition to legislation which had been proposed 
 in that State to authorize the manufacture of various kinds of har- 
 vesting machinery at the State penitentiary, in addition to the manu- 
 facture of binder twine, which had been carried on there for a num- 
 ber of years. The Minneapolis jobbers advised the secretary of the 
 National Association of Agricultural Implement & Vehicle Manu- 
 facturers that if such legislation were enacted it would ruin the 
 implement business in that State, and that in view of this fact the 
 jobbers had investigated the possibilities of stopping the activities 
 of the prison authorities by an action in the courts to have the manu- 
 facture of implements in the penitentiary declared illegal. As the 
 jobbers felt that the manufacturers would be as much affected as the 
 jobbers, the latter felt that the members of the National Association 
 of Agricultural Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers should bear a 
 portion of the expense of such a suit. The executive committee 
 of the National Association of Agricultural Implement & Vehicle 
 Manufacturers directed the secretary of the association to get in touch 
 with the parties interested, and assure them of the interest of the 
 manufacturers' association in the matter. The committee also ex- 
 
ACTIVITIES WITH RESPECT TO LEGISLATION. 
 
 109 
 
 108 
 
 FARM-MACHINERY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 .r 
 
 pressed its opinion that steps should be taken by the association to 
 secure the passage of a National law forbidding States to manufac- 
 ture goods at penal institutions. 
 
 In further correspondence with the Minneapolis jobbers, the lat- 
 ter explained that during the three preceding sessions of the Minne- 
 sota Legislature, the implement houses at Minneapolis had maintained 
 a committee to fight the proposition, with only partial success, as the 
 legislature had authorized the expenditure of a considerable sum 
 of money to equip and operate a factory for buildmg binders, 
 mowers, and hayrakes, and a number of experimental machines had 
 been made in 1909. It was pointed out that, while the quantity made 
 up to that time was not great, the prices asked by the State were so 
 far below those that regular manufacturers and dealers had to ask 
 that it was easy to see what the result would be when the output be- 
 came larger. Furthermore, a strong effort was being made to have 
 manure spreaders added to the line manufactured at the penitentiary. 
 In regard to the legal action contemplated, the manufacturers' asso- 
 ciation was advised that the plan had been outlined, makmg citizens 
 of Minnesota parties to the suit, so that the manufacturers associa- 
 tion was not expected to have anything to do with starting the 
 action, but were asked to help in providing funds. The executive 
 committee of the National Association of Agricultural Implement & 
 Vehicle Manufacturers requested the attorney of that association to 
 render an opinion on the constitutionality of the Minnesota law, and 
 in doing so he reached the conclusion that the establishment of manu- 
 f acturing operations was in conflict with the State constitution. 
 
 Meantime a small number of manufacturers m Minnesota had 
 formed an organization, known bs the Minnesota Manufacturers 
 Association, to oppose legislation such as that authorizing the State 
 to engage in the manufacture of manure spreaders. The board of 
 directors of this association was largely composed of manufacturers 
 and jobbers of implements and allied lines. The chairman was a 
 member of the National Implement & Vehicle Association, and the 
 treasurer was an official of an implement-manufacturing concern at 
 Minneapolis, and also of the implement jobbers' club of Mmneapolis 
 and St Paul. The secretary of this association wrote to the secretary 
 of the National Implement & Vehicle Association, stating that a good 
 man was needed at once and inquiring whether the manufacturers 
 association could do anythmg in the matter. , «. ^r v.- i 
 
 The executive committee of the National Implement & Vehicle 
 Association appears to have become apprehensive concerning the 
 possibilities of a great manufacturing enterprise being built up at 
 the Minnesota State prison, believing that such an enterprise, if 
 successful, would be likely to be copied in other States. At a meet- 
 ing of that committee held at Kansas City in January, 1911, 
 
 
 
 ii 
 
 -4 
 
 4) i # 
 
 the secretary of the association was instructed to investigate this 
 proposition. In company with two Wisconsin manufacturers be- 
 longing to the National Implement & Vehicle Association, he con- 
 ferred with the manufacturers and jobbers in Minneapolis in regard 
 to the proposed attack on the right of the State to engage in prison 
 manufacturing. He reported, however, that he found the local 
 manufacturers and jobbers had become indisposed to raise the issue 
 on the items already manufactured at the prison, because they had 
 been assured that the bill introduced to authorize the manufacture 
 of wagons and manure spreaders would not be presented for pas- 
 sage.^ Subsequently the Minneapolis wholesalers and manufactur- 
 ers apparently made some unsuccessful efforts with the legislature 
 to secure the adoption of some resolutions providing for the appoint- 
 ment of a committee to investigate the manufacturing operations at 
 the State penitentiary. 
 
 In March, 1911, the secretary of the National Implement & 
 Vehicle Association reported to the executive committee that it had 
 been determined to look into the situation in Wisconsin, where build- 
 ings had been built and machinery purchased for the prison manu- 
 facture of twine. The chairman of the association's committee on 
 State legislation had been instructed to secure an opinion of the 
 constitutional right of the State to engage in manufacturing. The 
 secretary of the association stated, however, that this opinion, which 
 had been rendered by a prominent attorney of Milwaukee, did not 
 take a sufficiently positive view against the constitutionality of the 
 act to warrant the association in bringing suit. The secretary sug- 
 gested that the association begin a campaign of education through 
 
 » In connection with this reluctance of the local manufacturers and Jobbers to take up 
 this matter, the comment of a representative of the National Implement & Vehicle Asso- 
 ciation is interesting. In a letter to one of the manufacturers he intimated that this 
 was probably due to " the feeling on their part that by allowing the continuance of the 
 manufacture of binder twine they were hitting at a certain large concern which manu- 
 factures a large quantity of that commodity." The comment of one of the prominent 
 implement men in Minnesota is also of interest. He asserted that — 
 
 there has already been a disposition on the part of the implement fraternity in this 
 territory to avoid the undesirable notoriety which would necessarily follow the trial 
 of such a case in the courts. There has been the ever present fear that the farmers 
 would iumn at the conclusion that the Implement jobbers and manufacturers were all 
 involved In some huge trade combination for the express purpose of defrauding the 
 farmer or putting him at the mercy of the Implement manufacturers. In other 
 words 'the gum-shoe policy has prevailed here in connection with this implement fac- 
 tory proposition as well as in connection with the bhider twine proposition twenty-five 
 
 ^^As a^matter of fact, it was argued here that to oppose the establishment of a 
 factorv in Stillwater for the manufacture of harvesting machinery, including binders, 
 mowers and rakes, the Implement fraternity would lay themselves open to a charge 
 of fighting the battles of the International harvester Co. On one side was the prison 
 competition, on the other side the trust bugaboo. They ran away from the bugaboo 
 and fell Into the arms of convict competition. . ,^ , . , *. t ^.u cs*.-*- 
 
 I am of the opinion that the manufacture of agricultural Implements in the State 
 Drtson will for many years to come be confined to harvesting machinery ; or, at least, 
 to the class of machinery now made, namely— binders, mowers, and rakes. There is 
 absolutely nothing, however, to prevent any future legislature from extending at 
 win the list of gi>od8 to be manufactured. The only restraining Influence Is the 
 fact that some other lines of Implements are made In Minnesota By free labor, and 
 a strong argument In favor of making harvesting machinery with wnvict labor has 
 been that It did not Interfere with any enterprise in this State employing free labor. 
 It was for this reason we received only a lukewarm support from the labor dele- 
 gates and the labor lobby m opposing the measure before the several legislatures. 
 
110 
 
 FABM-MACHINEBY TBABE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 the medium of farm-trade papers against what he termed the grow- 
 ing tendency in agricultural States to engage in prison manufac- 
 turing, especially in those products which affect the dealer-customers 
 of the implement and vehicle manufacturers. He also referred to 
 the appointment of a committee of the Western Betail Implement & 
 Vehicle Dealers' Association to cooperate with the National Imple- 
 ment & Vehicle Association in investigating the cost of manufac- 
 turing binder twine at State prison plants, by which means he 
 thought valuable data could be gathered for use to open the eyes of 
 the farmers throughout the West, and also taxpayers, to the fact 
 that few ventures of this sort have shown even paper profits. After 
 some discussion on this report one of the members (who was himself 
 interested in the manufacture of binder twine and cordage) offered 
 a resolution instructing the secretary of the association to begin a 
 campaign of education in States where the danger was most immi- 
 nent, the work to be done in connection with the association's com- 
 mittee on State legislation. At a later meeting of the executive 
 committee of the National Implement & Vehicle Association, at which 
 the secretary made a report on the situation in Wisconsin, the secre- 
 tary and two Wisconsin members of the association were appointed 
 to confer with the International Harvester Co. with power to act in 
 the premises. Later, at a conference between this committee and a 
 repiesentative of the International Harvester Co , it was decided that 
 if any move was to be made it should be by a taxpayer in Wisconsin. 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 <. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 COHCEimiATIOlSr IN OWNERSHIP OF WIITO-STACKEE PATENTS. 
 
 Section 1. Introduction. 
 
 Efforts to maintain the price of goods of competing manufac- 
 turers have not been entirely confined to the cooperative efforts of 
 trade associations. The price-making conditions in the harvesting- 
 machine branch of the industry have been already described in the 
 Bureau's report on the International Harvester Co. In the thresher 
 branch of the industry there exists a patent-holding company, which, 
 through control of numerous patents relating to the stacking of 
 straw and chaff by means of pneumatic blowers or wind stackers, 
 fixes the price at which such stackers are sold by every manufacturer 
 of threshing machinery. The patent-holding company is itself con- 
 trolled by the managing directors of one of the largest threshing- 
 machine companies. 
 
 Section 2. Origin of the wind-stacker patents-license system. 
 
 The first commercially successful device to carry away the straw 
 and dust from a threshing-machine separator by means of an air 
 blast was invented in the latter eighties by James Buchanan, of 
 Indianapolis, Ind. He organized a company known as the Cyclone 
 Co., to manufacture the stacker which could be attached to threshing 
 machines made by the different manufacturers. Financing this com- 
 pany and introducing its output was an expensive undertaking, and, 
 although outside investors became interested, the capital of the 
 Cyclone Co. was soon exhausted and at the close of the season of 1890 
 it became financially embarrassed. A. A. McKain, also of Indian- 
 apolis, who had become interested in the company, agreed to assume 
 part of its indebtedness in return for territorial rights in the States 
 east of the Mississippi Eiver and in Minnesota, North Dakota, and 
 South Dakota. 
 
 Buchanan immediately made application for a patent on the 
 machine he had completed. McKain organized the Indiana Manu- 
 facturing Co., under the laws of the State of Indiana,^ in the early 
 part of 1891 and proceeded to make a number of stackers under 
 Buchanan's invention and to attach them to different makes of sepa- 
 rators. The manufacturers of threshing machines were obliged to 
 
 1 The company was reincorporated in 1900 in West Virginia. 
 
 t^ 
 
 111 
 

 112 
 
 FABM-MACHIN£J1Y TBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 send their separators to the factory in order that the wind stacker 
 might be attached. The Indiana Manufacturing Co. thus began oper- 
 ations as a manufacturing company, but early in the threshing season 
 of 1892 the directors decided to grant licenses to the thresher manu- 
 facturers, under which they should be able to make stackers them- 
 selves upon payment of royalty. 
 
 The first of these license contracts was made in October, 1892, 
 with Gaar, Scott & Co., threshing-machine manufacturers at Rich- 
 mond, Ind. Under this contract the licensee agreed to pay a royalty 
 fee of $30 upon each wind stacker covered by the license, to furnish 
 twice a year statements of stackers made and sold under the contract, 
 and to allow the licensor to examine books and accounts concerning 
 the manufacture and sale of stackers. Further, the licensee agreed 
 to maintain a selling price of $250^ on time or $235 cash (except 
 that agents should be allowed a discount not exceeding $25) and, 
 in case of violation, to pay liquidated damages of $100 for each vio- 
 lation. The licensee agreed not to dispute the letters patent cov- 
 ered by the license contract nor to make their alleged invalidity a 
 defense in any proceeding under the contract, or a ground of re- 
 fusal to make payments called for thereunder. Under this contract, 
 the licensor agreed, among other things, to give to the licensee the 
 right to use all improvements, made by them, on the stacker de- 
 scribed in the invention, without additional royalty fee. The licensor 
 agreed further that, if more favorable terms were granted to any 
 other licensee, Gaar, Scott & Co. should be entitled to receive them, 
 and such modifications were to become a part of the contract. The 
 licensor was given the right to cancel the contract on failure of the 
 licensee to meet the payment of accruing royalties. In this contract 
 specific mention was made of only two patents, namely, Buchanan's 
 
 1 The manner in which the price of $250 was decided upon was explained in 1904 by the 
 president of the company. In this connection, he said : 
 
 The mounted stacker [the type of stacker generally in use when the wind stacker 
 was introduced! was listed jienorally at $200. Its oporations required a short carrier 
 which was generally listed by the manufacturers at $30 additional. The defendant 
 company I believe at that time listed short carriers at $40. So that in establishing 
 the price of the wind stacker at $250, as the short carrier was not necessary in any 
 case where the wind stacker was used, the actual increase of price to the user was 
 from $10 to $20, while the increased capacity for work enabled him in the beginning 
 to get a cent extra [per bushel] for threshing wheat and a half cent extra for thresh- 
 ing oats. But the extra amount threshed always enabled the operator to earn enouRh 
 extra in the season to make his payments on the stacker, which were but $125 
 annually for two years. 
 He did not' explain the manner in which the price of $150 for wind stackers attached 
 to clover hullers, corn shredders, and pea and bean threshers was determined. 
 
 A brief filed in the Case suit by an attorney of the Indiana Manufacturing Co. in 
 1905 alleged that it was admitted by the Case company that the selling price of $250 
 furnished the manufacturer with a profit of at least $100. The general manager of the 
 Case company testified that the shop cost of that company in manufacturing stackers 
 was about $60 to $65. With the payment of the $30 royalty fee to the licensor and a 
 commission of $25 to dealers, this would leave about $30 or $35 to cover the selling costs 
 and general expenses of the licensee. In view of the alleged $100 profit on each stacker, 
 it is perhaps hardly surprising that in testimony offered by several thresher manufac- 
 turers in the Indiana-Case suit they concurred in expressing the opinion tliat $250 was a 
 reasonable price to the consumer. 
 
 W 
 
 V 
 
 J 
 
 m 
 
 m\ 
 
 
 m 
 
 CONCENTKATION IN OWNERSHIP OF WIND-STACKER PATENTS. 113 
 
 patents of 1884 and 1892. Before the end of 1893 nearly all the 
 larger manufacturers of threshing machinery in the United States 
 except the J. I. Case Threshing Machine Co. had taken out licenses. 
 In negotiating these contracts, McKain, as president of the Indiana 
 Manufacturing Co., seems to have held out as a chief inducement the 
 fact that, as all licensees were required to maintain a uniform selling 
 price of $250 and to make a fixed royalty payment of $30, all licensees 
 would be assured of a substantial profit. 
 
 In 1895 the Indiana Manufacturing Co. gave up the manufacture 
 of stackers altogether, thereafter confining its business exclusively to 
 the acquisition of patents, the issuance of license contracts, and the 
 maintenance of its license system. To build up this license system 
 had already become the principal object of the company. In 1892, 
 arrangements had been made by McKain and three of his associates 
 in the Indiana Manufacturing Co. to acquire the rights in the dis- 
 tricts that had been reserved by the inventor, Buchanan. These 
 rights were purchased for the payment of $10,000 per annum imtil 
 the expiration of the patent. This agreement was assigned to a com- 
 pany known as the Farmers' Friend Stacker Co., which was organized 
 with a nominal capital of $50,000. By this arrangement the interests 
 of the two companies were united, and in 1893 the Farmers' Friend 
 Stacker Co. was merged with the Indiana Manufacturing Co. The 
 Indiana Manufacturing Co. also began to acquire other patents 
 relating to the wind stacker. Some were purchased outright, and 
 in other cases arrangements were made to acquire manufacturing 
 rights for the licensees. Some of these patents were acquired from 
 licensees. To the Buchanan patents were added those of Nethery 
 and of Landis, brought out in 1893 and 1894. At this time, or sub- 
 sequently, were added the patents of Kirshman, Seburn, Springer, 
 Bartholomew, Ross, Russell, Reeves, Robinson, Elward, and others. 
 By 1895 more than 20 patents had been acquired, and in 1904 the 
 number had risen to above 100, the cost of acquiring which is 
 reported to have been approximately $600,000, in addition to royal- 
 ties paid to patentees. The company sought to secure not only all 
 patents of fundamental importance, but also those of a subsidiary 
 character. The object of this was not only to strengthen its own 
 position but also to avoid the possibility of vexatious litigation for 
 itself and its licensees. Furthermore, control was secured of the 
 Sattley Stacker Co., manufacturing slat stackers, which sold at a 
 lower price than the wind stacker. The acquisition of this company, 
 which licensed other manufacturers to make slat stackers under its 
 patents, resulted in a diminished sale of slat stackers and an increase 
 in the sale of wind stackers. (See footnote on p. 125.) 
 
 68248°— 15 8 
 
 -v. 
 
I» 
 
 114 
 
 FARM-MACHINERY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 Section 3. Gontroreny between the Indiana Mannfactnring Go. and the 
 J. I. Gase ThresMng Machine Go. 
 
 The payment of royalties to the Indiana Manufacturing Co., under 
 its wind-stacker license system seems to have been especially dis- 
 tasteful to the J. I. Case Threshing Machine Co. The operation of 
 the wind stacker made necessary the use of engines larger than those 
 which had been employed and threatened the use of the power- 
 generating appliance, known as a horsepower, upon which the Case 
 company owned some patents and had built up a profitable license and 
 manufacturing business. The Case company entered into negotia- 
 tions in 1892 to join with two other companies in purchasing the 
 patents of the Indiana Manufacturing Co., but this plan was given 
 up, and during the seasons of 1893 and 1894 that company stood 
 almost alone among the principal thresher manufacturers in refusing 
 to enter the license system. In April, 1895, however, a license con- 
 tract was signed between the Indiana Manufacturing Co. and the 
 Case company. After operating under this contract for a time 
 a change took place in the ownership of the Case company, and the 
 new owners complained that the wind stackers which they were 
 making under the Nethery patents of the Indiana Manufacturing 
 Co. were not giving satisfaction and that their company was sustain- 
 ing heavy losses in attempting to market them. In 1898 the cata- 
 logue of the Case company omitted all mention of wind stackers, and 
 the company arranged to secure wind stackers absolutely necessary 
 for its trade from another licensee of the Indiana Manufacturing Co. 
 The Indiana Manufacturing Co. sought to induce the Case company 
 to resume the manufacture of stackers under its license of 1895, but 
 the Case company's attitude in November, 1898, and the reason alleged 
 therefor, are shown in the following extract from a letter from its 
 president to the president of the Indiana Manufacturing Co. : 
 
 As you say, if the [Case] T. M. Co. should sell 1,500 wind 
 stackers during the year 1899 they would be owing you under 
 the terms of the written contract, $45,000, and we hasten to 
 notify you that we shall not bear such a burden. If a wind 
 stacker is a necessity to our customers we must manufacture one 
 which will not infringe any of your patents. 
 
 In the following month the president of the Indiana Manufactur- 
 ing Co. had a conference with the Case company. He was told by 
 the legal adviser for the Case company that the license contract was 
 invalid and void, and by the directors that unless the Case com- 
 pany's losses in trying to market the Nethery stacker — estimated at 
 $170,000— were adjusted the Case company would undertake to make 
 stackers independently of its license contract. No agreement was 
 reached until a later conference between the same parties in January, 
 1899. McKain then told the Case company that he admitted no just 
 
 ^ 
 
 A 
 
 
 / 
 
 J 
 
 4»^ 
 
 ¥ 
 # 
 
 
 «> 
 
 v.» 
 
 « 
 
 CONCENTRATION IN OWNERSHIP OF WIND-STACKER PATENTS. 115 
 
 claim on their part, but, in view of their power, and in order to 
 secure harmony, he agreed to allow about $46,000 in settlement af 
 their claims. This offer was accepted, and a supplementary contract 
 was entered into, providing that the Case company should resume 
 the manufacture and sale of stackers under its contract of 1895 and 
 not question its validity for the future, and that royalties accruing 
 each year to the Indiana Manufacturing Co. in excess of a fixed siun 
 should be retained by the Case company, until the amount agreed 
 upon had been fully paid. When the settlement of the business for 
 the season of 1901 was made, the Case company received the last pay- 
 ment due it under this contract. 
 
 The license agreement entered into with the Case company in 1895 
 contained substantially the same provisions that were included in 
 the contract made with Gaar, Scott & Co. in 1892, and subsequently 
 with other licensees. It, however, empowered the licensee to manu- 
 facture, use, and sell wind stackers, embodying the claims of 21 
 United States patents and two Canadian patents specifically named, 
 as well as patents that might be issued on applications then pending, 
 and a considerable number of patents for whose use the Indiana 
 Manufacturing Co. had secured the right to grant sublicenses. It 
 also provided that the term of contract should extend " until the full 
 end of the term of any such patent, and any of the inventions of any 
 of the aforesaid letters patent controlled by the said party of the 
 first part [the Indiana Manufacturing Co.] by means of any license 
 or agreement so long as the licenses or agreements relating thereto 
 are of force, and any inventions which may be hereafter acquired by 
 the party of the first part." 
 
 While the right to manufacture, use, and sell wind stackers em- 
 bodying inventions under subsequently acquired patents was not spe- 
 cifically included in the earlier Gaar-Scott contract, it would seem to 
 have been implied in the agreement to allow the latter the use of all 
 improvements that the Indiana Manufacturing Co. might make on 
 Buchanan's invention, and as favorable terms as those made to any 
 other licensee. At any rate no controversy appears to have arisen 
 over this matter.^ 
 
 In August, 1902, the so-called Elward patent which had originally 
 been issued in December, 1901, on an application filed in January, 
 1893, was reissued. The inventor claimed that his patent was in- 
 fringed by every wind stacker in use, and announced his purpose to 
 compel the manufacturers of threshing machinery to pay him for its 
 use. This announcement alarmed many of the licensees of the Indiana 
 
 * Some licensees seem to have felt, however, that the Indiana Manufacturing Co., in 
 purchasing patents from various licensees, might in some instances have paid amounts 
 in excess of the real value of the patents so acquired, and thus have violated the agree- 
 ment to give all licensees equal treatment. 
 
116 
 
 FAKM-MACHINERY TBADE ASSOCIATIONa 
 
 Manufacturing Co., and, accordingly, the president of the latter com- 
 pany hastened to arrange to purchase the Elward patent for $100,000. 
 The acquisition of this patent was made not only to protect the com- 
 pany's licensees from the threatened attack of Elward, but also in 
 pursuance of the policy of the Indiana company to acquire all desir- 
 able patents relating to wind stackers. Furthermore, the dominating 
 character of the Elward patent greatly strengthened the position A 
 the Indiana company. In fact, it was considered only second in 
 importance to the original Buchanan patent 
 
 The ownership of the Elward patent also furnished a means by 
 which the period of the license contracts might be extended beyond 
 the expii-ation of the Buchanan patent in 1909. As already shown, 
 the Case company contract of 1895 had contained a provision ex- 
 tending its existence to the end of any of the patents therein men- 
 tioned. The contracts then in force with other licensees provided 
 that all should share alike in respect to any privilege granted to any 
 licensee. On the whole it was thought best to enter into new contracts 
 with all the licensees, giving them the right to use the Elward patent 
 and others that might be acquired without the payment of additional 
 royalty. By the new contract it was expressly agreed that this pro- 
 vision should apply to any and all newly obtained or acquired patents 
 and inventions and that the license should be in force until the end 
 of the term of each and all of the patents mentioned. Barring 
 unforeseen contingencies, this assured the Indiana Manufacturing 
 Co. of the enjoyment of its royalties until the expiration of the 
 Elward patent in 1918. Otherwise, its income might be seriously 
 threatened after the expiration of the Buchanan patent in 1909. 
 
 It should also be noted that the new form of license prepared at 
 this time required orders for stackers to be taken separately from 
 orders for other machinery. The purpose of this was to prevent 
 concessions in the fixed selling price for stackers which might be 
 concealed if the price were not shown as a distinct item. 
 
 In the meantime F. L. Norton, then superintendent of agencies of 
 the Case company, had perfected certain patents which he claimed 
 would permit that company to manufacture wind stackers without 
 infringing the patents of the Indiana company. When the treasurer 
 of the Indiana Manufacturing Co. visited the Case company in 
 March, 1902, Norton requested him to call the attention of the presi- 
 dent of the Indiana Manufacturing Co. to these patents. The latter 
 met Norton at Chicago in April, 1902, who told him that the Nor- 
 ton wind stacker was not covered by any of the valid claims of the 
 patents of the Indiana company. Much was said on both sides, but, 
 after examination of the Norton patents, the patent attorney of the 
 Indiana company reported that the Norton stacker was covered by 
 
 ^ 
 
 r 
 
 
 > 
 
 r 
 
 CONCENTRATION IN OWNERSHIP OF WIND-STACKER PATENTS. 117 
 
 claims of several of the Indiana company's patents. He also re- 
 ported that Norton had granted a shopright under his patents to 
 the Case company, and that he wanted the sum of $250,000 for the 
 title to his patents, for which he would accept the royalties accruing 
 under the license contract between the two companies as his first 
 
 payment. 
 
 The president of the Indiana Manufacturing Co. testified subse- 
 quently that when that company refused to buy these patents subject 
 to the shopright in the Case company, it was informed that the 
 supplemental contract of 1899, which the Case company had made 
 to secure the payment of the damages claimed by reason of defects 
 in the stackers it had manufactured under the Nethery patents, had 
 now been fulfilled, and that, if the Indiana company should begin 
 suit under the license contract between the two companies, the whole 
 wind-stacker business would be broken up, and within 60 days wind 
 stackers would be selling for $150. Notwithstanding this attitude, 
 when the Case company refused to pay royalties for 1902 the Indiana 
 Manufacturing Co. proceeded to bring suit. 
 
 The bill of the Indiana company which was filed in the United 
 States Circuit Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin in April, 
 1903, asked for an injunction against the infringement of the 
 Buchanan patent of 1892 and four later patents by Landis and 
 Nethery, or any use of them not in accord with the terms agreed 
 upon, and for an accounting under its license contract with the Case 
 company. The latter in its answer contended that there had been 
 no infringement, and, even if there had been, the contract was not 
 enforceable, for, if ever valid, it had been broken by the Indiana 
 Manufacturing Co. in granting more favorable terms to other 
 licensees;^ furthermore, that it was void from the beginning as a 
 part of an illegal combination in restraint of trade. 
 
 The decision of the circuit court, rendered August 22, 1906 (148 
 Fed. Rep., 21), found that the Indiana Manufacturing Co. had con- 
 federated with all the manufacturers of threshing machines in the 
 country in a plan of uniform licenses under combined patents with 
 a uniform price for the product. It held in "effect that the license 
 system of the Indiana Manufacturing Co. extended beyond the 
 monopoly intended to be created by the patent law in the beneficial 
 use of specific inventions, and that the system was intended to create 
 a further monopoly by combining patent rights in violation of the 
 law. In the opinion of the court, the devices of all the patents of 
 the Indiana Manufacturing Co. were not capable of conjoint use 
 in a single machine — a number of them covering noninterfering de- 
 
 ^ Relying apparently on the different prices that had been paid certain other licensees 
 for patents or for the right to manufacture under •them. 
 
 m 
 
 i 
 
118 
 
 FARM-MACHINERY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 vices performing the same fimctions and capable of independent 
 use by different manufacturers. 
 
 While this suit was pending on appeal in the circuit court of 
 appeals, in the latter part of 1906, a crisis arose in the affairs of the 
 Indiana Manufacturing Co. The president of the company, who 
 was one of its largest stockholders, had pledged his shares as col- 
 lateral for loans for investment in other enterprises, which had 
 proved unsuccessful. The Indiana Manufacturing Co. was heavily 
 in debt, and the litigation with the Case company had involved much 
 expense. Trustees who had been appointed to manage the personal 
 affairs of the president of the company were also appointed, in 
 March, 1907, as an executive' committee to exercise the duties of the 
 directors in managing the affairs of the company. The president of 
 the company consented to a sale of his shares of stock, and the vice 
 president of the company, Theophilus King, who was one of the 
 president's personal trustees and a member of the executive com- 
 mittee, was authorized to sell these shares. During the spring of 
 1907 King visited the office of the Case company and offered the 
 shares at $55, but this offer was refused, Norton, of the Case com- 
 pany, taking the position that as soon as the Buchanan patent ex- 
 pircKl in 1909 the Case company could do all its own business under 
 the Norton patents and not be obliged to pay royalty to the Indiana 
 Manufacturing Co. As King made no headway, he at once began 
 negotiations with a committee of different thresher manufacturers 
 and gave them an option to purchase the stock at $40 per share. 
 
 In an opinion filed in April, 1907 (154 Fed. Rep., 365), the Ckcuit 
 Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed the decision of the 
 circuit court referred to above. In the view of the court of appeals 
 the license contracts, in requiring the licensees to maintain a uniform 
 selling price, were not in violation of the law. The contentions that 
 the Indiana Manufacturing Co. had itself first violated the contract 
 and that there was no infringement were both found to be un- 
 sustained by the evidence. The court therefore reversed the decree 
 of the lower court, and directed that a decree be entered in favor of 
 the Indiana Manufacturing Co., in accordance with the prayer of the 
 bill of complaint. It was said that, in permitting a customer to get 
 a stacker as a part of the separator of his choice, rather than con- 
 fining the use of stacker patents to a single manufacturer, the Indiana 
 Manufacturing Co. had given the public something beyond the power 
 of the latter to demand. The opinion did not regard the patents 
 sued on as competing patents. The concurrence of one of the judges 
 in the result was based upon the view that — 
 
 The patents as an entirety, therefore, constitute a single me- 
 chanical evolution — are Wossoms from the same trunk — and in 
 
 ^ I ♦ 
 
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 CONCENTRATION IN OWNERSHIP OF WIND-STACKER PATENTS. 119 
 
 no sense are competitive patents; from which it follows that 
 their concentration in one control is in no sense a combination to 
 prevent competition. 
 A petition for a writ of certiorari was then filed in the Supreme 
 Court of the United States. 
 
 Section 4. Result of settlement with the Case company. 
 
 Shortly after the decision adverse to the Case company in the 
 circuit court of appeals, Frank K. Bull, president of the Case com- 
 pany, reopened negotiations with officers of the Indiana Manufactur- 
 ing Co., intimating that he might be able to organize a syndicate to 
 purchase a controlling interest in the stock of the latter company. 
 Up to this time the negotiations appear to have been only for the 
 sale of the stock owned by the president of the Indiana company, 
 whose holdings fell considerably short of a majority of the shares. 
 
 During the negotiations for control of the Indiana Manufacturing 
 Co. which followed, it is claimed that no discussion took place regard- 
 ing the settlement of the litigation which was pending in the Supreme 
 Court of the United States, awaiting a decision of that court on the 
 petition to grant a writ of certiorari. The brief which had been filed 
 in support of the petition by the attorneys of the Case company 
 sought to show that the Indiana Manufacturing Co. really held not 
 merely a patent monopoly authorized by the patent law, but that it 
 really amounted to a monopoly of competing patents covering the 
 whole wind-stacker industry, and that, therefore, the company had 
 effected an illegal combination in restraint of trade, even if the license 
 contracts were valid when based upon a single patent. This raised 
 the question whether numerous patents, pertaining to a given indus- 
 try, including those of different inventors, might lawfully be brought 
 under a single control to deprive the public of the benefits of com- 
 petition which they would otherwise enjoy. 
 
 The decision in the circuit court of appeals had been favorable to 
 the Indiana Manufacturing Co., but the contest had proved a severe 
 strain upon its resources, and it was on the verge of bankruptcy. The 
 prospect of further expense necessarily involved in continuing the suit 
 in the Supreme Court, and the uncertainty as to what action that 
 court might take in regard to the petition before it, must have been 
 matters of serious concern to both parties. If the petition for the 
 writ was granted, the Indiana Manufacturing Co. faced the possibil- 
 ity of an adverse decree, which might end its existence, while, on the 
 other hand, the Case company was confronted, not only with being 
 obliged to pay over the sum of $235,000 on accrued royalties that had 
 been paid into court pending final adjudication, but also of continu- 
 ing the payment of royalties on future business. The Supreme Court 
 granted the petition to file the writ on October 21, 1907 (207 U. S., 
 
 ill 
 II 
 
1 
 
 120 
 
 tARM-MACHINERY TBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 587), but 12 days earlier, on October 9, an agreement was reached 
 between officers of the Indiana Manufacturing Co. and directors of 
 the Case company by which the latter purchased a majority ^ of the 
 shares of the Indiana Manufacturing Co.'s stock, the total issue being 
 15,000 shares. By this purchase, however, it must have been obvious 
 to the buyers, who already owned nearly all of the capital stock of 
 the Case company, that if the litigation were continued their inter- 
 ests would be protected, whatever its outcome might be. Moreover, 
 if the litigation were settled, it would allow the purchasers to par- 
 ticipate in the profits from the royalties accruing from all the differ- 
 ent licensees of the Indiana company, including the $235,000 of 
 accrued royalties that had been paid into court by the Case company. 
 
 The first payment for the stock to be transferred was made on 
 October 9, the money being furnished by a Wisconsin bank on the 
 joint note of the purchasers. It was agreed that until the purchase 
 price was paid the Union Trust Co., of Indianapolis, should vote 
 the stock as it might be requested to by a trustee acting in behalf 
 of the purchasers and a trustee acting in behalf of the sellers, the 
 sellers and purchasers agreeing that the existing executive conmiittee 
 of the Indiana Manufacturing Co. should be continued imtil the 
 stock was paid for by the purchasers, vacancies in this committee to 
 be filled by persons designated by the Union Trust Co. 
 
 Considerable secrecy was thrown about the purchase of the shares, 
 the reason subsequently alleged being that confusion in the minds of 
 competitors of the Case company in distinguishing between the 
 directors as individuals and the Case company as a corporation 
 might lead to a material reduction in the earnings of the Indiana 
 Manufacturing Co. Later, officers of the Indiana Manufacturing 
 Co. testified that at the time they were not aware of the personnel 
 of the syndicate, although they understood that the Case associates 
 constituted at least a part of the syndicate. Pending full payment 
 on the stock no transfer of shares was to be made on the books of the 
 Indiana Manufacturing Co. Meantime the shares were to be de- 
 posited in escrow with the Union Trust Co., of Indianapolis. It was 
 understood that the depositing stockholders should not part with 
 control until completion of the payments. Furthermore, the pur- 
 chasers caused a sealed envelope to be deposited, containing instnic- 
 tions as to the parties to whom the stock should be distributed when 
 it should finally be delivered. Even the trustee who was appointed 
 to look after the interest of the purchasers in the transaction of pur- 
 chase was not informed regarding the personnel of the syndicate. 
 
 ^ Im tills connectioii, the president of the Case company, who was one of the pnrchasers, 
 has testUled, as follows: 
 
 We wanted to control the company. • • • We bought the stock for an in- 
 vestment. If we put in the amount of money that we put in as an investment we 
 would want control. That la exactly the condition we made on a former tentative 
 offer for the stock. 
 
 I 
 
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 w fi 
 
 CONCENTRATION IN OWNERSHIP OF WIND-STACKER PATENTS. 121 
 
 Shortly after the first payment was made on the stock that had 
 been deposited, a change took place in the ownership of the Norton 
 patents by which Norton transferred an equal interest to each of the 
 purchasers, Norton himself being given an opportunity to partici- 
 pate in the purchase of the shares, of the Indiana company. These 
 arrangements were made as part of one transaction. Up to this time 
 King had unsuccessfully endeavored to acquire the Norton patents 
 for the Indiana Manufacturing Co. King had been instructed by 
 the executive committee of the Indiana Manufacturing Co. on No- 
 vember 21, 1907, to settle the suit with the Case company, to take 
 down the royalties that had accrued in court, and to pay one-half 
 of this amount to the Indiana Manufacturing Co. and a sum equal 
 to the other half for the purchase of the Norton patents and those 
 which Norton might thereafter acquire down to the end of the 
 Elward patent. The agreement between the two companies provided 
 that the accrued royalties in the possession of the court should be 
 deposited with the American Trust and Savings Bank, of Chicago, 
 one-half of the amount to be paid to the Indiana Manufacturing Co. 
 and the other half to C. H. Lee, trustee of the Norton patents. It 
 was also provided that a new license contract should be entered into 
 which Norton might thereafter acquire down to the end of the 
 Elward patent, the Case company also transferring its shopright in 
 the Norton patents, on which it was to be allowed a royalty of $5 
 upon each stacker it made. It was further agreed that the suit in 
 the Supreme Court should be withdrawn and discontinued. 
 
 The making of the new license contract with the Case company, 
 the settlement of the litigation, the purchase of the Norton patents, 
 and the transfer of the shopright of the Case company under those 
 patents were finally completed early in December, 1907, all at one 
 time, but as distinct transactions. Norton insisted that the purchase 
 money for his patents should not come into the hands of the Indiana 
 Manufacturing Co., partly perhaps because that company was largely 
 in debt and had been kept out of the hands of a receiver only oy 
 reason of loans that had been advanced by King. 
 
 Shortly after these agreements were signed the Case associates, 
 on December 9, anticipated the second payment on their shares, the 
 money which had been paid for the Norton patents being used for 
 this purpose. The final payment was made in November, 1908, after 
 which the stock was delivered to the Wisconsin Trust Co., of Mil- 
 waukee, in whose hands it apparently remained as security for pur- 
 chase money advanced until April, 1910, when the shares were dis- 
 tributed to the new owners. Meantime, Norton had become a director 
 of the Indiana Manufacturing Co., in March, 1909. Subsequently, 
 one of the Case associates testified that the purchasers expected to 
 have no voice in the management of the Indiana Manufacturing Co. 
 
122 
 
 FABM-MACHINERY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 until the shares were fully paid for. He testified that the executive 
 committee was to continue in charge meantime. He denied, how- 
 ever, that this arrangement was made so that in the event of a settle- 
 ment of the litigation it might have the appearance of being handled 
 by some one other than the purchasers. 
 
 It is claimed that the Case company advanced none of the pur- 
 chase money for the shares, either directly or indirectly, and did not 
 have the slightest interest in that transaction. 
 
 At the request of counsel, the proceedings in the Supreme Court 
 were dismissed on December 16, 1907 (207 U. S., 603), and in Janu- 
 ary, 1908, the circuit court entered the decree which had been ordered 
 by the circuit court of appeals in favor of the Indiana Manufac- 
 turing Co. 
 
 The acquisition of control of the Indiana company by the Case 
 associates, and the concession by which the Case company was to be 
 allowed a royalty of $5 on each stacker under the patents of the 
 Indiana Manufacturing Co., caused unrest and dissatisfaction among 
 other licensees of the latter company. Moreover, many of them felt 
 that the payment of a large sirni for the Norton patents, even if 
 paid to the Case associates as individuals, was merely a colorable 
 transaction to conceal a rebate to the Case company of one-half of 
 the royalties that had accrued. Under the contract each licensee was 
 entitled to equal treatment with every other licensee. To fulfill this 
 agreement, and probably to prevent the possible recurrence of any 
 accusation of the grant of unwarranted rebates under the licenses 
 that might arise in the purchase of patents from licensees, the Indi- 
 ana Manufacturing Co., in 1908, submitted a supplemental contract 
 to each licensee, known as the patents purchase agreement ^ (Exhibit 
 21, p. 304), by which it was agreed that any licensee who would agree 
 to turn over to the Indiana Manufacturing Co. all patents which he 
 might own or acquire during the term of the license contract, would 
 
 »At a meeting of the stockholders of the Indiana Manufacturing Co., held Mar. 31, 
 1909, the chairman explained the reason for the adoption of the patents purchase agree- 
 ment. His explanation is recorded in the minutes of the meeting, as follows : 
 
 On account of the expiration of the Buchanan patent there were more or less dis- 
 turbed conditions amongst our licensees; that there had been a suggestion that when 
 the Buchanan patent expired that possibly tbe royalties would be reduced and while 
 it was nothing more than a suggestion, it was thought best to meet this situation 
 if possib{«e, and at the same time secure for the company a return that would aid in 
 making our future as certain and sure as possible, and out of these negotiations 
 with our licensees came what we call our ** patents purchase agreement " which con- 
 templates the turning over to us by any licensee who signs it all the patents p«>r- 
 taining to wind stackers which it may have at the time or which it may invent or 
 acquire In the future : and for this consideration we pay for each stacker made 
 during each year $5 where it is applied to threshing machines and $8) where it is 
 appii^ to clover hullers, corn buskers, or pea or bean threshers. After a great deal 
 of negotiation the majority of our licensees accepted this patents purchase agree- 
 ment and we now have 41 such contracts with various licensees. There are some 
 7 licensees who have not signed this contract ; 3 of the 7 while refusing to sign It 
 have paid their royalties in full ; 4 concerns refused to sign it alleging one thing or 
 another. They also have up to this time refused to pay their royalties. Suit has 
 been brought against the Nichols A Shopard Co., the concern owing us the largest 
 amount ; M. Riimely Co.. l*ort Huron Engine & Thresher Co. and Minneapolis 
 Threshing Machine Co. are the other three concerns who have refused to make pay- 
 ment of their royalties and after some further negotiations with them if they still 
 refuse to pay. suit will be commenced against them. 
 
 A 
 
 
 CONCENTRATION IN OWNERSHIP OF WIND-STACKER PATENTS. 123 
 
 be allowed the sum of $6 on each stacker manufactured by him as 
 licensee of the Indiana company. This extended to all licensees 
 who were willing to agree thereto, the same advantage that had 
 been given the Case company under its agreement to turn over its 
 shopright in the Norton patents and other patents which it might 
 acquire. The great advantage to the Indiana Manufacturing Co. 
 in this arrangement lay in the fact that it promised to vest in that 
 company the ownership of new inventions as soon as they were 
 patented. It was not impossible, moreover, that among such patents 
 there might be included some of fundamental importance and some 
 that might be used to compete with others already in the hands of 
 the Indiana Manufacturing Co. The advantage to licensees lay in 
 the reduction of rate of the royalty payment under the license con- 
 tract and in the further advantage that any patent thus acquired 
 by the Indiana Manufacturing Co. could be used by each of the 
 licensees. Finally, it promised to perpetuate the license system and 
 profits of company so long as it should hold any patent in general 
 demand among threshing-machine manufacturers. 
 
 Some of the dissatisfied licensees of the Indiana Manufacturing 
 Co. refused to enter into the supplemental agreement for the transfer 
 of their patents to the Indiana Manufacturing Co. Furthermore, 
 some of them looked upon the royalty fee of $30 as unreasonable. 
 The important Buchanan patent was about to expire, and, in Janu- 
 ary, 1909, five of the licensees refused to pay the royalties due at 
 that time for the use of the Indiana Manufacturing Co.'s patents 
 during 1908. The disputes with these licensees resulted in the in- 
 stitution of five suits at law against them by the Indiana company 
 to recover the license fees. One of these companies settled in full for 
 1908, but in January, 1910, refused to pay royalties for 1909, and suit 
 was then started against it. Suits in equity were also filed against 
 two of the same licensees to enjoin them from infringing the patents 
 of the Indiana company and from violation of the conditions at- 
 tached to their use of the company's patents as fixed by their license 
 contracts. Practically the same questions were raised in all these 
 cases. The licensees set up the defense that the license contract was 
 in illegal restraint of trade and in violation of the Federal and State 
 antitrust laws ; ^ that the Indiana Manufacturing Co. had given better 
 
 * In this connection, the answer of one of the defendants read, In part, as follows : 
 
 The said contract [the license contract] ♦ • • was and is ♦ * * an 
 illegal contract In restraint of trade or commerce among the several States and 
 with foreign nations, and was one of numerous similar contracts simultaneously 
 entered into by substantially all the manufacturers and dealers in pneumatic stackers 
 in the United States, all of whom were and are engaged in commerce among the 
 several States including them, it having been a part of the mutual agreement when it 
 was executed that it should only take effect and become operative when similar 
 contracts were executed by substantially all those engaged in the business to which 
 it relates among and throughout the United States, that Is to say, the business of 
 manufacturing and selling pneumatic straw stackers, this contract and similar ones 
 executed by substantially all those engaged in such business in the United States 
 and among the several States having been devised and procured by complainant in 
 
124 
 
 FARM-MACHINEBY TBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 terms to other licensees by way of alleged rebate or other conces- 
 sions in violation of a provision of the license contract (the transac- 
 tions with the J. I. Case Threshing Machine Co. being specifically 
 referred to, as well as certain alleged concessions to the International 
 Harvester Co. of America, the Avery Manufacturing Co., and others, 
 by way of the purchase of patents), and that better terms had been 
 given to certain licensees in the making of the patents purchase 
 agreements which were claimed to be illegal and void. Furthermore, 
 the violation of a law of the State of Indiana requiring the filing 
 of copies of patents with certain affidavits when such patents were 
 sold, was alleged. The court sustained the plaintiff's demurrer to 
 each of the paragraphs of the defendant's answer except that alleg- 
 ing the grant of better terms to other licensees by way of the pur- 
 chase of patents. The court ruled that to make such transactions 
 with other licensees a violation of the license agreement the plead- 
 ing must show that such transactions were fraudulently made, for 
 the purpose of giving concessions amounting to a reduction in the 
 royalty. The answer of the defendant, however, did not allege fraud. 
 
 None of the cases came to an actual trial in court, although deposi- 
 tions of the officers of the Indiana Manufacturing Co. and of the 
 Case company were taken, under an agreement that all the deposi- 
 tions could be used in all the suits. The suits were settled by the 
 respective licensees paying up all royalties in full, each of them, 
 however, making a new license agreement in the form shown as 
 Exhibit 20, on page 299, and also becoming parties to the patents pur- 
 chase agreement. Thereupon the cases were dismissed. 
 
 In the settlement of these disputes a concession was made in allow- 
 ing the licensees a discount of $3 on each stacker from the stipulated 
 terms for cash payment of royalties. Accordingly, a general letter 
 was sent to all licensees notifying them that under the terms of their 
 
 nnrsuance to a combination and conspiraCT for the purpose of establishing and 
 maintaining a monopoly in said business, and only delivered to become effective when 
 Sitered into by a sufficient number thereof to establish and maintain such monopoly 
 throughout the United States Irrespective of the validity and legal effect of any 
 natente that might remain In force after the expiration of the said Buchanan patent; 
 Sit^mDlainaEt and its predecessor in business The Farmer's Friend Company. 
 ^wi &7 about ten years, prior to the execution of the said contract, the owners of 
 S^^hove m?ntlon^ sSaSan patent of January 19, 1892, and a patent to the same 
 BuohaSIn for improvements In straw-stacking machines issued April 29. 1884. 
 Na 297 561 whch patents together, if valid to the full extent of their terms, would, 
 - «T?J:2r «nd iiftRir oatents secure while in force, a lawful monopoly in the pneu- 
 5f«Rc 8ttck??lrt^but^he expiSn of which would throw this art open to practical 
 ^mmlrVui roiJoetition a consequent large reduction in the selling price 
 
 ♦S?.T^f f thP m^onoDolv were not extended by contract between the principal manu- 
 l^®5^^I;i'«f n^n^Jffic^aSere In the United States; that when the inventions 
 in^rSfrtine to^be c^?^^^^^^ Buchanan patents accrued to the public by ooera- 
 
 R^T^f law it became practicable for the various manufacturers, without in^ing- 
 JiJ^anv^ldpateXtS make and market successful pneumatic stackers, serving 
 i?if«it -nthP nurooses required of such stackers, and to sell them at a reasonable 
 
 SLitP'lt* «« MuSf to pe%et?are sa^C monopolj .ftS the patents on which It 
 
 ffiMrSiSM-o?sSt.?en^«s? '^-sjisiof <sf '^rBuThSS 
 
 patents. 
 
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 CONCENTRATION IN OWNERSHIP OF WIND-STACKER PATENTS. 125 
 
 contracts they would be entitled id this discount in making settle- 
 ment on stackers made and sold during 1911. They were also noti- 
 fied that in the settlement of disputes with the licensees in question 
 the latter had been given the right to cancel the license agreement at 
 the expiration of the Elward patent, in December, 1918, or to con- 
 tinue it until the full end of the terms of each and all of the patents 
 recited in the contract as owned by the licensor, or any reissues 
 thereof, or for such shorter period as the licensee might elect, upon 
 the terms of the license contract, or such terms as might be mutually 
 agreed upon. The various licensees were requested to signify their 
 acceptance of these offers. These provisions are included in the form 
 of license contract now employed by the Indiana Manufacturing Co., 
 a copy of which is shown as Exhibit 20, on page 299. 
 
 Section 5. Significance of the patents license system. 
 
 The purpose of the Indiana Manufacturing Co. to acquire com- 
 plete domination over the wind-stacker feature of the thresher busi*- 
 ness is shown in its aggressive efforts to acquire all desirable patents 
 relating thereto. Such a policy was necessary to prevent litigation 
 and maintain the integrity of its license system. At the present time 
 the company owns or controls about 170 distinct United States letters 
 patent, including virtually all those essential to the operation of a 
 commercially successful wind stacker. In other w ords, it has secured 
 practical control of the patents in this line. Furthermore, its posi- 
 tion is strengthened by its control of the Sattley Stacker Co.^ 
 
 The control of the fundamental Buchanan patent in the hands of 
 the Indiana Manufacturing Co. undoubtedly precluded an effective 
 concentration of wind-stacker patents in other hands. Thresher 
 manufacturers early became convinced of the absolute necessity for 
 securing the right to manufacture imder the Buchanan patent. The 
 
 iThe reasons for acquiring the patents controlled by the Sattley Stacker Co. were 
 explained by the former president of the Indiana Manufacturing Co. as follows : 
 
 The Sattley stacker, while being of the same general construction of other endless 
 apron carriers and stackers, was an Improvement upon them to the extent that It 
 was attached to the separator and not on separate trucks, and consequently not 
 subject to alignment in setting; It also had enclosed sides and top so as to prevent 
 the straw from blowing away while In operation, and it was manufactured by a 
 wealthy corporation, who, in their advertisements, were taking advantage of the 
 oreiudice still remaining among farmers and threshermen who were not well dls- 
 Dosed or unacquainted with the merits of the wind stacker proper, by advertising In 
 ^ade publications and otherwise, " Don't blow your money away " — intimating that 
 the wind stacker was wasting grain. It, by catering to the prejudice, was retard- 
 ing the general use of the wind stacker and costing the Indiana Manufacturing 
 Company about $30,000 or $35,000 a year to combat it. It was also sold at a 
 lower price which was elastic, and the commission to agents or dealers was set at 
 S40- whereas the agent or dealer in selling wind stackers received but $25. This 
 condition induced many dealers to talk the Sattley stacker, and sell It to customers 
 who would otherwise have bought wind stackers. When, therefore, the owners of 
 the patents came to us and offered to put the commission at $25 and establish a 
 uniform price of $200 for their stacker, we thought the saving of the expense and 
 advertising, and compelling the stacker to be sold on Its merits, and not through 
 oreiudice, and removing the inducement for agents to give It the preference over 
 the wind stacker, were sufficient reasons to induce us to make the arrangement We 
 thought it would result In the diminished sale of the Sattley stacker and it had 
 that result; the result being that the sale of Sattley stackers was failing off and 
 tlia iale of wind stackera Increasing from year to year. 
 
, * 
 
 126 
 
 FARM-MACHINEBY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 It 
 
 acquisition of the Elward patent by the Indiana company rendered 
 its position still more secure. Under such conditions it is not strange 
 that the control of other patents passed to the Indiana Manufac- 
 turing Co. 
 
 A question of great public interest raised by the wind-stacker 
 patent situation has already been mentioned, namely, whether this 
 monopoly of patents is lawful; that is, whether it transcends the 
 monopoly in regard to specific patents, which the patent law was 
 intended to create. The case of the Indiana Manufacturing Co. 
 presents some phases distinct from the case that would exist if its 
 patents were vested in a single threshing-machine company which 
 refused to license its competitors. Although controlled through 
 stock ownership by the managing directors of the J. I. Case Thresh- 
 ing Machine Co., the Indiana Manufacturing Co. itself is not now a 
 manufacturing company; it is purely a patent-holding company, 
 whose business relates almost solely to the sale of the right to manu- 
 facture under its patents. It is claimed that the right is open to any 
 thresher manufacturer who agrees to the tei-ms of the license contract, 
 including the agreement to maintain a fixed selling price. It is not 
 shown that any thresher manufacturer who applies for a license con- 
 tract is required to also execute one of the patents purchase agree- 
 ments, but it is clear that if he does so he is allowed a reduction in 
 the royalty rate under that contract. It is also clear that the patents 
 purchase agreements tend to strengthen the monopoly of the Indiana 
 Manufacturing Co. In this connection, it should be pointed out that 
 the profitableness of the business of the Indiana Manufacturing Co. 
 depends upon its ability to control some patent fundamentally neces- 
 sary for the successful operation of a wind stacker. The Buchanan 
 patent was of this character and the same is true of the Elward 
 patent. 
 
 In view of recent decisions of the courts, it is also a fair question 
 as to whether the agreement of the licensees to maintain a imiform 
 selling price is lawful. If, as indicated in the footnote on pages 123- 
 124, the continuation of the license system after the expiration of the 
 Buchanan patent was due largely to an agreement among the 
 thresher manufacturers themselves, it would appear that such action 
 was unlawful. At any rate because of the concentration of patents 
 in the hands of the Indiana Manufacturing Co., and the agreement 
 to maintain prices, it is obvious that the public may be deprived of 
 the benefit of lower prices that would naturally follow from the com- 
 petition of diflferent manufacturers producing noninfringing devices. 
 
 A further phase of the situation remains to be considered, namely, 
 the significance of the control of the Indiana Manufacturing Co. 
 itself by the managing directors of the J. I. Case Threshing 
 Machine Co. This fact virtually places the control of the wind- 
 
 < 
 
 4 I f 
 
 CONCENTRATION IN OWNERSHIP OF WIND-STACKER PATENTS. 127 
 
 stacker patent monopoly in the hands of the Case company, although 
 it should be pointed out that this ownership has not produced any 
 noticeable change in the policy of the Indiana Manufacturing Co. 
 toward other licensees or the public. It is hardly probable, how- 
 ever, that the new stockholders would attempt to deprive licensees 
 competing with the Case company of their rights under their license 
 contracts, or that they would avail themselves of the power to refuse 
 to enter into a license contract with new companies that might 
 attempt to enter the thresher trade. 
 
 Attention should be called, however, to the fact that each licensee 
 in its royalty report to the Indiana Manufacturing Co. is required to 
 furnish a list of the names and addresses of those to whom they have 
 sold wind stackers. (See Exhibit 22, p. 305.) This requirement 
 probably originated in the effort of the Indiana Manufacturing Co. 
 to prevent the sale of wind stackers directly to users at reduced prices 
 by allowing them the agent's commission. Having the name and 
 address, it was comparatively easy for the Indiana Manufacturing 
 Co. to determine whether the customer was entitled to an agent's 
 commission, and, if not, to call the licensee to account for failure to 
 maintain the selling price fixed by the license agreement. With the 
 transfer of control of the Indiana Manufacturing Co. this informa- 
 tion apparently became available to the directors of the Case com- 
 pany, who could thus secure information regarding the business of 
 their competitors which none of the latter would be likely volun- 
 tarily to place at the disposal either of the Case company or its 
 
 directors. 
 
 Finally, one of the principal results of the acquisition of control 
 of the Indiana Manufacturing Co. by the directors of the Case com- 
 pany was to deprive the public of any benefit that might have come 
 from a decision by the United States Supreme Court in the suits 
 between these companies on the question as to whether the concentra- 
 tion of patents relating to a particular branch of the mechanical 
 arts transcends the rights of patentees as a combination in restraint 
 of trade, and whether the Indiana Manufacturing Co. is within its 
 rights in requiring its licensees to maintain uniform sale prices to 
 users. It should be noted, moreover, that the patents purchase agree- 
 ment had not been devised at the time that the Case suit was brought, 
 and consequently the court was not called upon to determine the 
 legality of this method of inducing the various licensees to pool their 
 patents by transferring them to the Indiana Manufacturing Co. 
 
^ 
 
 BESTRIOTION OF BETAIL TBADB TO BETAIL DBALEBS. 
 
 129 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 EESTRiCTioir OF eetah trade to RETAH BEAIERS. 
 
 Section 1. Introdnction. 
 
 The dealers' claim to the retail trade. — ^The federated asso- 
 ciations of implement and vehicle dealers assert that manufacturers 
 and wholesalers who sell through retail dealers should confine their 
 sales to that channel of distribution. Their position is summed 
 up in the claim that " to the retail dealer belongs the retail trade." 
 They assert that it is not fair for any manufacturer or jobber who 
 sells through dealers also to sell by any other method of distribution 
 which threatens to impair or destroy the trade of their dealer- 
 customers, who have invested their capital in the manufacturers' 
 goods for the purposes of resale. 
 
 The forms of distribution to which these retailers' associations 
 are especially opposed are sales directly to farmers and sales through 
 irregular dealers. In this connection they object to the sale of 
 goods through farmers' cooperative stores or through branch retail 
 stores controlled by the manufacturer. They believe that manu- 
 facturers and wholesalers who seek the trade of dealers should not 
 furnish a supply of goods to mail-order houses, and they have been 
 engaged in a constant struggle to devise means by which to minimize 
 the competition of the mail-order or catalogue house itself. 
 
 The same reason underlies the opposition to all these forms of 
 distribution in which the dealer is not a factor, namely, that such 
 sales tend to impair the profitableness of the retail business. Fur- 
 thermore, the dealers are opposed to legislation authorizing any 
 State to engage in the manufacture of any kind of farm machinery 
 or accessories at penal institutions, because of the fact that the 
 output of such factories is usually sold at prices below those charged 
 for goods made at factories emplopng free labor, which are sold 
 
 by dealers. 
 
 To support their claim that " to the retail dealer belongs the retail 
 trade," the dealers contend that any economy in distributing ex- 
 penses that may be effected by the methods objected to is more than 
 offset by the loss in service to the farmer on the one hand and to 
 the manufacturer and wholesaler on the other. The dealers assert 
 that they .offer a service to the farmer in setting up and operating 
 128 
 
 n/ 
 
 machines, in providing repairs quickly, and in the selling of goods 
 on credit, that is greatly superior to that offered by any other plan 
 of distribution. They further assert that the sale of goods through 
 dealers is more economical and satisfactory to manufacturers and 
 wholesalers. 
 
 Most manufacturers and wholesalers of farm machinery have vol- 
 untarily adopted the plan of selling through dealers, a fact which 
 has been of much importance to the organized dealers in efforts 
 to secure the manufacturers' cooperation in confining sales of their 
 products to sales made through the retailers. At the same time the 
 dealers have also found that some manufacturers and wholesalers 
 protect the dealers only because they feel compelled to do so. 
 
 The desire for protection against such competition was the chief 
 cause for the organization of dealers' associations which took place 
 in the late eighties and early nineties. From the standpoint of the 
 dealer the situation was acute. One of the leading implement trade 
 papers claimed that manufacturers had been too free in dealing 
 directly with farmers and in placing their goods on sale with irreg- 
 ular agents, but it was alleged that the manufacturers were waking 
 up to the importance of dealing " more frankly with the local deal- 
 ers." It was pointed out that something was wanted that would put 
 the business on a more solid basis ; something that would relieve the 
 " overcrowding and weed out the irresponsible agents who sold on 
 commission," and put a check on the manufacturer or jobber who 
 exhibited a weakness for selling to farmers at wholesale prices. To 
 remedy the situation the dealers were urged to organize for system- 
 atic cooperation with the manufacturers. 
 
 Shortly after the Kansas dealers' association was formed, in 1889 
 (see p. 9), a committee of its members was appointed to confer with 
 the Kansas City Implement Dealers' Association, as the implement 
 jobbers' club was then known, in order to protest against retail sales 
 by the jobbers at wholesale prices. It was reported that this protest 
 was favorably received by the jobbers and that the members of the 
 dealers' association agreed to patronize jobbing houses who afforded 
 such protection. In 1892 the members of the Western association 
 pledged themselves to report to the secretary of the association all job- 
 bers and manufacturers who sold directly to farmers or to persons not 
 regularly in the implement trade. It was made the duty of the sec- 
 retary to take such reports up by correspondence and adjust them to 
 the satisfaction of the dealers making the complaint. In case the 
 offending jobber or manufacturer refused to comply with the requests 
 of the dealers, the entire correspondence was to be submitted to the 
 board of directors for report at the next regular meeting of the 
 association. This plan seems to have been the one that was adopted 
 at that time by most of the dealers' associations. In January, 1896, 
 68248"— 16 8 
 
130 
 
 FARM-MACHINEEY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 EESTBIOTION OF RETAIL TBADE TO BETAIL DEALERS. 
 
 131 
 
 I 
 
 the members of the Western association adopted the following reso- 
 lution : 
 
 Resolved, That we should pledge our support and patrona^ 
 to none who will not in turn use their utmost endeavor to merit 
 our good offices by refusing to sell to any person who is not a 
 l^tunate dealer in the retail implement busmess, and that those 
 who continue persistently to sell to other than legitimate dealers 
 shall be placed under the ban of this association. 
 
 To assist manufacturers and jobbers in distinguishing between 
 regular and irregular dealers, the retailers' associations found it nec- 
 essary to decide what qualifications should be taken to constitute a 
 regular dealer. A definition of this sort, adopted by dealers' asso- 
 ciations in Nebraska and North Dakota in 1895, was as follows : 
 
 Any person who is engaged in retailing implements or vehicles, 
 who carries at all times a stock of implements, or vehicles, ade- 
 quate to the wants of the community, and who may regularly 
 maintain an office as an implement or vehicle dealer, and keep 
 the same open at proper business hours, will be considered a 
 dealer imder this article. 
 
 The minutes of the Western association show that during 1895, 
 
 1896, and 189Y complaints were freely discussed among its members, 
 and in 1896 this association began the publication of an official bulle- 
 tin known as the Implement Dealers' Bulletin. Announcement was 
 made that it would be the policy of the Bulletin to labor for the 
 protection of regular dealers from the encroachment of "illegiti- 
 mate" ones. One of the regular features of the Bulletin was the 
 publication of a summary of complaints of direct and irregular 
 sales, but the names of the parties were not usually given. Commu- 
 nications published in the Bulletin urged members with complaints 
 to come to the convention of the Western association in January, 
 
 1897, prepared to make a strong case against any guilty party, with 
 all the facts in concrete form, so that no time would be lost in pre- 
 senting them to the meeting. A little later the Bulletin stated that 
 it was about time an example was made of some of the offenders 
 and that dealers knew their duty toward houses that persisted in 
 ignoring their rights. In May, 1897, an editorial in the Bulletin, 
 after expressing a belief that there were too many factories making 
 implements and vehicles, went on to advocate an agreement by the 
 manufacturers and jobbers to protect the legitimate dealers, to sell 
 no goods at retail, and to establish no agencies with parties who were 
 not regular dealers. This, it was said, would work no hardship 
 upon any manufacturer or jobber, and dealers were urged to bend all 
 their energies to this end, which it was thought could be done only 
 by associated effort. 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 ¥> 
 
 During the nineties the practice of harvesting-machine manufac- 
 turers in placing agencies with irregular dealers was repeatedly con- 
 demned by the dealers' associations. An editorial in the Bulletin in 
 October, 1899, stated that the manufacturers of harvesting ma- 
 chinery had made agency contracts with liverymen, blacksmiths, 
 farmers, and others, and that these irregular dealers "rarely ever 
 sell more than a sample * ♦ * but they are harassing to the 
 regular dealer and cause him no end of annoyance during the season." 
 
 The Bulletin, in commenting upon the situation in the early part 
 of 1900, made the following statement: 
 
 We do not concede the right to a plow manufacturer to place 
 an agency with any one not a dealer in implements just because 
 he can get no regular dealer in that line to represent him; then 
 why should the privilege be accorded to the manufacturer of 
 harvesting machmes ? * * * It is an utter impossibility 
 for one dealer to represent several harvesting machines success- 
 fully, and no town has enough dealers to represent all machines. 
 The position dealers take is just this: that if a company can not 
 get representatives through the regular channels, it would better 
 move on to the next town where it can. 
 
 By this time the agitation against direct and irregular sales had 
 become general, and associations of implement and vehicle dealers 
 had been organized in most of the States in the Middle West. It 
 was felt that the only way in which satisfactory relations between 
 the dealers on the one side and manufacturers and jobbers on the 
 other could be maintained was for the latter to do a strictly whole- 
 sale business and for the dealers to show their appreciation by giving 
 such manufacturers and jobbers their trade. The question had also 
 been raised whether a manufacturer or jobber should sell goods at 
 retail at places where he had no agent and no prospect of securing 
 one. Various views were expressed. In this connection, the secre- 
 tary of the Western association in a report read at an executive 
 session of the members of the Western association in January, 1898, 
 made the following statement : 
 
 In too many instances it is claimed that they had a perfect 
 right to make the sales for the reason that they had no customer 
 in the towns to which the goods were shipped, and our members 
 should not complain because they had maintained a fair retail 
 
 Erice, when in fact the margin over the wholesale price was not 
 alf what the worst price cutter would consider a fair profit, 
 and they invariably refuse to pay the complainant a commission 
 because he is not their customer and has no right to demand it. 
 As long as such practice is kept up just so long will the business 
 be demoralized. 
 
 The consideration of complaints against individual manufacturers 
 and jobbers who were alleged to have made direct sales or sales 
 
132 
 
 FABM-MAOmNEBY TEADE AS800IATI0NB. 
 
 BESTEICTION OF BBTAIL TBADE TO RETAIL DEALERS. 
 
 133 
 
 r 
 
 through irregular agents occupied much of the time of the dealers' 
 associations. Almost from the beginning it became customary for 
 the secretary of the Western association in his report to members 
 at the annual conventions to summarize the complaints that had 
 been filed during the preceding year and state what disposition had 
 been made of them. As already pointed out, it was his duty to 
 secure an amicable adjustment of complaints, generally by collect- 
 ing from the manufacturer or wholesaler complained of a com- 
 mission on the sale for the complaining dealer, and by securing a 
 promise that future sales would be confined to regular dealers. At 
 the annual convention of the Western association in January, 1899, 
 nearly all the members present stood up when those who had been ■ 
 benefited by receiving commissions on goods sold in their territory 
 and by the discontinuance of irregular agencies were asked to rise. 
 At this convention a section of the by-laws, which provided that 20 
 per cent of all commissions collected for the members should be paid 
 into the treasury of the association, was eliminated by unanimous 
 vote of the members. 
 
 The dealers finally became convinced that the situation could only 
 be handled through the combined influence of the several State and 
 interstate associations of dealers. Plans were accordingly made for a 
 meeting at Chicago to confer with the harvesting-machine manu- 
 facturers and to form a federation of the various dealers' associa- 
 tions. In September, 1900, the federation was formed as planned, 
 several of the most important dealers' associations being represented. 
 
 (Seep. 10.) . 
 
 Negotiations with harvesting machine cjompanibs.— During 
 the first few years following the organization of the Federation its 
 activities largely centered in efforts to induce the harvesting-machine 
 manufacturers not to place agencies with persons whom the dealers 
 did not consider to be implement dealers. A careful record was kept 
 of all complaints filed against harvester companies. Some of the 
 harvesting-machine manufacturers were reported to have assured 
 dealers that they were in full accord with them, but the harvester 
 committee of the Federation was apparently unable to induce the 
 International Harvester Co. to assent to confining its trade to regular 
 dealers. In November, 1904, however, it was reported that at a 
 conference held between the harvester committee of the Federation 
 and representatives of the International Harvester Co. of America 
 the dealers again requested that the latter market its product only 
 through regular retail implement dealers, to which the company 
 answered that it was heartily in accord with the proposition and had 
 taken favorable action on 75 per cent of the reports of irregular 
 agencies furnished by the Federation the year before, and also, on its 
 
 w 
 
 ^ 
 
 own motion, had taken similar action on many other cases not 
 reported. 
 
 The report of the harvester committee read at the convention of 
 the Western association in January, 1905, stated that efforts had been 
 focused on the single point of trying to induce the International 
 Harvester Co. to confine the trade in harvesting machinery ex- 
 clusively to the regular retail implement dealers, but that the com- 
 mittee had not been successful in getting the International Harvester 
 Co. to declare itself positively upon this point. Substantial progress 
 had been made, however, in the discontinuance of over 200 objection- 
 able agencies since the report of the committee at the preceding 
 convention. 
 
 Section 2. Cooperation between federated dealers and organized manu- 
 facturers. 
 
 Establishment of harmonious relations between dealers' and 
 manufacturers' organizations. — Efforts of the dealers' associations 
 to enlist the assistance of jobbers' and manufacturers' organizations 
 in confining trade to regular dealers met with a considerable degree 
 of success. The officers and directors of the Western association con- 
 tinued their efforts to enlist the assistance of the Kansas City job- 
 bers' club in devising some plan by which direct sales through irregu- 
 lar dealers could be discontinued. During the middle nineties, how- 
 ever, the jobbers' club refused to amend its by-laws to provide that 
 members should be bound to live up to any agreement that might be 
 made with the dealers. The jobbers took the position that the 
 dealer and the jobber should adjust any grievance between them- 
 selves without the assistance of either of the two organizations. 
 Some of the jobbing houses, however, announced that they had 
 adopted a policy of selling no goods at retail. 
 
 Efforts were made to enlist the assistance of the manufacturers 
 belonging to the National Association of Agricultural Implement & 
 Vehicle Manufacturers. The secretary of the Western association, 
 in addressing the convention of the manufacturers held in October, 
 1895, requested them to take some action to show to the dealers that 
 it was their policy and purpose to protect the regular legitimate 
 dealer and, if practicable, to appoint a committee to which the 
 complaints of the dealers' associations could be referred. A few 
 months later the executive committee of the National Association 
 of Agricultural Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers adopted a reso- 
 lution expressing the sympathy of their association with all retail 
 dealers' associations in their efforts to protect the regular legitimate 
 dealer in his trade in every way practicable, and the dealers' associa- 
 tions were invited to send complaints of this character to the execu- 
 
#^ 
 
 134 
 
 FAEM-MACHINEEY TRADE ASSOOIATIOISra. 
 
 BESTRICTION OF BETAIL l^RADE TO RETAIL DEALERS. 
 
 135 
 
 live committee of the manufacturers' association, and that committee 
 was instructed to give such complaints due consideration. 
 
 Further progress was made in January, 1900, at the annual con- 
 vention of the Western association, at which it was reported that 
 a resolution had been agreed upon by a conference of committees 
 representing the National Association of Agricultural Implement & 
 Vehicle Manufacturers, the Carriage Builders' National Association, 
 the Kansas City Implement, Vehicle & Hardware Club, and the 
 Western Retail Implement & Vehicle Dealers' Association. This 
 was to the effect that — 
 
 It is the sense of this conference of committees that we recom- 
 mend that manufacturers abstain from selling goods to cata- 
 logue houses and confine their business to sellingtheir goods to 
 jobbers and retail dealers; ♦ * ♦ that the Western Retail 
 Implement Dealers' Association take such action as will be 
 necessary to furnish the manufacturers' and jobbers' associations 
 with a correct list of the legitimate retail implement and 
 vehicle dealers in the territory covered by said association, for 
 the purpose of enabling the manufacturers and jobbers to fur- 
 nish catalogues and prices to legitimate dealers only. 
 
 The Bulletin expressed the hope that favorable action would be 
 taken upon this resolution by the manufacturers' and jobbers' asso 
 ciations, and a committee was appointed to carry out the spirit of 
 the resolution. 
 
 Shortly after the formation of the Federation, in 1900, the Na- 
 tional Association of Agricultural Implement & Vehicle Manufac- 
 turers created a standing committee on dealers' associations to con- 
 sider all questions of mutual interest. It was arranged that one 
 or more members of the committee should visit officially all meet- 
 ings of dealers' associations which they thought advisable, confer 
 with such meetings in any manner they thought proper, and make 
 a report of the conference to the executive committee of the manu- 
 facturers' association. In the latter part of 1901 this committee 
 reported that members had visited meetings of the Iowa, Nebraska, 
 and South Dakota dealers' associations, and that the full committee 
 had visited the meeting of the Western association. The report con- 
 tinued a^ follows: 
 
 We believe in encouraging these associations • • • and 
 helping them along in every way we can. * * * Our inter- 
 ests are too closely connected to permit of anythmg but the most 
 harmonious relations. 
 
 mrectoriei of regular dealers,— ks an aid to the manufacturers 
 and jobbers in determining whether prospective customers were enti- 
 tled to consideration as regular dealers, and, apparently as a result of 
 the resolution of the committees mentioned above, the Western asso- 
 
 4v 
 
 i» 
 
 ciation in 1901 began the annual publication of a list of regular 
 dealers at towns where that association had members, and in 1902 
 
 ^ also inaugurated a movement to enlist the assistance of the manu- 
 
 facturers and jobbers in securing stricter classification of implement 
 and vehicle dealers by the conmiercial agencies. The directory of 
 the Western association was favorably received by the members of 
 the National Association of Agricultural Implement & Vehicle 
 Manufacturers, the secretary in 1901 being instructed to furnish each 
 
 A member with a copy with the recommendation that at the towns listed 
 
 manufacturers should confine their sales to the legitimate dealers 
 named in the list. This list was also placed in the hands of the Kan- 
 % sas City jobbers. In 1907 this plan of keeping goods out of the hands 
 of irregular dealers was reported to be working well. The Western 
 association has continued to issue this directory annually to the pres- 
 
 m ent time, and they have also been issued by other State associations, 
 
 including the Tri- State association (covering Ohio, Kentucky, and 
 Indiana) and the Texas association. 
 
 Commercial agency reports. — ^The movement started at the con- 
 vention of the Western association in January, 1902, to secure a bet- 
 ter classification of implement and vehicle dealers by the commer- 
 cial agencies so that catalogue agents should not be classed as dealers, 
 was taken up by the National Association of Agricultural Implement 
 & Vehicle Manufacturers at its convention in 1903. Its committee 
 on dealers' associations recommended that the members of the manu- 
 facturers' association address letters to all the commercial agencies 
 to which they were subscribers, urging a more definite classification 
 of "regular" implement and vehicle dealers, regular dealers being 
 used by the manufacturers as defined by the dealers' associations, 
 namely, a dealer who had a regularly established place of business 
 and who carried a stock of goods commensurate with the trade of 
 his vicinity. ITiis recommendation was adopted. 
 
 The conmiercial agencies, however, do not appear to have made 
 these changes, for the request of the dealers to the manufacturers 
 was renewed a few years later. It was explained to the committee 
 of the manufacturers' association that the earlier request had been 
 favorably received by the manufacturers, who had obtained assur- 
 ances that the lists would be so revised. 
 
 At the conference of the manufacturers' committee on dealers' 
 associations with the Federation in October, 1908, the dealers re- 
 ported that many of those still listed as implement dealers by the 
 commercial agencies were not dealers, and they asked the help of the 
 manufacturers in getting the commercial agencies to correctly classify 
 the dealers. This request was brought up at a later meeting of the 
 executive committee of the National Association of Agricultural 
 Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers and referred to its committee 
 
136 
 
 FAKM-MACHINERY TBADB ASSOOIATfONB. 
 
 on dealers' associations. The records do not show whether this 
 effort was successful. 
 
 Conferences between representatives of dealers^ and numufac- 
 imrers^ organizations, — ^After the formation of the Federation the 
 holding of conferences became a characteristic feature of associa- 
 tion work, especially those held between the committee on dealers' 
 associations of the National Association of Agricultural Implement 
 & Vehicle Manufacturers on the one hand and committees of the 
 Western association and the National Federation on the other. 
 Eepresentatives of the manufacturers' association continued (see 
 p. 134) to attend meetings of the dealers' association, and in August, 
 1907, the Implement Dealers* Bulletin stated that the work of the 
 organized dealers was in harmony with those manufacturers who 
 recognized the necessity of the retail dealer as the proper and 
 economical distributor of their products. The members of the Na- 
 tional Association of Agricultural Implement & Vehicle Manufac- 
 turers were already committed to this proposition, and it was an un- 
 written qualification for membership in the National Plow Associa- 
 tion (organized in 1907) that sales should be confined to the retail 
 
 trade. 
 
 When the National Federation met in October, 1908, the delegates 
 determined to secure some kind of a reform in a systematic way to 
 obtain a larger measure of protection for their members. To bring 
 about a better understanding with the manufacturers, it was decided 
 that the executive committee of the Federation should act in conjunc- 
 tion with a committee of the National Association of Agricultural 
 Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers as a joint committee to consider 
 matters of common interest. 
 
 The joint board held a conference at that time, at which the dealers 
 requested the help of the manufacturers in abolishing commission 
 contracts, which they believed to be the cause of many irresponsible 
 parties being furnished with goods on consignment to the detriment 
 of the regular dealers.* The matter of direct sales to farmers was 
 also discussed, especially of the kinds of farm machinery that dealers 
 do not ordinarily carry in stock, namely, threshers, power com shell- 
 ers, hay presses, and other large machines. No definite conclusion, 
 however,- seems to have been reached in this matter. The results of 
 this conference were reported to the convention of the manufac- 
 turers' association held a little later. In making his report the 
 
 ^In this connection, the Federation at its meeting In 1909 adopted the followlnff 
 resolution : 
 
 The commission contract stUl used by certain manufacturers and jobbers with 
 dealers not worthy of credit Is placing dealers with capital Invested at a great dls- 
 advantage. U Is evident that this condition Is responsible In no small degree for 
 the continued use of canvassers. ^ . ^ . . 
 
 Therefore he it resolved. That the commission contract and carrying clause are 
 trade abuses which should be eliminated. 
 
 / 
 
 BESTBIOTION OF RETAIL TBADB TO EBTAIL DEALERS. 137 
 
 chairman of the committee on dealers' associations made the follow- 
 ing statement : 
 
 In our intercourse with the dealers individually, and with 
 their oflficers and committees, both in the State associations and 
 in the general Federation of Dealers' Associations, we are very 
 glad to report we have found them, almost without an exception, 
 disposed to be reasonable, at least from their point of view. 
 Their requests may not always accord with our own ideas, but, 
 if not, they are willing to talk about it, and if we think their 
 reque^s are too strong they are willing to modify them, and we 
 also believe they would be equally fair and reasonable about any 
 requests we may think best to make of them, for, when it comes 
 down to a fijial analysis, the interests of the dealer, jobber and 
 factory are mutual and identical, and it is our opinion that all 
 parties in this trade have already realized this fact, and are 
 willing in a great measure, to pull together for the mutual benefit 
 of all. 
 
 These matters were among the subjects considered at a meeting 
 of the executive committee of the National Association of Agricul- 
 tural Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers held November 13, 1908. 
 This committee referred the matter of abolishing consignment con- 
 tracts to the association's committee on dealers' associations. 
 
 The immediate cause of the appointment of the joint committee 
 seems to have been the unsatisfactory conditions existing in the sale 
 of manure spreaders. The manufacturers of spreaders belonging to 
 the National Association of Agricultural Implement & Vehicle 
 Manufacturers had already organized a subcommittee of that asso- 
 ciation, and a conference was held with the dealers at the convention 
 of the Western association in January, 1909. The dealers were rep- 
 resented by the boards of directors of the Western and the Iowa 
 asociations, and eight of the principal spreader companies had rep- 
 resentatives present. Resolutions were adopted to the effect that 
 manufacturers and jobbers should discontinue all sales of spreaders 
 directly to user, that each dealer should have sufficient exclusive terri- 
 tory, that spreaders should not be sold to dealers on a consignment 
 contract, and that dealers should discontinue the use of canvassers 
 furnished by the manufacturer or jobber. 
 
 The lack of protection given dealers by manufacturers and job- 
 bers on manure spreaders was again taken up in the Bulletin in 
 May, 1910. This article stated that reports were coming in from 
 some localities of the complete demoralization of the spreader busi- 
 ness and that it had been somewhat difficult to locate the ones most 
 to blame. It was thought, however, that the practice of certain 
 manufacturers in selling directly at little, if any, above the net price 
 to dealers was undoubtedly the most prolific source of trouble. 
 To arrive at the facts the members of the constituent associations of 
 
138 
 
 FARM-MACmNBEY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 the Federation were asked to forward to the secretaries of their re- 
 spective associations answers to certain questions as to the makes 
 nnd prices of spreaders sold at their towns; whether manufacturers 
 and jobbers were selling directly there, and whether mail-order 
 houses were getting any of the business. The article concluded as 
 follows : 
 
 The first step in bettering conditions in this line is to secure 
 
 the data ; this the members must furnish. Will you do your part, 
 
 and do it now? 
 
 A conference with representatives of the windmill and pump 
 houses was held at a meeting of the directors of the Western asso- 
 ciation in September, 1909, and the subject of better protection in 
 those lines was thoroughly discussed, but the results are not reported. 
 
 Opposition to manufacturers' branch retail stores. — ^Toward 
 the latter part of 1908 implement dealers in Iowa became alarmed 
 by the threatened competition of a number of branch retail stores 
 that were being established in the western part of that State by cer- 
 tain wholesale interests for the purpose of retailing their own goods. 
 The delegates to the meeting of the Federation in October, 1908, 
 were unanimous in condemning this practice, and voted as the sense 
 of the FederaticMi that no manufacturer seeking the dealers' trade 
 and no jobber should be interested in retailing implements and ve- 
 hicles in any way. 
 
 The matter of branch retail stores had been taken up several years 
 earlier by the National Federation on complaint of the implement 
 dealers' association of Texas in 1901. At that time the manufacturer 
 ccHnplained of appeared before the Federation delegates to give 
 assurances that it was not the policy of his company to antagonize 
 the dealers and promised to see that the matter was thoroughly 
 investigated. According to the Federation minutes in 1902, the Texas 
 case was practically adjusted, as the manufacturer had given orders 
 to close all of the branch houses, except transfer houses, as rapidly as 
 possible. This action in closing these houses was attributed by a 
 trade paper to the influence of the Federation. 
 
 In 1908, several branch retail stores had been opened in western 
 Iowa by one of the largest plow manufacturers in the United States, 
 and also by a prominent Omaha jobbing house. The dealers re- 
 quested the discontinuance of these stores. One of the leading imple- 
 ment trade papers, which quite naturally took the dealers' point of 
 view, <xHiceded that such stores would be obliged to bear the same 
 i«nt, taxes, insurance, and other expenses as the independent dealer, 
 but pointed out that it was claimed that the branch retail stores re- 
 ceived inside prices and, furthermore, that the manufacturer would 
 be satisfied if he realized the same profit that he would on goods fur- 
 nished to the regular dealer. 
 
 # 
 
 ^ 
 
 BBSTRIOTION OF RETAIL TRADE TO RETAIL DEALERS. 139 
 
 The Bulletin for November, 1908, characterized the conditions 
 confronting the Iowa dealers as the gravest that they had faced since 
 the organization of the retail implement dealers. 
 
 The following resolution had been adopted at the annual meeting 
 of the Federation in October, 1908 : 
 
 It being rumored that certain manufacturers of farm imple- 
 ments are contemplating the establishment of retail branch 
 houses for the sale of their products, we recommend that the 
 Federation go on record as absolutely opposed to the retailing 
 of goods directly or indirectly by jobbers or manufacturers. 
 
 The Federation made this subject one of the principal matters of 
 discussion at its meeting in October, 1909, and adopted a resolution 
 denouncing such a system as "unfair, unwise and unbusinesslike," 
 and expressed the belief that, if continued, it meant " the disruption 
 of trade relations and the elimination of the retail dealer and his 
 best friend— the smaller manufacturer." It was voted to refer the 
 matter to the joint arbitration committee of the manufacturers' asso- 
 ciation and the Federation. The matter was discussed in conference, 
 and it was decided to consider the matter further during the conven- 
 tion of the manufacturers' association to be held a little later, when 
 the companies complained of would be invited to be present. When 
 this meeting was held, the position taken by the company especially 
 complained of was that the branch stores were private enterprises of 
 their manager at Omaha. No formal action was taken by the com- 
 mittee. The members of the National Association of Agricultural 
 Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers, however, adopted the follow- 
 ing resolution: 
 
 Whereas, the establishment by manufacturers of branch stores 
 for the purpose of retailing their own goods would mean finally, 
 the disruption of trade relations and the elimination of the re- 
 tail dealer; be it 
 
 Resolved, That we are opposed to the establishment of such 
 houses, believing that "to the retail dealer belongs the retail 
 trade." 
 Shortly after the Federation meeting the secretary wrote one of 
 the prominent members of the Western association that he was in 
 receipt of information that the plow company in question was also 
 establishing retail branches in Portland (Oreg.) territory, and there 
 were also a few in Kansas and Oklahoma, which, he stated, were 
 big concerns. A few days later the secretary wrote another promi- 
 nent dealer belonging to the Western association regarding the con- 
 ference that had been held at Chicago, when the matter was taken 
 up before the arbitration committee with some of the high officials 
 of the plow company present. He stated that they set up the de- 
 fense that these branches were conducted solely by their managers 
 
140 
 
 FARM-MACHINERY TRADE ASSOOUTIONB. 
 
 who financed them and that the plow company itself had no money 
 m them. The secretary expressed his opinion, however, that the offi- 
 cials were in a position to control such matters and that the dealers 
 would demand that they do so. At about the same time the secre- 
 tary also addressed a manufacturer who had apparently written him 
 requesting literature on the subject of branch retail stores. In this 
 letter, after citing mstances where the dealers' trade had been 
 impaired by branch retail stores, he said, in part: 
 
 I only mention these matters to give you a general idea of 
 what a dreadful menace the branch-house evil is to the regular 
 dealer. The danger is that if these branch houses are success- 
 ful other manufacturers and jobbers will adopt the plan, and 
 that it will eventually mean an entire change m the retail busi- 
 ness. The International Harvester Co. at one time employed a 
 great many salaried agents who were in reality only branch- 
 house managers. They have, if our information is correct, dis- 
 continued practically all of these. I know of none now withm 
 the territory of the Federation. We have the statement of the 
 sales managers that none exist anywhere. But you will readily 
 see that if the other large manufacturers are allowed to handle 
 the retail business in this way, no objection can be made to 
 the International Harvester Co. if they see fit to adopt the same 
 
 ^ This is the subject which is now worrying the dealers more 
 than anything else, and the supposition is that it will be dis- 
 cussed at all of the conventions and probably handled without 
 gloves. 
 In another letter in the latter part of November, 1909, the secre- 
 tary of the Federation expressed his opinion that the branch house 
 was the most serious existing menace to the implement business. He 
 said that some persons had declared to him that the implement busi- 
 ness was on trial. He stated, however, that he could not feel that 
 this was true to a very alarmmg extent, but he did know that the 
 plow company in question was establishing a great many branch 
 houses, particularly m good localities where they had no regular 
 customers. He thought that the matter would be a subject of warm 
 debate at the conventions of dealers in Iowa and Nebraska. He 
 thought a firm stand must be taken. , , . 
 
 At the conventions of the various dealers' associations belonging 
 to the National Federation in the latter part of 1909 and early part 
 of 1910 the matter of branch retail stores was a prmcipal subject 
 of discussion. The Implement Dealers' Bulletin in February, 1910, 
 printed the resolutions condemning such stores which had been 
 passed by the National Federation as well as the Iowa, Illinois, 
 Western, South Dakota, and Mid-West (Nebraska) associations. 
 In conclusion, the Bulletin made the following comment : 
 
 It is all right for them [dealers' associations] to define their 
 position regarding this matter, but adopting resolutions is only 
 
 BBSTRIOTIOlSr OF RETAIL TRADE TO RETAIL DEALERS. 141 
 
 the preliminary proceeding. If dealers expect anything to be 
 accomplished they must assist in supplying information, they 
 must uphold the hands of their officers, and they must assist in 
 strengthening their organizations so that they will become a 
 still greater power than they are at present and be in a position 
 to enforce their demands. 
 
 Now do not say, " Yes, that is so," then forget all about it, 
 but go to work. If your dues are in arrears, remit, for it takes 
 money to carry on this work. If you have a competitor who is 
 not a member, go to him and explain the situation and secure his 
 application. Association officials are thoroughly alive to the 
 importance of aggressive action, but they must have your sup- 
 port. Will you see that they receive it ? 
 
 The subject was again taken up at the annual meeting of the Na- 
 tional Federation at Chicago in October, 1910. The president in 
 his address stated that, with a single exception, all manufacturers and 
 jobbers who had been interviewed on the subject denied owning or 
 being interested in any retail branch store. He stated that the mat- 
 ter of finding out the facts devolved upon the different constituent 
 associations of the Federation, and asserted that it was necessary 
 for the Federation to have reliable information as to the identity 
 of the offending manufacturers and jobbers before it could take 
 action. Reference to this matter was also made in the report of the 
 secretary. He characterized it as a subject of most vital importance 
 for consideration. One session of the convention was taken up al- 
 most entirely with a discussion of the reports in regard to branch 
 retail houses, and the question was finally referred to the com- 
 mittee on resolutions with instructions to define the position of the 
 Federation. A special committee was appointed to consider evidence 
 that had been introduced and to make further investigation. 
 
 The matter was also brought up at the conference between com- 
 mittees of the Federation and the National Association of Agricul- 
 tural Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers. It was reported that at 
 this conference the representatives of the dealers' Federation ex- 
 plained the specific complaints which had been filed and asked for 
 the cooperation of the manufacturers in discountenancing and dis- 
 couraging the spread of this class of retail establishments. The 
 alleged demoralizing effect these stores had on the trade of dealers 
 in localities where they were maintained was shown, and it was the 
 consensus of opinion that great good could be accomplished by the 
 cooperation of all of the associations in all branches of the trade. 
 The burden of furnishing proof in cases reported, it was agreed, 
 • should rest with the dealers. 
 
 At this meeting the delegates to the Federation meeting recom- 
 mended that each of the constituent associations should amend its 
 
142 
 
 VABM-MAOHINEBY TEADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 constitution by eliminating the article relating to members reporting 
 direct sales to ^e secretary of the association. (See p. 187.) The 
 dele/^ates also recommended the elimination of the second paragraph 
 of the declaration of purpose, which read as follows: 
 
 We recognize the absolute right of every person, partnership 
 or corporation to establish and maintain as many retail stores 
 as he, they, or it may see fit. 
 
 Eesolutions adopted by the Federation at this time read as follows: 
 
 Evidence having been submitted showing that a few jobbers 
 and manufacturers still persist in maintaining retail branch 
 bouses. 
 
 We, your committee, do most earnestly emphasize our Federa- 
 tion principle that " to the retailer belongs the retail trade," and 
 denounce in unmeasured terms as unfair, unreasonable and 
 unbusinesslike the practice of so entering into competition, 
 directly or indirectly, with the regular retail dealers, upon 
 whom they must, and do depend, for the bulk of their business. 
 
 Shortly afterwards the committee on dealers' associations reported 
 to the members of the National Association of Agricultural Imple- 
 ment & Vehicle Manufacturers that the Federation had presented to 
 the manufacturers' committee for consideration the dealers' earnest 
 and aggressive opposition to manufacturers or jobbers owning, oper- 
 ating, or being interested in retail implement and vehicle stores. In 
 accordance with the recommendations of this committee, the members 
 of the National Association of Agricultural Implement & Vehicle 
 Manufacturers voted to adopt a resolution reaffirming and emphasiz- 
 ing the resolution on this subject adopted the year before. (See 
 p. 145.) 
 
 Under date of October 25, 1910, the secretary of the National Fed- 
 eration in a general letter to secretaries of the constituent associations 
 on the subject of convention programs pointed out that the dealers 
 in many localities were alarmed over the "branch-house evil," and 
 that the Federation had asked for further evidence to establish be- 
 yond question the extent to which this evil was spreading. He 
 advised the secretaries that it was a subject that should be discussed 
 at the conventions of their associations and that it was possible that 
 it would be better to do so in executive session. He requested them 
 to note the position taken by the Federation and the trend of the 
 discussion of the subject at the conference with the manufacturers. 
 
 In November, 1910, the secretary of the Federation wrote one of 
 the dealers a confidential letter in which he stated that another 
 interview had been held with a high official of the plow company 
 complained of as establishing branch retail stores. The secretary 
 stated that this official had promised to go to Omaha himself to make 
 a personal investigation of conditions. In this letter the secretary 
 said, in part: 
 
 ^ 
 
 >■ 
 
 BESTBIOTIOK OP BETAIL T&ADE TO RETAIL DEALERS. 
 
 143 
 
 1 
 
 I refer to the trouble with branch houses. I believe that we 
 have that situation pretty well in hand. Such a tremendous 
 uproar has gone up that I doubt if those people will establish 
 any more even though they may not discontinue what they have. 
 I thought this information might be of interest to you on account 
 of conditions at Chillicothe. 
 
 In April, 1912, the secretary of the Iowa dealers' association wrote 
 the secretary of the National Federation in regard to the activities 
 of his association in the matter of branch retail stores. He stated 
 that one of the members, whom he mentioned, would do his utmost to 
 convince the plow company (whose policy of maintaining branch 
 houses had created so much apprehension among the dealers) that 
 4,mch a policy was a bad one to promote, being detrimental to the 
 trade. The secretary of the Iowa association also expressed his opin- 
 ion that if the Iowa association could not have the cooperation of 
 other organizations it could not make effective opposition. He 
 thought the policy was going to become general unless the dealers 
 were active, and he stated that it was reported that a buggy com- 
 pany, the name of which he gave, had already established four re- 
 tail branches in Iowa. He believed that it would not be long until 
 \ other manufacturers followed suit and that the very existence of the 
 retail dealers was threatened. He went on to say: 
 
 We can voice our opposition in a proper manner, and if [we] 
 have the facts to present, we should at least get a fair hearing. 
 
 He appeared to think that if the dealers went to the plow company 
 in question without any evidence their efforts would be unavailing. 
 
 At the convention of the Federation in October, 1912, the report 
 of the secretary stated that manufacturers' branch retail stores in 
 some localities were causing dealers much uneasiness and annoyance, 
 and was of so much importance that it should have attention. 
 Among the resolutions adopted by the delegates at this convention 
 was one to the following effect: 
 
 The maintaining of retail stores by jobbers and manufac- 
 turers is unjust, and is emphatically condemned not only by this 
 Federation, but by right thinking men in all lines. Improved 
 conditions of the trade is shown by the fact that but one promi- 
 nent manufacturer continues to maintain such branches, and it 
 is only fair to state that the number is reduced and we are 
 assured it is the policy of this company to soon discontinue 
 them entirely. 
 
 Direct sales in LOCALrriES where manufacturer has no agent. — 
 At the annual meeting of the National Federation in October, 1909, 
 the president expressed his belief that the Federation should outline 
 clearly to each constituent association its views regarding the condi- 
 tions under which manufacturers should sell their goods to con- 
 sumers in territory where they had no representatives, a matter that 
 
J I 
 
 144 
 
 FAEM-MACHINBBY TRADE ASSOOIATIOKS. 
 
 had already been brought up by the dealers. (See p. 181.) A little 
 later, at a meeting of the conference committees of the National 
 Federation and the National Association of Agricultural Imple- 
 ment & Vehicle Manufacturers, in October, 1910, at which the matter 
 of branch stores operated by manufacturers was discussed (see 
 p. 141), the committee representing the Federation took the position 
 that manufacturers who sell the bulk of their output to dealers 
 should not sell at retail. Instances were mentioned where manufac- 
 turers had sold goods directly and when called to account had 
 replied that they were holding commissions to be paid to a dealer 
 who would contract for their goods. The dealers insisted that this is 
 not affording the trade full protection. One member of the manu- \ 
 f acturers' committee said that this seemed to be a new phase of the 
 direct-selling question, and it was his opinion that manufacturers 
 claimed the right to sell directly at retail prices where they were 
 not represented by dealers, especially where they were introducing 
 new goods and did not see how they could introduce new goods 
 successfully where they were imable to interest dealers unless by 
 selling directly. He expressed the opinion that this evil had not 
 reached very serious proportions. Another member said that as a 
 general rule manufacturers believe that it is no violation of trade 
 ethics to sell directly at retail prices and pay the commission to the 
 
 nearest dealer. 
 
 The committee representing the dealers said that of course they 
 would acquiesce in that kind of an arrangement, but that commis- 
 sions in such cases were rarely ever paid until such time as an agency 
 could be established, and insisted that the manufacturers in all cases 
 where direct sales are made should try to make delivery through 
 some regular dealer, permitting the customer to name the dealer 
 through whom he would prefer having delivery made. They also 
 took the position that in a very large majority of direct sales prices 
 maintained are much lower than the dealer must get if he properly 
 figures his costs. They expressed the belief that it might not be 
 possible to make any hard and fast rule, yet dealers must have 
 better cooperation on the part of manufacturers and jobbers than 
 they were receiving. The representatives of the manufacturers' 
 association promised to present the views of the dealers to the next 
 convention of the manufacturers' association and to urge action 
 along the lines suggested. In connection with this subject, the 
 Federation adopted the following resolution: 
 
 In view of the resulting strife and demoralization caused by 
 direct sales by jobbers and manufacturers, ♦ ♦ ♦ goods in 
 our line should be marketed through the regular retail dealers, 
 and that even if extreme circimistances seem to justify a sale to 
 
 4.' 
 
 BESTBIOHOK OF SBTAIL TRADE TO RETAIL DEALERS. 146 
 
 user it should never — ^under any circumstances whatever — ^be 
 made except at a fair reasonable retail price and delivery should 
 in all cases be made through some retail dealer. 
 
 The representatives of the manufacturers' association in their re- 
 port to the convention of the National Association of Agricultural 
 Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers, in November, 1910, explained 
 this attitude of the organized dealers toward direct sales, as follows : 
 
 They presented to us a question that to them, and to us, is 
 of great importance; and that is, the retailing of goods by fac- 
 tories and jobbers direct to consumers. They request as follows: 
 
 First. That all such sales, as far as possible, should not be 
 made, but that the consumers be referred to the nearest retail 
 ^ dealer. 
 
 Second. That if any sales at all are made direct to con- 
 sumer they should always be made at proper retail prices — 
 such as will give the dealer a legitimate profit above his expense 
 of doing business. 
 
 Third. That where it is impractical or impossible to make 
 such a sale through a dealer, the sale should be made at retail 
 prices, and that delivery should be made through some dealer. 
 
 In behalf of these requests, the dealers state that it is not 
 alone the question of the profit on any particular retaU sale 
 that might be made, though as to that they feel that some dealer 
 should always have the profit or commission, but the main 
 point to which they object, in the retailing of goods by factories 
 and jobbers direct to consumers, is that it gets such consumers 
 into the notion that it is a good thing to buy direct from the 
 factory. Probably some members of our association do not 
 realize how much is going on in the trade along these lines of 
 direct selling. Nowadays there are not only the old-time cata- 
 logue houses selling all lands of goods, including implements and 
 vehicles direct to consumers, and at prices which they are try- 
 ing to make the consumer believe are wholesale prices, but there 
 are several direct selling factories in the implement and ve- 
 hicle lines. 
 
 At this convention the manufacturers adopted the following reso- 
 lution : 
 
 Resolved, First. That we reaffirm and emphasize the resolu- 
 tion adopted last year at our convention in Chicago against the 
 establishment of retail houses by factories and jobbers. 
 
 Second. Whenever it is necessary for a factory to make a 
 direct sale to the consumer, that it ought to be done at retail 
 price, and when at all practical said machine or vehicle should 
 be delivered through some dealer. 
 
 Third. That the secretary be and is hereby instructed to mail 
 a copy of this resolution to each member with a special bulletin 
 calling attention to same, on account of the unusual importance 
 this resolution to the trade. 
 
 Resolved, That we express our appreciation of the coopera- 
 tion of the Dealers' Federation in their efforts to eliminate trade 
 evils and in promoting the general welfare of the business. 
 
 e8248'— 16- 
 
 -10 
 
146 
 
 FABM-MAOHnraKT TBADB A880CIATIOH8. 
 
 SESTBICTION OF KBTAIL TBADB TO BETAIL DEALEBS. 
 
 147 
 
 !) 
 
 In compliance with this resolution, the Secretary of the National 
 Association of Agricultural Implement & Vehicle Manufacturer 
 issued a circular letter to members under date of November 11, 1910, 
 
 in which this resolution (which also related *^tl»« ;^'*''^^^Jj"«'Jl*^ 
 branch retail stores by manufacturers) was set forth. Ihis letter 
 
 concluded as follows: 
 
 Every time you fail to be governed by the spirit of t^^^^^y 
 lutions vou take a step towards the elimmation of the retail 
 d^ra Hactore in the sale and distribution of your product. 
 
 WraS.e!d toyou to assist in curing this menace to the ex- 
 istence of the independent retail dealer. 
 At a conference between the conference «>mmittees of the Na- 
 tional Implement & Vehicle Association and *e We^m .^m- 
 tion held in January, 1911, the dealers present agam J'^'^^g^* ""P *J« 
 subject of direct sales in territory where the manufacturers could 
 find no regularly established dealer to represent their Imes. ahe 
 chairman of the manufacturers' association committee was ques- 
 tioned as to the attitude of the manufacturers on this subject. He 
 replied that the manufacturers belonging to the National Implement 
 & Vehicle Association stood with the dealers' associations on the prin- 
 dple that to the regular retail dealer belongs the retail trade but 
 hfLked how manufacturers could ever introduce new machm^ 
 into territory where the dealers would not take up the sale of such 
 ^tSess the manufacturer sold directly. ?- <^^e dea^- 
 present expressed the opinion that the position of the dealers a^ 
 dations might be somewhat elastic in such -^Jl^^'^^^s 
 elusion was reached, but it was pomted out to the manufacturers 
 that by direct sales in invading territory where other manufacturers 
 of similar goods were selling through the regular dealers, reprisal 
 was invited from these other manufacturers in other sections where 
 the latter had no agents but where the former class of manufacturers 
 mieht have a trade with dealers. It was pointed out that in this 
 way the whole system of marketing through dealers might become 
 demoralized, since it would be impracticable for all manufacturers 
 to be represented everywhere by regular dealers. 
 
 Dbm^' associations and the thkesheb TRADE.-The retail dealer 
 is a less important figure in the sale of threshmg machinery than m 
 the sale of most other kinds of farm machinery and implements, ow- 
 ing principally to the expensive character of threshing outfits, the 
 nJeiity imposed upon manufacturers of extending long terns of 
 credit to purchasers, and the pressure of competition among manu- 
 facturers to dispose of factory output. Consequently, a large pro- 
 portion of sales is made directly to the farmer or thresherman 
 airough salesmen employed by the manufacturers. The manufac- 
 turers, however, have continued to make commission contracts with 
 
 ii^ 
 
 «» 
 
 4 
 
 ^ 
 
 dealers in order to secure their local influence in pushing sales, to get 
 reports concerning prospective customers, and to have them handle 
 repair parts. 
 
 During the last three or four years a committee of the imple- 
 ment dealers' Federation has made a determined effort to secure 
 a larger proportion of the trade to dealers. The matter has been 
 presented to the National Association of Thresher Manufacturers, 
 and conferences have been held between the executive committee of 
 that association and representatives of the Federation. Little prog- 
 ress, however, has been made. Individual thresher manufacturers 
 assure the dealers that they desire to sell through them to as great 
 ^ an extent as possible, but point out difficulties that render the use 
 of this method of sale impracticable under present conditions in the 
 thresher trade. Furthermore, dealers' associations take the position 
 that the dealer should be allowed a commission on all thresher repairs 
 sold by him, irrespective of whether he has any contract with the 
 particular manufacturer from whom such repairs are ordered. This 
 matter is still unsettled between members of the thresher manu- 
 facturers' association and of the federated dealers' associations. 
 
 Section 3. Settlement of complaints against individual manufacturers. 
 
 The by-laws adopted by the Federation in 1900 provided as 
 follows : 
 
 All complaints made against manufacturers, jobbers and 
 wholesalers shall be first taken up and be referred to the secre- 
 tary of the association in which the complainant may hold his 
 membership, for adjustment. In case of failure to make a satis- 
 factory settlement, said case shall be referred to the secretary of 
 the National Federation; if such complaint can not be adjusted 
 by the National Federation, it shall be the duty of the national 
 secretary to notify the secretaries of the several retail associa- 
 tions and they shall at once notify all members thereof. 
 
 Methods of adjustment by State associations. — Most complaints 
 were settled by the secretaries of the constituent associations with- 
 out being referred to the Federation. Similar methods were adopted 
 by the different associations to bring about an adjustment. Wbere 
 a complaint was filed by an aggrieved dealer, it was the duty of 
 the secretary to verify the facts and endeavor to adjust the situa- 
 tion amicably with the manufacturer complained of, collecting a 
 commission on the sale for such dealer or for some other dealer in 
 the locality where the sale had been made. It was also a part of the 
 secretary's duty to secure a promise from the manufacturer that his 
 future sales would be confined to regular dealers. If the secretary 
 was unable to effect satisfactory settlement, the correspondence in 
 the case was submitted to the board of directors or grievance com- 
 
9 
 
 148 
 
 FABM-MAOHINEBY TBADB ASSOOUTIONa 
 
 mittee, which held meetings from time to time to consider the evi- 
 dence in pending complaints. It was customary for this committee 
 to request manufacturers and jobbers complained of to appear at 
 such meetings to explain their side of the case. Under this method 
 of handling complaints, most cases were amicably disposed of, but 
 in some instances the facts were discussed at executive sessions of 
 the entire membership present at conventions. 
 
 In the settlement of complaints the dealers took the position that 
 a proper policy of protection on the part of manufacturers should 
 provide " for the placing of agencies with parties who are regularly 
 established in that line of business; declining aU orders from parties 
 who simply sell from catalog, order goods as they sell them and 
 carry no stock on hand; selling no goods at retail; selling no goods 
 to catalog houses or trailors ; and be willing at all times to correct 
 any mistakes made that interfere with the welfare of the legitimate 
 
 dealer." 
 
 The president of the Nebraska association in his annual address 
 to the members m 1901 stated that the manufacturers were accedmg 
 to some extent to the wishes of the dealers, and so far as he knew 
 they were anxious to see them succeed and prosper, realizing that 
 their interests were mutual. The secretary of the Nebraska asso- 
 ciation reported that in 1895, when the association had less than 100 
 members, he had received 37 complaints, but during 1900, with over 
 400 members, he had received only 13 complaints of illegitimate 
 shipments. In all cases he had found that the trouble arose in re- 
 gard to the definition of dealer. He said that in most cases the 
 manufacturers had been willing to do what was right, but a few 
 small manufacturers still quoted prices to the consumer. He ex- 
 pressed the opinion that the work of the associations had about 
 reached the point where no reputable house would make shipments 
 to consumers without crediting up the commission due to the dealer 
 
 affected. 
 
 In January, 1902, the president of the Western association stated 
 that there were still some manufacturers and jobbers who made con- 
 cessions unwillingly, and others who attempted to sell a small part 
 of their output through legitimate dealers and the larger part 
 directly 'to consumers. He expressed the hope that the members of 
 the Western association were " too well conversant with their own 
 best interests and too loyal to those who cater only to the legitimate 
 trade to be caught by such chaff." At this convention the report of 
 the grievance committee was scheduled to be made at executive ses- 
 sion, the other committees to report in open session. The issue of 
 the Implement Dealers' Bulletin in February, 1902, stated that this 
 executive session was the most remarkable one ever held by the West- 
 
 t 
 
 BESTBIOTION OF RETAIL TRADE TO RETAIL DEALERS. 
 
 149 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 em association, there being over 500 present, all of whom were 
 members. 
 
 Apparently for the purpose of pointing out that the activities of 
 the Western association were effective in affording protection to its 
 members, the Bulletin published the following article in March, 
 1902: 
 
 Evidence that the association protects is contained in two 
 letters, from which quotations are made, one from a large ve- 
 hicle concern which used to make shipments to parties who were 
 not dealers, reporting that it has recommended that a certain 
 dealer join the association and qualify for recognition as a 
 legitimate dealer. The second letter, from a manufacturer who 
 did not find the name of a party wishing to order a vehicle, in 
 the directory, runs as follows: 
 
 "We desire to assure you that unless this party qualifies for 
 membership in the association, we certainly will decline to re- 
 ceive any business from him. The. tenor of his correspondence 
 indicates that he is very anxious to become a legitimate dealer, 
 and while you state that you have information showing that he 
 is merely a catalog dealer, yet it is very possible that he con- 
 templates expanding his business. At all events we will make 
 no further shipments to him until he satisfies both yourself and 
 us that he is entitled to be regarded as a legitimate dealer." 
 
 The Bulletin issued in November, 1905, contained a summary of 
 the accomplishments of the Western association. In this summary 
 it was stated that the prime object of its organization was protection 
 of its members' interests and the prevention of direct sales or sales 
 to catalogue agents. As proof that the association had been success- 
 ful it claimed that over 1,200 complaints had been satisfactorily ad- 
 justed and that sales to users were few and far between as compared 
 with former years. Among other achievements, it claimed that the 
 cultivation of friendly relations by manufacturer, jobber, and dealer 
 had resulted in better protection to the latter and the discontinuance 
 of hundreds of irregular or catalogue agencies. In a subsequent 
 issue of the Bulletin, members of the Western association were urged 
 not to miss the executive session of the convention in January, 1906, 
 at which the report of the grievance committee and various phases 
 of the catalogue-house question were to be taken up. It was stated 
 that no report of the meeting would be published, and the only way 
 for members to learn what had been done and what was in progress 
 in the way of securing protection for members, was to attend this 
 session. Furthermore, there were some matters that the officers had 
 been unable to adjust, regarding which they would ask the conven- 
 tion for further instructions. The various other constituent associa- 
 tions of the Federation continued to handle complaints from their 
 members. 
 
 
150 
 
 FABM-MAOHINEBY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 In March, 1906, the directors of the Western association took 
 action deploring the methods of many scale, gasoline-engine, hay- 
 press, and windmill manufacturers in not marketing products 
 through regular implement, vehicle, and hardware dealers. The 
 directors recommended that the members of the Western association 
 make contracts with " reputable " manufacturers and jobbers in these 
 lines and prosecute sales vigorously as the surest means of upholding 
 the committee in its efforts to remedy the existing conditions. The 
 Bulletin pointed out that the dealer must be able to handle the trade 
 according to the demands of his territory, as otherwise the board of 
 directors had small chance to assist him in contending for commis- 
 sions on sales. In August, 1906, the BuUetm gave the name of a 
 scale company which was reported to be selling directly to the user, 
 and published letters from two other companies as to their policy in 
 protecting dealers. The board of directors held a meeting in July, 
 1906, at which 20 cases wei*e taken up and disposed of, interviews 
 with managers of the defendant concerns being held in some cases. 
 It was reported that where the evidence was such as to sustain the 
 dealer's contention quick adjustments were secured. 
 
 Adjustment hy cooperation with jobbers^ clubs.— In May, 1901, a 
 conference between the executive committee of the Iowa Implement 
 Dealers' Association and the Manufacturers' Implement & Vehicle 
 Club of Des Moines resulted in an agreement for cooperation in the 
 adjustment of complaints and settlement of claims filed by members 
 of the association against manufacturers or jobbers. A joint arbi- 
 tration committee was also formed in Minnesota, composed of the 
 grievance committee of the Minnesota Retail Implement Dealers' 
 Association and five representatives of the Twin City Implement, 
 Vehicle & Hardware Club, to confer on matters complained of by 
 members of the dealers' association. A similar arrangement had been 
 put in operation at Kansas City between the Kansas City jobbers' 
 dub and the Western association, apparently as an outgrowth of a 
 request of the officers of the Western association in 1905 for the co- 
 operation of the jobbers in giving information to parties trying to 
 secure goods at wholesale. An arrangement was effected under which 
 the secretary of the Western association, after verifying the facts, 
 notified the secretary of the jobbers' club of any cases that came to 
 the attention of the former where persons who claimed to be imple- 
 ment dealers and attempted to buy goods of any Kansas City jobber 
 were proved to be what the dealers' association termed " catalogue 
 agents." On receipt of this information from the secretary of the 
 dealers' association, the secretary of the jobbers' club notified the 
 members of that club in order to prevent the person claiming to be 
 a dealer from going from one jobber to another. The secretary of the 
 Western association always furnished the name of the jobber, so that 
 
 i^ 
 
 
 f 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ I • 
 
 m 
 
 BESTRIOTIOK OF BETAIL TRADE TO BETAIL DEALBBS. 151 
 
 the latter could verify the statements made. Moreover, it was ar- 
 ranged that when a jobber learned of any one practicing such meth- 
 ods of purchasing goods, he should notify the secretary of the job- 
 bers' club, who in turn should notify all the members. No mention 
 was made of this arrangement in conventions nor in the Bulletin, but 
 it was claimed to be effective. In the several cases of this sort that 
 arose the secretary of the jobbers' club notified each member of that 
 club in the following form ; 
 
 Gentlemen: In accordance with the resolution adopted by 
 this club to cooperate with the Western association in prevent- 
 ing sales of goods at wholesale prices to parties not entitled to 
 same, you are requested to investigate before filling any orders 
 for [here follow four blank lines for name of party and remarks] 
 regarding whom a complaint has been made. Further particu- 
 lars may be obtained from your secretary. 
 Some of the jobbers' clubs appear to have been unwilling to enter 
 into cooperative arrangements with dealers in adjusting complaints. 
 The jobbers at Baltimore had gone on record as opposing any or- 
 ganization of dealers. An article on the subject published in the 
 Bulletin in February, 1907, read, in part, as follows: 
 
 One report of this meeting states that the reason given -for 
 the queer action taken was that organization places too great a 
 power in the hands of dealers to " club " the jobbers into meeting 
 unjust demands. They can not find a single instance to justify 
 such an assertion. It has not been the policy of dealers' associa- 
 tions to pursue any such unwise course. If it had been, their 
 growth would not have been so great in the West during the 
 past ten years. 
 Subsequently the attitude of jobbing houses at Omaha toward 
 dealers' associations led to some comment by an implement trade 
 paper copied in the Bulletin in January, 1910. This read, in part, 
 as follows: 
 
 Indifference to the efforts of the men who are devoting their 
 time and efforts to the betterment of their business associates 
 and competitors however, is a short-sighted and unwise policy. 
 While it is true that the associations have succeeded in checking 
 certain practices indulged in by some manufacturers and job- 
 bers, to their discomfiture, yet the outcome has proven to make 
 for the interest of legitimate business on both sides of the line. 
 Indeed, so true is this that the National Association of Agri- 
 cultural Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers has put itself on 
 record as being distinctly in favor of the retailers' associations, 
 and its members and officers are working in harmony with the 
 National Federation. Why, then, should the jobbers and branch- 
 house managers pursue a different policy? 
 
 "There must be mutuality, cooperation and reciprocity be- 
 tween the two branches of the implement trade, or it will go 
 
^ 
 
 152 PABM-MACHINEBY TRADB ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 hard with both. Let the jobbers follow the lead of the manu- 
 facturers' association and there will be brought about an era 
 of mutual good feeling which will amply repay the small sacri- 
 fice entailed, instead of creating and widening a breach which 
 bodes no good to either party. Let's be fair all around, gen- 
 tlemen." 
 
 Methods or adjustment used by Federation. — Complaints against 
 individual manufacturers or jobbers referred to the Federation were 
 handled in much the same manner as by the constituent associations. 
 The secretary of the Federation endeavored to adjust such cases, and 
 in those that he was imable to settle satisfactorily the manufacturer 
 or jobber complained of was asked to appear before the delegates. 
 It was felt that the Federation had a great advantage over the State 
 associations in settling complaints, by reason of the fact that when 
 a manufacturer or jobber was asked to appear before the Federa- 
 tion he would understand that the dealer making the complaint had 
 behind him the force of the whole Federation instead of a single 
 association. 
 
 The Federation at a convention in October, 1901, held an executive 
 session for the purpose of conferring with certain manufacturers 
 against whom complaints had been filed. It was reported that after 
 listening to the evidence agreements were reached satisfactory to all 
 concerned. The Federation also adopted resolutions providing for 
 the manner of handling complaints referred to it by the constituent 
 
 associations. 
 
 The following case may be cited as an example of the method 
 used by the Federation in adjusting complaints at about this time. 
 In May, 1904, implement dealers around Fargo, N. Dak., organized 
 the Fargo District Retail Implement Dealers' Association and re- 
 quested the State association to assist it in eliminating direct selling 
 by a certain drill-manufacturing company, and to request its mem- 
 bers to stop buying goods of the company if such a course proved 
 necessary. The North Dakota & Northwestern Minnesota association 
 filed this complaint with the Federation. The latter took the matter 
 up at a meeting in November, 1904. The secretary of the complain- 
 ing association reviewed the evidence. It appeared that a representa- 
 tive of the defendant company had issued a circular quoting whole- 
 sale prices to consumers in the territory of the complaining asso- 
 ciation. It was shown by the evidence that the circular was issued 
 without authority or approval of the home office, and that the defend- 
 ants had been requested to withdraw quotations and to give as much 
 publicity to the fact that they did not approve of the action taken by 
 their manager, as had been given to his circular. The secretary of 
 the Federation then presented a letter just received from the defend- 
 ants, also a circular which they had recently had printed and mailed 
 to all of the dealers in the territory of the complaining association, 
 
 BESTRIOTION OF BETAIL TRADE TO RETAIL DEALERS. 
 
 153 
 
 ^ 
 
 V 
 
 
 which indicated a desire to adjust the case in accordance with the 
 wishes of the complainants. This letter and circular indicated that 
 their branch house in that territory would be immediately discon- 
 tinued and that the trade in that locality had been notified of the fact 
 and also of the fact that the defendants proposed to protect the trade 
 to the fullest extent. It was shown that this letter and circular had 
 been sent out immediately upon receipt of a letter from the secretary 
 of the Federation giving notice that the case would be taken up at 
 this meeting and notifying the defendants that they would be granted 
 a hearing. In the settlement of this case it was voted as follows : 
 
 That the secretary be instructed to advise the ♦ ♦ • com- 
 pany that after a careful consideration of the complaint of the 
 North Dakota and Northwestern Minnesota Implement Dealers' 
 Association, we find that defendant's manager in said defendant's 
 territory was guilty of a very great violation of trade ethics; but 
 in view of their statements to this board, in which they disclaim 
 any knowledge of the issuance of the circular which was sent to 
 consumers quoting drills at wholesale prices, and promise an 
 early discontinuance of their retail house in that territory, and 
 give assurances that their policy will be one of protection to the 
 established trade, thus recognizing the business code of honor 
 which avoids trespassing upon the rights of the retailer while 
 claiming his patronage, and have used their best efforts to give 
 these facts as much publicity as was given to the circular sent 
 out by their manager, this complaint has been dismissed as an 
 incident closed. 
 
 The Federation at this meeting recommended that where the 
 manufacturer or jobber complained of had given satisfactory assur- 
 ance of an intention, in good faith, to afford members of the Federa- 
 tion adequate protection in the future, the case be suspended, and, if 
 the promises were faithfully kept, that the complaint be withdrawn, 
 as it was the policy of the Federation to secure the cooperation of the 
 manufacturers and jobbers in protecting the retail trade in the fu- 
 ture, rather than to insist upon the payment of commissions on sales 
 already made. 
 
 Apparently the Federation was not aggressive enough in prose- 
 cuting complaints to suit the members of the Tri-State association.^ 
 The president of that association at its meeting at Cincinnati in 
 October, 1904, made a vigorous speech in regard to sales to irregular 
 dealers, in which he is reported to have said : 
 
 You know that were it not for the restraining influences of 
 your association that irregular sales would flourish in these good 
 
 *In 1901 a trade paper. In referring to the Tri-State Vehicle & Implement Dealers' 
 Association, composed of dealers in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky, stated that that asso- 
 ciation had developed amazing strength in protecting the dealer. It stated that one In- 
 diana member had given information that he had received $65 in commissions from 
 manufacturers who had sold vehicles direct to consumers in his vicinity, but that prior 
 to the organization of the association he had been unable to obtain adequate commissions 
 on such sales. 
 
154 
 
 FABM-MAOHINEBY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 States like the proverbial green bay tree. Time was when this 
 was the condition of affairs, and unless you are on sentinel duty 
 it will happen again. ♦ ♦ ♦ The obliteration of direct selling 
 is what I consider the primary object of organizations like this. 
 
 The secretary of the Tri-State association also criticized the Fed- 
 eration as ineffective, and, in accordance with his advice, the associa- 
 tion withdrew from the Federation,^ alleging that the benefits re- 
 ceived did not warrant the payment of the annual dues. 
 
 In order to discourage trifling complaints and to secure systematic 
 and definite information in other cases, the Federation at its meet- 
 ing in November, 1904, reconmiended that the secretary furnish the 
 secretaries of the constituent associations with suitable uniform ques- 
 tion blanks for use among their members in securing the desired 
 information regarding complaints that were filed. The Bulletin, in 
 April, 1905, announced that this blank had been prepared and that 
 it should be used in reporting the facts of each irregular sale to the 
 secretaries of the constituent associations. 
 
 With regard to matters beyond the reach of the Federation, it 
 was arranged that the joint board of dealers and manufacturers 
 created in 1908 (see p. 136) should act as an arbitration board of last 
 resort for the settlement of complaints. The Bulletin stated that the 
 appointment of this board was a matter of great importance for 
 which dealers' associations had been working a long time; that it 
 would mean the adjustment of many complaints that would other- 
 wise remain unsettled, and that it would be more satisfactory to all 
 
 concerned. 
 
 Court decision against methods used by Iowa Implement Deal- 
 ers' Association. — ^In efforts to confine the retail trade to the retail 
 dealer, none of the other associations appears to have gone so far as 
 the Iowa Implement Dealers' Association in an attempt to prevent 
 manufacturers and wholesalers from selling to farmers' cooperative 
 
 stores. 
 
 The matter of farmers' cooperative stores had been discussed by 
 the Iowa association at least as early as 1900, at which time the fol- 
 lowing resolution was adopted : 
 
 That we have no fight to make against the so-called catalogue 
 houses and cooperative societies, holding that they have the same 
 right to seek a market for their goods as ourselves, but that, 
 under no circumstances, will we allow goods of the makes and 
 brands handled by them to be in our houses, thereby advertis- 
 ing the wares they sell, and that, therefore, we will not buy from 
 any jobber or manufacturer who sells to such concerns. And we 
 expect and demand of our secretary and our trade papers that 
 they keep us informed as to such sales. 
 
 
 iTbe Trl-State aasodatlon subsequently rejoined the Federation. (See Exhibit 26.) 
 
 eestbiction of betail trade to eetail dealbes. 155 
 
 Some of the stores owned by the farmers' cooperative societies in 
 Iowa had been handling farm machinery for several years. Owing 
 to the activities of the Iowa Implement Dealers' Association, they 
 experienced much difficulty in obtaining standard lines of imple- 
 ments from manufacturers and jobbers. According to the Ketailers' 
 Sentinel, an official journal published by the secretary of the Iowa 
 Implement Dealers' Association, a manufacturing company whose 
 name was given, canceled an order amounting to over $2,000 because 
 of representations made to it by the Iowa Implement Dealers' Asso- 
 ciation, and members of the latter association were requested by the 
 paper to give the concern liberal patronage because of this action. 
 
 In 1904 the Iowa Implement Dealers' Association filed a complaint 
 with the National Federation against a firm of jobbers on account 
 of sales to a store owned by a farmers' cooperative society. In 
 referring to this case, the secretary of the Federation in his annual 
 report for 1904 said : 
 
 The defendants stubbornly refused to adjust, but finally wired 
 me asking what was necessary to get right with the Iowa dealers. 
 The claim for a commission was withdrawn, and a written 
 promise secured that they would sell no more goods except to the 
 regular trade. This was a satisfactory adjustment of the matter. 
 
 Issue was precipitated early in 1904, however, on a complaint 
 which was filed with the secretary of the Iowa Implement Dealers' 
 Association by a member at Gowrie, Iowa, to the effect that certain 
 manufacturers had sold farm machinery to a cooperative store at that 
 place. Protest was made by the association to the manufacturers 
 complained of, one of whom continued to ship goods to the coopera- 
 tive society notwithstanding the protest. As a consequence, the fol- 
 lowing letter, dated April 22, 1904, and marked " Confidential and 
 for members only," was issued to the members of the Iowa Implement 
 Dealers' Association by the secretary. The letter read as follows : 
 
 Gentlemen: You are probably aware that there exists in 
 Iowa organizations called farmers' cooperative societies. Their 
 name signifies who compose them. They generally begin first, 
 by handling grain and live stock. They then add lumber, and 
 usually the next move is to begin handling implements and 
 binding twine. 
 
 They haveproven to be a detriment to the regular trade in 
 implements, and this association has always protested against 
 firms who sell to the regular dealer in Iowa, supplying them 
 
 with their goods. ^ • t 
 
 We have had complaints filed with us from Gowrie, Iowa, 
 as one has recently started there called the Farmers Elevator 
 Company. All firms have listened to our protests and acceded 
 to our wishes in the matter except the Emerson Manufacturing 
 Company of Rockf ord, lU. 
 
 ir-l*i 
 
M 
 
 liiii 
 
 154 
 
 FABM-MAOnmEBT TRADE ASBOOIATIONS. 
 
 States like the proverbial green bay tree. Time was when this 
 was the condition of affairs, and unless you are on sentinel duty 
 it will happen again. * ♦ * The obliteration of direct selling 
 is what I consider the primary object of organizations like this. 
 
 The secretary of the Tri-State association also criticized the Fed- 
 eration as ineffective, and, in accordance with his advice, the associa- 
 tion withdrew from the Federation,* alleging that the benefits re- 
 ceived did not warrant the payment of the annual dues. 
 
 In order to discourage trifling complaints and to secure systematic 
 and definite information in other cases, the Federation at its meet- 
 ing in November, 1904, recommended that the secretary furnish the 
 secretaries of the constituent associations with suitable imif orm ques- 
 tion blanks for use among their members in securing the desired 
 information regarding complaints that were filed. The Bulletin, in 
 April, 1905, announced that this blank had been prepared and that 
 it should be used in reporting the facts of each irregular sale to the 
 secretaries of the constituent associations. 
 
 With regard to matters beyond the reach of the Federation, it 
 was arranged that the joint board of dealers and manufacturers 
 created in 1908 (see p. 136) should act as an arbitration board of last 
 resort for the settlement of complaints. The Bulletin stated that the 
 appointment of this board was a matter of great importance for 
 which dealers' associations had been working a long time; that it 
 would mean the adjustment of many complaints that would other- 
 wise remain unsettled, and that it would be more satisfactory to all 
 concerned. 
 
 CJOURT DECISION AGAINST METHODS USED BY loWA IMPLEMENT DeAL- 
 
 BBs' Association. — ^In efforts to confine the retail trade to the retail 
 dealer, none of the other associations appears to have gone so far as 
 the Iowa Implement Dealers' Association in an attempt to prevent 
 manufacturers and wholesalers from selling to farmers' cooperative 
 
 stores. 
 
 The matter of fanners' cooperative stores had been discussed by 
 the Iowa association at least as early as 1900, at which time the fol- 
 lowing resolution was adopted : 
 
 That we have no fight to make against the so-called catalogue 
 houses and cooperative societies, holding that they have the same 
 right to seek a market for their goods as ourselves, but that, 
 under no circumstances, will we allow goods of the makes and 
 brands handled by them to be in our houses, thereby advertis- 
 ing th6 wares they sell, and that, therefore, we will not buy from 
 any jobber or manufacturer who sells to such concerns. And we 
 expect and demand of our secretary and our trade papers that 
 they keep us informed as to such sales. 
 
 ^ The Txl-8tate associaUoQ subsequently rejoined the Federation. (Bee Exhibit 26.) 
 
 V 
 
 'i • 
 
 i '4 • 
 
 ■ 
 
 il 
 
 BESTRICTION OF KETAIL TRADE TO BETAIL DEALEBS. 155 
 
 Some of the stores owned by the farmers' cooperative societies in 
 Iowa had been handling farm machinery for several years. Owing 
 to the activities of the Iowa Implement Dealers' Association, they 
 experienced much difficulty in obtaining standard lines of imple- 
 ments from manufacturers and jobbers. According to the Retailers' 
 Sentinel, an official journal published by the secretary of the Iowa 
 Implement Dealers' Association, a manufacturing company whose 
 name was given, canceled an order amounting to over $2,000 because 
 of representations made to it by the Iowa Implement Dealers' Asso- 
 ciation, and members of the latter association were requested by the 
 paper to give the concern liberal patronage because of this action. 
 
 In 1904 the Iowa Implement Dealers' Association filed a complaint 
 with the National Federation against a firm of jobbers on account 
 of sales to a store owned by a farmers' cooperative society. In 
 referring to this case, the secretary of the Federation in his annual 
 report for 1904 said : 
 
 The defendants stubbornly refused to adjust, but finally wired 
 me asking what was necessary to get right with the Iowa dealers. 
 The claim for a commission was withdrawn, and a written 
 promise secured that they would sell no more goods except to the 
 regular trade. This was a satisfactory adjustment of the matter. 
 
 Issue was precipitated early in 1904, however, on a complaint 
 which was filed with the secretary of the Iowa Implement Dealers' 
 Association by a member at Gowrie, Iowa, to the effect that certain 
 manufacturers had sold farm machinery to a cooperative store at that 
 place. Protest was made by the association to the manufacturers 
 complained of, one of whom continued to ship goods to the coopera- 
 tive society notwithstanding the protest. As a consequence, the fol- 
 lowing letter, dated April 22, 1904, and marked " Confidential and 
 for members only," was issued to the members of the Iowa Implement 
 Dealers' Association by the secretary. The letter read as follows : 
 
 Gentlemen: You are probably aware that there exists in 
 Iowa organizations called farmers' cooperative societies. Their 
 name signifies who compose them. They generally begin first, 
 by handling grain and live stock. They then add lumber, and 
 usually the next move is to begin handling implements and 
 
 binding twine. . 
 
 They have'proven to be a detriment to the regular trade m 
 implements, and this association has always protested against 
 firms who sell to the regular dealer in Iowa, supplying them 
 
 with their goods. ^ . x 
 
 We have had complaints filed with us from Gowrie, Iowa, 
 as one has recently started there called the Farmers Elevator 
 Company. All firms have listened to our protests and acceded 
 to our wishes in the matter except the Emerson Manufacturing 
 Company of Rockf ord, IlL 
 
Ill 
 
 156 
 
 FABM-MAGHINEBY TBADE A8800IATI0KB. 
 
 )i 
 
 We learned that they had taken an order from this society 
 at Gowrie for a half car of goods. We wrote them requesting 
 that they withhold the shipment. While in correspondence 
 with us they made the shipment and decline to do anything 
 further in the matter. 
 
 When this reaches you, we want you on Monday, April 26, 
 1904, to write them a letter of protest in regard to their action. 
 Please remember the date, as we wish these letters to reach them 
 on, or about the same day. By doing this you will greatly 
 oblige and at the same time show them something of the strength 
 and influence of this association. 
 
 If your answer, in your judgment, should be sent to this office, 
 please send it or mail us a copy. 
 In compliance with the request contained in this letter, many mem- 
 bers of the dealers' association addressed letters of protest to the 
 Emerson company, some of them threatening to give up the sale of 
 
 its goods. 
 
 Shortly thereafter the sales manager of the manufacturer wrote 
 the president of the Iowa Implement Dealers' Association, saying, 
 in part: 
 
 Inasmuch as a few of our best friends among the dealers have 
 expressed a desire that we do not sell these parties after our 
 present contract with them expires, simply because the impres- 
 sion prevails that they are a farmers' cooperative society, we 
 have decided to respect their request 
 The company appears to have sold no more goods to the Gowrie 
 company at this time, but in 1905 its sales manager again wrote 
 the president of the Iowa Implement Dealers' Association that 
 his company had received another order for plows from the Farm- 
 ers' Elevator Co., but had instructed its general agent in that ter- 
 ritory not to make shipment until a reasonable time for the matter 
 to be taken up with the dealers' association. This letter requested 
 the president of the dealers' association not to make reply until 
 he had fully considered the position in which he would place the 
 Emerson company and the dealers' association by an unfavorable 
 decision. The president of the association took the matter up 
 promptly with a number of members, including the member located 
 at Gowrie, from whom the complaint had originated. Later in 
 the month the president of the association wrote the Emerson 
 Manufacturing Co., summarizing several letters he had received 
 from members in reply to his request for a statement of their ob- 
 jections to the sale of goods to a farmers' cooperative society. The 
 gist of these replies showed that the dealers' opposition was based 
 upon the ground that cooperative stores, being organized to do away 
 with the middleman's profits, sold at very small margins and no 
 regular dealer could get business from the members unless he under- 
 sold the society to the demoralization of trade. The letter of the 
 
 > 
 
 '% 
 
 ^ 
 
 BBSTRICTION OP BETAIL TRADE TO BBTAIL DBALEES. 157 
 
 president of the Iowa association to the Emerson Manufacturing 
 Ca concluded as follows : 
 
 We regret that you feel that we would single out your firm, 
 and attempt to impose unjust demands, as we gather from your 
 past letters to us, we only hope for your hearty cooperation m 
 this matter, which is a vital matter to the implement dealer, 
 it affects his existence in the future, and his prosperity at the 
 present time. If other manufacturers and jobbers sell such 
 concerns, they are not doing so, because we approve, and be- 
 cause of some manufacturers selling such concerns, it should 
 not excuse another manufacturer doing so, if the principle is 
 wrong, and it is wrong, as we look at it. Our dealers associa- 
 tions must take a firm stand upon this question, and we hope 
 for your hearty cooperation. 
 On September 25 the Emerson Manufacturing Co. wrote the 
 Farmers' Elevator Co., of Gowrie, advising them that in view of all 
 the conditions the company had concluded to stay out of Gowrie 
 until different conditions prevailed there. 
 
 Early in 1906 suit against the Iowa Implement Dealers' Association 
 and its officers was filed by the Farmers' Elevator Co., of Gowrie, 
 in the district court of Webster County, alleging that the complainant 
 was unable to purchase implements because of the influence of the 
 implement dealers' association upon the manufacturers, and asking 
 an injunction to restrain the defendants from thus interfering with 
 the complainant's business. Evidence in the suit indicated that pres- 
 sure had been brought to bear upon various manufacturers not to sell 
 their goods to the Farmers' Elevator Co., of Gowrie, and to other 
 cooperative concerns in the State of Iowa. 
 
 On October 12, 1909, a decree was entered on judgment for the 
 complainant, under which the Iowa Implement Dealers' Association 
 and all members were enjoined from interfering in any manner 
 whatever with the business of the plaintiff. In reaching a decision 
 in favor of the Elevator company the court found that the defend- 
 ants had entered into an agreement for the purpose of impeding 
 the business of the plaintiff and that they had threatened to prevent 
 jobbers and manufacturers from selling to the plaintiff, causing them 
 to violate contracts made with the plaintiff to the injury of the latter. 
 The court further found that at the time of the commencement of the 
 suit and at various other times the defendants published a journal 
 called the Retailers' Sentinel, of which the secretary of the defendant 
 association was editor. The court found that the association and 
 the editor published in this journal a certain black-list notice of 
 manufacturers and jobbers who sold to persons not satisfactory to 
 the association, and that the object of this publication was to prevent 
 the members of the dealers' association from dealing or trading with 
 the manufacturers and Jobbers for the purpose of instituting an 
 
V 
 
 I 
 
 IM 
 
 158 
 
 FABM-MAOmKEBY TBADS ASSOOIATIOira 
 
 unlawful boycott against such manufacturers and jobbers and to 
 prevent the latter from trading or dealing with the plaintiff and 
 others. This was held to be in restraint of trade. 
 
 Changes in articles op association FouiOWiNO court decisions. — 
 During the time that the case against the Iowa association was before 
 the court the records of the various dealers' associations do not 
 contain much information in regard to their activities in the ad- 
 justment of complaints. Uncertainty as to the outcome of this suit 
 and the pendency of suits against trade associations in other branches 
 of trade seem to have caused the implement dealers' associations 
 to proceed cautiously in their efforts to confine trade to regular 
 dealers. 
 
 Under date of March 4, 1908, secretaries of the constituent associa- 
 tions of the Federation were cautioned in a general letter from the 
 secretary of the Federation that developments in a case filed with the 
 Federation had made it seem desirable to call their attention to 
 the fact that they should use the utmost caution in the wording of 
 their letters to wholesalers in regard to complaints which had been 
 filed by members. This letter read, in part, as follows: 
 
 Be very careful not to make any threats either direct or implied. 
 Do not state that if they do not do so and so you will have 
 to report the case to the National Federation for consideration 
 and attention. One of our secretaries in a recent letter to a 
 manufacturer did this, and the manufacturer was incensed and 
 referred it to his attorney, who advised him that the writer 
 could be prosecuted for using the mails to make a threat of 
 that kind. Whether or not this is literally true, it is best to 
 avoid trouble of this kind, and easy to do so. 
 
 Let me caution you against demanding commissions, as the 
 advice I have is that this can be construed as blackmail. You 
 are doubtless aware of this fact, but I thought it would do no 
 harm to mention it. Kindly acknowledge receipt of this. 
 
 In October, 1908, the president of the Federation stated that he 
 was led to believe that the members of local associations* were 
 not giving sufficient attention to the filing of complaints, and that the 
 constituent associations of the Federation were not making use of the 
 Federation in this respect to the extent they should, the members 
 fearing that they would be classed as "kickers" if they burdened 
 their local complaint committees. The president expressed his be- 
 lief that the settlement of claims strengthened the faith of the mem- 
 ber in the value of the association to him. In April, 1909, the sec- 
 retary of the Federation addressed a general letter advising the 
 constituent associations to encourage their members to report ir- 
 regular sales and urging the secretaries to prosecute the claims vigor- 
 ously. In this letter the secretary of the Federation pointed out 
 
 * In this connection, see pp. 102-168. 
 
 # # 
 
 ^ 
 
 * 
 
 BESTEICTIOlSr OF BETAIL TRADE TO RETAIL DEALERS. 
 
 159 
 
 that every claim settled helped the cause of the dealers' associations 
 and every complaint reported to the wholesaler made him more care- 
 full in the future. 
 
 In 1909 it was stated that practically all of the retail implement 
 associations were maintaining systems by which the complaints of 
 members against manufacturers and jobbers were taken up. 
 
 One of the implement trade papers, in discussing the advantages 
 that the dealer derived from belonging to an association, in the pro- 
 tection he received as a result of association activity, pointed out 
 that when a nonassociation dealer was hurt by a direct sale there was 
 no one to whom he could appeal for redress except the offending 
 manufacturer and jobber. On the other hand, it was shown that 
 when the secretary of a dealers' association took up such matters 
 in the name of the association for members, in many cases a com- 
 mission was obtained and in other cases a positive promise was made 
 that direct selling in that particular locality would cease. If the 
 manufacturer ignored a complaint from the association or refused 
 to discontinue direct selling, the case was taken to the National Fed- 
 eration, which, it was stated, had been remarkably successful in 
 curbing direct selling after offenders had ignored complaints of the 
 State associations. 
 
 In October, 1909, the president of the Federation expressed the 
 belief that the Federation should seek close relations with the con- 
 stituent associations in their work. He thought, furthermore, that 
 claims should be forwarded to the secretary of the Federation, and, 
 if found just, the power and influence of the Federation should be 
 exercised to effect a settlement. If that proved impossible, the sec- 
 retary of the complaint committee should be notified that the matter 
 would be called to the attention of the Federation at its annual 
 meeting, when the party complained of could appear and explain 
 conditions. 
 
 In a general letter issued to members of the Western association 
 June 27, 1910, the secretary stated that the way to make the com- 
 plaint department most effective was for members to report all 
 irregular sales in their localities. He admitted that the association 
 was not always successful in securing adjustments satisfactory to 
 members, but pointed out that the fact that if a report was made 
 it showed that the association was on the alert. He asserted that a 
 repetition of the trouble rarely ever occurred. 
 
 In- May, 1910, the United States Supreme Court handed down a 
 decision in the case of the Grenada Lumber Co. v, the State of Mis- 
 sissippi (217 U. S., 433) upholding the constitutionality of a State 
 statute under which a decree had been rendered by the Supreme 
 Court of the State of Mississippi dissolving a voluntary association 
 
\\\ 
 
 160 
 
 FABM-MACHINBEY TBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 of retail lumber dealers, and holding that an agreement not to pur- 
 chase from wholesale dealers who sold directiy to consumers 
 amounted to a restraint of trade within the meanmg of the antitrust 
 
 statute of that State. i. • i 
 
 This decision was not altogether unexpected to the implement 
 dealers' associations. Immediately after it had been announced 
 dealers belonging to the associations were assured in the Implement 
 Dealers' Bulletin that the decision did not in any way affect the 
 associations of implement and vehicle dealers organized under the 
 uniform constitution and articles of association prepared by the 
 National Federation, under which rules no pledge was exacted from 
 members not to patronize those who sold goods to mail-order houses 
 or directly to the consumer. The secretary of the Federation also 
 advised the secretaries of the various constituent associations to the 
 same effect in a general letter. Apparently the situation was not 
 free from some doubt, however, because in this letter the secretary 
 of the Federation expressed the belief that there were some parts 
 of the articles which it would be advisable for the association to 
 eHminate at their next convention. Mention of the specific changes 
 would be made in another general letter after the Federation had 
 had time to act upon the matter. 
 
 In this letter the secretary of the Federation also referred to a sug- 
 gestion in a former general letter made immediately after a court 
 decision in Nebraska, as to the best method of conducting the cor- 
 respondence in complaints, namely, to the effect that the secretaries 
 would do well to ask jobbers or manufacturers against whom com- 
 plaints were filed if they desired information concerning reports 
 coming to the secretaries in regard to shipments which they had 
 made to parties who did not seem to be regular dealers. The sec- 
 retary of the Federation assured the secretaries that, if they had 
 such a request for the information, they would be perfectly safe in 
 prosecuting the case. He did not think the secretaries would ex- 
 perience any difficulties in receiving affirmative replies from all 
 wholesalers. He advised the secretaries to file these replies where 
 they could be easily referred to. This, he said, he mentioned simply 
 
 as a safeguard. 
 
 Prompted by the decision in the Mississippi case, the delegates at 
 the annual convention of the Federation in October, 1910, recom- 
 mended by unanimous vote that, as a precautionary measure, each 
 association amend its constitution by eliminating the article relating 
 to members reporting direct sales to the secretary of the association. 
 
 (See p. 187.) 
 
 The matter was brought to the attention of each of the s^retanes 
 of the constituent associations, requesting them to embody this recom- 
 
 r 
 
 4\ 
 # 1 t 
 
 BESTBIOTION OF BETAIL TSABE ID BETAIL DEALERS. 
 
 161 
 
 mendation in their reports to the conventions of their associations. 
 In this letter the secretary of the Federation said, in part : 
 
 You of course understand that the Federation's action was 
 simply recommendatory. The associations must take individual 
 action, but this should be done in executive session. 
 
 The secretaries were asked to notify the secretary of the Federa- 
 ation, whether they would mention this matter in their reports, to 
 withhold it from the press and to notify the secretary of the Federa- 
 tion promptly if favorable action were taken. The secretaries were 
 admonished that this " is a matter of great importance." 
 
 At its annual convention in January, 1911, the Western associa- 
 tion made the recommended changes in its constitution. Similar 
 action was taken by the other associations belonging to the Fed- 
 eration. 
 
 At the convention of the Western association held at Kansas City 
 in January, 1911, the secretary in his report referred to the matter 
 of direct sales as follows: 
 
 The subject of direct sales by manufacturers and jobbers con- 
 cerns you perhaps more than any other. It is an evil you 
 have to combat, and only by presenting a solid front is there 
 hope of relief. It is the purpose of this association to point 
 out to the wholesaler that to solicit the trade of the dealer upon 
 the representation that he does not sell to the consumer, then 
 to solicit the consumer's trade, is not fair. We concede the legal 
 right of any wholesaler to sell direct if he sees fit, but we in- 
 sist that to be fair he should declare his policy that all may 
 know it, instead of claiming to be the dealer's friend, and at 
 the same time making an occasional direct sale and giving as 
 an excuse that he supposed the customer was a dealer. Develop- 
 ments during the year made it seem necessary to enter a general 
 protest against direct sales if we were to stand by the plank in 
 our platform, which provides that to the retail dealer belongs 
 the retail trade. The subject was carried up to the Federation, 
 and made the chief subject of discussion at the conference held 
 with the manufacturers' committee on dealers' associations. The 
 committee admitted the justice of the dealers' position, but called 
 attention to the fact that many manufacturers felt compelled at 
 times to place their goods direct in order to introduce them, as 
 dealers will not buy until demand is created. Consideration of 
 this phase of the subject suggests the question of introductory 
 price and making all deliveries through dealers. The phase of 
 this direct sales subject which has caused your officers the most 
 annoyance is the practice of withholding commissions to force 
 contracts, not paying them unless agencies can be established. 
 Your officers take the position that this is unfair and on a par 
 with the practice of a class of wholesalers who make no pre- 
 tensions to protect any except their own agents. The Federation 
 carried the matter up to the manufacturers' association, and it 
 was handled by that association in a spirit of fairness. Reso- 
 
 68248-— 15 ^11 
 
162 FABM-MACHINEBY TRADE ASSOCUTIONS. 
 
 lutions were adopted which place it squarely upon record as 
 opposed to direct sales. With this explanation of the reason it 
 was deemed best to revive the discussion of this subject at this 
 time, I leave it for you to handle as you deem best 
 
 There was considerable discussion of this subject among the mem- 
 bers. Dealers with grievances of this sort were advised from the 
 floor by other members to take the matter up with the secretary of 
 the association. It appeared to be the sentiment of a number of the 
 members that the competition of mail-order houses was not nearly 
 so serious as the matter of direct sales by manufacturers and jobbers 
 who usually sold through dealers. An effort was apparently made 
 to have the members realize that they should not mention in the dis- 
 cussion the names of any concerns that they thought were selling 
 directly. The resolutions committee were directed to bring in a 
 strong resolution on the subject. This read as follows : 
 
 That direct sales to consumers by jobbers and manufacturers 
 who seek to market their goods through the retailers are not 
 justifiable, and that the practice should be wholly discontinued. 
 
 At a meeting of the directors of the Western association in April, 
 1911, the evidence in a large number of complaints was considered 
 and a number of interviews were held with interested parties. It 
 was reported that a majority of the cases were adjusted and the rest 
 were continued pending further investigation. It developed that 
 some of the complaints had been filed on account of shipments to 
 the complainant's town, which the evidence showed had been made 
 upon the order of dealers at neighboring towns. Accordingly, the 
 directors adopted the following resolution : 
 
 Inasmuch as a great amount of trouble occurs on account of 
 dealers' ordering goods shipped direct to customers in neigh- 
 boring towns, causing dealers in those towns to complain of 
 the shipments, and giving to those who contemplate buying 
 similar articles the impression that they can buy at wholesale 
 price as they conclude their neighbors have done, we recommend 
 that our members have all such shipments consigned to them- 
 selves, giving their customers orders on the railroad agent at 
 destination for the goods, and the secretary is hereby instructed 
 to take the subject up with the jobbers of Kansas City with a 
 view 'to securing their endorsement of the plan and their assist- 
 ance in putting it into effect. 
 
 Later in the year the secretary of the Nebraska association called 
 the attention of the secretary of the Federation to the wording of 
 certain sections of the articles of association recommended by the 
 National Federation for adoption by local clubs of dealers. These 
 sections read as follows: 
 
 m 
 
 91 
 
 k^ 
 
 EESTKICTION OF RETAIL TRADE TO RETAIL DEALERS. 163 
 
 Article III. 
 
 PROTECTION. 
 
 Section I. One of our first duties will be to stand together 
 and join with other association workers in protecting each other 
 against irregular sales by jobbers, manufacturers and catalogue 
 agents. 
 
 Section II. Any commissions which may be collected on such 
 irregular sales in our territory shall be turned into the treasury 
 of the Club, and used for entertainment and other expenses for 
 the benefit of all. 
 
 The secretary of the Nebraska association stated that it had been 
 called to his attention that the wording of the lumbermen's articles 
 of association were not as strong as these. The secretary of the 
 Federation immediately replied that the necessity of changing these 
 articles had been entirely overlooked and that he would write to all 
 the secretaries in regard to this matter at once. 
 
 Another letter to the secretary of the Nebraska association from 
 the secretary of the Federation, dated August 18, 1911, read, in part, 
 as follows : 
 
 I want to caution you about the manner in which you handle 
 this complaint ^ to all others. Recent developments have shown 
 the necessity for using care. You must understand that no 
 threats can be made, either implied or direct, and even if you do 
 not succeed in securing an adjustment all you can do is to dismiss 
 the matter. You have absolutely no recourse under the law. I 
 have tried to make this plain to all of our secretaries, and I 
 hope they thoroughly understand it, and that none have made 
 any mistakes. I know perfectly well what the temptation is, but 
 you must remember that we are an organization of business men, 
 and are not law breakers. We hope in the near future to have 
 better information concerning the limit to which we can go in 
 the conduct of such matters. I really believe that in this case 
 your executive committee, when it meets the day before your 
 convention, can secure an adjustment. Possibly it can be done 
 sooner. 
 
 Government investigation of protective activities of associa- 
 tions. — In the early part of 1911 a series of questions concerning the 
 work of the federated associations was propounded to the secretary of 
 the National Federation by the Bureau of Corporations. This was 
 mentioned by the secretary of the Federation in a letter to the sec- 
 retary of one of the constituent associations in which he asserted 
 that as soon as he could get his answers to the Bureau in shape they 
 would be submitted to an attorney for suggestions. In this con- 
 nection, he said in part : 
 
 I mention this to impress upon you the absolute importance of 
 the greatest care in the prosecution of your complaint depart- 
 
 * Evidently referring to a case which had been mentioned in previous correspondence 
 with the secretary of the Nebraslca associaUon. 
 
i 
 
 164 
 
 FARM-MACHINEKY TBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 ment. We do not want any difficulty such as the lumber sec- 
 retaries are having. Recent decisions and investigations make 
 it hard to tell just where we are " at " and how far we can go as 
 none of us desire to go contrary to the law. 
 Writmg to another secretary a few days later, the secretary of 
 the Federation expressed the opinion that the main thing for the 
 Federation to take up was how the associations were going to 
 furnish protection for their members against direct sales by whole- 
 salers and yet keep within the bounds of the law. He characterized 
 this is a hard proposition and suggested that it might be found nec- 
 essary for the dealers to consult with a class of manufacturers whom 
 they knew to be interested in seeing the trade protected as much as 
 the dealers were. In this connection he stated that two prominent 
 officials of the Federation thought that the annual meeting of the 
 Federation in the latter part of 1911 should be held the same we6k 
 as the convention of the manufacturers. 
 
 About this time a representative of the United States Department 
 of Justice visited the office of the secretary of the National Federation 
 to examine its records. He also visited the office of the secretary and 
 general manager of the National Implement & Vehicle Association. 
 The latter, in writing to the secretary of the dealers' Federation, 
 stated that he had given this representative the freedom of the office 
 of the association, withholding nothing, and that he had endeavored 
 unsuccessfully to learn who had filed complaint with the Department 
 of justice, but presumed that it was some disgruntled concern who 
 found they could not " straddle the fence " and sell both the dealers 
 and the consumers at the same time. He stated that he had reported 
 the matter to the chairman of the National Implement & Vehicle 
 Association's committee on dealers' associations, who might discuss 
 it at the Federation meeting in October. 
 
 In replying to the above letter the secretary of the Federation 
 advised the secretary of the manufacturers' association that the 
 latter now knew the main reason why the Federation felt it neces- 
 sary to hold its meeting at the same time that the manufacturers' 
 association held its convention. (See p. 168.) The secretary of the 
 Federation stated that he had withheld nothing from the (jovern- 
 ment representative. In this letter he claimed to know who filed the 
 information with the Department of Justice in the first place. He 
 went on to say in part: 
 
 If we can not conduct our association along the lines we have 
 been pursuing then the retail dealers' lease of business life is not 
 very long. There has never been a report sent to a member of 
 the Western association, nor from the office of the Federation, 
 to any member, concerning any jobber or manufacturer who has 
 refused to protect the trade as we felt it should be protected. 
 
 / 
 
 M l\ 
 
 m 
 
 BESTRICTION OF BETAIL TBADE TO BETAIL DEALEBS. 165 
 
 When we have been unable to convince them that our position 
 was right we have simply had to drop it. The party who filed 
 the information is one of those who could not be convinced and 
 insisted that his goods should be marketed direct if he saw fit. 
 I do not know what cause he has for thinking that any boycott 
 has been established for there positively has not. The letters 
 which I wrote them concerning the shipment which was re- 
 ported to me I would be willing to let anybody see. When we 
 could not secure an adjustment of the matter we, as stated 
 before, dropped it. I undertook to have a friendly interview 
 with this party during your St. Louis convention, but the inter- 
 view was stopped abruptly. I will tell you more when I see you. 
 This letter, my friend, is not for your files. I thank you for 
 what you have done. I can not feel that we need worry over the 
 outcome. We have not pursued such methods as the lumbermen 
 are reported to have pursued. 
 
 Under date of September 16, 1911, the secretary of the National 
 Federation wrote the secretary of the Idaho Retail Hardware & Im- 
 plement Dealers' Association as follows: 
 
 I presume you know that nearly all retail dealers' associa- 
 tions are undergoing an investigation at this time. If they have 
 not reached the associations on the Pacific slope it is only be- 
 cause they have been too busy in the East. It is hard for us to 
 know how far we can go in this association work, but I sincerely 
 hope the question will be cleared up before very long. It is 
 coming to a queer pass when dealers are not permitted to even 
 advise each other as to the business methods of others, and to 
 consider if to trade with them is best, when at the same time the 
 big concerns who are clearly violating the antitrust laws get off 
 without the slightest molestation. So far as I know every asso- 
 ciation in our Federation has been very careful. They have 
 never used the boycott; neither have they ever used coercion 
 in any form, and so far as I know no notices have ever been sent 
 to the membership of any violation of trade rules by wholesalers, 
 and if we are not allowed in our association work to try to secure 
 protection through our members against direct sales by per- 
 suasion and reasoning then we are indeed in a sad plight. If 
 you are in Iowa in October I wish you could attend our Federa- 
 tion meeting. It will be held in Chicago October 17, 18, 19 
 and 20. 
 
 Later in September, the secretary of the Federation, in a letter 
 to the representative of the Department of Justice who had visited 
 his office, explained the activities, purposes, and methods of the 
 organized implement dealers as follows: 
 
 I have thought best to send you a complete file of the general 
 letters, except number one to five exclusive which I have been 
 unable to locate. 
 
 In this conection, it may be well for me to briefly explain the 
 subject matter of some of the letters in writing along the lines 
 heretofore explained orally. 
 
lil 
 
 
 I 
 
 166 FARM-MACHINERY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 Number 18, in reference to a list of catalogue liouses, refers 
 to an effort made by my office to secure such a list so that I might 
 always be able to ascertain at once whether it was worth while to 
 take up complaints. I could not know all the manufacturers and 
 jobbers. Sometimes in taking up a complaint with an imknown 
 house, upon the. supposition that their policy was in line with 
 that of the trade in general and that the claim might therefore 
 be adjusted, I would learn that I was wasting effort with a con- 
 cern whose fixed policy was otherwise. * However I found in 
 an effort to compile this list that it was so extensive as to make 
 it impossible to keep it complete and therefore it was abandoned. 
 Letters 19 and 20 pertain to the information bureau which 
 died a bornin', except the maintenance of the formal organiza- 
 tion. A great many members had expressed a desire to be able 
 to ascertain promptly as to whether any given manufacturer or 
 jobber, practiced the policy of shipments direct to consumers, 
 and possibly some other information that I do not recall as being 
 so desired. We were advised that we might legally compile 
 such information and furnish to those who requested it; but that 
 we should not voluntarily disseminate such information gen- 
 erally. In order that we might know as to how far such in- 
 formation was really desired and to give all our members equal 
 opportunity in any of our activities, this bureau was organized 
 and blanks sent to the members for signature if they desired to 
 take advantage of it. The conclusion was reached that work 
 along that line was not sufficiently desired or desirable, and the 
 idea was dropped without ever being put into operation. 
 
 A number of letters refer to the prosecution of complaints. 
 As I have explained to you, the association has endeavored to 
 benefit its members and secure their support, adlierence and in- 
 terest by acting as an intermediary in the adjustment of com.- 
 plaints. It has always been the theory of the association of 
 which I have been secretary, and federation, that the best results 
 could be obtained upon the theory of cooperation between job- 
 bers and manufacturers on the one hand and dealers on the other 
 on the basis of mutuality of interest ; that they desired to do 
 business under advantageous conditions for their own profit; 
 and that, as far as jobbers and manufacturers are concerned, 
 they generally regard the local dealer as the best medium of 
 distribution and that a local dealer who prospered through good 
 methods distributed more goods and paid his bills more 
 promptly ; so that it was to their mutual interest to have agree- 
 able relations and methods of dealing just to all concerned. On 
 this idea, the association has argued general principles through 
 its conference committees and handled special complaints 
 through its secretaries, using such arguments and persuasion as 
 it thought would appeal to the judgment of the manufacturer 
 and jobber. As to complaints, it has believed that the majority 
 of manufacturers preferred to be advised of and to adjust, where 
 equitable, matters tending toward irritation of the local dealer 
 or the demoraHzation of his business. Complaints of local 
 dealers have been urged vigorously on this theory, and results 
 sought to the end of doing justice to the local dealer and attach- 
 ing him to the association. Where (as you must recall from the 
 
 RESTRICTION OF RETAIL TRADE TO RETAIL DEALERS. 167 
 
 complaint files thrown freely open to you) arguments as to 
 mutual interest and proper trade principles did not avail, 
 a complaint was dropped and dismissed and the member 
 was advised, even though, as we regret to say, we have suf- 
 fered severely in our membership from time to time because 
 the members whose complaints were not adjusted felt that non- 
 adjustment was due to failure of the association to take a more 
 vigorous stand. Not only has the association of which I am 
 a member abstained from any suggestion to wholesalers other 
 than appeals to their good judgment and sense of trade equity, 
 but the federation has cautioned the secretaries of other con- 
 stituent associations not to do so, not only because of doubtful 
 legality but because it was not good business policy. See letter 
 of March 4, 1908, a copy of which was made for you when you 
 were in Abilene but which you in some way overlooked in get- 
 ting the large amount of data together. 
 
 You asked me in reference to our reporting to our members 
 though circulars or constituent associations, or even by furnish- 
 ing information to certain papers, wholesalers whose methods 
 did not accord with the judgment of the federation as to business 
 policy. We have never done anything of that kind. The only 
 instance in which we have taken any action in such a matter 
 was to correct a wrong I believed was being done to manufac- 
 turers and is found in letter 34. Inquiries indicated that the 
 Banner Buggy Company had been misrepresented in a trade 
 paper, and we did what we could and what we thought was right 
 to all parties, to correct what we believed to be a false report, 
 although I had had no correspondence regarding the matter pre- 
 viously, and in fact, knew nothing regarding it until my atten- 
 tion was called to the report in the paper. 
 
 Sometimes in expressing in correspondence a thought per- 
 fectly clear to the writer, the thought as expressed is not per- 
 fectly clear to the one not viewing the language from the point 
 of view of the writer's conception of the subject. If there is 
 anywhere in any of these communications anything that you do 
 not understand clearly, it will give me pleasure to endeavor to 
 make it clear upon any request from you. 
 
 And this suggests to me that I repeat here the request made to 
 you orally that in making your report, you embody a request 
 from us that we be advised what, if anything, in the constitution 
 or operation of our federation the department regards as im- 
 proper in any way, so that we may make proper corrections. 
 We have operated on the theory that there was a legitimate field 
 for furthering the mutual interest of wholesale and retail dealers 
 in building up the business along the best lines for all concerned 
 by improving methods, exchanging information and opinions 
 upon matters of general interest and as to specific cases. If 
 there is any particular in which we have exercised bad judgment 
 in seeking to attain that general purpose or in specific niethods 
 adopted, there is nobody more anxious to be advised of it than 
 ourselves. 
 The secretary of the Iowa implement dealers' association referred 
 to the investigation of the Department of Justice in a letter written 
 
I r 
 
 168 
 
 FABM-MAOHINERY TBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 it 
 
 II 
 
 to the secretary of the Federation October 6, 1911, in which he said 
 in part : 
 
 I don't fear for the results as I know that we have been as 
 careful as it is possible to be. I think, however, that this situa- 
 tion should be presented in detail and should be gone over care- 
 fully at the Federation meeting, in order that the situation may 
 be presented intelligently by the delegates to the various organi- 
 zations in annual convention. If the rank and file have a clear 
 understanding of the situation matters can be handled much 
 better. 
 
 The secretary of the Federation in his reply stated that he felt that 
 what they had to fear was the overanxiety of some official to make a 
 record. He asserted: 
 
 We have been as careful as any one could be and if we are not 
 permitted to conduct our work as we have done then we will 
 have to disband and let the mail order houses take the business. 
 
 Just before the convention of the National Implement & Vehicle 
 Association and the annual meeting of the Federation in October, 
 1911, the secretary of the latter wrote the chairman of the commit- 
 tee on dealers' associations of the National Implement & Vehicle 
 Association in reply to a letter from the former, suggesting a date 
 for a conference between the manufacturers' committee and the Fed- 
 eration at that time. In his reply the secretary of the Federation 
 stated as follows : 
 
 I do not know that we have anything special to take up with 
 your committee except the all important subject about which I 
 wrote you recently and which will be the chief topic for dis- 
 cussion at our meeting. Upon the outcome depends the very 
 life of associations. I do not believe that the class of manufac- 
 turers who want to market their product through the dealers 
 want to see such chaotic conditions prevail as would if no re- 
 straint whatever is thrown around the business. 
 
 • When the delegates to the Federation met at Chicago October 17, 
 1911, the president in his address suggested that the existing agita- 
 tion against the middleman had resulted in making the implement 
 dealers cautious, and that the results of Government investigation 
 and the action of the governmental authorities in dissolving and re- 
 adjusting many of the large corporations were such as to make the 
 dealers scarcely know where they stood. In this connection he said : 
 
 We find that it is almost against the law to meet and to consult 
 together and talk over matters. 
 
 He was of the opinion that the talk against the middleman was for 
 political purposes. He said : 
 
 The real fact is that a selling organization is very necessary 
 in order to market various products in this country and results 
 often in advantage to the consumer as well as a higher price 
 to the producer. 
 
 i 
 
 W~^^€ 
 
 BESTRICTION OF RETAIL TBADE TO RETAIL DEALERS. 169 
 
 One of the principal matters discussed at the meeting was the sub- 
 ject of direct selling and whether the retail dealer is a necessary 
 part of the machinery of distribution. This was discussed before 
 the arrival of the manufacturers' committee, the opinion of the deal- 
 ers present being that the manufacturers should recognize the dealer 
 as the proper medium of distributing their goods. When the manu- 
 facturers arrived this was one of the subjects presented to them by 
 one of the dealers present. In replying one of the manufacturers 
 stated that the manufacturers and dealers should cooperate and that 
 the manufacturer should protect the dealer against direct selling 
 as far as possible. Another manufacturer took the position that the 
 existence of the retail dealer is absolutely essential to the existence 
 of the small manufacturer, and if the retail dealer should go out 
 of business the small manufacturer would be compelled to do the 
 same. The same manufacturer in addressing a meeting of the Illi- 
 nois implement dealers on the same subject had spoken as follows : 
 
 Men, I want to tellyou that we are on trial as retail implement 
 men before the public, as to whether or not there is a necessity 
 for our existence. The question to be decided is, as middlemen, 
 have we imposed a cost of doing business that is too big a bur- 
 den for our business to bear? Is there a cheaper method? If 
 there is, and if that method is equally efficient, you may be just 
 as sure as that you sit here that the extravagant plan must go. 
 This is a question which is not alone one of economics, but 
 which is likely to be as well one of politics. What we lack is 
 the means for an organized effort to combat the antimiddleman 
 publicity. 
 The chairman of the manufacturers' committee on dealers' asso- 
 ciations and arbitration, in reporting to the manufacturers the pro- 
 ceedings at the conference of that committee with the dealers' Fed- 
 eration, affirmed that the members of the National Implement & 
 Vehicle Association believed in the desirability of confining the retail 
 trade to the retail dealer as the best method of distributing goods. 
 He said in part : 
 
 Now while we can all agree, that the necessary factors in a 
 practical and successful implement business, are the factory, 
 the traveling salesman, or the jobber and the retail dealers, yet 
 we must recognize that there is strong opposition to this plan. 
 
 For years, the mail order houses and the direct selling fac- 
 tories have tried to impress the farmers with the advantage of 
 buyin^y from them, but they have not been so very successful. 
 
 JLn tlie past two years, the mail order houses have bought some 
 implement factories, and are controlling others. They will there- 
 fore make further and somewhat more plausible representations 
 to the consumers. Their chief argument is, that they cut out the 
 dealer, and give consumers the benefit of his profit. In some in- 
 stances they make a specially low price on some one implement, 
 and thus try to convince the farmer of their ability and resources 
 
170 
 
 PAKM-MACHINERY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 ii 
 
 1). 
 
 1 ' 
 
 1 1 
 
 on other things. Kecently some State prisons have been trying 
 to make twine and implements. 
 
 Then, more recently, we have heard of the " Anti-Middle Man 
 Association," and of those who say they " don't want anybody 
 between them and the producer." And recently, the Department 
 of Justice, doubtless at the suggestion of the mail order houses, 
 has been investigating the dealers' associations, to see if they have 
 been guilty of any illegal acts. 
 
 In short, there is quite a widespread inquiry as to the neces- 
 sity and advantage of various methods of conducting business; 
 and this has reached the implement industry. Our methods are 
 on trial, not only the factory methods, but the dealers as well. 
 
 In other words, the present methods of conducting the imple- 
 ment business are up for consideration, and we have to prove the 
 * wisdom, the efficiency and the economy of our distributing sys- 
 tem, if it is to be continued. 
 
 So that in our opinion, we as manufacturers, must closely 
 scrutinize our own part in this system, cut out all unnecessary 
 expense, stop all leaks and waste, and get down to bed rock in 
 our costs oi making and selling; and the dealer must do the 
 same ; handling suflicient lines to keep him busy all the year 
 round, and have actual knowledge of what it costs him to do 
 business — then have the courage to add to this baying price, and 
 make a profit besides. 
 
 There must be the closest kind of cooperation between dealers 
 and factories, in a serious and continuous effort to reduce the 
 cost of distribution to the consumer; and at the same time, we 
 will have the advantage of furnishing the farmer, by far the 
 best machines he can get, of being on the ground to take care of 
 -him when in trouble, and of the personal acquaintance and 
 friendship between farmers and dealers. 
 
 The members of the National Implement & Vehicle Association at 
 
 this time adopted the following resolution on the subject of retail 
 
 dealers' associations: 
 
 Whereas, The policy of the members of this association is to 
 market their product through the retail dealers, and 
 
 Whereas, The retail implement dealers' associations are con- 
 stantly working for the improvement of the conditions of their 
 members, 
 
 Therefore, he it resolved, That this association heartily en- 
 dorses the general policy of the retail implement dealers' asso- 
 ciatipns, and the National Federation of Retail Implement and 
 Vehicle Dealers' Associations, and will continue to cooperate 
 with them in all legitimate efforts to improve the condition of 
 the trade and through the dealers to supply the farmers with the 
 best farm implements and equipment in the world, and at the 
 lowest practical cost consistent with first-class implements and 
 constant improvements. " 
 
 The Federation in its resolutions reaffirmed its position that — 
 
 "To the retail dealer belongs the retail trade." The live, 
 honest, energetic, retail implement, vehicle and hardware dealer 
 is the best friend the farmer ever had. By reason of his location 
 
 r 
 
 RESTRICTION OP RETAIL TRADE TO RETAIL DEALERS. 
 
 171 
 
 
 » t'4 
 
 and experience he is qualified to render to his customer such 
 services as can be had through no other channel and from no 
 other source. By such service to his community he has well 
 earned the position which he is proud to maintain. The retail 
 dealer is the connecting link between the manufacturer and con- 
 sumer. His facilities for taking care of the manufacturer's in- 
 terest and of rendering practical service to the consumer make 
 him the natural and by far the most economical channel for the 
 distribution of manufactured products. 
 
 We, therefore, reaffirm our position that "to the retail dealer 
 belongs the retail trade," and maintain that the manufacturer 
 who solicits the trade of retail dealers should afford them loyal 
 and adequate protection in the sale of his goods. 
 
 "•^ Shortly after this meeting of the Federation and its conference 
 with the manufacturers' committee, the secretary of the Federation 
 replied to a letter from the publisher of an implement trade paper 
 who had apparently inquired concerning the situation. In his reply 
 the secretary said, in part, as follows: 
 
 Answering your inquiry concerning the investigation will say 
 that nothing new has developed. A special agent of the Depart- 
 ment of Commerce and Labor attended every session of our con- 
 vention, also every session of the manufacturers' convention, and 
 we were glad to give him permission to do this. We talked just 
 as freely regarding matters connected with our work as we 
 would had he not been there, for we have nothing to keep back. 
 We have committed no act in violation of law. We have an- 
 tagonized no one, and have been doing as we supposed and still 
 think just as our friends the jobbers wanted us to do, namely 
 cooperating with them in an effort to place the implement busi- 
 ness upon a better basis. How veil we have succeeded is evi- 
 denced by the loyalty of a large membership and the endorse- 
 ment of our methods by a great number of jobbers and by the 
 manufacturers in a strong resolution adopted unanimously at 
 their recent convention. 
 
 We are very grateful to those who very promptly responded 
 to our request for a letter setting forth the fact that our associa- 
 tion had been conducted along conservative lines and had been 
 a real help to all classes of the implement trade and that they 
 were in sympathy with us and approved of our methods. It 
 is also gratifying to note the willingness shown by the manu- 
 facturers to respond, and the character of the letters they have 
 written should dispel any thought in the minds of Government 
 officials that the manufacturers felt that we were antagonizing 
 them in the slightest degree. 
 
 It is true that I have written to a number of jobbers, and in- 
 terviewed others, requesting a letter setting forth the fact that 
 it is their desire that implement dealers' associations be allowed 
 to continue their work along lines which have characterized it in 
 the past. This was first suggested to our board of directors by a 
 letter written by one of the largest jobbers in Kansas City. 
 Hearing of this I asked for a copy of same, and it set forth so 
 forcibly the contention we ourselves had made that I brought it 
 
i 
 
 172 
 
 FABM-MAGHINERY TBABE ASSOCUTIOITS. 
 
 11^ 
 
 to the attention of the hoard of directors, and the advisability 
 of securing other letters of similar character was then suggested. 
 We assumed of course that all would be as willing as this jobber 
 had been to do this, and as before stated, I have received a great 
 number of very fine letters which can not but fortify the posi- 
 tion we have taken. 
 
 Plan of handling oomflaints in isii and 1912. — After the 
 decision of the dealers to eliminate certain portions of the uniform 
 articles of association imder which the constituent associations (see p. 
 160) had been organized, the secretary of the Federation, in a letter 
 to the secretary of the New York Ketail Implement & Vehicle Dealers' 
 Association, stated that all of the other State associations had elimi- 
 nated all of article 6 (see p. 161) , as the officials did not want anything 
 in the association work that was in the slightest degree in conflict with 
 the antitrust law. He cautioned the secretary of the New York asso- 
 ciation that reports of irregularities sent to members were not per- 
 missible, and asserted that in the 23 years which he had been in the 
 work (as secretary of the Western association, part of the time as 
 secretary of the National Federation) he had never notified the 
 membei^ip of irregularity in the conduct of the business of any 
 manufacturer or jobber. He continued as follows : 
 
 In prosecuting complaints we simply try to make the whole- 
 saler see that the dealers need their protection. The law has 
 been such that we could not use any coercion and we must recog- 
 nize that fact. This undoubtedly has been a handicap to you 
 and to all other secretaries, but nevertheless it must be observed. 
 
 The question of the best method to be used in handling complaints 
 was brought up a little later ii^a letter to the secretary of the Federa- 
 tion from the secretary of the Minnesota association, in which he 
 wrote as follows: 
 
 I wish your advice in inserting the following in our conven- 
 tion program. I ask this in view of the investigation now being 
 made of our associations. 
 
 "Important. — ^The arbitration committee will be in session 
 in their committee room, adjoining convention hall, for the pur- 
 pose of hearing complaints from any member. No complaints 
 or grievances will be allowed on the floor of the convention. 
 The arbitration committee will hear your trouble and report it 
 . to the convention in executive session, Friday afternoon." 
 
 I wish to head off any attempts on the part of our members to 
 air their grievances during an open session of the convention 
 and further to handle the matter entirely through our arbitra- 
 tion comimittee. 
 
 A prompt reply is earnestly requested as I am now at work 
 on our convention program. 
 
 To this letter the secretary of the Federation replied as follows : 
 
 I am in receipt of yours of 24th and replying will say that if 
 I were in your place I believe I would say nothing about the 
 
 \ 
 
 M 
 
 |l,. 
 
 BESTRIOTION OF RETAIL TRADE TO RETAIL DEALERS. 173 
 
 work on the arbitration committee. If you put this on your 
 program you may be reasonably certain that a representative of 
 the Department will be on hand and will ask you the privilege 
 of attending all of your sessions, including the executive ses- 
 sion. * * * You are absolutely right about not allowing 
 any grievances to be discussed on the floor of the convention. 
 If you want to say on your program that the board of directors 
 will be in session at a certain time and if members have any 
 matters they wish to take up with them that is the time to do it, 
 I can see no objections, but I would not say that the committee 
 will make a report in executive session. You might just as well 
 print it so far as the position the Government will take is con- 
 
 cerned. 
 
 I believe I am right about this, Mr. Buxton, but if you think 
 I am not and will point out wherein you think I am wrong I 
 will be more than glad to hear from you. We would better be 
 too careful during these parlous times than not careful enough. 
 I heard when in Kansas City this week that the cases against 
 the lumber secretaries had been dismissed. I notice by the daily 
 papers that they have filed their case against the lumber asso- 
 ciations in Minnesota. If you can secure any information I will- 
 be glad to have you write me. 
 
 The policy which the secretary thought the associations should' 
 pursue in their efforts for protection was indicated in a letter to a 
 member of the Western association in December, 1911. In this letter 
 the secretary said in part : 
 
 Our association can not change the policy of any manufac- 
 turer. Its province is to ascertain what said policy is, but we 
 can not compel them to pay anyone a commission upon any 
 direct sale they are pleased to make. * * * I want to call 
 your attention to the fact that matters of this kind must be 
 handled in such a way as not to lay us liable in any way under 
 the antitrust laws and I have conducted the affairs of this office 
 in that way from the start and do not propose, if I can help it, 
 to put myself in the position that some of the secretaries in other 
 lines have done. I expect to meet the manager of the * * ♦ 
 Wagon Company in Kansas City during convention and believe 
 that if it were possible to arrange an interview between you and 
 him we could get this adjusted very quickly. At any rate, I 
 want the opportunity of explaining to you just how far we can 
 go in such matters. I repeat that if it is their policy to sell 
 their goods direct, we can not compel them to change it. Write 
 me if you will meet me at the convention. 
 
 During the summer of 1912 the secretary of the Western associa- 
 tion, who was also secretary of the National Federation, in an oral 
 statement to an agent of the Bureau of Corporations, defined the 
 manner in which complaints against individual manufacturers and 
 wholesalers were then being handled by the association. He stated 
 that when a complaint was received from a member of the Western 
 association in regard to sales to an irregular dealer or directly to a 
 

 174 
 
 FABM-MACHINEBY TKADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 F» 
 
 fii 
 
 consumer the usual method was for the secretary of the association 
 first to attempt £o settle the matter by correspondence with the 
 offending manufacturer or jobber. The secretary wrote asking if 
 he wished to receive information concerning complaints which might 
 be lodged with the secretary regarding his methods of selling. The 
 reply of the jobber or manufacturer was usually that he would be 
 glad to have such information. Thereupon the secretary stated the 
 case, and if the matter could not be adjusted by correspondence it 
 was taken up at a meeting of the board of directors of the Western 
 association, at which meeting the manufacturer or jobber was re- 
 quested to be present to state his policy. According tc the secretary, 
 if, at this meeting, the jobber or manufacturer said that it was his 
 policy to sell to anyone who would buy, the board of directors at once 
 considered him a direct seller. If he announced his policy to be one 
 of protection to dealers, the matter was adjusted either by his paying 
 a commission to the dealer in whose territory the sale was made, or 
 sometimes dropped, upon an agreement of the offender to discontinue 
 such sales. A great majority of the complaints related to irregular 
 dealers. A case which could not be settled by the board of directors 
 was referred to the Federation, but the secretary stated that these 
 cases had been few. In this connection, he asseited that the secre- 
 taries of the constituent associations referred to the Federation only 
 those cases which involved some important principle^ as the Federa- 
 tion took the position that it had something else !<.• attend to than the 
 specific complaints of individual dealers. 
 
 Furthermore, the secretary stated that the only place where the 
 dealer could air a grievance against a particular manufacturer or 
 jobber was at executive sessions of the association, but he claimed 
 that these sessions had been discontinued by the Western association. 
 He stated that the purpose of the executive session had been to let 
 the dealers know who were loyal to them. He stated that the last 
 executive session of the Western association was held in 1909 or 
 1910, although it has been on the program since that time. In such 
 session the secretary reported the number of complaints and usually 
 the name of the manufacturer or jobber involved. The secretary de- 
 clared that he had never in open session given members the names 
 of direct-selling concerns as a matter of general information, but in 
 the executive sessions there was no such limitation. He asserted, 
 however, that in recent years the executive sessions have been given 
 less and less to the matter of specific complaints, as the dealers feel 
 that they have won their point and that in very few instances do 
 manufacturers and jobbers sell directly. He claimed that very 
 rarely did a manufacturer or jobber appear before the executive ses- 
 sion, most of the work of adjusting complaints being done by the 
 board of directors of the Western association meeting with indi- 
 
 
 BESTRICTION OF RETAIL TRADE TO RETAIL DEALERS. l75 
 
 vidual manufacturers or jobbers to talk over the complaint. The 
 great bulk of complaints which the secretary could not settle by cor- 
 respondence was adjusted in this way. The secretary asserted that 
 the statement could not be made too strong that he had at no time 
 supplied data to implement trade papers concerning direct selling. 
 
 The secretary denied that the association had ever attempted to 
 limit sales by wholesalers only to members of the association, any 
 regular dealer being recognized as entitled to wholesale prices from 
 the jobber or manufacturer. He said that the association had never 
 attempted to prevent a new dealer from going into business pro- 
 vided he proposed to carry a stock and make his living from the 
 business. It was the man who sells from a catalogue, who does not 
 expect to make any profit on his goods, that the association objected 
 to. In this connection, he expressed the belief that the antitrust 
 laws should be amended so as to permit the secretary of a dealers' 
 association to notify all of its members in regard to direct sales by 
 certain manufacturers. (See p. 202.) He claimed that all that could 
 be done under existing law was to notify the individual dealer who 
 inquired as to the selling methods of the manufacturer or jobber in- 
 quired about, or to reply to a question from a manufacturer or jobber 
 as to the standing of certain concerns said to be dealers. 
 
 Negotiations with manufacturers relative to farmers' coopera- 
 tive STORES. — ^The method of handling complaints by the Minnesota 
 association in 1911 (see p. 172) is shown in the case of a complaint 
 filed with the secretary of that association by a member who reported 
 that a wholesale house at Minneapolis, whose name was given, had 
 made a shipment of certain specified implements to a store conducted 
 at his town as a farmers' cooperative enterprise. This member wrote 
 the secretary of the Minnesota association as follows : 
 
 Kindly take this up at once with the above named firm and 
 cut such business methods short, while still in its infancy. 
 There is no reason they can offer for making such shipment, as 
 the above concern at this place, receiving the goods, handle only 
 groceries and dry goods. I trust you will be successful in getting 
 the * * * Co. to see the error of their ways, and that we 
 may have no further trouble from this source. 
 
 The secretary acknowledged the receipt of this letter and appears 
 
 to have followed the advice of the secretary of the Federation in 
 
 opening correspondence with the wholesaler by asking if the latter 
 
 desired to know of complaints filed against him. The secretary wrote 
 
 as follows: 
 
 I frequently receive information from members of this asso- 
 ciation concerning shipments made to their towns by wholesalers 
 to parties who carry no stock of implements or vehicles what- 
 ever, which they have reason to believe were made under a 
 misapprehension of th3 facts, and I would like to know if you 
 wish us to advise you when such information concerns you. 
 
176 
 
 FABM-MACHINEBY TBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 » 
 
 The reply of the manager of the wholesale house at Minneapolis, 
 dated March 10, read as follows: 
 
 Keplying to your favor of March 8, we shall consider it a 
 favor if you will notify us of any cases where we are shipping 
 machinery under a misapprehension as to the propriety of so 
 
 doin[^. 
 
 It is our aim to sell nothing but the best class of dealers as 
 we feel that it is as much to our own interest as to that of the 
 trade, to discriminate closely. 
 
 Thereupon the secretary of the dealers' association wrote as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 Answering your letter of the 10th inst., I find that you have 
 made a shipment of the following goods: One checkrow com 
 planter, one boss harrow, two walkmg plows, to the Farmers 
 Co-op Merc. Co., of * * * 
 
 The Farmers Co-op Merc. Co. of * * * are not imple- 
 ment dealers, and it is to be assumed that these goods were 
 ordered through this company for one of the farmers interested 
 in the Merc. Co. 
 
 The Farmers Co-op Co. of * * * handles only groceries 
 and dry goods, and the fact that the shipment was so small indi- 
 cates tnat they have no intention of engaging in the implement 
 business. I find that where farmers' elevators and stores are in 
 operation, the members of this association often endeavor to 
 secure implements at wholesale by getting the manager of the 
 company to order these for them. 
 
 I must say that the Minneapolis jobbers as a rule, refuse to 
 fill these orders, but occasionally through oversight, a shipment 
 of this kind is made, but I find that when the wholesalers at- 
 tention is called to the matter, shipment of this character imme- 
 diately ceases. I would like to have you go on record regarding 
 this shipment, and let us dispose of this complaint before we 
 have occasion to refer it to the arbitration committee of the Twin 
 City Implt., Vehicle & Hdwe. Club and our own arbitration com- 
 mittee, who hold a joint meeting in Mpls. April 4. 
 
 I assume that you would not care to have these matters 
 brought up at this meeting, but would prefer to settle it direct 
 with this office, thereby avoiding any publicity. 
 
 The wholesale house, on March 13, wrote, showing what goods 
 had been shipped, and stating that the shipment was made upon 
 the representation of their salesman that the consignee was engaging 
 in the implement business. They wrote again on March 20 that they 
 had investigated and were satisfied the farmers' cooperative com- 
 pany in question was conducting a legitimate business, and they 
 went on to say: 
 
 We are also informed that the person who made the com- 
 plaint has made similar complaints in the past against other 
 firms that endeavored to obtain a foothold at * * *, and 
 that ha is a notorious price cutter when it comes to driving legiti- 
 mate competition out of town. He is said to be fixed financially 
 
 EESTBICTION OF RETAIL TRADE TO RETAIL DEALERS. 
 
 177 
 
 A 
 
 SO that he can afford to make whatever prices are necessary to 
 force his competitors to the wall. 
 
 Should you publish in your official organ, any correspondence 
 on this subject, we should be pleased to have you include the 
 entire correspondence, together with this letter. 
 
 The secretary of the dealers' association wrote, on March 21, as 
 follows: 
 
 Replying to your letter of the 13th, re Farmers Co-op Merc. 
 Co. * * ♦ I wish to take exception to that portion of your 
 letter wherein you say " This shipment was made by us on the 
 representation of our salesman that these people are engaging in 
 the implement business and judging from the fairly complete 
 line of samples which they have ordered, we believe that we 
 could not be criticized in honoring their order." 
 
 You know that the quantity of goods shipped * * * does 
 not indicate that these people are engaging in the retail imple- 
 ment business, and it is preposterous to assume that any such 
 thing is likely to come to pass. 
 
 The name of the company should be sufficient to arouse your 
 suspicion that these goods were ordered specially for some 
 farmer forming this concern. 
 
 It seems strange that large wholesalers such as your company 
 should so far forget the ethics of the implement business as to 
 fill an order like the one in question, and then excuse the matter 
 as you do in that portion of your letter quoted above. I know 
 and you know that in this present day no man can engage in the 
 retail implement business legitimately without carrying a stock 
 on hand, amounting from $2,000 up. In fact, the better class 
 of dealers carry from $4,000 to $10,000 in stock. 
 
 Assuming that you wish to be fair in this matter, I am going 
 
 to request that you make an investigation of these parties and 
 
 unless they are willing to place an order with you for one or 
 
 • more cars of goods, embracing a complete line, that you refrain 
 
 from shipping any more goods to them. 
 
 A joint meeting of the arbitration committee of this associa- 
 tion * * * will be held with the arbitration committee of 
 the Twin City Implement, Vehicle & Hdwe. Club on Tuesday, 
 April 4, and unless we can get this complaint closed before that 
 time, I shall have to refer the matter for adjustment to this 
 committee. I assume that you would not care to have your 
 name before this committee and hope I can get a definite prom- 
 ise from you before this April meeting not to ship any more 
 goods to the * * * people. 
 The case was brought to the attention of the joint arbitration com- 
 mittee mentioned in the correspondence, but nothing further seems 
 to have been done about it. In an interview with an agent of the 
 Bureau of Corporations at about this time the chairman of the 
 jobbers' committee on arbitration stated that he had no knowledge 
 of any case where the dealers' association had actually notified its 
 members that any jobber or manufacturer was unfair. 
 68248**— 15 ^12 
 
 ■I 
 
178 
 
 FAEM-MACHINEBY TEADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 I 
 
 Another Minneapolis jobber, however, stated that he gave up an 
 agency with another farmers' cooperative store in that State in 
 1911 because the grievance committee of the Minnesota Retail Im- 
 plement Dealers' Association complained that such sales were ir- 
 regular. 
 
 The sale of goods to cooperative stores had already been discussed 
 by the directors of the Western association at the convention in 
 January, 1900, when* it was decided that the association could not 
 then reach such cases, and the subject was dismissed. A year later 
 the report of the secretary of the Westera association disclosed the 
 reason for the opposition of dealers to such stores. In this report 
 he said: 
 
 As I understand it, the prices maintained are somewhat lower 
 than the regular retail prices; then each purchaser who is a 
 subscriber to the stock of the cooperative store receives a re- 
 bate, and it has become the custom of these parties to purchase 
 goods for their neighbors, securing the rebate for themselves 
 and dividing it with the purchaser. It can readily be seen that 
 this makes very hard competition for the other dealers in the 
 same towns. 1 have had considerable correspondence with the 
 dealers in that county and finally wrote them that if one of 
 their members saw fit to be present at this meeting I knew that 
 this board would accord them a respectful hearing. 
 Activities of the Iowa Implement Dealers' Association in oppo- 
 sition to the sale of farm machmery by farmers' cooperative stores 
 in that State are referred to elsewhere. (See pp. 154^158.) 
 
 In October, 1910, the secretary of the Federation, in a letter to the* 
 president of the Cost Educational Association (who soon afterwards 
 became secretary and general manager of the National Implement & 
 Vehicle Association), characterized the cooperative movement among 
 farmers as dangerous. The letter referred to read in part as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 A new danger threatens the dealers in Kansas and Oklahoma. 
 I refer to the Farmers' Unions. These are causing trouble be- 
 cause some manufacturers and jobbers contend that they must 
 sell to them. It is going to cause trouble. I want to talk to you 
 about this in St. Louis if I can have your attention a few mm- 
 utes. It is a matter that we must handle quickly. It can not 
 be given any publicity. Could not take it up m Chicago as 
 there was too much else to talk about. 
 It may also be noted that the Virginia & North Carolina Retail 
 Implement, Machinery & Vehicle Dealers' Association, which was 
 organized in February, 1909, and became affiliated with the Na- 
 tional Federation in 1912, was engaged in opposing the sale of farm 
 machinery to stores operated in connection with Farmers' Union 
 cooperative stores at several points in North Carolina. Its sec- 
 retary, in speaking of its work in 1912, stated that through its 
 
 m 
 
 
 EESTRICTION OF KETAIL TEADE TO EETAIL DEALEBS. 179 
 
 efforts several large concerns had been induced to stop furnishing 
 supplies to irregular dealers, mostly Farmers' Union cooperative 
 concerns. He was strongly opposed to these enterprises, feeling that 
 if they could get a supply of farm implements and machines they 
 would eventually control that part of the retail business. Notwith- 
 standing the fact that this association was composed of only about 
 40 members in 1912, its protest to several manufacturers is said to 
 have caused the latter to discontinue shipments to several farmers' 
 cooperative stores in North Carolina. After its protest a wagon- 
 manufacturing company refused to furnish a second consignment of 
 goods to a farmers' cooperative supply company which planned to 
 sell to members at cost after making allowance for an amount neces- 
 sary to pay 6 per cent on stock after actual selling expenses were 
 paid. A protest to a western plow manufacturer caused the latter 
 to advise the farmers' cooperative store at another point that they 
 could furnish no more goods until they had made an investigation, 
 and also caused an eastern manufacturer of farm machinery to stop 
 
 selling to this store. 
 
 Similarly, protests from regular dealers resulted in cutting off 
 most of the supplies of a farmers' exchange at a point in eastern 
 Tennessee. 
 
 The president of the Virginia and North Carolina implement deal- 
 ers' association, in an address in the early part of 1913, is quoted as 
 saying : 
 
 The Farmers' Union, an organization established for the 
 purpose of buying and selling direct, must claim a portion of 
 our attention, for if this combine accomplishes its full purpose, 
 the retail implement dealer is no longer of service to his coun- 
 try except to carry repairs and furnish time trade to those 
 who can not obtain membership in the union. We can not object 
 to a manufacturer selling these unions provided he markets his 
 entire output in this manner, but must assert ourselves against 
 the practice of selling both the dealer and the consumer. 
 
 In 1913 the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Retail Implement 
 Dealers' Association became one of the constituent associations of 
 the National Federation. This association had been formed a short 
 time before, largely through the efforts of a trade paper which made 
 an aggressive campaign against the sale of goods by manufacturers 
 to a cooperative enterprise operated in Pennsylvania by the Lancaster 
 County Farmers' Association. Almost as soon as the association of 
 Pennsylvania and New Jersey dealers joined the Federation it filed 
 protest with the secretary of the latter organization against the sale 
 of goods to this concern in Lancaster County. 
 
 The Federation secretary wrote the secretary and general man- 
 ager of the National Implement & Vehicle Association, advising him 
 
 r-/ 
 
180 FABM-MACmNEBY TBADE A8S0CUTI0N8. 
 
 that the Pennsylvania and New Jersey dealers had a grievance in 
 the matter of manufacturers seUing to cooperative stores, which they 
 wanted to have considered at the next Federation meeting. He 
 wrote that a great amount of pubUcity had been given this matter 
 through certain trade papers, and he understood that a request had 
 been made of the president of the National Implement & Vehicle 
 Association to appoint a special committee to hear the grievance of 
 the eastern dealers, and that a similar request had been made of the 
 Federation. He stated in his letter that they had been advised that 
 the Federation could not think of granting their requ^t for a special 
 committee, but that a hearing would be granted. The matter, he 
 thought, should come up before a meeting of the comniittee on dealers 
 associations of the manufacturers' association and the official board 
 of the Federation. Apparently, one of the reasons why the eastern 
 dealers had requested that the matter be referred to a special com- 
 mittee was the fact that the chairman of the manufacturers com- 
 mittee on dealers' associations was one of the manufacturers com- 
 
 ^^The siretary of the National Implement & Vehicle Association 
 in his reply to the secretary of the Federation stated that he had 
 discussed the matter with the chairman of the executive committee 
 of the manufacturers' association, and that in their opinion it was a 
 matter that did not properly concern the joint conference until it 
 had been reduced to a point where some principle of a general char- 
 acter was involved. He advised that the Federation appoint a 
 special committee to meet with the chairman of the committee on 
 defers' associations of the manufacturers' association and other 
 manufacturers concerned in the eastern trade to thi-esh the matter 
 out and report. He went on to say: 
 
 The conditions in the eastern territory, as you »"* P/obably 
 well aware of, are quite different than m the West, and I do not 
 Jwnk y^wiil fin3 it possible to apply literally the definition 
 ofTretail dealer to that eastern country, but undoubtedly some- 
 thing can te done to bring about a better understanding between 
 both dealers and manufacturers. 
 The Pennsylvania and New Jersey Retail Implement & V.*.cle 
 Dealers' Association was represented at the convention of the Federa^ 
 tion at its convention in October, 1913, but the published records of 
 that meeting do not show that any action was taken on the complaint 
 of the eastern dealers, nor do the resolutions adopted contam any 
 reference expressing the condemnation of farmers' cooperative en- 
 terprises except as may be contained in the following : 
 
 OuesUonable selling «cAe»ne«.— Whereas, in the course of re- 
 tail tradnertain conditions have developed in which corpora- 
 tionsVtois or individuals have sold so-called membership cer- 
 
 /" 
 
 BESTRICTION OP RETAIL TRADE TO RETAIL* DEALERS. 181 
 
 tificates, which entitle the holders to special prices more favor- 
 able than those offered to nonholders of certificates, therefore, 
 
 be it 
 
 Resolved, That such fly-by-night schemes should not be prac- 
 ticed; that concerns adopting this plan are not entitled to the 
 benefits derived from membership in the retail associations, and 
 that said concerns place themselves in a position to be looked 
 upon unfavorably as customers for manufacturers and jobbers. 
 
 The implement trade paper which aided in the formation of the 
 Pennsylvania and New Jersey association (see p. 179) was also a 
 factor in causing the association of Virginia-North Carolina dealers 
 to be organized. This paper, which was adopted as the official organ 
 of the latter association, in an editorial discussing the competition of 
 the cooperative stores, said : 
 
 It makes no difference at all if these farmer stores carry a 
 stock, sell at retail prices and perform outwardly the function 
 of a regular dealer, they are organized to break down the regu- 
 lar merchant, and we are going to fight any house who will 
 supply goods to them and attempt to supply goods at the same 
 time to the regular merchant. 
 In explaining the attitude of the organized dealers toward the 
 sale of implements to cooperative stores to an agent of the Bureau 
 of Corporations in 1912, the secretary of the Federation asserted 
 that that organization had never considered the general topic of 
 cooperative stores. He stated there is no reason why implements and 
 vehicles should not be included in the stock of successful farmers' 
 stores; that whether a manufacturer is justified in making a suc- 
 cessful farmers' store his retail agent depends upon the selling policy 
 of the company. He asserted that if the farmers' company sold at 
 cost it would put all dealers out of business, and that if it expected to 
 pay dividends to stockholders allowance must be made for expenses 
 and profits. He stated that the fact that a farmers' cooperative asso- 
 ciation holds stock in an established corporation doing a regular 
 implement business would not necessarily make that corporation an 
 
 irregular dealer. . 
 
 During the summer of 1912 agents of the Bureau interviewed a 
 number of managers of farmers' cooperative enterprises in several 
 States. It was found that many of the so-callal cooperative stores 
 were merely stock companies not really cooperative. It was found 
 that cooperative stores were not numerous and that those handling 
 implements were still fewer in number. Of over 800 farmers' elevator 
 companies in the State of Iowa, probably less than 20 handled imple- 
 ments. Several which had formerly handled implements had given 
 up the attempt. One reason assigned for this chaiige was the difficulty 
 of securing standard lines of goods due to the attitude of the Iowa 
 Implement Dealers' Association. Another reason given was that the 
 
182 
 
 FARM-MACHINERY TRADE ASSOCUTIONS. 
 
 manufacturers took away the agency because the retail prices of the 
 cooperative store were not high enough. A third reason assigned 
 was lack of capital, which made it impracticable for the cooperative 
 stores to sell implements on time. Nearly all the managers inter- 
 viewed agreed that the profit in implements was less than in other 
 lines handled, and they did not believe that it would pay to handle 
 implements as a separate branch of their business, as the volume of 
 their implement trade was small. 
 
 Opinions of the trade as to protective activities of associa- 
 tions. — In the course of the Bureau's investigations members of vari- 
 ous associations, including the Western, Iowa, Illinois, North Dakota, 
 Tri-State, and other associations, expressed the opinion that direct 
 sales by manufacturers and jobbers had been curtailed through the 
 efforts of the dealers' associations. 
 
 In Minnesota one dealer belonging to the Minnesota Ketail Imple- 
 ment Dealers' Association stated that the members of that association 
 do all they can to secure a list of manufacturers who do direct selling 
 and that " the boys " come away from the meetings in such a frame 
 of mind that they will not patronize such wholesalers. Other mem- 
 bers thought that the Minnesota association had benefited its members 
 by breaking up direct selling. One stated that the association through 
 its grievance committee would "boycott" a wholesaler for selling 
 direct to farmers in a territory where the wholesaler had a dealer 
 agent. Another member stated that if the wholesaler refused to stop 
 direct selling the case was reported to the convention of dealers who 
 were then expected to quit buying of him. Another member said 
 that the association knows that it dare not distribute lists of direct 
 sellers among its members, but these names can be well scattered 
 among the dealers by means of the traveling salesmen of loyal houses. 
 
 The representatives of several of the smaller wholesale houses at 
 Minneapolis stated that the Minnesota association had been more 
 aggressive prior to 1910 than subsequently. One had been threatened 
 some time previously with a boycott which had not been carried 
 out. Another had been told by the dealers that if he did not pay a 
 commission requested they "would fix him." Another representa- 
 tive of a wholesale house who had paid a commission on a direct sale 
 at the request of the dealers' association, stated that he supposed 
 he would have been blacklisted if he had not paid it, as he believed 
 it to be the policy of the association to boycott wholesalers who sold 
 directly. Another manufacturer stated that the Minnesota dealers' 
 association was strong, but would not boycott anyone for that reason, 
 and in this connection he cited an instance where he had made a 
 direct sale which was reported to the association, but nothing was 
 
 RESTRICTION OF RETAIL TRADE TO RETAIL DEALERS. 
 
 183 
 
 done. Furthermore, no evidence was found to indicate that any 
 manufacturer or jobber had ever been actually put under the ban of 
 this association. 
 
 Protective activities not confined to implement trade. — ^The 
 protective efforts of the implement dealers' associations have not been 
 confined to the implement trade. In alluding to this matter in 
 December, 1909, the secretary of the Western association in a letter 
 to a Kansas dealer wrote, in part, as follows : 
 
 You are mistaken when you say that the interest of our as- 
 sociation is devoted only to the implement business. This is 
 far from being the case. We feel that we have accomplished 
 more real good with the hardware and supply houses than with 
 any other branch. A few years ago nearly all of the hardware 
 and supply houses were selling goods to mail order houses, but 
 at present not one of them is doing it to my knowledge. We 
 are taking up complaints on account of violation of trade rules 
 by the hardware houses just the same as the implement houses. 
 I am glad you have given me an opportimity of explaining this. 
 
 Still later, in writing to another firm of dealers, in May, 1911, he 
 said: 
 
 I have a number of complaints on hand now where shipments 
 have been made to parties who are not regular hardware dealers, 
 and they are being pushed the same as though they were for 
 implement dealers. 
 
 The fact that you have not had any trouble in your vicinity 
 is a matter for congratulation, and I hope that you will give 
 the association's restraining influence credit. If you have 
 any particular grievances, kindly notify me. 
 
 In the latter part of 1912 it was asserted in the Bulletin that over 
 80 per cent of the members of the Western association handled hard- 
 ware and that a large percentage were exclusively hardware dealers.* 
 
 In March, 1913, members of the Kansas City Retail Hardware 
 Dealers' Club joined the Western association to secure its protective 
 influence. This marked the consummation of negotions that had 
 been pending for two years. 
 
 Shortly after the Kansas City hardware dealers joined the West- 
 ern association an item was published in the Implement Dealers' 
 Bulletin stating that two instances had already taken place which 
 showed that their confidence in thinking that they could get some 
 relief from unfair conditions by joining the Western association had 
 not been misplaced. Subsequently, the secretary of the Kansas City 
 Eetail Hardware Dealers' Club wrote the secretary of the Westeru 
 
 *In 1913 several local clubs of hardware dealers, previously organized by the Minnesota 
 Retail Hardware Association, were combined with local clubs of Implement dealers organ- 
 ized by the Minnesota Retail Implement Dealers* Association. Local clubs formed in that 
 State during 1914 were composed of both hardware and implement dealers. 
 
184 
 
 FABM-MACHINERY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 association in regard to the assistance of the latter association, as 
 
 follows : 
 
 I was instructed at last night's meeting of our club to convey 
 to you the thanks of this body for the help of the officers of your 
 association in bringing about a very important change in condi- 
 tions here but think all concerned will be benefited and we are 
 pleased to think we joined the Western association and have the 
 benefit of its protective influence. 
 
 In connection with this matter the Bulletin for January, 1914, 
 contained an article stating that one of the hardware companies at 
 Kansas City had discontinued its retail department, a very lucrative 
 branch of its business. This had been done, it was stated, in order 
 to meet the wishes of the retail hardware dealers of Kansas City and 
 of Independence, Mo. The article stated that the retail dealers " are 
 much pleased with the new policy of this old and reliable concern, as 
 the hardware dealers in the Kansas City territory will all be, and 
 have pledged them a larger share of their business than they have 
 heretofore given them." 
 
 Furthermore, at the convention of the Western Retail Implement 
 & Vehicle Dealers' Association in 1914, the name of that association 
 was changed to the Western Retail Implement, Vehicle & Hardware 
 Association in order to give recognition to members handling hard- 
 ware exclusively. At this convention a number of automobile dealers 
 were also admitted to membership. 
 
 In the early part of 1913 the secretary of the Federation seems to 
 have felt that the associations were in danger of losing sight of the 
 fact that their primary object was the protection of the regular 
 dealer. In this connection, he issued a general letter to the secretaries 
 of the constituent associations in April, 1913, in which he said, in 
 part: 
 
 We are trying to raise the standard of the implement dealer 
 
 and secure for him the protection to which he is entitled, but 
 
 you know we can not do these things through our freight audit 
 
 bureaus, etc. [See p. 73, note.] They are simply means to the 
 
 desired end. 
 
 A copy^of this letter was sent to the secretary and general manager 
 
 of the National Implement & Vehicle Association with a letter which 
 
 read, in part, as follows : 
 
 I supposed that a copy of general letter No. 77 had been sent 
 to you but I find it has not. I enclose one herewith. I simply 
 send this to you to let you know what my fears are in regard to 
 the work of some of our associations. They have been laying so 
 much stress upon the insurance plans and the freight audit 
 bureau that I feared they might neglect some other more im- 
 portant work. I have received four replies and m all of these 
 
 il 
 
 
 BESTRICTION OF RETAIL TRADE TO RETAIL DEALERS. 
 
 185 
 
 % 
 
 the secretaries express their thanks for the timely warning that 
 I have given them. Three of them said they were going off on 
 the very tangent I feared they would. If we are going to make 
 a success of this association work we must not get very far away 
 from the main principles for which we are organized. 
 
 Section 4. Methods used with manufacturers nnwilling to settle com- 
 plaints amicably. 
 
 In the earlier years of association activity among the dealers, the 
 members of various associations pledged themselves not to patronize 
 any manafacturer or jobber who did not confine his trade to the 
 ^regular retailer. The establishment of harmonious relations with 
 manufacturers' and jobbers' organizations provided a method by 
 which most complaints by dealers against individual concerns could 
 be amicably adjusted, but at times cases arose in which the manu- 
 facturer or jobber complained of was not willing to conform to the 
 requests of the dealers. From the standpoint of the dealers the most 
 desirable way of treating such cases was for the names of such offend- 
 ing manufacturers and jobbers to be furnished to the membership of 
 the dealers' organizations. 
 
 During the nineties the discussion of complaints at executive ses- 
 sions of the members provided one way in which this information 
 was disseminated, but as some uncertainty appears to have existed 
 as to the legality of this practice, the secretary of the Western asso- 
 ciation, in 1900, consulted the attorney of the Missouri & Kansas 
 Lumbermen's Association as to the liability of the Western asso- 
 ciation in reporting to m^bers the names of manufacturers and 
 jobbers who had failed to afford what was considered proper protec- 
 tion by the dealers. Arrangements were made whereby the attorney 
 undertook to examine the laws of the States where the Western 
 association was represented, and also to review the constitution 
 and by-laws of the association and the resolutions adopted at conven- 
 tions. The minutes of the association record that the attorney ap- 
 peared in person before the board of directors of the Western asso- 
 ciation at its convention in January, 1901, and advised as follows: 
 
 To bring violations of trade rules to the attention of our 
 members by simply stating in our Bulletin or by private cir- 
 cular that " the following wholesalers sell at wholesale and re- 
 tail " or " Mr. Blank says he would not buy from because 
 
 they sell to the user or consumer." 
 
 The minutes of this meeting, however, do not show that any action 
 was taken on this advice. 
 
 Information Bureau. — ^The matter of constituent associations fur.- 
 nishing information to members was again taken up at the annual 
 meeting of the Federation in October, 1903, and also in November, 
 
n 
 
 186 
 
 PAEM-MACHIKEBY TBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 1904. At the latter meeting the secretary of the Federation reported 
 as follows: 
 
 There are, as you are aware, two classes of wholesalers; one 
 class protects the dealer because they want to, and the other be- 
 cause they feel compelled to, and there is a very evident feeling 
 on the part of the latter that, owing to recent decisions of the 
 courts, we are not in a position to report violations of well 
 established trade ethics without laying ourselves liable under 
 the anti-trust laws, and take the position that such action on 
 our part would be construed as an act in restraint of trade. 
 Developments during the year have demonstrated plainly the 
 necessity of associations adopting such rules as will enable them 
 to safely report to members the names of such wholesalers as 
 do not show a willingness to protect the trade. 
 
 The druggists' association is involved in litigation at the 
 present time, and the lumbermen have had considerable trouble. 
 The latter finally, upon advice of their attorneys, abrogated 
 the old rules and formed a sort of information bureau. The 
 members become subscribers for the information the same as 
 a wholesaler does to a commercial agency when he subscribes 
 for information concerning the standing of dealers. If the 
 wholesaler shows a disposition to ignore the dealers' rights, the 
 information can be given to members, and there being nothing 
 in the rules which binds members to withhold trade from such 
 concerns it can not be construed that the action is in restraint of 
 trade, and the anti-trust laws will not apply. If at this meet- 
 ing a set of rules can be outlined so that the coming conventions 
 can ratify them it will be a very important work accomplished. 
 The same by-laws might not be suitable for all constituent asso- 
 ciations, as different situations may prevail in different localities. 
 If we expect this Federation tq accomplish the greatest 
 amount of good for the retail dealer we must organize upon a 
 firm basis, not only that, but we must see to it that our con- 
 stituent associations are thoroughly organized. There must be 
 system about the work. This is one of the important matters to 
 come before this meeting, and I trust that sufficient time will be 
 devoted to it to complete the work. 
 In connection with the secretary's declaration, shown above, to 
 the effect that the associations should adopt rules to enable them 
 safely to report to members the names of wholesalers who did not 
 show a willingness to protect the trade, the preparation of a uniform 
 constitution and by-laws for all of the constituent associations was 
 made a special order of business at this convention. One of the dele- 
 gates read the constitution and by-laws adopted a short time before 
 by the Southwestern Lumbermen's Association, which, it was an- 
 nounced, had been adopted by all of the lumbermen's associations 
 in their Federation. After a thorough discussion, articles of associa- 
 tion were adopted as a form to be recommended to the various associa- 
 tions belonging to the National Federation of Impjiement & Vehicle 
 Dealers' Associations. These articles stated the object of the asso- 
 
 
 BESTRICTION OF RETAIL TRADE TO RETAIL DEALERS. 
 
 187 
 
 
 '. 
 
 
 ciation was "to secure and disseminate to its members any and all 
 legal and proper information which may be of interest or value to 
 any member or members thereof in his or their business as retail 
 implement, vehicle, or hardware dealers." (See Exhibit 24, p. 310.) 
 
 The articles recommended provided that no rules, regulations, or 
 by-laws should be adopted in any manner stifling competition, lim- 
 iting production, restraining trade, regulating prices, or pooling 
 profits ; that no coercive measures or discriminatory practices should 
 be used toward any retailer to compel him to join the association or 
 to refrain from buying from any particular manufacturer or job- 
 ber; and that no promises or agreements of any kind should be 
 .requisite to membership in the association, nor should any penal- 
 ties be imposed upon members for any cause whatsoever. One of 
 the articles provided, however, that any member, having a knowledge 
 of a sale by a manufacturer or wholesale dealer to other than a regu- 
 lar dealer, might notify the secretary of the association, giving full 
 information, and that upon the receipt of this notice it should be 
 immediately verified by the secretary. Each member was also ex- 
 pected to furnish the secretary annually or oftener a list of the 
 manufacturers and wholesalers from whom he bought. 
 
 The resolutions committee of the Federation, in referring to the 
 uniform articles of association, made the following report : 
 
 As is well known to most of the official members of our con- 
 stituent associations, their work, as well as that of the Federation 
 board, is frequently hampered because of diversity and lack of 
 ' harmony in their different constitutions and by-laws. For this 
 reason, and that the organization of our associations may be 
 rendered more compact and their work more effective, we, your 
 committee, earnestly recommend the articles of association for 
 constituent associations, as approved at this meeting of the 
 Federation; and urge the official boards of our several associa- 
 tions and their delegates here present to endeavor by all honor- 
 able means to secure the ratification and adoption of the same 
 at their coming annual conventions. We would also recommend 
 that a committee be appointed to revise our articles of federa- 
 tion, in so far as may be necessary to conform to the new articles 
 of association, thereby unifying, strengthening and safeguard- 
 ing, legallj[ and otherwise, the entire plan of organization. 
 Such committee to have the new plan passed upon by good legal 
 talent and be prepared to report at next meetin^^ of the Federa- 
 tion, or its board of directors, which your committee would sug- 
 gest be held at Kansas City in January if enough members 
 should be present to constitute a quorum. 
 
 By August, 1905, the new constitution and by-laws had been 
 adopted by practically all of the constituent associations. New 
 articles of association for the Federation had been prepared, and it 
 was announced that the Information Bureau, referred to in the re- 
 

 ^ 
 
 I 
 
 188 
 
 FAKM-MACHINERY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 port of the secretary of the Federation in November, 1904 (see p. 186) , 
 had been incorporated under the laws of Illinois. It was stated that 
 this bureau, made up of the official board of the Federation, would 
 enable the executive committee at any time legally and safely to com- 
 municate to the officers and members of the constituent associations 
 all the facts pertaining to cases in which satisfactory adjustment 
 could not be otherwise secured. In this connection, the following 
 statement was made: 
 
 Association members in good standing will be thereby fully 
 informed as to who are " regular " and who are not and such a 
 pressure must inevitably result as will carry any reasonable 
 contention. While this proceeding is sometimes absolutely neces- 
 sary in order to secure adequate protection for our members, it 
 is at the same time an act of simple justice toward those jobbers 
 and the manufacturers who are disposed to deal fairly with the 
 trade. 
 
 It was reported in January, 1906, that the organization of the In- 
 formation Bureau had been completed, so that the Federation was 
 properly fitted to afford the trade better protection than at any time 
 theretofore by furnishing members with the names of manufacturers 
 and jobbers making irregular sales. 
 
 The secretary subsequently cautioned members not to do anything 
 that could be construed in the light of restraining trade or prevent- 
 ing parties who were engaged in business from buying goods. He 
 reported that the attorney who had drawn up the articles for the 
 Information Bureau- 
 stated positively that we must not make any demands for commis- 
 sions, as that might be construed as blackmail. Neither can we 
 safely demand discontinuance of the shipments, as that would be 
 construed as a direct violation of the antitrust laws. He stated 
 that the proper course to pursue is to assume that the informa- 
 tion you give is desired by the wholesalers, thev having declared 
 that it is their policy to protect the dealer. Soon after this in- 
 terview I wrote all secretaries of the constituent associations 
 giving them the benefit of the attorney's service. 
 
 In July, 1907, announcement w«s made that blanks had been sent 
 to all members of the Western association which, when signed and 
 returned to the secretary's office, would entitle the dealer to the in- 
 formation which the Information Bureau had to give out from time 
 to time. It was stated that no member would receive this informa- 
 tion unless his request therefor was on file at the secretary's office. 
 
 At the Federation meeting in October, 1907, the president ex- 
 pressed the opinion that the new Information Bureau should be one 
 of the inducements for adding membership to the associations and 
 be a great factor in the adjustment of complaints. To secure the 
 maximum benefit of the Information Bureau and the Federation, 
 
 RESTRICTION OF RETAIL TRADE TO RETAIL DEALERS. 
 
 189 
 
 /" 
 
 he urged dealers to favor their friends and not place their trade 
 with concerns recognized to be in opposition to the rights of the 
 retail dealers. He recommended that the subject of loyalty in all 
 its phases be given special attention at the conventions of the con- 
 stituent associations. At the convention of the Federation in Octo- 
 ber, 1908, some doubts were expressed in regard to the legality of 
 installing the Information Bureau, but a resolution was adopted com- 
 mending its work. Officials of the Federation claim that this was 
 done only for the moral effect it would have, and that the bureau 
 was never put in operation. In October, 1909, it was announced that 
 adverse decisions by the courts had made it inexpedient to put the 
 bureau in operation. It should be noted that this action was taken 
 immediately after the decision in the suit of the Farmers' Elevator 
 Co., of Gowrie, against the Iowa Implement Dealers' Association. 
 (See p. 157.) Although it is claimed that the Information Bureau 
 has never been active, yet the charter was retained. 
 
 Information supplied by association secretaries on request of 
 INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS. — While the suits against the Iowa implement 
 dealers and the Mississippi lumbermen were pending in the courts 
 the dissemination of information regarding the trade policy of in- 
 dividual manufacturers, at least so far as the Western association 
 and the Federation were concerned, seems to have been confined 
 largely to correspondence by the secretary with individual members 
 who desired such information. Correspondence of this sort took 
 place in June, 1909, between the secretary of the Western associa- 
 tion and one of the members who had forwarded to the secretary 
 correspondence with a manufacturer who had apparently refused 
 to pay a commission on an irregular sale. The secretary in replying 
 expressed his regret that he could not do anything in the case imless 
 the member was handling the manufacturers' goods in the regular 
 way, as the manufacturers took the position that they were privi- 
 leged to sell to anybody, but insisted that commissions were paid 
 upon direct sales wherever they had good dealers carrying their 
 goods in stock. The secretary stated that notice had been given 
 members at several conventions and through correspondence in re- 
 gard to the policy of this company. In May, 1909, the secretary 
 of the Federation wrote one of the members of the Western asso- 
 ciation that the Michigan implement dealers' association had 
 "taken the bull by the horns" and were sending out a report in 
 regard to the trade policy of a specified buggy company. The sec- 
 retary of the Federation expressed the opinion that the Michigan 
 association had thereby laid themselves liable to prosecution, but 
 he thought the probabilities were that they would not have any 
 trouble because publicity would injure the buggy company. The 
 
 \MKr^" 
 
iimi 
 
 ; 
 
 100 
 
 FABM-MAGHINEBY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 secretary of the Federation was also secretary of the Western asso- 
 ciation, and in this letter he went on to advise the member to whom 
 he was writing that complaints had been filed against a concern 
 whose cultivators the secretary thought the member was handling, 
 and in this connection he asked for any information the member 
 might have on this point. He concluded the letter as follows: 
 
 I do not write this to discourage you from handling their 
 goods, but simply as a matter of news. 
 
 In April, 1910, the Bulletin called the attention of the organized 
 dealers to the fact that in the office of the secretary of the National 
 Federation there was on file a great amount of information con- 
 cerning the policy of manufacturers and jobbers which it had taken 
 years to collect. It was stated that this information was for the 
 benefit of members of affiliated associations and that prompt atten- 
 tion would be given to inquiries from members in regard to the 
 manufacturers and jobbers from whom they were buying or from 
 whom they contemplated buying. Another item, headed " Informa- 
 tion," informed members of the implement and hardware associa- 
 tions in the National Federation that, if they had any business with 
 a specified manufacturing company, whose name was given, they 
 could secure some valuable information regarding that company by 
 writing to the secretary of their respective associations. 
 
 Shortly after the decision in the Mississippi Lumbermen's case 
 the secretary of the Western association advised members in a circu- 
 lar letter that the antitrust laws prevented the publication, either 
 by direct or implied statement, of the names of those manufacturers 
 and jobbers who did not fully protect the dealer. He amplified 
 this by stating that such a list of such names could not legally be 
 furnished the members, nor published in the Bulletin, nor could 
 reference be made to the fact that the methods of manufacturers or 
 jobbers were inimical to the interests of the retail dealer. He 
 stated that the instructions of the board of directors were being 
 closely followed, and it was not proposed to take any steps in the 
 association work that was not clearly within the pale of the law. 
 He continued as follows: 
 
 We are, however, clearly justified in furnishing you at your 
 request with such information, as we may have at hand con- 
 cerning specific cases. For instance, you are selling a certain 
 scale, hay press, gasoline engine, line of plow goods, or vehicles, 
 or are dealing with a certain hardware jobber or supply house 
 or contemplate taking on certain new lines and want to be 
 assured that the jobbers or manufacturers are loyal to dealers; 
 you can make request for such information as the association 
 nas been able to accumulate, and a copy of the records will be 
 sent to you, and under our rules you are privileged to use your 
 own discretion concerning your business relations with them. 
 
 RESTKICTION OF RETAIL TRADE TO RETAIL DEALERS. 
 
 191 
 
 /^ 
 
 The discretion which the members receiving this information were 
 expected to exercise seems to have been indicated in an editorial pub- 
 lished in the Implement Dealers' Bulletin in October, 1910. This 
 editorial read as follows: 
 
 Too many implements and vehicles are being sold by manu- 
 facturers and jobbers at retail. To be sure, many claim to 
 maintain a good retail price and are willing to pay the margin 
 above wholesale price to some dealer who will take up their 
 line, but if none such can be found they retain it and comfort 
 themselves with the thought that they have done nothing wrong, 
 as they charged the buyer a margin above wholesale price. 
 They seem unwilling to stick to their own calling, the whole- 
 sale business ; and the only way this practice can ever be stopped 
 "*" is by dealers favoring with their patronage the wholesalers who 
 will afford them full and complete protection. 
 
 Organized dealers can get the information needed to enable 
 them to do this by simply writing to their secretaries; if they 
 have not the information at hand they can get it. 
 
 Dealers themselves must take up this work; the officials can 
 not do it all. What they need is stronger backing. The in- 
 fluence of ten thousand dealers is greater than that of five 
 thousand. 
 
 Even before this time the secretary of the Western association had 
 written a letter to one of the trade papers, from which it appears 
 that although no formal pledge was exacted of members to discon- 
 tinue purchases from direct-selling concerns, yet a certain pressure 
 was brought to bear upon them by the association to induce them 
 to do so. In this letter, written August 28, 1909, he mentioned the 
 case of a plow company, many of whose dealer- agents belonging to 
 the association had canceled their contracts with the company after 
 the association had held its convention, the matter having been dis- 
 cussed in board meetings at which these dealers were rather taken 
 to task. 
 
 Meantime an article was published in the Bulletin in August, 1910, 
 explaining the manner in which the records of that office regarding 
 the trade policy of wholesalers was kept, and urging members to 
 make use of this information. This article read as follows : 
 
 In order that our members may form some idea of the manner 
 in which the records of this office so far as they pertain to policy 
 of jobbers and manufacturers are kept, we give out a few quo- 
 tations : 
 
 " Establish a few agencies with dealers, but sell most of their 
 goods direct, with good differential between wholesale and retail 
 price." 
 
 "Sell to jobbers, dealers and users, but claim to maintain 
 sufficient differential to protect each branch of the trade." 
 
 " Sell direct to users exclusively. Formerly sold to dealers, 
 but changed policy." 
 
mmmi 
 
 \ 
 
 192 FARM-MACHINEBY TRADE ASSOCUHONS. 
 
 "Affords the regular dealers the full measure of protection. 
 Eefuses under all conditions to sell any goods at retail." 
 
 " Sells direct where it has no agents carrying its goods in 
 stock, but protects agents where it can get them." 
 
 "Sells output to dealers, but at same time caters to the 
 trade of liverymen, and on such sales declines to pay dealers 
 
 commissions." « - i j 
 
 These records are kept for the benefit of members, and any 
 time a member is in doubt about the policy of a house with whom 
 he is doing business or contemplates buying from, he can get 
 such information as we have at hand by simply asking for it. 
 
 For instance, you may be buying tanks from a manufacturer 
 who professes to be protecting the dealer, but who in reality 
 is taMng any business which comes his way, or vou may receive 
 a letter from some scale company stating that they have a scale 
 at the railroad depot in a neighboring town which was refused 
 and as an inducement for you to take it off of their hands they 
 will make special price, and if vou will take the trouble to make 
 inquiry, you can in most cases learn the facts. 
 
 This information is for the members, and to make the work 
 of the association most effective they should make use of it. The 
 records are made up from reliable information, the result of the 
 most careful investigation. 
 Present methods of disseminating information among dealers. — 
 A principal aim of the implement dealers' associations at present 
 is to find some means by which the names of manufacturers and 
 wholesalers who are unwilling to confine their trade to regular 
 dealers may be reported to members without incurring legal liability. 
 As shown elsewhere (see pp. 200, 202) the National Federation 
 of Implement & Vehicle Dealers' Associations is affiliated with 
 organizations of retailers in other branches of trade in a federation 
 known as the National Federation of Retail Merchants, which is seek- 
 ing an amendment to the antitrust laws to make it lawful for the 
 officials of retail trade associations to disseminate information of this 
 character. The amendment desired by the associations would permit 
 them to advise their members freely regarding so-called violations 
 by wholesalers of rules established by the dealers. If this effort is 
 successful, manufacturers and wholesalers whose names are listed 
 will find it difficult or impossible to secure business from dealers 
 loyal to the fundamental principle of the retail associations, namely, 
 " to the retail dealer belongs the retail trade." 
 
 Moreover, even now the dealers are not without means of inform- 
 ing themselves of the trade policy of manufacturers and wholesalers 
 wyii whom they trade. As already explained (see p. 190), any 
 member of any constituent association of the National Federation, 
 upon request to the secretary of the association to which he belongs, 
 can be furnished with information regarding the trade policy of any 
 particular manufacturer or wholesaler. At the annual meeting of 
 the Federation in 1913, an organization of the secretaries of the 
 
 EESTBICTION OF RETAIL TRADE TO RETAIL DEALERS. 
 
 193 
 
 4 
 
 various constituent associations was formed to secure greater uni- 
 formity in the activities of the several organizations, but it is 
 claimed that this new association has nothing to do with the exchange 
 of information regarding the trade policy of individual manufac- 
 turers and wholesalers, although it is conceivable that such an or- 
 ganization might furnish a convenient means of so doing. Informa- 
 tion so exchanged among the secretaries would be available to any 
 dealer of any of the federated associations, so far as the secretaries 
 of these associations attempt to furnish such information at the 
 request of a member. Furthermore, the secretary of each association 
 has been instructed to place upon his mailing list the names of the 
 secretaries of all the other associations to receive copies of circulars 
 and documents sent out. 
 
 Traveling salesmen of various manufacturers and wholesalers 
 afford a possible means of disseminating information regarding the 
 trade policy of competitors, but this method does not seem to bear 
 any necessary relation to the activity of the dealers' association. 
 
 Another source from which dealers might obtain information of 
 this character has been the columns of The Commercial News, a trade 
 journal published at Sioux Falls, S. Dak. This journal, which 
 appears to have some circulation among implement, vehicle, and 
 hardware dealers, has maintained a printed list of manufacturers and 
 jobbers alleged to be unfair to dealers, and also a list of those sup- 
 posed to be loyal. 
 
 In 1911 the Eastern Dealer, an implement trade paper published 
 at Philadelphia, which was engaged in aggressive opposition to 
 sales by manufacturers to farmers' cooperative stores, printed a list 
 of manufacturers who were alleged to be selling to a cooperative 
 store in Lancaster County, Pa., and quoted two of these manufac- 
 turers as declaring that they would continue to do so. According 
 to the paper, the other concerns listed had promised to investigate 
 the situation. It was stated that their names would be retained on 
 the list or removed according to their decision. The paper requested 
 dealers who knew of other lines so sold to send the facts to the paper 
 for publication. 
 
 Section 5. Opposition to mail-order or catalogue houses. 
 
 Sales ix) mail-order houses by manufacturers. — A determined 
 fight has been made by the organized dealers against mail-order or 
 catalogue houses. In January, 1896, the members of the Western 
 association pledged themselves as an association and as individuals 
 not to patronize or have any dealings with any manufacturer or 
 jobber who sold goods to catalogue houses, and it was decided that 
 every such manufacturer should be reported at least quarterly to 
 
 68248°— 15 Vt 
 
 'A 
 
194 
 
 VABM-MACHINEBY TBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 RESTRICTION OP RETAIL TRADE TO RETAIL DEALERS. 
 
 195 
 
 each member by the secretary. The secretary took this matter up 
 by correspondeiice with various manufacturers, all of whom were 
 reported to have promised cooperation in keeping their goods out 
 of the hands of catalogue houses. It was announced that several 
 concerns had notified their jobbers not to sell any goods to such 
 houses. In April, 1898, a list of manufacturers who had made 
 affidavits that they did not sell to catalogue houses was published 
 in the Implement Dealers' Bulletin, the official paper of the Western 
 association, and in January, 1899, that association authorized the 
 payment of $10 for the presentation of satisfactory evidence of the 
 sale of goods, directly or indirectly, to any catalogue house by any 
 manufacturer or jobber who sold or sought to sell any part of his 
 goods to regular dealers anywhere. In January, 1900, representa- 
 tives of the National Association of Agricultural Implement & 
 Vehicle Manufacturers, the Carriage Builders National Association, 
 the Kansas City Implement, Vehicle & Hardware Club, and the 
 Western association held a conference and recommended that manu- 
 facturers abstain from selling goods to catalogue houses (see p. 134). 
 Shortly afterwards this resolution was indorsed by the National 
 Association of Agricultural Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers. 
 One of the leading trade papers urged dealers to refuse, unitedly 
 and peremptorily, to handle the goods of manufacturers who sold 
 to catalogue houses. It recommended the formation of a general 
 catalogue house committee to discover such manufacturers and 
 furnish their names to dealers in order that the latter might avoid 
 buying from them. It also advised the dealers to obtain the cata- 
 logues of the mail-order houses for the purpose of establishing facts 
 in regard to sales to such houses by different manufacturers and to 
 cooperate with other associations for the suppression of such trade. 
 
 The members of other implement dealers' associations besides the 
 Western pledge themselves not to buy from manufacturers or jobbers 
 who supplied goods to catalogue houses. In 1902 action of this kind 
 was taken by the Illinois Implement Dealers' Association, whose 
 members were reported to have also agreed not to buy from wholesale 
 dealers who handled goods made by manufacturers who supplied 
 catalogue houses. One of the objects in forming the National Fed- 
 eration was to bring the influence of all the associations to bear to 
 keep manufacturers from selling to catalogue houses. 
 
 In 1904 and 1905 the Implement Dealers' Bulletin reported that 
 several large jobbing houses at Kansas City had announced that they 
 would not sell to catalogue houses. 
 
 In the early part of 1907, Judge Carland, of the United States 
 Circuit Court, District of South Dakota, rendered a decision holding 
 that retail dealers had a lawful right to agree among themselves not 
 
 r> 
 
 o 
 
 m 
 
 # 
 
 w 
 
 to purchase merchandise from wholesalers and jobbers who sold to 
 catalogue houses, and to inform each other as to what wholesalers 
 and jobbers sold to such houses. The court also held that letters sent 
 out by the secretary of the defendant association, under instructions 
 of the board of directors, requesting the cooperation of various whole- 
 salers and jobbers, urging them to refuse to sell to mail-order houses 
 and confine their trade to the " legitimate " retail dealer, did not in- 
 volve undue restriction on the right of the catalogue house to carry 
 on its business free from intimidation or coercion, because " it is not 
 unfair competition, intimidation, or coercion for a combination to 
 interfere with this right by persuasion or any peaceable means." 
 (Montgomery Ward & Co. v. South Dakota Retail Merchants' and 
 Hardware Dealers' Association and others, 150 Fed. Rep., 413.) 
 
 This decision apparently led the directors of the Western association 
 to undertake arrangements for the appointment of a joint committee 
 of dealers and wholesalers to cooperate in plans to meet catalogue- 
 house competition. Furthermore, to ascertain the identity of fac- 
 tories which were supplying catalogue houses as well as selling to 
 dealers, the secretary of the Federation undertook the compilation 
 of a list of all catalogue houses that sold any class of goods likely 
 to be handled by members of the constituent associations of the 
 Federation. The secretaries of the latter organizations were ap- 
 pealed to for assistance as well as the members of the National Asso- 
 ciation of Agricultural Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers. 
 
 In October, 1908, the dealers belonging to the Federation re- 
 quested the National Association of Agricultural Implement & 
 Vehicle Manufacturers to request its members to absolutely discon- 
 tinue the sale of goods to catalogue houses, and it was suggested 
 that such sales should disqualify any manufacturer for membership 
 in tho association. Moreover, an editorial in the Implement Dealers' 
 Bulletin shortly afterwards pointed out that dealers ought to bestow 
 their patronage where the dealer was recognized as a necessary link 
 in the chain of distribution. 
 
 The policy of the National Federation at that time was stated to 
 be one of persuasion. It was asserted that the dealers wanted the 
 National Association of Agricultural Implement & Vehicle Manu- 
 facturers, most of whose members confined their sales to dealers, to 
 show the minority the injustice of selling to catalogue houses while 
 selling to dealers. While no systematic campaign appears to have 
 been undertaken by any of the manufacturers' associations at this 
 time, it seems to have become an unwritten qualification for member- 
 ship that the members should confine their sales to retailers. 
 
 Until 1908 the active opposition of the dealers' associations toward 
 mail-order houses was largely confined to efforts to prevent the en- 
 actment of parcel-post legislation and to shut off the sources from 
 
196 
 
 FARM-MACHINERY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 which the latter concerns were supplied with goods. As a part of 
 the earlier plans to induce manufacturers not to sell to mail-order 
 houses by the withdrawal of the dealers' patronage, it was neces- 
 sary to advise the members of the dealers' association as to the 
 names of such manufacturers, and in this connection the same dif- 
 ficulty presented itself as to the use of methods that were safely 
 within the law as in reporting the names of manufacturers selling 
 directly or to irregular dealers. (See p. 185.) I^ess hesitation was 
 felt in regard to the circulation of the names of those concerns whose 
 avowed policy was to sell directly. After it became evident that the 
 Information Bureau of the National Federation could not safely 
 disseminate among the dealers generally the names of manufacturers 
 who persisted in selling a part or the whole of their product to cata- 
 logue houses, efforts were made to devise some means by which the 
 dealers could be advised more directly and definitely of the names of 
 these manufacturers and wholesalers. In a general letter to members 
 in June, 1910, the secretary of the Western association called atten- 
 tion to the fact that the names of such jobbers and manufacturers 
 could not be listed or published, but that members could obtain infor- 
 mation by asking the secretary for it. Most manufacturers seem to 
 have been in sympathy with the efforts of the dealers to curtail the 
 sales of the mail-order houses, but some manufacturers furnished 
 them with goods. 
 
 In January, 1910, the manufacturers' and dealers' associations 
 became alarmed over the announcement that one of the large 
 Chicago mail-order houses had purchased a well-known, established 
 factory making plows and other farm implements, and unsuccessful 
 protests were made to prevent the exhibit of its products at the 
 Illinois State Fair, but it is claimed that greater success attended 
 similar efforts to prevent the exhibition of its products at fairs m 
 
 Iowa and Minnesota. 
 
 At the conventions of the various associations of implement deal- 
 ers during the season of 1912-13 indorsement was given to a bill 
 introduced in Congress making it compulsory for manufactured 
 articles to be branded with the name of the maker. At these con- 
 tentions special reference was made to the protection which the bill 
 was calculated to afford retail dealers against the competition of 
 mail-order houses by revealing the name of manufacturers who sold 
 goods to mail-order houses. In its original form the bill did not 
 meet with the approval of the manufacturers, largely because it 
 allowed no exception to be made of parts sold by one manufacturer 
 to another for assembling to make a complete machine. 
 
 During the last two or three years it has been customary for the 
 various State and interstate associations of implement dealers to con- 
 
 41 > 
 % I • 
 
 ^ 
 
 RESTRICTION OP RETAIL TRADE TO RETAIL DEALERS. 197 
 
 duct a " question box " at their annual conventions. Questions sub- 
 mitted by individual members are read from the platform by one of 
 the members selected to conduct the discussion which ensues. One of 
 the questions presented for consideration of the Wisconsin Retail 
 Implement & Vehicle Dealers' Association, at its annual convention 
 held at Milwaukee, December 15-17, 1914, was : 
 
 What attitude has the Wisconsin dealer taken towards a manu- 
 facturer who sells mail order houses and the dealers ? We refer 
 to the Hercules Engine Co. of Evansville, Ind., an exhibitor. 
 
 It was understood by the dealers present that the Hercules com- 
 pany was selling gasoline engines to one of the large mail-order 
 houses. It had arranged to make an exhibit of its products at the 
 dealers' convention, notwithstanding the fact that the dealers ex- 
 pected all exhibitors to display a sign provided by the association to 
 the effect that they did not sell to catalogue houses nor direct to the 
 
 consumer. 
 
 A representative of the Hercules company was invited to appear 
 before the dealers to explain the policy of his company. He stated 
 that the company was making gasoline engines fcr one of the largest 
 mail-order houses in the United States, but that this engine was given 
 a different name and was built along different lines from that sold to 
 dealers, although both engines were of the same quality. He pointed 
 out the advantage to the company in selling a large number of en- 
 gines for cash to the mail-order house. He declared that he had 
 instructed the company's traveling men to explain to every dealer 
 that the company was engaged in selling to the mail-order house. 
 
 Following this explanation he answered the dealers' questions 
 about his company and its trade. After his withdrawal his state- 
 ment was discussed, and the secretary spoke as follows: 
 
 ♦ ♦ * I have never bought a dollar's worth of goods from 
 any manufacturer that I knew was selling either direct to the 
 trade or to a catalogue house, and I never will. We have a great 
 deal of difficulty in finding out who these people are, and you all 
 have that trouble. They all like to misrepresent one another at 
 times, and the only fair and right and honest way to find out is 
 to bring the gentlemen before such an intelligent body of men, 
 and when he tells you right out and out that they manufacture 
 and sell to the catalogue house, not to buy a dollar's worth of 
 goods from the Hercules Buggy Co. and the Hercules Engine 
 Co and I would go farther than that as an individual, 1 would 
 try to keep anyone else from buying from the manufacturer that 
 sells to the mail order people, because we have nothing in com- 
 mon with them. They advertise in their catalogue that the 
 dealer is robbing the consumer, and they tell it m so many plain 
 words in their catalogue, and they never lose an opportunity to 
 get a swipe at a dealer because they say that our price is so much 
 and the dealer's price is so much and he is robbing you all. I hey 
 
198 
 
 FARM-MACHINEBY TBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 will print an article of that kind to deceive the consumer. It is 
 my duty as an honest implement dealer to do all I can to prevent 
 my brother dealer from buying from them. 
 
 Later, he again addressed the dealers as follows : 
 
 Your secretary is going to have this published in the trade 
 papers verbatim. We want every dealer in the United States 
 to Know the truth, what is the reputation and the business prac- 
 tice of this company and just exactly what they are doing, then 
 it is up to the individual to decide whether he will protect a loy:il 
 retail trade. 
 
 I would move you that the matter be lef erred to the resolutions 
 committee, with instructions to bring in a resolution stating 
 plainly what the attitude of the organized dealer should be in 
 regard to the sale of goods manufactured by the Hercules Gas 
 Engine Co. 
 In connection with this matter the association adopted the follow- 
 ing resolution: 
 
 The practice of certain manufacturers who sell their product 
 to catalogue and mail order houses and at the same time solicit 
 the trade of the regular retail dealer, cannot be too strongly con- 
 demned. Even if they do make a cheaper and inferior article 
 for the catalogue house trade and brand it under a different 
 name, we deem it a bad business policy for the regular dealer to 
 patronize such a manufacturer, and the dealer who desires to 
 protect his customers as well as himself should handle only first- 
 class goods manufactured by those who are loyal to the retail 
 trade. The catalogue and mail order houses contribute nothing 
 toward the advancement and development of the rural communi- 
 ties. They pay no taxes, render no service, nor do they help to 
 carry the burdens usually borne by the dealers and consumers in 
 tiio small towns and agricultural sections of our state. And if 
 we would maintain our schools, churches and public institutions 
 of all kinds, and develop and expand the resources of our several 
 localities, we must see to it that we protect not only our own 
 interests, but those of our customers, by offering to our trade 
 articles of real worth and merit, and at a price consistent with 
 fair and reasonable profits, and manufactured by those whom we 
 know to be fair and honest in their dealings with the regular 
 trade. 
 Parcel-post legislation.— The establishment of a parcel-post sys- 
 tem was opposed on the ground that it would aid the catalogue houses 
 and be of little benefit to anyone else. The various dealei-s' associa- 
 tions inaugurated a vigorous campaign of opposition to the enact- 
 ment of such legislation, and petitions of protest were circulated. 
 It was claimed that the efforts of the dealers led to a change in the 
 attitude of many manufacturers. In 1903 it was reported that offi- 
 cers of the various constituent associations of the Federation had 
 addressed letters to Senators and Representatives in Congress from 
 their respective States, protesting against the adoption of a proposed 
 
 / 
 
 EESTRICTION OP RETAIL TRADE TO RETAIL DEALERS. 
 
 199 
 
 amendment to the post-office appropriation bill to provide for an ex- 
 perimental parcel post and calling attention to petitions that had 
 previously been forwarded to them. Manufacturers and jobbers 
 were urged to aid the dealers. A little later the secretary of the Fed- 
 eration, in a general letter to secretaries of the various constituent 
 associations, claimed that some time previously, through the efforts 
 of the dealers' Federation, the manufacturers belonging to the Na- 
 tional Association of Agricultural Implement & Vehicle Manufac- 
 turers had adopted a resolution instructing the legislative committee 
 of that association to do everything they could in opposition to a 
 parcel-post bill, although a resolution indorsing the bill had previ- 
 ously been prepared for adoption. Members of the constituent 
 associations of the Federation were urged to renewed efforts to 
 defeat the bill by personal interviews or correspondence with their 
 Members of Congress, and it was reported that the manufacturers 
 belonging to the National Association of Agricultural Implement & 
 Vehicle Manufacturers had adopted a similar plan. 
 
 During this period the implement dealers' association kept up a 
 constant agitation against parcel-post legislation, and it was re- 
 ported that the officials of the implement dealers' Federation were 
 working in harmony with the National Hardware Dealers' Associa- 
 tion and other dealers' organizations in outlining plans for placing 
 the dealers' side of the case before Congress. 
 
 A new line of attack on parcel-post legislation was proposed in 
 the early part of 1908, namely, an attempt to cultivate a sentiment 
 among the farmers opposing such legislation. A plan of this sort 
 had been suggested ten years before by members of the Nebraska 
 & Western Iowa Implement Dealers' Association, who proposed 
 arrangements for meetings of the farmers to explain the damage 
 done to local communities by trading with catalogue houses. Little 
 progress, however, seems to have been made along this line. 
 
 In February, 1909, the secretary of the Federation wrote the sec- 
 retaries of the various constituent associations that the outlook in 
 regard to parcel-post matters was not favorable, and he admonished 
 the secretaries to see that their Senators were "bombarded" with 
 protests at once. He also requested the assistance of the Kansas City 
 implement jobbers' club, asking that its members telegraph their 
 Senators protesting the enactment of a resolution for an experi- 
 mental parcel post in four counties. 
 
 Early in 1910 a committee representing various trade organiza- 
 tions, including those of the retail implement and vehicle dealers, 
 appeared before a subcommittee of the Committee on Post Office 
 and Post Roads of the United States House of Representatives to 
 oppose the various parcel-post bills that had been referred to that 
 
200 
 
 FABM-MACHINERY TBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 committee. This committee did not confine its efforts to the mem- 
 bers of the Postal Committee, but lost no opportunity to explain the 
 dealers' position to other Congressmen. It was thought that, even 
 if the Postal Committee should make a favorable report, enough 
 uncertainty existed in the minds of Congressmen regarding the 
 advisability of enacting such legislation to prevent any action at 
 that session of Congress. In October, 1910, the Federation gave 
 instructions that whenever it became necessary a representative 
 should be sent to Washington to look after the interests of the 
 implement dealers. 
 
 Early in 1911 it was announced that an organization, known as 
 the American league of Associations, had been formed to guide the 
 organizations of manufacturers, jobbers, and dealers in various 
 lines and direct the campaign against parcel-post legislation. In 
 February, 1911, the secretary of the Federation of implement deal- 
 ers' associations in a general letter to the secretary of each of the 
 constituent associations stated that the league had prepared a peti- 
 tion protesting against parcel-post legislation, that should be signed 
 by every merchant and professional man in the United States. He 
 insisted that the implement dealers' Federation must do its part in 
 the distribution of this petition. 
 
 In the latter part of 1911 a general federation of national organ- 
 izations of retailers in various lines was organized at Chicago for 
 the purpose of stopping legislation inimical to retail merchants and 
 to promote legislation for their advancement. The project for this 
 association appears to have originated with the secretary of the 
 Michigan Retail Lumber Dealers' Association, who was subse- 
 quently selected by a committee of the Lumber Secretaiies' Bureau 
 to develop the idea by correspondence with different interests in 
 the United States. Some correspondence passed with the secre- 
 tary of the implement dealers' National Federation, and the latter 
 also discussed the project yvith the secretary of the Southwestern 
 Lumber Dealers' Association. It was pointed out that if such a 
 federation became powerful enough it could, among other things, 
 prevent the enactment of a parcel-post bill. It could also work for 
 a modification of the Sherman Antitrust Law to allow the retail 
 merchants to maintain their organizations in order to exchange 
 information regarding the source of catalogue-house competition. 
 The meeting at which this new federation, known as the National 
 Federation of Retail Merchants, was formed, was attended by rep- 
 resentatives of the implement dealers' National Federation. The 
 executive committee of the latter Federation was authorized to take 
 such action as it deemed best in reference to becoming affiliated with 
 the new federation, of which the secretary of the implement dealers' 
 Federation was elected a director. 
 
 i^^\ 
 
 EESTRICTION OF RETAIL TBADE TO RETAIL DEALERS. 201 
 
 During 1911 and 1912 the secretary of the implement dealers' 
 Federation issued several letters to the secretaries of the constituent 
 associations relative to the matter of parcel-post legislation. A rep- 
 resentative of the Federation also appeared before the Senate Com- 
 mittee on Post Offices and Post Roads to oppose such legislation, 
 and it was announced that the secretary of the American League of 
 Associations had established headquarters in Washington, where he 
 was working early and late in daily communication with all tha 
 associations of dealers that were sending him any assistance. 
 
 In March, 1912, the prospect for the enactment of parcel-post 
 legislation apparently became so certain that the secretary of the 
 implement dealers' Federation, and also the secretary of the Na- 
 tional Federation of Retail Merchants, sent out an appeal to those 
 opposed to such legislation to urge their representatives at Wash- 
 ington to do everything in their power to secure the appointment of 
 a commission to make a thorough investigation of the subject before 
 any legislation was enacted. 
 
 Members of the constituent associations of the implement dealers' 
 Federation were urged to arrange at once with their local newspa- 
 pers to print articles that had been furnished them for the purpose of 
 building up a sentiment among the readers of country newspapers 
 against the parcel post. It was pointed out to the dealers that the 
 local newspaper editor would be glad to publish one of these articles 
 each week at the dealers' request, especially if the latter were adver- 
 tising in the paper. Members of the implement dealers' Federation 
 and of the National Implement & Vehicle Associi«tion were urged to 
 write their Congressmen to indorse the commission plan. 
 
 The efforts of the dealers to prevent the enactment of parcel-post 
 legislation proved futile, but the Implement Dealers' Bulletin, in re- 
 ferring to the law establishing a zone system, stated that it was the 
 least injurious to the retail merchants of any that had been proposed. 
 Dealers were admonished, however, to keep up their organizations 
 to try to prevent any changes that would be still more injurious. 
 Subsequently the National Federation of Retail Merchants adopted 
 a resolution favoring a revision of the postal laws so that the carry- 
 ing charge for the different classes of mail should be sufficient to 
 maintain each department without financial assistance from any 
 other source. This movement had already been indorsed at a meet- 
 ing of the implement dealers' National Federation in connection with 
 a recommendation to the secretary of the Federation to use every 
 effort, both directly and through other organizations, to secure the 
 enactment of a 1-cent letter postage law. Arrangements were also 
 made for each member of the various implement associations to re- 
 ceive literature on the subject direct from the National One Cent 
 
i 
 
 %m 
 
 FABM-MAOHINEBY TBABE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 Letter Postage Association. This cunpaign was intended to bring 
 about increased charges on parcel-post matter. 
 
 In the meantime the National Federation of Retail Merchants had 
 held a meeting at St. Louis in November, 1912, at which resolutions 
 were adopted, demanding legislation by Congress to permit coopera- 
 tion among retailers to protect against outside competition, and 
 pledging the support of the Federation to all efforts in this direction. 
 Another meeting was held in December, 1913, and shortly afterwards 
 i«presentatiyes of the National Federation of Retail Merchants vis- 
 ited Washington to present arguments in favor of legislation allow- 
 ing retailers to join forces for the purpose of obtaining and furnish- 
 ing each other with information regarding the acts and selling poli- 
 cies of wholesalers. A representative of this organization is reported 
 to have disclaimed any intention on the part of the dealers to use this 
 information to institute boycotts. 
 
 Legislation against misrepresentation in advertising. — ^It is 
 claimed by dealers, trade papers, and manufacturers who sell 
 through dealers that advertising matter of mail-order houses is fre- 
 quently misleading in representations as to the character and quality 
 of goods. In October, 1911, the secretary of the implement dealers' 
 Federation called attention to an agitation that had been begun 
 to secure the enactment of laws prohibiting misrepresentation in 
 advertisements, and in this connection he pointed out that, as such a 
 law would benefit retailers in all lines in their struggle with mail- 
 order houses, it seemed an opportune time for the Federation to take 
 steps to give an impetus to the movement. At this meeting of the 
 delegates of the various implement dealers' associations the secretary 
 of the American League of Associations explained a bill that had 
 been introduced in Congress at the request of a retail merchants' 
 association in Iowa. The delegates indorsed the movemejit and urged 
 action at the coming conventions of the constituent associations. 
 
 The possibilities of legislation to aid dealers in competition with 
 mail-order houses had been called to the attention of the secretary 
 of the implement dealers' National Federation by the secretary of the 
 Southwestern Lumber Dealers' Association in outlining the field for 
 the proposed general federation of retailers. At the meeting at 
 which this general federation was organized the movement for a pure- 
 advertising law aroused considerable interest, and it was reported that 
 the opinion was expressed that the passage of such a law would de- 
 prive the mail-order interests of ''one of their strongest trade 
 
 pullers.'' 
 
 The movement was indorsed at the conventions of the various im- 
 plement dealers' associations, and also aroused the interest of the 
 secretary of the National Implement & Vehicle Association, who 
 issued a bulletin to ascertain the opinion of the members as to whether 
 
 RESTRICTION OF RETAIL TRADE TO RETAIL DEALERS. 203 
 
 the association as an organization should lend its support to the 
 passage of such a law in the several States or as a National measure. 
 In April, 1912, it was reported that, in compliance with the request 
 of the implement dealers' National Federation, the National Imple- 
 ment & Vehicle Association was using its best efforts to build up sen- 
 timent in favor of such a law. The matter was discussed at the 
 conference between representatives of the manufacturers and the deal- 
 ers at Kansas City in January, 1912, and also in October, 1912, by 
 ihe delegates to the annual meeting of the implement dealers' Na- 
 tional Federation. At the latter meeting resolutions were again 
 adopted favoring such legislation, urging prompt action at the com- 
 ing conventions of the constituent associations and other active meas- 
 ures to secure the enactment of this law and others, including that 
 relating to the branding of goods with the maker's name, and also 
 to a peddler's license law. Furthermore, the National Federation of 
 Retail Merchants shortly afterwards adopted a resolution urging the 
 officers and directors of all retail associations to tajje immediate steps 
 to secure the passage of an honest-advertising law in the several 
 States to pave the way for similar legislation by Congress. 
 
 Farm-paper advertising. — Another method proposed by the imple- 
 ment dealers' associations to curtail the advertising facilities of mail- 
 ofder houses has been to persuade publishers of various papers to 
 exclude the advertisements of catalogue houses from their colunms. 
 In 1899 an article published in the Implement Dealers' Bulletin 
 advised the dealers to see if they could not make their local news- 
 paper men see the effect of mail-order trading upon local merchants 
 in the same light in which it was viewed by the latter, and in this 
 way it was thought that the effort to exclude such advertising would 
 be successful. Subsequently several of the implement trade papers 
 announced the adoption of a policy of refusing advertisements from 
 manufacturers who were supplying goods to catalogue houses, and 
 the secretary of the Federation in writing to the editor of one of 
 these papers stated that he had had considerable correspondence in 
 regard to this particular matter and hoped that it would result in 
 the exclusion of this kind of advertising. Furthermore, in October, 
 1909, the delegates to the implement dealers' National Federation 
 held a conference with representatives of the trade press to devise 
 plans to furnish the papers pledged to protect the dealers with in- 
 formation in regard to concerns who sold directly to users and to 
 catalogue houses, while at the same time soliciting the trade of 
 dealers. While the representatives of the papers expressed sym- 
 pathy with the objects sought, no formal action appears to have been 
 
 taken. 
 
 An interesting phase of the situation has developed from an effort 
 by the dealers to persuade manufacturers selling through the dealer 
 
204 
 
 FABM-MACHINEBY TKADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 to refrain from advertising in farm papers that also publish adver- 
 tisements of catalogue houses. Early in 1910 the secretary of the 
 Federation in writing to the various other secretaries stated that 
 information had been received that a certain farm paper, the name of 
 which was given, was writing to some of the officers of the dealers' 
 associations, asking if the dealers would not encourage manufacturers 
 to advertise more liberally in farm papers. In this connection, the 
 secretary of the Federation advised each secretary that if the latter 
 should receive one of these letters he should in his reply state that, 
 since, as a rule, the patronage of farm papers seemed to be princi- 
 pally that of mail-order houses, the manufacturers felt that they 
 owed it to the regular dealer to refrain from advertising in such a 
 
 medium. 
 
 The matter was brought up in January, 1911, at a conference be- 
 tween representatives of the dealers' associations and National Im- 
 plement & Vehicle Association. The manufacturers were asked if 
 something could not be done to obviate the practice by which deal- 
 ers, and manufacturers marketing their product through dealers, 
 advertised in papers that carried advertising for catalogue houses 
 and direct-selling concerns— advertising that worked against the 
 interest of the local merchant. There ^as some discussion of the 
 subject, but no formal action was taken. A few weeks later the 
 executive committee of the National Implement & Vehicle Associa- 
 tion decided to ascertain from the members as to articles or edi- 
 torials appearing in farm papers detrimental to the interest of the 
 members of the association and then to take the matter up further 
 with members advertising in such papers. In the discussion by 
 members of the committee it was brought out that some of the edi- 
 torials in a number of the farm papers amounted to a strong recom- 
 mendation to their readers to patronize the catalogue houses and 
 direct-selling manufacturers. Any desire to dictate or suggest the 
 policy of such papers in receiving advertising was disclaimed, but 
 it was thought that the implement and vehicle manufacturers whose 
 advertising was alleged to furnish the farm papers with one of 
 their largest sources of revenue were entitled to greater considera- 
 tion at the hands of the papers. It was stated that the puipose of 
 canvassing the manufacturers on this subject was not to protest as 
 an association, but to gather and compile data for the use of mem- 
 bers as purchasers of advertising space. The various dealers' asso- 
 ciations devoted considerable attention to the matter during the 
 convention season of 1911-12, and the difficulty of determining 
 what papers should be used as advertising mediums was discussed 
 at conferences between the manufacturers and dealers. The sec- 
 retary of the National Implement & Vehicle Association requested 
 that "he be furnished with the names of papers containing edi- 
 
 RESTRICTION OF RETAIL TRADE TO RETAIL DEALERS. 206 
 
 torials objectionable from this standpoint. In M?rch, 1912, the 
 secretary of the Federation advised the secretaries of the several 
 constituent associations that the Federation's agitation was bearing 
 fruit, and he asked for suggestions as to how to secure the informa- 
 tion to make the work effective. Writing the secretary of the Na- 
 tional Implement & Vehicle Association shortly afterwards, he stated 
 that a plan was being considered of subscribing to a large number 
 of those papers and distributing them among prominent members to 
 be read and clipped. He wrote that he considered that much good 
 would result from the agitation. 
 
 Further evidence that the campaign was producing results was pre- 
 sented in 1912 in a letter of the secretary and general manager of the 
 National Implement & Vehicle Association to the secretary of the 
 dealers' Federation, in which he said that he had received a state- 
 ment from one of the companies belonging to the associj.tion, saymg 
 that it had taken up the matter of favoring catalogue-house methods, 
 with the entire list of 70 papers in which it advertised and had 
 received a declaration from each declaring that editorial indorsement 
 would not be given to mail-order houses. 
 
 In August, 1913, the Implement Dealers' Bulletin called attention 
 to a convention of the publishers of country newspapers that had 
 just been held at Chicago, at which the subject of mail-order adver- 
 tising was one of the principal topics discussed. The Bulletin stated 
 that it had been the consensus of opinion that all such advertismg 
 should be eliminated, although a few of the delegates took the posi- 
 tion that they could not refuse the mail-order contracts unless the 
 merchants gave them more patronage. Possibly, as the result of 
 this attitude on the part of some of the publishers, the delegates at 
 the annual meeting of the implement dealers' National Federation 
 went on record in favor of the manufacturers giving more attention 
 to local papers in placing advertising and less to farm papers, after 
 the secretary of the Federation had compared the relative merits 
 of the two methods of advertising, asserting that practically every 
 farm paper advocates, either directly or by implication, patronage 
 of mail-order houses, while the local country newspaper helps to 
 build up the trade of the home merchant. He declared that it was a 
 ftubject that concerns the business success of manufacturer, jobber, 
 and dealer alike. The subject was considered at a conference between 
 representatives of the dealers' Federation and of the National Im- 
 plement & Vehicle Association in October, 1913, with a view to sug- 
 gesting to manufacturers the advisability of trying out local news- 
 papers. The Illinois implement dealers' association adopted a reso- 
 lution to th effect chat manufacturers selling to dealers should not 
 advertise in farm papers which advocate mail-order buying, and 
 one of the local clubs of dealers in Kansas appointed a committee to 
 
 .-i 
 
206 
 
 FARM-MACHINERY TRADE ASS0GUTI0N8. 
 
 -< 
 
 ili 
 
 confer with the newspapers in the county to devise ways and means 
 for increasing the advertising in home papers and eliminating some 
 of the advertisements in the farm papers. Furthermore, the mem- 
 bers of the Western association adopted resohitions expressing the 
 belief that a more liberal use of the local county papers by the man- 
 ufacturers in advertising their goods would be of greater benefit to 
 the dealers generally than the use of farm papers and would elimi- 
 nate much of the direct sales' controversy. 
 
 The position taken by the National Federation of Implement & 
 Vehicle Dealers' Associations and the National Implement & Vehicle 
 Association against the indorsement by farm papers of mail-order 
 houses and mail-order buying seems to have had some success, for in 
 December, 1914, a resolution on the subject was adopted by the 
 Agricultural Publishers' Association, composed of about 40 of the 
 leading farm papers. This resolution read as follows : 
 
 Resolved^ That it is the sense of the members of the Agricul- 
 tural Publishers' Association that the farm papers of America 
 do exclude from their colunms copy attacking retail or whole- 
 sale dealers, assailing advertisers selling either direct or through 
 dealers, or reflecting in any unfair manner upon a competitor in 
 business. 
 
 Chautauqua home-trade talks. — ^Another plan designed to cur- 
 tail the competition of mail-order houses had meantime been put on 
 foot by the National Federation of Retail Merchants. The idea was 
 to build up sentiment in favor of home trading by means of ad- 
 dresses at Chautauqua meetings, advocating the preservation of the 
 retail business for the home merchants. In July, 1913, the Imple- 
 ment Dealers' Bulletin indorsed the plan and announced that the 
 movement would be given all the encouragement that implement and 
 hardware associations were able to wield. In October, 1913, the 
 delegates to the annual meeting of the implement dealers' Federation 
 voted to cooperate with the National Federation of Eetail Merchants 
 in this matter. At the meeting of the Western association in Janu- 
 ary, 1914, the members adopted resolutions pledging themselves to 
 assist in securing as large an attendance as possible to hear the 
 speakers on this subject and instructing the secretary of the associa- 
 tion to cooperate with the Chautauqua bureaus in keeping members 
 of the association informed concerning the dates of these lectures. 
 
 ^1 
 
 CHAPTER Vn. 
 PEEVENTION OT PEICE CUTTING AMONG COMPETING DEALERS. 
 
 Section 1. Introduction. 
 
 In addition to the prevention of price cutting, by suppressing the 
 competition of irregular dealers and direct sellers, the dealers' asso- 
 ciations are concerned with the maintenance of profitable prices 
 among the regular dealers themselves. 
 
 Manufacturers and other wholesalers are opposed to selling to 
 dealers who are habitual price cutters. They desire that dealers 
 shall make a profit in order that the latter may be better able to 
 meet their obligations. Another motive of the manufacturers and 
 wholesalers, apparently, in helping to keep up retail prices is that 
 they may thereby be able to charge higher prices to the dealers. 
 
 Section 2. Resale price maintenance. 
 
 The dissatisfaction of the dealers with conditions in the binder 
 trade in the later eighties and early nineties (see p. 15) led the deal- 
 ers to request manufacturers and wholesalers to establish and main- 
 tain uniform prices. In January, 1891, the members of the Western 
 association adopted a resolution expressing the sense of the conven- 
 tion that the manufacturer should cancel the contract of any retail 
 dealer who was found to be cutting prices during the season. Its 
 members sought the cooperation of the Kansas City jobbers. These 
 efforts caused a memorial to be addressed to the various harvesting- 
 machine companies by their representatives at Kansas City, one of 
 the matters presented being the alleged necessity of establishing and 
 maintaining uniform prices. This memorial read in part as follows ; 
 
 It is apparent to all of us that prices have been greatly demor- 
 alized by reports circulated by unscrupulous farmers, canvass- 
 ers and local dealers, whose sole object has been to profit at the 
 expense of the manufacturers, and we now pray that you follow 
 the example of the heavier manufacturers and establish a uni- 
 form price, both retail and net wholesale, on all harvesting 
 machines, to be based on Missouri river freights for the territory 
 covered by our respective agencies, to be maintained during the 
 
 entire season of 1892. 
 
 207 
 
208 
 
 FARM-MACHINERY TRADE ASSOOUTIONS. 
 
 \ 
 
 Although the contracts of some of the binder manufacturers con- 
 tained a provision requiring dealers to maintain retail prices fixed 
 by the manufacturers, the pressure of competition among the latter 
 seems to have been too strong for the strict enforcement of a pro- 
 vision of this sort. 
 
 At the annual meeting of the dealers' Federation in 1901, a year 
 before the International Harvester Co. was organized, a resolution 
 was adopted favoring the adoption of uniform retail prices by all 
 the manufacturers of harvesting machinery and that local agents be 
 required to maintain these prices. 
 
 In 1904, the Federation again requested the various harvester 
 manufacturers to establish and maintain a uniform minimum 
 retail price for each territory. The International Harvester Co. 
 replied that it would insist upon compliance with clause 5 in its 
 agency contracts, under which the agent agreed to sell all machines 
 or property received under the contract at such prices and on such 
 terms as might be fixed in writing by the International Harvester 
 Co. After 1905, however, this clause of the contract was omit- 
 ted.* . 1. 1 1 
 
 Within recent years manufacturers of farm machmery have largely 
 
 discontinued the practice of fixing retail prices, althougli some com- 
 panies have not yet done so. List prices, from which the dealers 
 receive large discounts, are prmted in the agency contracts of various 
 wholesalers, notably those handling plows and tillage implements. 
 These list prices are sometimes intended to serve as a guide to the 
 retail dealers in making their prices. (See p. 43.) 
 
 Implement associations have been more active in pushing the cost- 
 educational movement (see pp. 218-243) than pny other plan of 
 retail-price maintenance. In January, 1915, however, the Western 
 association not only indorsed the Stevens bill pending in Congress, 
 but also the principle that the manufacturer, for his own protection 
 and that of dealers, should have the right to set resale prices. 
 
 Section 3. Price agreements among deftlen. 
 
 Most of the early State and interstate associations of dealers that 
 were formed recognized the difficulty of getting its members to adopt 
 and adhere to fixed retail-price schedules. A principal objection to 
 such efforts lay in the practical difficulty of fixing a uniform price on 
 farm machines of different makes, sizes, and specifications, and secur- 
 ing the observance of such prices among dealers scattered over a wide 
 territory. Moreover, there was the danger of conflict with the anti- 
 
 1 Report of the CommlSBioner of CorporaUono oa tlw IntoraaUoiua Hanrester Co., pp. 
 310-315. 
 
 -»'l 
 
 PBEVBNTION OF PRICE CUTTING AMONG DEALERS. 
 
 209 
 
 trust laws. Most of these associations urged their members to observe 
 profitable prices and not to cut them, the practice of price cutting to 
 secure trade being referred to as an "unwise and short sighted policy." 
 In a report by a trade paper of the proceedings at the annual con- 
 vention of the Western association in January, 1893, it was stated: 
 
 Towards the close of the convention * * * [one memljer 
 of the association] struck the keynote in plans for preventing 
 demoralization in the retail trade when he told of the agree- 
 ment he had entered into with the dealers in his town, fixing a 
 retail price on all the goods they sold. 
 
 In January, 1894, the harvester committee of the Western associa- 
 tion reported that the managers of several of the harvesting-machine 
 companies recommended that "the retail implement dealers should 
 establish a uniform retail price among themselves.'* 
 
 The adoption of a schedule of prices below which dealers agreed 
 not to sell seemed to assure a larger profit to all. But when such an 
 agreement was entered into the dealer who cut prices had a great 
 advantage over the dealer who attempted to hold to the agreed 
 prices. Hence, they generally proved a failure because no practicable 
 means could be found to enforce the agreement. Several instances 
 have been found where price agreements have bee?i entered into by 
 dealers in local competition with each other. Most of these are of 
 an early date, but others are more recent. 
 
 In 1899 dealers in Lancaster County, Nebr., maintained an agreed 
 schedule of uniform minimum prices. A year or two later the plan 
 was extended to other dealers in southern Nebraska, the South Platte 
 association being formed. For several years the latter association 
 attempted to maintain a list of minimum retail prices that had been 
 prepared by its president, a dealer in Lancaster County. In 1904 it 
 was reported that the plan was working well, but these efforts are 
 said to have led to the collapse of the association a few years later. 
 
 In September, 1903, the Implement Dealers' Bulletin stated that 
 the subject of prices usually occupied some of the time at each meet- 
 ing of a local organization that had been formed among dealers in 
 northeastern Kansas. It was stated, however, that no ironclad agree- 
 ments were made, and hence no penalties were needed. During 1908 
 dealers in Marshall and Kittson Counties, Minn., agreed upon a price 
 list for binders, mowers, and rakes, and in 1904 two dealers at War- 
 ren, Minn., signed a similar agreement. No information is avail- 
 able to indicate the extent to which these lists were adhered to. 
 Later, dealers in the vicinity of Olivia, Minn., and others around 
 Devil's Lake, N. Dak., adopted price lists, which, it is said, were not 
 closely followed. 
 
 68248"— 15 ^14 
 
 ^> I • 
 
210 
 
 FAEM-MACHINEBY TBAOE ASSOCIATIONa 
 
 ! 
 
 Ill 
 
 In April, 1904, an association was formed among dealers in Jack- 
 •son County, Mich, Later this association adopted a resolution 
 requesting all members to add not less than 26 per cent to the cost 
 price to make a selling price. 
 
 The Fargo District Implement Dealers' Association, consisting of 
 some 40 dealers, organized in May, 1904, to better conditions in the 
 territory about Fargo, N. Dak., adopted a schedule of minimum per- 
 centages of profit on the cost of goods sold. On drills not less than 
 20 per cent of the cost was to be added to the cost of the goods plus 
 freight; on gang plows and harroWs, 15 per cent; on binders, the 
 International schedule was to be followed, while mowers were to be 
 sold at $46 and $48, according to size ; on gasoline engines, rakes, and 
 buggies, at least 25 per cent; while on twine, not less than 2 cents net 
 per pound was to be added to the cost. It is claimed that these rules 
 were not binding and that they were not closely observed. 
 
 An association organized at Bismarck, N. Dak., in March, 1904, 
 known as the Missouri Slope Retail Implement Dealers' Association, 
 is said to have included dealers in two-thirds of North Dakota. An 
 important feature of the work of this association was the adoption 
 of retail price lists in 1907 and 1909. This association appears to 
 have held no meetings after 1909. An organization composed of 
 four implement dealers at Dickinson, N. Dak., did not use the price 
 list furnished by the Missouri Slope Retail Implement Dealers' Asso- 
 ciation, which was regarded as too low for that territory, but agreed 
 upon a list of their own. A copy of this list was hung in the store 
 of each member and was adhered to fairly closely in 1911, according 
 to the dealers, though there was no penalty for failure to do so. 
 
 In 1908, and again in 1909, a number of dealers in the vicinity of 
 Grafton, N. Dak., met and adopted a list of retail prices, although 
 it is stated that the dealers were not obliged to hold to these prices. 
 In February, 1910, members of an organization formed at Crookston, 
 Minn., composed of dealers in two adjoining counties, agreed upon 
 & retail price list, copies of which were distributed among the dealers. 
 It is stated that these prices were fairly well maintained. A local 
 club of dealers in Brown County, S. Dak., is also reported to have 
 made an agreement on prices. 
 
 Doubtless an exhaustive inquiry into the extent to which price 
 agreements have been entered into among local dealers would dis- 
 close instances in addition to those cited above. Enough has been 
 said to show that this method of price maintenance has not been 
 unknown to the retail implement trade. 
 
 The relation of local clubs to price agreements is discussed gener- 
 ally in the following section, while further references thereto may be 
 found in connection with the cost educational propaganda (see p. 218). 
 
 PEEVENTION OF PRICE CUTTING AMONG DEALERS. 
 
 211 
 
 Section 4. Exchange of information through local clubs. 
 
 At the annual convention of the Western association in January, 
 1893, the president stated that one of the greatest evils that the 
 dealers had to contend with was the cutting of prices among them- 
 selves. In this connection, he made the following suggestions : 
 
 Maintain your prices. Let us be honest in this, and let us 
 transmit this feelmg to each of our competitors. By meeting 
 here, becoming acquainted, and talking these things oyer, will 
 have a tendency to make us better friends and we will think 
 kindlier of our competitors. We will be very much more apt to 
 maintain prices ourselves, besides we shall not hear so much of 
 our neighbor cutting prices. The result will be that the imple- 
 ment business will be pleasanter and appreciably more profitable. 
 
 At the convention of the Western association held the following 
 year (1894) one of the dealers present at the convention urged that 
 dealers should cultivate a more friendly feeling among themselves, 
 but it was not until two years later that the associ^ition adopted a 
 resolution to the effect that — 
 
 We believe that local organization is now the paramount ob- 
 ject to be attained and that we commend it to the wise considera- 
 tion of all implement and vehicle dealers. 
 
 In March, 1896, the Implement Dealers' Bulletin stated that the 
 
 board of directors of the Western association were very anxious to 
 
 have dealers carry out the resolution that had been adopted favoring 
 
 local organization. It had already been pointed out (see p. 16) that 
 
 it was not the province of the Western association to regulate prices, 
 
 but it had also been asserted that the elimination of price cutting was 
 
 an important benefit of local organizations. In this connection, an 
 
 editorial in the Implement Dealers' Bulletin in September, 1899, 
 
 stated : 
 
 This association has never tried to control the prices at which 
 dealers should sell their goods, believing that all efforts in that 
 direction would be in vain ; but it certainly can be of some service 
 to its members in such cases by exerting a friendly influence over 
 those who persist in doing business for glory and not for profit, 
 and any such influence it can wield to stop a war on prices that 
 yields absolutely no profits to those who engage in it, should be 
 exerted. The association has already accomplished much good in 
 this direction among its members by cultivating a more friendly 
 feeling among them. * ♦ * "We do not advocate exorbitant 
 prices but a fair margin you must have or you can not continue 
 m business very long. 
 
 During these years, however, many dealers continued to cut prices, 
 and in September, 1901, the Implement Dealers' Bulletin asserted 
 that the binder business was thoroughly demoralized and that the 
 
i 
 
 212 
 
 FARM-MACHINERY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 II 
 
 price cutting had been done by the manufacturers. The Bulletin 
 went on to say : 
 
 They are the ones who went to their agents and said, " Here, we 
 want this business and we want you to get it regardless of price, 
 and at settlement time you will be rewarded amply for your 
 trouble." 
 This situation apparently led to the request to the harvester manu- 
 facturers to use their influence to maintain retail prices. (See p. — .) 
 Price cutting among retailers was discussed in letters published in 
 the Implement Dealers' Bulletin during 1902. The remedy proposed 
 was to " sell at fair margins and quit our strife and jealousies among 
 ourselves." 
 
 In February, 1903, the Bulletin published a letter from one of the 
 members of the Western association calling attention to the value of 
 personal acquaintance among competing dealers. He asked the fol- 
 lowing question: 
 
 Is it any wonder our customers " work " us, when we consider 
 that most of us don't see our competitor down street once a 
 month ? 
 He expressed the opinion that the association meetings were of 
 some benefit in this way, but continued as follows : 
 
 But they don't get down to the sore spot. Nothing ever will 
 do that except personal acauaintance, and the very bigness of 
 our convention meetings makes it practically impossible to have 
 much more than a n(3 or a hand shake with our competitors 
 while there. ♦ • ♦ 
 
 Fact is we've got to take this matter into our own hands, in a 
 local way, if we are to enjoy the full benefit of trade organiza- 
 tion. * ♦ * Suppose we organize a social club among the deal- 
 ers in our line, in each county or section of two or three counties. 
 We can have our regular officers, constitutions, by-laws, dues, 
 etc. Once a month will be often enough to meet. If there are six 
 good towns in our territory we will meet in first one town and 
 then another, until we cover all six, and then begin over again. 
 Let the dealers in the town where we're going to meet next, act 
 as a committee on entertainment. Have a good time and plenty 
 of cigars, and talk over business propositions while we smoke. 
 Foot the bill out of the treasury, or let each member pay for his 
 own plate. Once in a while take the ladies, acquaintance among 
 them will do us a lot of good. It will be more trouble for us to 
 get together than it is for the jobbers club, but the result will be 
 just as satisfactory and as profitable in the end. Any way we've 
 got to do somethmg, and if somebody doesn't suggest a better 
 plan, let's try this. 
 This letter was followed by another published in the Bulletin in 
 May, 1903, on the subject of local associations as a remedy for price 
 cutting. This letter read as follows : 
 
 The large membership in the Western Retail Implement and 
 Vehicle Dealers' Association is of itself sufficient evidence, that 
 
 ! 
 
 PREVENTION OF PRICE CUTTING AMONG DEALERS. 213 
 
 it pays the eligible retailer to be a part of such organization. 
 The benefits of such membership are many and substantial, but 
 I wish to refer to a single benefit that in itself repays many of 
 us annually for the expense of membership and attendance at 
 our Kansas City convention. I refer to the price cutting evil. 
 While this has perhaps not been very generally discussed in our 
 sessions the past two or three years, it is so generally discussed 
 amon<' the dealers in relating business experiences, and the tolly 
 of same so unanimously admitted, that we return to our places 
 of business fully determined to stand for a reasonable protit. in 
 fact our backbones are stiffened up for several weeks, and per- 
 haps if our conventions occurred three or four times a year, the 
 stiff backbone might become chronic. ^ 
 
 Right here is where the local association meeting once a month 
 would make us some money. I^t the big associations work to- 
 gether to combat the general evils that require large numbers 
 and wide influence to correct, but the local association will do 
 much toward " keeping us good " in this particular. 
 
 Often what we need most to maintain a fair profat is a better 
 feeline toward our competitors. Some of us know, and perhaps 
 like every man in our town better than we do our competitor, 
 and' in no way can a better acquaintance and feeling for him be 
 brought about than through the formation of a local association, 
 where we can meet and become acquainted, exchange experi- 
 ences profitably and talk in reasonable confidence. 
 
 It enlarges our views to discuss business matters frankly with 
 our competitor. He is in a legitimate business to make money; 
 we can't have all the business, but let us make a fair profit on 
 that we do have, and that we can't get let him have on the same 
 basis and stand together to keep the business on a business plane. 
 
 This was followed by an editorial on the subject of " Local clubs " 
 in the Bulletin for September, 1903, which read in part as follows : 
 
 There is no question but what the organization of local 
 clubs will help to solve the price cutting evil and place the 
 implement and vehicle business upon a much better and more 
 satisfactory basis, that is, if they are conducted along proper 
 lines. Many dealers shrink from giving any encouragenient 
 to a movement of this kind because it usually carries with it 
 an agieement on prices, and they claim that such an agreement 
 gives the unscrupulous dealer an undue advantage over the one 
 \^ ho wishes to live up to the letter of the agreement. 
 
 That they can be formed and made to greatly benefit members 
 has been demonstrated by the dealers of northeast Kansas ; they 
 went home from the last convention thoroughly imbued with the 
 idea that much of the trouble they had had in holding their 
 business up to a standard which made it profitable was on account 
 of the lack of better acquaintance among the dealers, and a few 
 of them in discussing the matter concluded to make an effort 
 to organize the dealers of their vicinity who came in close com- 
 petition with each other. A call was issued and the organiza- 
 tion perfected. * ♦ ♦ They meet quarterly, discuss trade 
 topics, the credit of customers, and have a regular experience 
 
 ii 
 
214 FARM-MACHINERY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 meeting. The subject of prices usually occupies some of the 
 time of each meeting, but no iron-claa agreements are made, 
 lience no penalties are needed. 
 
 The members say that their coming together in this friendly 
 way enables them to know each other better and gives them 
 greater confidence in each other, and they find that all are in 
 business with the same object in view, viz, for profit. They 
 are not so suspicious of each other as formerly, do not believe 
 every report they hear concerning the price cutting their com- 
 petitors are doing. 
 
 • • • • • 9 • 
 
 There are plentv of counties where similar clubs could be 
 started and probably maintained if some one would take the 
 initiative. We would like to hear from our members on the 
 subject 
 
 In October, 1903, another editorial on the same subject in the 
 Bulletin made the following comment : 
 
 Some thhik that the establishment of prices is the only thing 
 to be gained by local organizations. We think this is a mistake. 
 The price-cutting evil will soon regulate itself after the dealers 
 become friendly and confidence is well established. They will 
 suddenly come to the conclusion that they are all in business 
 for profit, and to succeed all must maintain about the same 
 margin above the cost of their goods. As adjuncts to the State 
 or interstate associations such organizations or clubs would be 
 invaluable, and should receive the encouragement and support 
 of every dealer. 
 
 At the annual meeting of the Federation in October, 1903, plans 
 were perfected whereby all constituent associations might work in 
 close harmony in encouraging the formation of local clubs, In 
 November, 1903, the Bulletin announced that the movement to form 
 local clubs was growing rapidly. In January, 1904, it reported the 
 organization of a local club by dealers in Crawford and Cherokee 
 Counties, Kans. In that month Local Club No. 3 was formed by 
 dealers at Carthage, Mo., its purpose being stated to be that "of 
 perfecting a better system for the extending of credits to their 
 customers and for the further purpose of presenting a solid front in 
 opposition to catalogue house business and for the further purpose 
 of social intercourse." 
 
 In Mferch, 1904, the secretary of the Western association reported 
 that five local clubs had been organized, and the directors of the 
 lissociation appointed a committee on local clubs. In November, 
 1904, the Federation adopted the following resolution: 
 
 Believing that until we can sustain more fraternal relations 
 at home among ourselves as competitors, the constituent asso- 
 ciations of the Federation can not accomplish their full measure 
 of usefulness, we, your committee, would urge a still more 
 earnest effort upon the part of our several official boards to pro- 
 mote among their memberships the formation of local clubs or 
 social organizations. 
 
 PREVENTION OF PRICE CUTTING AMONG DEALERS. 
 
 215 
 
 The Bulletin for January, 1905, which had been adopted as the 
 official organ of the National Federation, emphasized the necessity of 
 local clubs as a part of the education of dealers upon the subject of 
 the cost of doing business and made the following statements : 
 
 The profits in the implement business are unsatisfactory. 
 m ***** ^ 
 
 The price cutting policy is unbusinesslike and ruinous and 
 the remedy for these adverse conditions seems to be organizing 
 locally and procuring more friendly cooperation. 
 
 In the early part of 1905 a committee of the Western association 
 was appointed to prepare a uniform set of rules for the guidance of 
 all "locals" organized as auxiliaries of that association, and later 
 in the year the Bulletin announced that " ready-made helps " for 
 the organization of local clubs, consisting of articles of association, 
 by-laws, a form of application for membership, and r. suggested 
 form of letter to be used in starting club work, had been pro- 
 vided. In January, 1907, the local-club movement was given con- 
 siderable impetus at the convention of the Western association. At 
 this time notes regarding the proceedings of local clubs had become 
 a regular feature of the Implement Dealers' Bulletin. The Bulletin 
 asserted that the local club was one of the vital factors in the life 
 of the general association and of the trade itself. It expressed the 
 belief that in the local club lay the most potent possibilities for 
 overcoming " the evils of the business ; " that in a local club could 
 be settled all the little personal differences and grievances and a 
 spirit of fairness and fraternity engendered, which would tend to 
 abolish price cutting and backbiting, and enable dealers to unite in 
 plans to outwit the catalogue house " and other prowling wolves of 
 trade." 
 
 At the annual meeting of the Federation in October. 1907, the presi- 
 dent referred to the progress that had been made in the organization 
 of local clubs as follows: 
 
 The organization of local clubs has not been as general as we 
 hoped for at the beginning of the year. The Western associa- 
 tion has inaugurated a vigorous movement along this line. There 
 has been some progress in the Oklahoma association, and our 
 Iowa association has made a start. The organization of local 
 clubs should be encouraged by every association. Lack of confi- 
 dence and acquaintance among dealers is the principal cause for 
 local jealousy and misunderstanding, generally resulting in un- 
 pleasant and unprofitable conditions. Let us give this important 
 subject more attention. 
 
 He also asserted that — 
 
 On account of the high-priced material and the scarcity of 
 labor, * * * we will be obliged to assist manufacturers in 
 establishing a general advance in the price of all finished goods 
 in our line. As an organization this Federation has never re- 
 
21^ FABM-MAGHINERT TBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 garded with favor any proposition which contemplates a price 
 schedule, as such would certainly arouse the just opposition of 
 our farmer patrons. The same conditions govern our relations 
 with the manufacturers. The situation demands an advance. We 
 had notice a year ago of this advance. In admitting the justice 
 and necessity for an advance in prices we deplore conditions 
 which eliminate free and active competition between manu- 
 facturers in any line, and such combinations should meet with 
 the opposition of the retail dealer everywhere. 
 
 In December the Bulletin referred to the matter of advancing 
 prices in an article which read as follows : 
 
 With the steadily advancing prices of all goods in the imple- 
 ment, vehicle and hardware lines has come a very perceptible 
 reduction in the profits to the retailer. A majority have been 
 timid about advancing the retail prices as the increased costs 
 seemed to justify. 
 
 Again, too many dealers fail to take into account the expense 
 of marketing their goods when deciding upon their selling price. 
 In a majority of cases the invoice price and transportation 
 . charges are about all that are considered when figuring costs. 
 
 This is the time of the year for taking the annual inventory 
 and figuring up the year's business, and it will be an easy matter 
 to ascertain what the percentage of expense has been for con- 
 ducting the business the past year, and when arranging a schedule 
 of prices for the coming season this should be added to the cost 
 and carriage and the percentage of profit added to that. 
 
 It will be found that a thorough knowledge of what it costs 
 to sell goods will have a stimulating effect in maintaining prices, 
 and no dealer has his business well in hand who does not possess 
 this knowledge. 
 
 This important subject will be discussed at the convention, and 
 no matter how long you have been in the business or how well 
 satisfied you are with your present methods, you will pick up 
 some pointers that are of value to you. 
 
 The necessity for increased prices because of increased cost of 
 materials had already been referred to by the chairman of the 
 executive committee of the National Association of Agricultural 
 Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers at a conference in January, 1907, 
 between representatives of that association and of the Western asso- 
 ciation. In his explanation the chairman admonished the dealers, as 
 follows : 
 
 Locally you should have an understanding among yourselves 
 as to what is a fair price, and stick to it. Your local orgahiza- 
 tion is to be your salvation. 
 
 The advantages of local clubs were pointed out in a letter from the 
 chairman of the Federation's committee on local clubs published in 
 the Bulletin for November, 1908. This letter read in part as follows: 
 
 We have our State or district associations to work for the bet- 
 terment of conditions and protect the interests of the dealers in 
 
 PBEVENTION OF PRICE CUTTING AMONG DEALERS. 
 
 217 
 
 their territory and protect their members, through their legisla- 
 tive, insurance and complaint committees. 
 
 We have our National Federation to help the State and district 
 associations, meet the various national manufacturers' associa- 
 tions, and look after the matters of national importance. 
 
 But in order to make the work of the National Federation and 
 
 the State associations of the greatest benefit to the individual 
 
 firms we should have the local associations, for the improvement 
 
 of the whole must come from the improvement of the individuals. 
 
 ♦ *♦♦♦** 
 
 The question of territory to be covered by a local association is 
 important. It should be the territory surrounding a central, or 
 easily and cheaply accessible town, such as most county seats. 
 
 A local association can organize with officers and committees 
 on complaints, credits, catalogue house, collections, exchange, 
 legal mattei-s, and auxiliary to the State or district association. 
 Make annual dues low as possible. Adopt uniform blank orders 
 and notes, uniform terms for sales and settlements, cut out trad- 
 ing for old goods, canvassing, and delivering goods, secure list 
 of catalogue house patrons, make lists of slow and dead-beat 
 customers, protect against auctions and peddlers, save expense 
 in legal matters, make progress, profit and protection. 
 
 Will you work or be worked? 
 
 A letter on the same subject from a member of the Western asiso- 
 «nation, published in the Bulletin in July, 1908, read in part as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 I am frank to say that we can never hope to get all our neigh- 
 bor dealers to join our local clubs. * * * 
 
 Those who hesitate to join local clubs on account of a feel- 
 ing that they are combinations that fix and raise prices can 
 disabuse their minds of any such idea, as there are so many 
 more important things than the matter of retail price, things 
 that are sapping our very business life every day, that there 
 is no time for such foolishness as talking about fixing retail 
 prices. 
 The secretary of the Federation asserted in 1912 that the mainte- 
 nance of a price schedule, by a local club of dealers, is neither prac- 
 ticable nor possible. In this connection, he said : 
 
 There are but few, if any, local clubs that include jn their 
 membership all of the competitors in any locality, hence the 
 impossibility of having any price agreement. 
 
 No evidence is available to show whether the members of any of 
 the local clubs organized as auxiliaries of the federated associations 
 during this period made any effective agreements as to uniform 
 prices. The formation of such clubs by bringing together dealers 
 in active competition with each other in various localities must have 
 had more or less of a tendency to influence retail prices and must 
 have offered some temptation to make price agreements, iilthough the 
 
218 
 
 FARM-MACHINERY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS, 
 
 PREVENTION OF PRICE CUTTING AMONG DEALERS. 
 
 219 
 
 Federation and its constituent associations did not encourage such 
 activity among members of local clubs. As shown abovv, the Bulle- 
 tin took the position that the practice of price cutting would regulate 
 itself as dealers became more friendly and confidence established. 
 In connection with the cost educational campaign discussed in the 
 following section, frequent reference is made to subsequent activities 
 in the promotion of local clubs by the manufacturers' and dealers' 
 associations. 
 
 Section S. Priees based on nniform method of compnting costs. 
 
 The unsatisfactory condition of the retail trade in farm wagons 
 in 1906 resulted, in November of that year, in the determination by '■ 
 the National Wagon Manufacturers' Association to investigate terms 
 with a view to bettering the general conditions. The Kansas City 
 implement jobbers' club had already started an educational campaign 
 among the dealers in behalf of higher retail prices and shorter terms. 
 The undertaking of the wagon manufacturers eventually resolved 
 itself into an organized movement to secure the maintenance of better 
 retail prices by educating dealers in their costs of doing business, 
 according to a plan of cost accounting advocated by the Ct»st Edu- 
 cationml Association. (See p. 228.) 
 
 In starting this movement in a systematic way the secretary of 
 the National Wagon Manufacturers' Association, in November, 
 1908, addressed a letter to the principal journals devoted to the 
 interests of the retail implement and vehicle dealers. This letter, 
 which was not intended for publication, explained the conditions as 
 viewed by the writer and asked a statement of opinions from the 
 several editors in regard to starting a campaign of education. This 
 was followed shortly afterwards by a bulletin issued to the members 
 of the wagon association on the subject of "Educating your cus- 
 tomera and its bearing on the trade." In this bulletin the secretary 
 explained the influence of prices made by inexperienced dealers on 
 trade conditions. This bulletin read in part as follows: 
 
 Reliable information shows that out of every hundred dealers 
 20 to 40 fatly sell out, or give up this line each year, mainly be- 
 caujse it has not paid. Why? Principally because the greater 
 number entering this line come from the farm with a knowledge 
 of the use of what they sell but little or no business education 
 to help them to success, so that when the wagon and implement 
 salesmen load them up and leave them to their own devices, 
 without a word of instruction or suggestion, it is not strange 
 that they commit the error of adding only a dollar or two above 
 the factory cost and freight and calling it profit. Then, when 
 the season^s business shows little or no profit, they change their 
 lines, seeking lower prices, until the sheriff gets them or they sell 
 out to some other unfortunate. This class of dealer is the kind 
 
 .A] 
 
 nr i) 
 
 the good dealer is always complaining of and the kind that 
 causes him to drop the handling of wagons. Well, what are you 
 going to do about it? 
 
 This is a statement and question I have just put up to the most 
 prominent plow and implement manufacturers and jobbers, 
 dealers' associations and trade papers, throughout the country, 
 together with the following suggestions: 
 
 1. Start simultaneously an educational campaign and stick 
 to it. 
 
 2. Let manufacturers and jobbers make an effort through their 
 selling and advertising forces. 
 
 3. Trade journals to cooperate in able editorials and telling 
 illustrations in cost and profit figuring. 
 
 4. Dealers' organizations, by making ^^cost-expense and 
 profit " the most prominent subject at their conventions and 
 the appointment of a standing committee, who, with the secre- 
 tary, will send information monthly to their members. 
 
 6. Personal effort on the part of the traveling salesmen to 
 urge the dealer to retail the goods he sells them at more profit- 
 able prices. 
 
 The answers have been coming in every day, and the largest 
 majority say the idea is right and they will help — only a few 
 say it might succeed but they are doubtful, still suggest no other 
 remedy for this serious situation. 
 
 »♦♦♦♦•* 
 
 The trade journals are ready and willing to cooperate, glad 
 to. The dealers' associations, though blaming the manufac- 
 turers and jobbers for many of their ills, say they will gladly 
 cooperate, and have already given the question a prominent part 
 in their convention programs and we have supplied the speakers 
 with much effective data — also the manufacturers who will speak 
 to them at conventions of the Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa asso- 
 ciations, one of whom is our executive chairman, Mr. Kinney, 
 who will put the matter to them strongly; we will urge the later 
 conventions in like manner. 
 
 Don't you see that if we can educate our trade how to figure 
 complete costs, as we ourselves have learned and benefited by it, 
 then they will know the danger line separating cost from profit — 
 few throw away profit knowingly, but many do so ignorantly. 
 
 I inclose a little illustration entitled " Figuring costs " which 
 is worth while noting: See how a margin that looks large dwin- 
 dles down to insufficient profit when actual cost and expense is 
 
 •deducted. 
 
 If the annual expense of the dealer is 10, 15, or 20 per cent of 
 his selling price, where does he get off in selling two-horse wagons 
 at $5 more than factory price and freight? And are we wise 
 in letting the dealer drift along until he finds this out and drops 
 wagons, or will it not be better to back him up in getting prices 
 that will make the business profitable and interesting and so 
 help ourselves? 
 
 If we take up this campaign, with the cooperation of the other 
 lines I have mentioned, it will mean a long, persistent fight, and 
 no one should enlist " to give it a trial," for it is either right or 
 
220 FABM-MACHINERY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 wrong, and if right, means the preservation of our business, but 
 will take time and energy. 
 
 I desire very much jrour opinion of the matter before our 
 meeting next week, for m event of a majority favoring the plan, 
 we want to line up the other associations and get the movement 
 started to affect 1909 trade as early as possible. 
 
 This subject assumed greater importance by reason of the advance 
 of 10 per cent in prices decided upon by the wagon association at 
 that time. (See p. 371.) The manufacturers appear to have realized 
 that it would be diificult to maintain this advance unless the dealers 
 were awakened to the importance of making a similar advance in 
 i-etail prices. At a meeting of the wagon association the secretary 
 reported that various branches of the trade were developing great 
 intei-est in the subject of a general inquiry into costs of doing busi- 
 ness, especially as it affected the inexperienced dealers, and on recom- 
 mendation of the secretary it was voted " that we recommend that 
 all members of the association become interested and cooperate 
 earnestly and effectively along the lines suggested, and those that 
 may be shown in working out a practical plan, and that we will 
 unite with other industrial associations furnishing goods that go to 
 the farmers through the dealer in doing everything we reasonably 
 can to urge upon the dealer the necessity of cost knowledge and sup- 
 porting him in obtaining better returns on his sales to the consumer." 
 
 During the convention of the Western association at Kansas City 
 in January, 1909, a very important conference was held by repre- 
 sentatives of the dealers, manufacturers, jobbers, and trade papers, 
 to consider the cost educational work as a remedy for the reduced 
 profits in the sale of implements and vehicles. A committee on per- 
 manent organization * was appointed and it was '' recommended that 
 the matter of permanent organization be referred to the president 
 and secretary of the several implement and vehicle manufacturers 
 associations, the National Federation and to delegates from each 
 of the implement and vehicle clubs of the large implement trade 
 centers." 
 
 » Tbis committee as appointed was to l>e made up of the president and the secretary of 
 the following associations : National Wagon Manufacturers' Association, Carriage Munu- 
 facti:rer%' Association of America, Carriage Builders' National Association, National Plow 
 Association, National Association of Agricultural Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers. 
 National Federation of Retail Implement & Vehicle Dealers' Associations; also two dolo- 
 gates from each of the Implement and vehicle clubs of Jobbers at Kansas City, St. Louis, 
 Minneapolis. Dallas, Omaha, Oklahoma City. Dea Moines, and Peoria ; also the Implement 
 trade ioumals by accredited representatives. The secretary of the National Wagon Manu- 
 facturers' Association was elected chairman. 
 
 The duties of this special committee were to Investigate the existing conditions and to 
 report the result, with their recommendations of possible remedies, to a Joint meeting of 
 the committee and the National Federation of Retail Implemont & Vehicle Dealers' Asso- 
 ciations, at the time of the tatter's annual meeting in the fall. The report was particu- 
 larly to inciude suggestions as to the advisability of effecting a permanent organization to 
 carrj out all recommendations finally made and adopted. 
 
 PREVENTION OF PRICE CUTTING AMONG DEALERS. 
 
 221 
 
 r 
 
 #1^ 
 
 During January, 1909, the secretary of the wagon manufacturers' 
 association addressed conventions of dealers' associations at Minne- 
 apolis and Kansas City on the subject of costs. The same month 
 another representative of the association addressed a meeting of 
 dealers at Portland, Oreg. In connection with these addresses, the 
 secretary, in a bulletin dated January 29, stated : 
 
 You have already learned from the convention reports pub- 
 lished in the trade journals how this movement among manu- 
 facturers, jobbers and dealers' organizations has taken hold 
 all over the country, and that a conference will be held at Chi- 
 cago to effect a permanent organization along these lines in the 
 near future. 
 
 It simply means that we must take a hand in the education 
 of our trade if we would have them realize the increased cost 
 of our product and at the same time realize that their prices 
 must also be advanced to maintain their profits. 
 
 In February, 1909, the secretary sent a letter to secretaries of 
 various dealers' associations, inclosing blank for the purpose of 
 gathering data to be used in the preparation of a cost-finding sys- 
 tem, and in March he issued a bulletin to members of the wagon 
 association, stating that the inquiry had disclosed a lack of infor- 
 mation among retailers in the matter of their costs and that most of 
 the figures that had been submitted were marked " estimtited." In 
 this bulletin he also said in part : 
 
 Would it not be worth while at this time, when your cus- 
 tomers may be fighting your May 1 advance, or tryinji to beat 
 down your prices (which seems to be the only way they can 
 think of to make money), that you instruct your travelers to 
 learn what your wagons are retailed at, and show them how to 
 make money on them if they are not doing so — you can also do 
 much from your office along these lines, in fact, as this matter 
 of cost knowledge is necessary in all lines handled, your efforts 
 to aid your trade this way will promote better acquaintance, 
 and when your customer is convinced he is making money on 
 your line he will not readily yield to your competitors. 
 
 Recently, a jobber in selling a certain wagon insisted on 
 knowing the price at which the dealer would retail it, and re- 
 fused to give territory and the agency of the wagon to anyone 
 whose retail price would not yield him a good profit. The job- 
 ber stated to me that he had found enough dealers attracted 
 by this practical guarantee of a good profit to give him a very 
 satisfactory trade. His plan is entirely legal, and you could 
 not take his customers, as they are more interested in the profit 
 they get than the price they pay for the wagon. I am firmly 
 convinced that this plan is practical and can be followed suc- 
 cessfully with any wagon of good standing and merit if placed 
 in intelligent hands and a sufficient amount of territory given. 
 
u 
 
 \ 
 
 220 FARM-MACHINEBY TBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 wrong, and if right, means the preservation of our business, but 
 will take time and energy. 
 
 I desire very much jrour opinion of the matter before our 
 meeting next week, for in event of a majority favoring the plan, 
 we want to line up the other associations and get the movement 
 started to affect 1909 trade as early as possible. 
 
 This subject assumed greater importance by reason of the advance 
 of 10 per cent in prices decided upon by the wagon association at 
 that time. (See p. 371.) The manufacturers appear to have realized 
 that it would be diiiicult to maintain this advance unless the dealers 
 were awakened to the importance of making a similar advance in 
 i"etail prices. At a meeting of the wagon association the secretary 
 reported that various branches of the trade were developing great 
 interest in the subject of a general inquiry into costs of doing busi- 
 ness, especially as it affected the inexperienced dealers, and on recom- 
 mendation of the secretary it was voted " that we recommend that 
 all members of the association become interested and cooperate 
 earnestly and effectively along the lines suggested, and those that 
 may be shown in working out a practical plan, and that we will 
 unite with other industrial associations furnishing goods that go to 
 the farmers through the dealer in doing everything we reasonably 
 can to urge upon the dealer the necessity of cost knowledge and sup- 
 porting him in obtaining better returns on his sales to the consumer." 
 
 During the convention of the Western association at Kansas City 
 in January, 1909, a very important conference was held by repre- 
 sentatives of the dealers, manufacturers, jobbers, and trade papers, 
 to consider the cost educational work as a remedy for the reduced 
 profits in the sale of implements and vehicles. A committee on per- 
 manent organization ^ was appointed and it was '" recommended that 
 the matter of permanent organization be referred to the president 
 and secretary of the several implement and vehicle manufacturers 
 associations, the National Federation and to delegates from each 
 of the implement and vehicle clubs of the large implement trade 
 centers." 
 
 * This committee as appointed was to be made up of the president and the secretary of 
 the following associations : National Wagon Manufacturers' Association, Carriage Manu- 
 facturers' Association of America, Carriage Builders' National Association, National IMow 
 Assoclaflon, National Association of Agricultural Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers. 
 National Federation of Retail Implement & Vehicle Dealers' Associations; also two dele- 
 gates from each of the Implement and vehicle clubs of Jobbers at Kansas City, St. I^uis, 
 Minneapolis, Dallas, Omaha, Oklahoma City, Des Moines, and Peoria ; also the Implement 
 trade Jonmals by accredited representatives. The secretary of the National Wagon Manu- 
 facturers' Association was elected chairman. 
 
 The duties of this special committee were to investigate the existing conditions and to 
 report the result, with their recommendations of possible remedies, to a Joint meeting of 
 the committee and the National Federation of Retail Implcmont & Vehicle Dealers' Asso- 
 ciations, at the time of the latter's annual meeting in the fall. The report was particu- 
 larly to Include suggestions as to the advisability of effecting a permanent organization to 
 carry out all recommendations finally made and adopted. 
 
 PBEVENTION OF PRICE CUTTING AMONG DEALERS. 
 
 221 
 
 « 
 
 4 
 
 During January, 1909, the secretary of the wagon manufacturers' 
 association addressed conventions of dealers' associations at Minne- 
 apolis and Kansas City on the subject of costs. The same month 
 another representative of the association addressed a meeting of 
 dealers at Portland, Oreg. In connection with these addresses, the 
 secretary, in a bulletin dated January 29, stated : 
 
 You have already learned from the convention reports pub- 
 lished in the trade journals how this movement among manu- 
 facturers, jobbers and dealers' organizations has taken hold 
 all over the country, and that a conference will be held at Chi- 
 cago to effect a permanent organization along these lines in the 
 
 near future. , • i i i.- 
 
 It simply means that we must take a hand m the education 
 of our trade if we would have them realize the increased cost 
 of our product and at the same time realize that their prices 
 must also be advanced to maintain their profits. 
 
 In February, 1909, the secretary sent a letter to secretaries of 
 various dealers' associations, inclosing blank for the purpose of 
 gathering data to be used in the preparation of a cost-finding sys- 
 tem, and in March he issued a bulletin to members of the wagon 
 association, stating that the inquiry had disclosed a lack of infor- 
 mation among retailers in the matter of their costs and that most of 
 the figures that had been submitted were marked " estimated." In 
 this bulletin he also said in part : 
 
 Would it not be worth while at this time, when your cus- 
 tomers may be fighting your May 1 advance, or trying; to beat 
 down your prices (which seems to be the only way they can 
 think of to make money), that you instruct your travelers to 
 learn what your wagons are retailed at, and show them how to 
 make money on them if they are not doing so— you can also do 
 much from your office along these lines, in fact, as this matter 
 of cost knowledge is necessary in all lines handled, your efforts 
 to aid your trade this way will promote better acquaintance, 
 and when your customer is convinced he is making money on 
 your line he will not readily yield to your competitors. 
 
 Recently, a jobber in selling a certain wagon insisted on 
 knowing the price at which the dealer would retail it, and re- 
 fused to give territory and the agency of the wagon to anyone 
 whose retail price would not yield him a good profit. The job- 
 ber stated to me that he had found enough dealers attracted 
 by this practical guarantee of a good profit to give him a very 
 satisfactory trade. His plan is entirely legal, and you could 
 not take his customers, as they are more interested m the vrofit 
 they get than the price they pay for the wagon. I am firmly 
 convinced that this plan is practical and can be followed suc- 
 cessfully with any wagon of good standing and merit if placed 
 in intelligent hands and a sufficient amount of territory given. 
 
 
j2aiSS 
 
 7ARM-MAGHINEBT TBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 PBEVENTION OP PBICE CUTTING AMONG DEALERS. 
 
 223 
 
 i 
 
 Later in March, 1909, another bulletin was issued to the members 
 of the wagon association, inclosing a form of letter which it was sug- 
 gested might be sent out to the trade in helping along the campaign 
 of cost education. This bulletin said in part : 
 
 It is our aim, if these suggestions meet approval, to follow 
 them later with more direct facts and figures, so as to convince 
 the dealer that attention to this matter by him means real money 
 profit. 
 
 The form letter inclosed with this bulletin read as follows : 
 
 Subject : " Better profits,^ 
 
 Gentlemen : Are the profits you are making on the lines you 
 are handling satisfactory, especially our make of wagons? If 
 not, won't you tell us where the trouble is, for we believe that to- , 
 gether we can find a remedy. 
 
 Success or failure. — All who engage in business do so to make 
 money, yet it is said 90 per cent fail to succeed — why ? — and are 
 you and we to be counted with the 10 per cent of successes or 
 the 90 per cent of failures? That depends largely on ourselves. 
 
 The principal causes given for business failures are — inexperi- 
 ence — lack of capital — lack of knowledge as to the cost of doing 
 business — the last being the most important of all. 
 
 When we engage in business and invest our capital, we aim to 
 do three things ; first, to pay all expenses ; second, to provide for 
 the living expenses of ourselves and families ; third, to make a 
 clear gain on our investment after providing for these expenses, 
 otherwise we would better loan our capital and work on a salary 
 for someone else. 
 
 Expense. — ^The great stumbling block seems to be that we do 
 not get enough profit. Why? Because we do not know when 
 we are asking a right measure of profit imless we have added 
 the proper proportion of every item of expense to the invoice 
 price and freight paid for each item to determine its total cost 
 before adding profit. You may guess or estimate your expenses 
 in fixing your selling prices, but bear in mind that when expense 
 deals with your cash drawer it .demands full payment — not $4 
 for $5 but 500 cents taken right out of your investment or 
 profits. Do we realize that "Expense" is the greatest foe to 
 business success, and must be known and controlled or failure 
 must eventually follow? 
 
 The following are some of the items that we should keep 
 account of daily, no matter how small the amount is we pay out 
 for them — then there will be a number of special expenses pecul- 
 iar to your particular business, viz, interest on 'all capital in- 
 vested (including borrowed money) ; rent (if the owner, what 
 the property would rent for should be charged) ; salaries (wages 
 of all help including members of firm) ; express, telephone and 
 telegraph (not charged to customers); advertising; stationery, 
 office supplies, postage and envelopes; dray age (goods received 
 and goods delivered) ; fuel and lights; livery, horse feed, shoe- 
 ing and wagon repairs; insurance and taxes; traveling expenses; 
 store supplies and repairs; donations and subscriptions; losses 
 on bad accounts and notes; attorney's fees and costs for collect- 
 
 ^ 
 
 4 
 
 « 1 
 
 ing; depreciation on stock carried over; deductions and allow- 
 ances to customers ; all other expenses. 
 
 Salesmanship. — If you have not been applying the amount of 
 your expenses before adding your profit, you will find a read- 
 justment of many of your selling prices necessary — raising some 
 and perhaps lowering others — but it is the only safe way to run 
 a business and meet real competition. 
 
 Competition is too intense to permit of anything but fair 
 profits, and these both you and the manufacturer must have to 
 keep out of the ranks of business failures. 
 
 True salesmanship is selling goods at a profit, not price match- 
 ing, that is often called "meeting competition," for it requires 
 no brains or skill to give away good goods at the same price as 
 one's competitor is offering an inferior line. Meeting competi- 
 *' tion, in fact, is to know the superior merits of the goods you are 
 handling and so impress them upon your customer that he will 
 decide he wants them, just as you wanted them when the travel- 
 ing salesman for the manufacturer convinced you of their 
 merits. Price plays only a minor part with a good salesman or 
 merchant — few goods are worth more than what they are 
 sold for. 
 
 If you have a competitor who is making a ruinous price on 
 good goods, nine chances out of ten he is doing it ignorantly, and 
 it will be money in your pocket to visit and show him your costs 
 and his error ; but if you can not convince him, the more loss he 
 makes the sooner he will go out of business — ^you can better 
 afford to wait than go down with him, for his trade will leave 
 him when they can not get goods at cut prices. 
 
 Wagon costs. — ^Lastly, as to wagons, which are an indispens- 
 able necessity but have fore several years past been sold at a very 
 small profit, you can not give too close attention to your costs, 
 profits, and readjustment of selling prices on them, for neces- 
 sary advances must be made from time to time to meet the in- 
 creasing cost of production, principally due to the growing short- 
 age of wood materials, and the future holds no promise of lower 
 
 costs. 
 
 Trusting that something that we have said from our experi- 
 ence may help you, and assuring you of our willingness to assist 
 you in the increasing of your wagon trade to our mutual good, 
 we remain 
 
 Yours truly. 
 
 Under date of April 9, 1909, another bulletin was issued to mem- 
 • bers of the wagon association, calling attention to resolutions passed 
 by the Empire State Implement Men's Club indorsing the movement 
 to educate the implement and machine dealer in his costs of doing 
 business and declaring that travelers should educate dealers to get 
 better prices and more reasonable profits and, further, that travelers 
 when canvassing with dealers should absolutely insist upon the deal- 
 ers getting the regular retail price on every sale. In connection with 
 these resolutions, the secretary of the wagon association stated: 
 
 We educate our employees in every department of service to 
 get the best results ; why should we not counsel with our travel- 
 
224 
 
 FABM-MAGHINEBY TBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 f 
 
 L 
 
 ers, and get their cooperation on such an important matter as 
 this, for we know that it costs far less to hold old trade than to 
 make new. A real salesman will be quick to see the value of this 
 work, but one of the " What's the use " kind will continue to be 
 a human expense account. 
 
 The secretary continued to correspond with the secretaries of deal- 
 ers' associations and with the trade journals on the subject of cost 
 education, and, under date of October 7, 1909, a call was issued for a 
 meeting at Kansas City of the special committee on costs appointed 
 in January, 1909. (See p. 220.) This committee met October 21, the 
 secretary of the National Wagon Manufacturers' Association acting 
 as chairman, and rendered a report to the National Federation of Re- 
 tail Implement & Vehicle Dealers' Associations then in session. This 
 report showed considerable variation in the costs of different dealers 
 in different parts of the country from whom figures had been ob- 
 tained. It also embodied suggestions as to the items that should be 
 included in computing costs. The dealers' Federation indorsed these 
 suggestions and ordered a supply of them printed auvl sent to all 
 constituent associations, with the request that a copy of them be 
 placed in the hands of every member. (See p. 229.) It was stated by 
 the secretary of the wagon manufacturers' association that — 
 
 We expect to again meet with the Federation in January, at 
 which time it is hoped plans can be formulated to place this cost 
 effort on a practical and permanent basis, as the lack of cost 
 knowledge is at the bottom of nearly all business trouble. 
 
 The dealers expect cooperation from the manufacturers and 
 jobbers in working out this problem, and we would suggest that 
 you look over the above cost recommendations and if you are as 
 impressed with their practicality as the dealers are, have a quan- 
 tity of them printed m card or circular form and send them out 
 to your customers by mail, also let your travelers call attention 
 to them. Better grade merchants mean better grade customers. 
 
 At the annual meeting of the wagon association in November, 
 1909, the secretary made a report of the progress of the cost educa- 
 tional movement, and the members adopted the following recom- 
 mendation: 
 
 That the important parts of this report and suggestions be 
 printed and furnished members at cost for distribution to their 
 trade and that fullest cooperation be given in urging the im- 
 portance of the matter on one's customei-s. 
 
 Referring to the influence of the cost educational movement in 
 bettering conditions in the wagon trade, the secretary of the wagon 
 association, in a bulletin issued December 20, 1909, said in part : 
 
 The wagon business fell from being one of the most profitable 
 lines handled by the dealer to one of very little profit by a com- 
 bination of circumstances, which we discovered after the effect 
 
 r 
 
 PREVENTION OF PEICE CUTTING AMONG DEALERS. 
 
 225 
 
 i) 
 
 # 
 
 had reached us. Being compelled as we were to advance our 
 prices to take care of increased cost, we neglected to urge 
 strongly enough on our customers the necessity of likewise get- 
 ting these advances, and the dealer, in ignorance of what it cost 
 him to do business, believed he had sufficient margin of profit to 
 permit absorbing most of these advances, so retail prices re- 
 mained about stationary while the advances consumed his profit, 
 and now there are almost numberless cases where dealers are in- 
 different to wagons and many would not handle them if they 
 were not an absolute necessity. Therefore, knowing that these 
 are facts, how can we hope that somehow and sometime the 
 wagon business will right itself if we sit, depressed and discour- 
 aged waiting for something to turn up. 
 
 Our customers are being greatly helped by their associations 
 and organizations and the manufacturers in other lines are 
 losing no opportunity to help them get more light, and as our 
 line needs more attention than any other one they are handling, 
 I feel that we shall make a very grave mistake if we do not join 
 this forward movement to help along this effect to enlighten our 
 trade as to the costs of doing business, which when fully realized 
 will so adjust selling prices that wagons will be sought as a 
 leading line and not handled as a necessity. 
 
 Even if this plan is not a perfect one, the very agitation of the 
 subject will direct more attention to wagons, which in itself will 
 be helpful, but I feel confident that as we are on the verge of 
 more prosperous conditions, and as we are perfectly well aware 
 that there is no possible chance of being able to produce and sell 
 wagons at any less than present prices, the sooner we can by 
 any effort get the dealer to realize the status of the wagon, what 
 it costs to handle it and what it ought to be sold for to be profit- 
 able, the sooner we will get what we are hoping for. I have no 
 patience whatever with a suggestion made not long ago, that 
 many dealers do not know that they are losing money on wagons 
 and if they discovered such to be the case they would stop hand- 
 ling them. What could be worse than expecting to profit by a 
 customer's ignorance, for if he is losing money on wagons 
 through lack of cost Imowledge it is equally true that he is losing 
 on other lines, consequently it is merely a choice between setting 
 him right now and keepmg him permanently, or taking the 
 usual receiver's dividend some day when suddenly he is com- 
 pelled to quit business. 
 
 It is our intention before sending out the cost suggestions, 
 enclosed with my last bulletin, to enlarge and improve them by 
 illustrated examples, of implements as well as vehicles, but I do 
 not want to push this effort either in the face of a majority against 
 it or passive indifference, which is worse, therefore I ask you 
 whether this effort to bring the whole retail implement and ve- 
 hicle business to a higher plane, and particularly wagons, is suffi- 
 ciently worth while for you to aid us with practical cooperation, 
 or had we best wait and be carried along by the general forward 
 movement. 
 
 68248'— 15 ^15 
 
226 
 
 FARM-MACHINEBT TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 PREVENTION OF PRICE CUTTING AMONG DEALERS. 
 
 227 
 
 181 
 
 At the annual convention of the National Association of Agricul- 
 tural Implement & Vehicle Manufacturers in October, 1909, the 
 following resolution was adopted: 
 
 That we recommend to the Dealers' Federation the very great 
 importance of following up and putting into effect everywhere 
 the plan suggested by the general committee of the trade on the 
 subject of the cost of doing business, which would automatically 
 establish the proper retail price in every locality, leaving to the 
 dealer a legitimate profit. 
 
 The movement also received the indorsement of the plow and seeder 
 manufacturers' associations. These associations, as well as the Na- 
 tional Association of Agricultural Implement & Vehicle Manufac- 
 turers, recommended that all their members and branch houses join 
 the cost-educational movement and contribute to its support. 
 
 The cost of doing business begun to be a topic of great inter- 
 est to the dealers, and at the Federation meeting in October, 1908, 
 it was one of the principal subjects recommended for consideration 
 by constituent associations and local clubs. Furthermore, the Bulle- 
 tin for December, 1908, stated that the manufacturers who, as 
 representatives of the National Association of Agricultural Imple- 
 ment & Vehicle Manufacturers, were attending the conventions of 
 retail implement dealers' associations were bringing to the dealers' 
 attention the importance of properly estimating costs. 
 
 Some of the federated associations created cost committees. Mem- 
 bers of the Iowa association were urged to furnish the cost committee 
 of that association with exact statements in regard to their expenses 
 of doing business. 
 
 At the convention of the dealers' Federation in the latter part of 
 1909, the special cost committee of manufacturers, jobbers, dealers, 
 and trade-paper representatives reported that replies from a con- 
 siderable number of dealers showed the minimum percentage of the 
 cost of doing a retail business to be 14 per cent and the maximum 
 22 per cent. 
 
 This report also suggested the establishment of a permanent 
 organization to dispense accounting information to the dealers, and 
 that this work be assumed by the Federation with promises of 
 financial aid from the manufacturers and jobbers. The matter was 
 thoroughly discussed, and a special committee of the Federation, 
 to which the matter had been referred, made a report. The Imple- 
 ment Dealers' Bulletin in referring to this report stated that the 
 committee — 
 
 deemed it inexpedient to take up the work of organizing and 
 maintaining at this time a bureau of cost education and ac- 
 counting; that such a course was unadvisable inasmuch as the 
 Federation was lacking of the necessary funds and that such 
 a bureau would not be self supporting. It was also reported 
 
 that it was the belief of the committee that the work should 
 be carried on by the manufacturers and jobbers with such 
 assistance from the Federation and State associations as they 
 were in a position to give, the grounds taken for this being 
 that only a small percentage of dealers are members of asso- 
 ciations, and as the benefits of cost education would be for non- 
 . members as well as members, it would not be doing justice to 
 the active members to bear the burden of educating those who 
 care nothing for association work and its attendant results. 
 
 The report met with the unanimous approval of the Federa- 
 tion. There was no dissenting voice to the proposition that 
 cost accounting is of vital interest to the retail dealer and it was 
 decided that it should be made the leading subject for discus- 
 sion at conventions of all constituent associations and that 
 jobbers be asked to close their places of business during the 
 session of the convention when this subject was on the program 
 so that all may attend and hear and take part in the discussion. 
 It was also arranged that another conference be held in Kansas 
 City during the convention of the Western association. 
 
 The following resolutions on the subjects of costs and local clubs 
 were adopted by the Federation at this convention : 
 
 Figuring costs, — Believing that one of the principal causes of 
 failures and of the large per cent of changes in the retail imple- 
 ment business is ignorance as to the cost of doing business, and 
 failures and changes being very damaging to the trade as well 
 as the jobbers and manufacturers, we urge every officer and mem- 
 ber of constituent associations to study the subject and take it 
 up with his neighbor. We also urge special consideration of 
 this important topic at the coming conventions. 
 
 Local clubs. — It is the judgment of your committee that this 
 Federation and the several constituent associations do not realize 
 the value of local clubs, or greater effort would be made to organ- 
 ize them. Cover our territory with local clubs and 95 per cent 
 of the trade evils complained of will vanish. The local club 
 will do more for the retail trade than all other agencies com- 
 bined. It is not opposition that retards the organization of 
 local clubs; it is inertia, lassitude, laziness, and a disposition to 
 look to the other fellow to do what you ought to do yourself. 
 The organization of local clubs will sweep our territory like 
 wildfire if the prominent, self-satisfied members will wake up 
 and put their shoulder to the wheel. And it is further the judg- 
 ment of your committee that the members of this Federation and 
 the official members of our several associations are at fault in 
 that they have not each taken more aggressive individual action 
 along this line. 
 
 Under date of December 27, 1909, a call was issued to members of 
 the special cost committee of manufacturers, jobbers, dealers, and 
 trade-press representatives for a meeting to be held at Kansas City 
 in January, 1910, at which time the final report would be made. In 
 this letter it was stated that cost education had been the most promi- 
 nent topic at all conventions and annual meetings of retail imple- 
 
228 
 
 fARM-MACHINEKY TBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 PREVENTION OF PRICE CUTTING AMONG DEALERS. 
 
 229 
 
 I 
 
 ment dealers during the fall and winter; that trade papers had given 
 aid; and the manufacturers had also done much practical work in 
 addressing meetings of dealers and by giving cooperation through 
 their travelers. It was stated that the meeting had been called to con- 
 sider the methods to be used in continuing the work. 
 
 This meeting of the special cost committee at Kansas City in 
 January, 1910, resulted in the organization of the Cost Educational 
 Association, to carry on the cost-accounting work among the retailers. 
 The secretary of the National Wagon Manufacturers' Association 
 was elected president of the new association; a representative of an 
 implement manufacturing company in Illinois was elected treasurer, 
 and an executive committee, consisting of manufacturers, jobbers, 
 dealers, and representatives of the implement trade press, was also 
 elected. The selection of representatives of the traveling salesmen to 
 serve on the executive committee was left to that committee. In com- 
 menting upon the new organization, the Bulletin for February, 1910, 
 said in part : 
 
 It is the purpose of this association to establish permanent 
 headquarters in charge of a competent secretary and to send out 
 to dealers information relative to cost figuring. Experts will 
 be put to work devising systems for the use of dealers in keeping 
 track of their business. 
 
 It is the greatest work ever attempted to place the implement 
 business uj)on a more profitable basis, and the interest dealers 
 are taking in it is manifested by the large attendance at the ses- 
 sions of all of the conventions when ^t was up for discussion. 
 They are ea^r for information and enlightenment upon any 
 point that will tend to make their business more profitable. 
 
 The president of the Western association in a message to members, 
 published in the Bulletin for February, 1910, said in part : 
 
 If we renew our allegiance to the association, study our busi- 
 ness from a profit-getting standpoint and make a success of it, 
 we will build up the personnel of our members and put our busi- 
 ness on a conmiercial basis where the retail implement and 
 vehicle dealer will no longer have a questionable rating and his 
 business will be a satisfactory one. 
 
 From the time of the formation of the Cost Educational Associa- 
 tion, the Federation and its constituent State and interstate associa- 
 tions took renewed interest in the local-club movement. Some asso- 
 ciations employed county agents to organize local clubs. The Bulle- 
 tin asserted that it had been the experience of local-club workers 
 that care should be taken not to cover too much territory. Eeferring 
 to local clubs, it was said: 
 
 They should be just what the name implies, local organiza- 
 tions, because it is local conditions with which they must cope. 
 They should cover what might be tenned competitive territory. 
 
 Sometimes territory can not be confined to county lines, but it 
 should be so arranged as to take in dealers who come in close 
 competition with one another. 
 
 Letters published in the Bulletin in 1910 reported the proceedings 
 at meetings of various local clubs. The report of a meeting of a local 
 club in Marshall County, Iowa, contained in the Bulletin for July, 
 1910, read in part as follows : 
 
 The meeting was very informal. Every man had a right to 
 talk back or ask questions, and the friendly, yet spirited way in 
 which the troublesome questions were discussed was indeed re- 
 freshing and gives promise of better things. 
 
 This club has accomplished greet things. It is indeed a model 
 club and it is hoped it will be as the leaven that shall leaven the 
 whole State. The members have not only increased their prices, 
 but reduced their expenses and are doing more business with 
 less friction, thus eliminating unpleasant competition. 
 
 Another item in this issue of the Bulletin stated that — 
 
 The members of Local Number 30 seem to be well pleased 
 with conditions this season. They have all been upon friendly 
 terms, and there has been practically no price cutting on imple- 
 ments. They naturallv feel that their local club has been of 
 great value to them. A meeting of the club will be held before 
 fall trade commences. 
 
 In December, 1909, the special joint committee on costs sent out a 
 card intended for circulation among retailers. (See p. 224.) This 
 card was entitled " What does it cost you to do business? " In May, 
 1910, the Cost Educational Association issued a folder entitled " Sug- 
 gestions No. 2." These two circulars are shown as Exhibits 27 and 
 28, respectively. Both recommended that dealers in figuring costs 
 should include interest on total investment, rental on buildings owned 
 and used in the business, and a salary for the services of proprietor, 
 as well as for employees. The significance of this method of comput- 
 ing costs is referred to elsewhere. (See p. 241.) 
 
 At the convention of the Federation in October, 1910, the presi- 
 dent referred to the Cost Educational Association as follows : 
 
 This association should receive the support of every manu- 
 facturer, jobber and retail dealer in the land, and if it can work 
 out some plan by which it can show the price cutting dealer 
 when he first engages in business, what he sees after he has lost 
 his money and he finds himself a bankrupt, it will have done 
 great good. We commend this association and bespeak for it 
 your consideration, encouragement and support. 
 
 The report at this meeting of the chairman of the committee on 
 local clubs showed that the movement was growing and declared 
 that none of the clubs fostered bv the constituent associations of the 
 Federation attempted to maintain a schedule of prices, but that, 
 
230 
 
 PARM-MACHINEBY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 through the medium of these clubs, many of the evils of the trade 
 had been eliminated. At this convention a conference was held 
 with the executive committee of the Cost Educational Association. 
 The chairman of the latter reported the progi*ess that had been made 
 and appealed for even better cooperation on the part of all branches 
 of the trade, not only in a financial way but by better organization 
 of cost committees, local clubs, etc., for the purpose of getting mem- 
 bers to do personal work. A general discussion took place, the 
 delegates present pledging the support of their associations in this 
 movement. The president of the Federation is reported to have 
 stated that inasmuch as there were many dealers who would never 
 be reached by any cost educational suggestions they should be 
 weeded out and that it was incumbent upon manufacturers to care- 
 fully investigate prices made by such dealers with a view to dis- 
 continuing business relations with those known to persistently sell 
 at prices embracing no profit whatever. 
 
 The organized dealers regarded the plan for the organization of 
 the National Implement & Vehicle Association in the latter part of 
 1910 as affording the means of maintaining a cost educational de- 
 partment that would mean much to the retailer in view of the pros- 
 pect for a real campaign to be carried on with new dealers. The 
 report of the manufacturers' committee on consolidation on this sub- 
 ject read as follows : 
 
 In this department it is not alone a question of collecting and 
 furnishing data as to the best method of computing cost for 
 the manufacturer, but to go one step farther and endeavor to 
 supply information to our retail customers as to the best method 
 of their determining the cost of doing business. 
 
 Briefly stated, the gi'eater percentage of those already en- 
 gaged and those entering the implement and vehicle business are 
 men with only a limited amount of business training, yet we 
 loan our capital on longer time than any bank, and without any 
 security, simply on our estimate from secondhand information, 
 that they will come out all right, and we find many times to 
 our sorrow that failures are caused simply by the lack of knowl- 
 edge of the cost of doing business in the retail trade. 
 
 Financial failures can greatly be reduced by supplying in- 
 formation to the trade which we will be able to do through a 
 well equipped organization in this department. 
 
 In January, 1911, the president of the Cost Educational Associa- 
 tion discussed its work before the convention of the dealers belonging 
 to the Western association in part as follows : 
 
 The executive committee of the association has met in Chicago 
 three times during the year, namely, February 10, June 16 and 
 October 11. All these meetings were well attended and work 
 planned, which has since been carried out as far as possible. 
 
 • '' • 
 
 PREVENTION OF PRICE CUTTING AMONG DEALERS. 231 
 
 The first piece of cost literature sent out by the association 
 was entitled, "Suggestions, No. 1," containing rules for the 
 figuring of costs, of which approximately 100,000 were printed, 
 part of them distributed gratis, and again, quantities sold to 
 manufacturers and associations for distribution among their 
 customers and members. This was followed later by the issu- 
 ance of a folder entitled " Suggestions, No. 2," containing a re- 
 vision and detailed explanation of the same rules for figuring 
 costs, together with a table for readily determining the selling 
 price of any article, based on a knowledge of the per cent of cost 
 and profit, using as a basis the purchase price of the goods. These 
 folders have been supplied to every dealers' convention held this 
 year who accepted our suggestion to distribute them at the time 
 of their meeting; fully 80,000 of them have been sent out in 
 
 various ways. ^ , x i. u -^ 
 
 Our work has necessarily been done to a large extent by corre- 
 spondence, and we have by this means urged upon the various 
 associations throughout the country that the subject of costs 
 be made a special feature on their convention programs, which 
 request met with a most enthusiastic response and in most in- 
 stances the greater part of one day of the various conventions 
 has been devoted to cost educational work. 
 
 «♦♦♦*•• 
 
 I would like to call particular attention to the fact that more 
 conventions in the Middle West have been addressed by dealers 
 than by manufacturers, which to me is, as it must also be^to vou, 
 a most encouraging sign of the progress being made. 
 During these talks the progress made in organizing permanent 
 cost committees and local clubs were reported on and in every 
 instance where there had been such activity withm the territory 
 of any association reports as to improvement m profats and 
 
 selling conditions were very marked. 
 
 ♦ * * * ♦ ♦ • 
 
 There is another feature I would mention at this time, which 
 is that in working out these problems of cost the manufacturers, 
 jobbers and dealers have been brought closer together than 
 ever before, and from this cooperative work it is not diflicu t 
 to see that in time many of the other problems whicli are still 
 confronting us will be brought to a satisfactory solution, 1 be- 
 lieve. This work has caused all engaged in the implement and 
 vehicle lines to realize that their interest is common in nearly 
 all of these problems, consequently they can only hope for a 
 successful solution of them by reasonably considering them to- 
 gether. , ^ • • * • 
 
 In closing this report, let me say that the progress of the 
 work thus far has exceeded all expectations, for m the beginning 
 it was looked upon by many as visionary and chimerical, and 
 because of its educational character it was predicted that it 
 would take years to show results; but we are conscious that 
 while the agitation has not extended back more than three years 
 and the actual work only one year, that the results not only 
 
m 
 
 tABM-MAOHlNEBY TBADE ASSOCIATIONS, 
 
 PEEVENTION OF PRICE CUTTING AMONG DEALERS. 
 
 233 
 
 i 
 
 have justified every effort made and every penny spent, but it 
 would positively be a calamity if the work was not carried on 
 aggressively. 
 
 One of the members of the Western association in an address to 
 the members at this time referred to the cost educational movement in 
 the following words: 
 
 Now here is the proposition before us — ^these jobbers and 
 manufacturers are all trying to teach us how to do business and 
 tell us how to make money by raising the price in the sale of 
 goods, and telling us how we shall figure out the cost of doing 
 business and also telling us how we shall be honorable and honest 
 among ourselves to them. 
 
 Another member stated that there was a successful club in his dis- 
 trict made up of dealers from several adjacent counties. He said 
 they did not try to establish prices, but that, in his opinion, when 
 the dealer was in sympathy with his competitor prices would adjust 
 themselves. Another member recommended that clubs be formed 
 early in the season before the trade opened up, stating that there were 
 always certain dealers who start out and make the lowest prices 
 early in the season and that they were the men who did the most 
 harm by price cutting. 
 
 The Cost Educational Association held a meeting at this time at 
 which it was decided not to continue the association as a separate 
 organization, but to divide the work between the dealers' Federation 
 and the National Implement & Vehicle Association, the latter to 
 originate, print, and publish a reasonable amount of cost information 
 and cost literature, to be distributed by the dealers' organizations 
 among their members and unorganized dealers as well. 
 
 The Bulletin issued in March, 1911, asserted that local clubs were 
 increasing. It went on to say : 
 
 There is no movement so well calculated to benefit the retail 
 business as this, and when dealers put off so important a matter 
 they simply stand in their own light. There is no reason why 
 competitors in any line should not meet frequently to talk over 
 business conditions. We do not mean by that to agree upon a 
 schedule of prices, for that is not only unlawful but entirely 
 unnecessary; but there are a thousand and one questions which 
 will come up, discussion of which will be of benefit to all. 
 
 In April, 1911, the Bulletin stated : 
 
 It is not always advisable to confine the territory [of the local 
 club] to county lines, but it is better to take in the towns which 
 come in closest competition with each other. 
 
 At the Federation meeting in October, 1911, the delegates dis- 
 cussed the best methods of reaching dealers who take no account 
 of the cost of doing business, and, in this connection, some of the 
 delegates expressed the opinion that the best way to reach them was 
 
 \ 
 
 M 
 
 ^ 
 
 i 
 
 through the manufacturers whose goods they handle. The opinion 
 was freely expressed that most manufacturers had given too little 
 attention to this important subject. The preponderance of opinion, 
 however, was that the local club was the best medium for promoting 
 cost education among the retail dealers. A committee was also ap- 
 pointed to prepare a plan for pushing the local-club movement in 
 the various constituent associations. The Federation's committee 
 on local clubs reported that 74 local associations or clubs had been 
 organized in sections covered by the federated associations, of which 
 55 were in existence. In regard to accomplishments of such clubs, 
 the committee reported that dealers had been brought into more 
 friendly relations; their business conducted on a more profitable 
 ^ basis; members' rights, as to territory, respected; cost knowledge 
 disseminated; better prices obtained; and matters of local interest 
 taken up and acted upon. 
 
 A representative of the manufacturers' association who was present 
 pledged the support of manufacturers in the cost educational move- 
 ment, and said in part: 
 
 We will endeavor to do our part in furnishing, if you desire 
 them, speakers from our ranks to cooperate with you in spread- 
 ing the cost gospel, and thus by keeping everlastingly at it, not 
 only at convention time, but through local clubs, special cost 
 committees, and every other reasonable means we shall be able to 
 make a mutually satisfactory report a year hence. 
 
 At the annual convention of the National Implement & Vehicle 
 Association held at the same time a separate department of the sales 
 managers of concerns belonging to the association was organized. 
 From subsequent developments, it appears that, in addition to the 
 other purposes proposed for this department, its organization was 
 intended as an important step in furnishing assistance to dealers in 
 the cost educational campaign. The members of the National Imple- 
 ment & Vehicle Association also adopted the following resolution : 
 
 Whereas, the subject of the "cost of doing business" is one 
 of the most important now before the trade, 
 
 Therefore, he it resolved, That our members be requested to 
 instruct their salesmen to take up and discuss the same with the 
 retail dealers with whom they come in touch, with the view of 
 improving the condition of the dealers, and thus making them 
 more permanent in the trade than has been the rule heretofore. 
 
 Furthermore, the secretary and general manager of the National 
 Implement & Vehicle Association, in addressing the annual conven- 
 tion of the members of the Western association in January, 1912, 
 stated that he did not believe that any man who expected to remain 
 in business could afford to overlook the matter of local clubs. He 
 also stated his belief that the manufacturers would render personal 
 and every other kind of aid to help the work along. 
 
234 
 
 FAKM-MACHINEEY TRADE ASSOCIATTONS. 
 
 PREVENTION OP PRICE CTTTTING AMONG DEALERS. 
 
 235 
 
 
 
 A representative of the National Implement & Vehicle Association, 
 in addressing the convention of the Minnesota implement dealers' 
 association at this time, emphasized the great benefit of local clubs to 
 dealers. In this connection, he said in part: 
 
 I know, of course, many of these have been formed and then 
 broken up, for the reason that you all would not stand by your 
 agreements in regard to prices. But for the time being you 
 should forget such grievances and work together to save the 
 retail trade for yourselves. Then after working together for a 
 time you can become such friends that jrou may bring up the 
 price question again later on, but the point I want to impress 
 upon your minds is " get together." Everyone put your shoulder 
 to the wheel and you wiU win. 
 
 The manufacturers will help you in this also, and in fact in 
 every way that will bring you in a closer relationship with us. 
 
 Another representative of the National Implement & Vehicle Asso- 
 ciation, in addressing this convention, said in part: 
 
 It is the stay-at-home dealers who do the mischief, they are 
 the ones who cut prices and demoralize the business. To reach 
 them form your local clubs. Get in all the dealers in the near-by 
 towns. Neither they nor you are half as bad as the other thinks 
 he is, and you will find this out when you come to know each 
 other better. Talk over this cost question with them, provide 
 printed matter on the subject, and eventually you will get them 
 into the association, and the implement business in your section 
 will show better results. 
 
 A representative of the manufacturers, in advising the Minnesota 
 dealers how to reach dealers who would not join the State associa- 
 tion, advised the formation of local clubs. At a banquet held at the 
 time of this convention, attended by membei-s of the Minnesota 
 dealers' association and the jobbers belonging to the jobbers' club 
 of Minneapolis and St. Paul, a prominent dealer from South 
 Dakota, in an address on the subject of the benefits of cost account- 
 ing, spoke in part as follows : 
 
 This association is not complete, and will not be complete, 
 until it reaches every dealer in the State, and this certainly can 
 only be done through local organizations or local clubs. If 
 your competitor is doing business at a loss, probably he does 
 not' know it; but, nevertheliess, he is forcing you to sell your 
 goods without a profit. If you should tell him that he is doing 
 business at a loss he would probably laugh at you. Under these 
 circumstances it may take some pluck and it may interfere 
 somewhat with your ideas of dignity to ask your competitor to 
 meet with you and talk over matters pertaining to your busi- 
 ness, but your dignity will suffer far more in a bankrupt's court. 
 I believe that you will be forced to do it sooner or later, as a 
 matter of self-preservation, as the sooner you do it the better. 
 
 % 
 
 * 
 
 
 > 
 
 There will be but very little price cutting when you and your 
 competitors all know what it costs to do business, and how little 
 net profit you are actually making. 
 
 * 4i * « # * 41 
 
 The manufacturer and jobber owe to the retail dealer the 
 right to select territory large enough to safeguard him from 
 price-cutting competitor, and they also owe to the retail trade 
 m general the duty of cutting out all dealers who are known to 
 be price cutters. The tendency of manufacturers and jobbers 
 is to increase the number of agencies and decrease the size of the 
 dealer's territory. The mutual interests of such manufacturers, 
 jobbers and retailers demand the reverse of this policy, which 
 would help to decrease the cost of doing business for the retailer. 
 
 > During the early part of 1912 the Bulletin reported the spread of 
 the local-club movement, especially in the territory of the Western 
 association, and stated that the subject of the costs of doing business 
 was being very generally discussed. The secretary of the Federa- 
 tion in a general letter to secretaries of the constituent associations 
 in March, 1912, said : 
 
 I want to urge upon you the great importance of the local club 
 work and to acEnonish you to push it with vigor. It is receiving 
 an impetus in many places and the results are remarkable. 
 Manufacturers and jobbers are greatly interested and if you 
 request it will instruct their travellers to talk local clubs every- 
 where they go. 
 
 Finally, in July, 1912, the Bulletin reported that a plan was being 
 worked out by the sales managers' department of the National Im- 
 plement & Vehicle Association to push the cost educational move- 
 ment more vigorously than it had ever been done before. The 
 details of this plan were announced to the Federation delegates and 
 to members of the National Implement & Vehicle Association at 
 annual meetings of each of these organizations in October, 1912. 
 The committee on terms and credits reported the following resolution 
 of the Sales Managers' Department: 
 
 " That, the association shall, through a committee, propose to 
 the National Federation of Retail Implement and Vehicle Deal- 
 ers' Associations, which will hold its annual convention at 
 Chicago in October, in furthering the work of cost education 
 through the formation of local clubs of dealers, that if the 
 Federation and its constituent associations will undertake to 
 form such local clubs, that for every club organized under the 
 constitution and by-laws provided by the Federation, consisting 
 of not less than ten implement dealers, this association will 
 undertake to provide for such expense to the extent of $25 for 
 each club so organized. The maximum number of clubs per 
 State, in this initial undertaking, is to be limited to ten, and 
 this proposition is understood to apply to the territory covered 
 by the fifteen organizations now included in the Federation. 
 
 ^1* 
 
236 
 
 FABM-MACHINERY TBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 PREVENTION OF PRICE CUTTING AMONG DEALERS. 
 
 237 
 
 II 
 
 " The financial assistance suggested above is not to be provided 
 ont of the funds of our association, but is to be raised by solici- 
 tation among the members of the association. Furthermore, 
 that in carrying out this plan, it is understood that the sales 
 managers' department of this association will undertake, in co- 
 operation with the various State dealers' associations, to assist 
 them in the formation of said clubs, by providing the personal 
 assistance of some of their members to accompany the officers 
 of said dealers' associations when the formation of a club is con- 
 templated and assistance is desired/' 
 
 Continuing, the report of the committee on terms and credits read 
 
 as follows: 
 
 You will see by the above resolution that our association is to 
 undertake to help bear the expense of the organization of local 
 clubs in fifteen of the retail dealers' associations, to the extent 
 of ten in each association, if called on to do so. They also have 
 offered to provide the personal assistance of some of our members 
 to accompany the officers of said dealers' associations to help in 
 the formation of these clubs contemplated, if this help is desired. 
 
 This proposition was presented to the Federation on Oct. 9, 
 at the annual meeting in Chicago, and the Federation accepted 
 same, and, as was expressed by one of the delegates, " This was 
 the most valuable aid that manufacturers have ever offered to 
 the retail dealer, not alone considering it from the standpoint 
 of the money we were going to contribute but the personal 
 assistance we offered in this work "—because they felt that along 
 with our contributions is bound to come our personal efforts in 
 other directions. 
 
 Your committee feels that this is one of the most advanced 
 steps ever taken by this, or any other association, to better the 
 business condition of its customers, and will do more to do away 
 with misunderstandings that arise from time to time between 
 the manufacturer and the dealer, than any other one thing. To 
 carry on this work contemplated it will not alone require the 
 raising of the funds that we have agreed to furnish, but it will 
 entail a considerable amount of extra work on the part of our 
 secretary and general manager, and this committee wants to rec- 
 ommend that our convention goes on record approidng of this 
 plan and authorizing the establishment of a department in our 
 organization especially equipped to help further this work of the 
 formation of local dubs, and that it be done right away. 
 
 The chairman of the committee explained this plan of the sales 
 managers' department to carry the cost educational movement to 
 dealers who could not be reached in any other way. He is reported 
 to have declared that, with the assistance of the National Implement 
 & Vehicle Association, the retail implement dealers' organizations, 
 through the formation of local clubs, would extend until within five 
 years fully 75 per cent of all the retail implement dealers in the 
 United States would be in touch with modem business methods. 
 
 « 
 
 At this convention the members of the association adopted a reso- 
 lution which read as follows: 
 
 Whereas, we believe the most economical and satisfactory way 
 to place our. goods in the hands of the consumer is through the 
 retail dealers, and as so much depends upon his welfare, we 
 favor any movement that tends to better conditions existing in 
 the retail trade ; therefore 
 
 Be it resolved^ That we approve the action of the executive 
 committee in its effort to assist the officers of the retail associa- 
 tions in the establishment of local clubs, and that we favor the 
 opening of a department in our organization especially equipped 
 to take up this work, and also urge the hearty cooperation of all 
 of our members from sales managers to traveling salesmen to the 
 end that the desired improvement may be attained at once. 
 
 As indicated in the report of the committee quoted above, the 
 proposition of the manufacturers was accepted by the Federation. 
 It was reported that in the discussion unanimous opposition was 
 shown to local clubs making any effort to regulate prices, as it was 
 thought that " this was not only unlawful, but had proved impracti- 
 cable, having caused the dissolution of every club that had under- 
 taken it." The Federation delegates adopted the following resolution : 
 
 Exact knowledge of selling cost is vital to success, and there is 
 no other place where cost accounting can be learned so well as 
 in the local club. But no club and no dealers' association has 
 ever been successful in fixing prices. Never try it. Be honest 
 with each other and with yourselves. Learn to know exactly 
 what it costs you to do business, and the retail prices will take 
 care of themselves. 
 
 A committee was appointed to work out the details of the plan 
 proposed by the sales managers, and it was decided that each club to 
 be formed thereunder should be required to adopt the constitution 
 and by-laws recommended by the National Federation. (See Exhibit 
 25.) These articles of association provide as follows: 
 
 No article or by-laws shall be adopted which will conflict with 
 the regulations of the constituent association under which this 
 club is organized, nor with those of the National Federation of 
 Retail Implement and Vehicle Dealers' Associations, of which 
 it is a member. 
 
 Furthermore, the articles of association recommended by the 
 Federation for adoption by the constituent State and interstate asso- 
 ciations provide: 
 
 Section 1. No rules, regulations or by-laws shall be adopted 
 in anjr manner stifling competition, limiting production, re- 
 straining trade, regulating prices, or pooling profits. 
 
 Section 2. No coercive measures of any kind shall be prac- 
 ticed or adopted toward any retailer, either to induce him to 
 join the association, or to buy or to refrain from buying of any 
 particular manufacturer or wholesaler. Nor shall any discrimi- 
 
i 
 
 288 
 
 FABM-MACHINERY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 natory practices on the part of this association be used or al- 
 lowed against any retailer for the reason that he ma v not be a 
 member of the association, or to induce or persuade him to be- 
 come such member. i • j r n u 
 Section 3. No promises or agreements of ahy kmd shall be 
 requisite to membership in this association, nor shall any penal- 
 ties be imposed upon its members for any cause whatsoever. 
 
 In referring to this plan of cooperation between the National 
 Federation and the National Implement & Vehicle Association in 
 extending the local-club movement, the secretary of the Western 
 association in his annual report to the members of that association 
 in January, 1913, made a statement which was in part as follows : 
 
 Among the very important things accomplished the past 
 year is securing the cooperation of the manufacturers in the 
 local club movement. Their willingness to assist shows that 
 they are interested in the retail dealer and that they look upon 
 him as a part of their business organization. That well-organ- 
 ized local clubs can be made to revolutionize the implement 
 business has been demonstrated in many localities, and manu- 
 facturers have come to believe that it is worth while to render 
 assistance in advancing this work, and surely dealers should 
 show their interest. The proposition which was presented by 
 the sales managers' committee of the National Implement and 
 Vehicle Association to the National Federation and approved 
 by that body after a full and free discussion contemplates both 
 personal and financial assistance. I regard the benefit to be 
 derived from this offer of assistance to be twofold. It brings 
 the sales manager in closer touch with the retail trade : not only 
 will they assist in organizing local clubs and drop a few hints 
 about cost accounting, etc., but they will come into closer con- 
 tact with the irregularities of the business. When they and 
 their representatives go into the local club meetings they will 
 learn what the element of unrest is that is causing so much 
 trouble and, if only for their own protection, will seek a remedy. 
 I want to go upon record as characterizing this movement 
 as the greatest ever undertaken to bring about better condi- 
 tions. The manufacturers have gone into it with enthusiasm. 
 They see in it wonderful possibilities if only dealers will do 
 their part, and I beg of you to do it. With further reference 
 to this I can not do better than quote from my report to the 
 Federation : " There is no need of our taking this advance step 
 in association work in a lukewarm sort of way. We are going 
 to have to show that we mean business if we expect the coop- 
 eration of the manufacturers, for it is going to cost them a large 
 sum of money and they expect results." 
 At this meeting the secretary and general manager of the National 
 Implement & Vehicle Association also addressed the members of the 
 Western association on this subject. He spoke in part as follows; 
 I believe the Western association was the originator of the 
 local-club idea. Anyway, it is simply a little closer organiza- 
 tion— a getting together of your neighbors, a getting together 
 with the man down the street who sells at a less price than you; 
 
 * 1 • 
 
 II 
 
 PREVENTION OF PRICE CUTTING AMONG DEALERS. 
 
 239 
 
 ijH 
 
 it is simply getting together with him and figuring on the cost 
 of doing business. 
 
 The question is. How can the dealer make a fair profit? 
 Other things are minor. To start in and talk of selling prices 
 is absolutely illegal and absolutely unnecessary, but you can fix 
 in your mind and in the mind of your competitor that an article 
 that cost $40 can not be sold for $39. The trouble is we do not 
 know where that $40 line is, and the local club is the solution. 
 
 This thing has been bearing upon the minds of the manufac- 
 turers for a long time. Don't you think that they are unaware 
 of the catalog house competition and other kinds of competi- 
 tion; don't you believe that they are simply trying to get all 
 the price they can out of you. They have found that through 
 y. economic waste the retail dealer throughout the country is fail- 
 ing at the rate of 25 to 33 J per cent every year. Now, that 
 means to them that new dealers are coming in to take their 
 place, and results in a disarranging of business. It is the inde- 
 pendent competitor that you have the least to fear from. Now 
 to assure you of the sympathy and cooperation of the manufac- 
 turers, they will pay $25 toward the establishment of each local 
 club, and as a starter will allow you that for each local club of 
 ten in each association territory, that is clubs that approximate 
 ten persons to the club. 
 
 Now just think if you take advantage of that offer and organ- 
 ize that many clubs over this whole territory what a help it will 
 be to you ! This is a business proposition. The manufacturers 
 are putting in their money to assure you of the cooperation of 
 the National Implement and Vehicle Association, which repre- 
 sents the manufacturers. They have planned to set apart a 
 department in that association, with competent help in charge, 
 to act with the State secretary. 
 
 At the annual meeting of the National Federation in October, 
 1913, the secretary reported that abundant evidence had been fur- 
 nished of the wisdom of the plan of the manufacturers' association 
 to advance the local-club movement. Forty local clubs had been 
 organized during the year under the special offer of the manufac- 
 turers.^ One-half of this number of clubs had been (organized in 
 the territory covered by the Western and Minnesota associations. 
 Eight clubs had been formed in Iowa, four in Wisconsin, three in 
 Illinois, two each in Michigan and the Omaha jobbing territory, and 
 one in Colorado. Furthermore, the secretary asserted that the deal- 
 ers were on the right track in encouraging local organization; that 
 it was the only way in which mercantile knowledge could be brought 
 to the attention of a certain class of dealers. 
 
 At a conference between the delegates to the annual meeting of 
 the Federation and a committee of the National Implement & 
 Vehicle Association in October, 1913, one of the dealers asserted 
 that one of the important problems of the local clubs was to main- 
 tain interest on the part of their members. He stated that sugges- 
 
 1 In this connection, see Exhibit 30. 
 
240 
 
 FABM-MACHINEBY TEADE ASSOCIATIONS, 
 
 / 
 
 PREVENTION OP PRICE CUTTING AMONG DEALERS. 
 
 241 
 
 tions had been made for the employment of a local-club organizer 
 or a superintendent. One of the manufacturers replied that if the 
 dealers did not take sufficient interest in their clubs to keep them 
 going, there was no way in which they could be maintained. He 
 stated that the manufacturers were showing increased interest in 
 the local-club movement and that the National Implement & Ve- 
 hicle Association was prepared to renew its offer of financial assist- 
 ance in the organization of local clubs and was making plans to 
 extend the local-club movement. 
 
 In October, 1914, the executive committee of the National Imple- 
 ment & Vehicle Association reported that during the preceding year 
 the association had contributed over $1,200 to the cast-educational 
 work among the dealers and recommended that the work should be 
 continued during the ensuing year. As shown elsewhere (see p. 53), 
 the furnishing of information to the retail trade on the subject of cost 
 accounting is one of the functions contemplated for a department or 
 bureau of the National Implement & Vehicle Association, a plan which 
 was referred to with approval by the president and the committee on 
 manufacturing costs at the annual convention in October, 1914. 
 
 The secretary of the Federation of dealers' associations in his 
 report to the delegates present at the annual meeting of that organi- 
 zation in October, 1914, stated that the sentiment in favor of local 
 organization among the dealers was growing, that the work done by 
 many of the local clubs was having its influence, and that the assist- 
 ance rendered by the manufacturers had given the work an impetus. 
 He stated that the chief reason why more clubs had not been organ- 
 ized was because of lack of funds. He asserted that the most effective 
 way to organize was to place an organizer in thf> field, but that few 
 of the associations had the money for that purpose. The secretary 
 of the National Implement & Vehicle AssociatioL promised the con- 
 tinued financial assistance of the manufacturers' association in the 
 extension of local clubs. 
 
 At this meeting, the Federation delegates, after discussing the 
 Stevens bill pending in Congress to permit manufacturers of trade- 
 marked goods to determine resale prices at which their products 
 were- sold, decided that the n.«iasure would be of no benefit to the 
 implement trade, and they tabled a motion to approve the bill.^ At 
 this meeting they subsequently adopted a resolution asserting the 
 belief that — 
 
 No man is considered a good dealer who does not know the 
 cost of doing business. The place to learn this is the local 
 club. * * * we urge upon our several official boards the 
 supreme importance of pushmg the local club movement during 
 the coming winter far more strenuously tha n ever before. 
 
 iln January. 1915, however, the Western association went on record In faTor ot tb* 
 BteTens bUl. (See p. 208.) 
 
 Section 6. Significance of cost suggestions as a basis for retail prices. 
 
 The ostensible purpose of the campaign for cost education is to 
 prevent inexperienced and unbusinesslike dealers from selling at 
 prices that do not include full allowance for all elements of expense. 
 As already indicated, however, the "cost suggestions" of the Cost 
 Educational Association recommend the inclusion of allowances for 
 interest on the investment, rent of buildings owned and used in the 
 business, and a salary for the proprietor. Some of these items are 
 not properly a part of the dealer's cost. Indeed, the cost of a ma- 
 chine computed on the basis recommended is practically equivalent 
 to a fair selling price. This fact strongly supports the view that the 
 ^cost-educational movement has been adopted as a discreet method of 
 determining prices, and tends to produce results hardly distinguish- 
 able from those produced by a price agreement among competing 
 retailers. This fact also explains why so much attention has been 
 given by the organized manufacturers, as well as by dealers, to the 
 formation of local clubs as a means of securing the adoption of this 
 cost-finding method by all dealers competing with each other in their 
 respective localities. 
 
 The public concern in this method of determining retail prices is 
 the same as in the method of computing wholesale prices recom- 
 mended by the National Implement & Vehicle Association for adop- 
 tion by manufacturers, for it is easy to see that when dealers discuss 
 the relation of costs and prices there must often be a strong tempta- 
 tion to have some sort of an understanding regarding selling prices. 
 That there is a tendency to attempt such understandings by members 
 of local clubs is admitted. In this connection, one of the manufac- 
 turers belonging to the National Implement & Vehicle Association 
 who has been most active in the local-club and cost-educational move- 
 ment, in an address at a meeting of the Tri- State Vehicle & Imple- 
 ment Dealers' Association in the latter part of 1912, is quoted in part 
 as follows: 
 
 From the experience I gained last winter in assisting in or- 
 ganizing some local county clubs in my own State of Wisconsin, 
 there is one thing I wish to warn you about, and that is the 
 tendency to establish a uniform retail price on the main goods in 
 your line. 
 
 Now, first of all, this is illegal, impracticable and absolutely 
 unnecessary. Every man should make his own prices, based on 
 his costs and expense of doing business (which is a part of the 
 costs), and then add whatever profit he wishes to make, and let 
 his competitor work along the same line. There are many other 
 very important and valuable things that can be done by coop- 
 erative work in these clubs, which will justify their existence 
 and be of value to the dealer living in the counties, and who have 
 
 68248-— 15 ^16 
 
x^ 
 
 \ 
 
 p 
 
 240 
 
 FABM-MACHINEKY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 / 
 
 tions had been made for the employment of a local-club organizer 
 or a superintendent. One of the manufacturers replied that if the 
 dealers did not take suflScient interest in their clubs to keep them i^ ^# 
 
 going, there was no way in which they could be maintained. He 
 stated that the manufacturers were showing increased interest in 
 the local-dub movement and that the National Implement & Ve- 
 hicle Association was prepared to renew its offer of financial assist- 
 ance in the organization of local clubs and was making plans to 
 extend the local-club movement % 
 
 In October, 1914, the executive committee of the National Imple- 
 ment & Vehicle Association reported that during the preceding year 
 the association had contributed over $1,200 to the cost-educational 
 work among the dealers and recommended that the work should be 
 continued during the ensuing year. As shown elsewhere (see p. 53), 
 the furnishing of information to the retail trade on the subject of cost % 
 accounting is one of the functions contemplated for a department or 
 bureau of the National Implement & Vehicle Association, a plan which 
 was referred to with approval by the president and the committee on 
 manufacturing costs at the annual convention in October, 1914. 
 
 The secretary of the Federation of dealers' associations in his 
 report to the delegates present at the annual meeting of that organi- i» | # 
 zation in October, 1914, stated that the sentiment in favor of local 
 organization among the dealers was growing, that the work done by 
 many of the local clubs was having its influence, and that the assist- 
 ance rendered by the manufacturers had given the work an impetus. 
 He stated that the chief reason why more clubs had not been organ- 
 ized was because of lack of funds. He asserted that the most effective \ 
 way to organize was to place an organizer in the field, but that few 
 of the associations had the money for that purpose. The secretary 
 of the National Implement & Vehicle AssociatioL promised the con- 
 tinued financial assistance of the manufacturers' association in the 
 extension of local clubs. 
 
 At this meeting, the Federation delegates, after discussing the ^ I # 
 
 Stevens bill pending in Congress to permit manufacturers of trade- 
 marked goods to determine resale prices at which their products 
 were sold, decided that the measure would be of no benefit to the 
 implement trade, and they tabled a motion to approve the bill.^ At 
 this meeting they subsequently adopted a resolution asserting the 
 belief that— g^ 
 
 No man is considered a good dealer who does not know the 
 cost of doing business. The place to learn this is the local 
 club. ♦ ♦ * we urge upon our several oflficial boards the 
 supreme importance of pushmg the local club movement during 
 the coming winter far more strenuously than ever before. 
 
 1 In January. 1915, however, the Western association went on record In faTor of tb« 
 Stevens bUl. (See p. 208.) 
 
 PBEVENTION OF PBICE CUTTING AMONG DEALERS. 
 
 241 
 
 Section 6. Sig^ficance of cost suggestions as a basis for retail prices. 
 
 The ostensible purpose of the campaign for cost education is to 
 prevent inexperienced and unbusinesslike dealers from selling at 
 prices that do not include full allowance for all elements of expense. 
 As already indicated, however, the "cost suggestions" of the Cost 
 Educational Association recommend the inclusion of allowances for 
 interest on the investment, rent of buildings owned and used in the 
 business, and a salary for the proprietor. Some of these items are 
 not properly a part of the dealer's cost. Indeed, the cost of a ma- 
 chine computed on the basis recommended is practically equivalent 
 to a fair selling price. This fact strongly supports the view that the 
 *^ cost-educational movement has been adopted as a discreet method of 
 determining prices, and tends to produce results hardly distinguish- 
 able from those produced by a price agreement among competing 
 retailers. This fact also explains why so much attention has been 
 given by the organized manufacturers, as well as by dealers, to the 
 formation of local clubs as a means of securing the adoption of this 
 cost-finding method by all dealers competing with each other in their 
 respective localities. 
 
 The public concern in this method of determining retail prices is 
 the same as in the method of computing wholesale prices recom- 
 mended by the National Implement & Vehicle Association for adop- 
 tion by manufacturers, for it is easy to see that when dealers discuss 
 the relation of costs and prices there must often be a strong tempta- 
 tion to have some sort of an understanding regarding selling prices. 
 That there is a tendency to attempt such understandings by members 
 of local clubs is admitted. In this connection, one of the manufac- 
 turers belonging to the National Implement & Vehicle Association 
 who has been most active in the local-club and cost-educational move- 
 ment, in an address at a meeting of the Tri- State Vehicle & Imple- 
 ment Dealers' Association in the latter part of 1912, is quoted in part 
 as follows: 
 
 From the experience I gained last winter in assisting in or- 
 ganizing some local county clubs in my own State of Wisconsin, 
 there is one thing I wish to warn you about, and that is the 
 tendency to establish a uniform retail price on the main goods in 
 your line. 
 
 Now, first of all, this is illegal, impracticable and absolutely 
 unnecessary. Every man should make his own prices, based on 
 his costs and expense of doing business (which is a part of the 
 costs), and then add whatever profit he wishes to make, and let 
 his competitor work along the same line. There are many other 
 very important and valuable things that can be done by coop- 
 erative work in these clubs, which will justify their existence 
 and be of value to the dealer living in the counties, and who have 
 
 68248*— 15- 
 
 -16 
 
II 
 
 242 FARM-MACHINERY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 a membership in them. Some of the things that thev can take up 
 
 that I might suggest at this time, would be first, the agreement 
 
 to get settlement for all goods on delivery, either by cash or note, 
 
 the value of which is over ten dollars. 
 
 In February, 1913, the same manufacturer, who was then chairman 
 
 of the executive committee of the National Implement & Vehicle 
 
 Association, in writing to the secretary of that association, made the 
 
 following statement on the subject of price discussions at meetings of 
 
 local clubs: 
 
 The writer has noticed this tendency of the dealers to talk 
 about price agreements at all the meetings we have been to and 
 we have made it a point to show them that it is impossible and 
 also impracticable. 
 Apparently to guard against the danger of violating the antitrust 
 laws which may arise because of this tendency, the National Imple- 
 ment & Vehicle Association has made it obligatory that all local clubs 
 of dealers that are formed under its offer of financial assistance shall 
 adopt the constitution and by-laws for such clubs prepared by the 
 National Federation. In this connection, the chairman of the execu- 
 tive committee of the National Implement & Vehicle Association just 
 mentioned, in writing to the secretary of that association in Novem- 
 ber, 1912, said in part: 
 
 As intimated to you the other day in the office, I am rather 
 inclined to believe you will find that the Michigan Association 
 has had some very unfavorable experience in starting local clubs, 
 and we presume the reason can be very easily traced to the fact 
 that they are using the old method of conducting these meetings. 
 In connection with this letter, I was going to ask if you had 
 a copy of the Federation's constitution and by-laws. I think 
 you should have some of these printed right away if Mr. Hodge 
 [the secretary of the Federation] is unable to furnish you with a 
 
 I do not know but what I would make some little changes in 
 minor things in the copy which you will readily see when you 
 look it over. I think it's very unportant that we msert that all 
 clubs, to which we are to furnish foiancial or personal help, must 
 be organized under the constitution and by-laws, as provided 
 for the Federation. This will be our protection in case the Gov- 
 ernment should see fit to investigate any of these clubs. 
 The organized manufacturers take the position that prices shall 
 not be discussed at local-club meetings, except in relation to the cost 
 of doing business, and that no agreements or understandings should 
 in any way be entered into. They claim that agreements or under- 
 standings are superfluous; that aU that is necessary is by the study 
 of costs to create in the dealer a realizing sense of the fact that there 
 is a dead line below which goods can not be sold except at a loss. 
 They allege that the study of costs is the most effective way of pre- 
 venting price cutting. The reason for this exists in the fact that 
 
 PREVENTION OF PRICE CUTTING AMONG DEALERS. 
 
 243 
 
 the computation of costs on the plan recommended furnishes a figure 
 at which the dealer can sell at a profit. In view of this situation, the 
 formal articles of association of the local clubs are probably suffi- 
 cient to afford some guaranty against price agreements in cases 
 where dealers recognize the possibilities of profit in the cost sug- 
 gestions originally prepared by the Cost Educational Association, 
 especially when, through the maintenance of local clubs, every dealer 
 in any locality can be induced to adopt these suggestions in fixing 
 his prices. It should be pointed out, however, that this does not 
 mean the establishment of uniform retail prices so long as each 
 dealer bases his prices upon his own costs. On the other hand, atten- 
 >tion should be called to the fact that it is impossible to determine 
 whether the dealers do actually base their prices upon their own costs 
 or whether prices are based on the cost of other dealers, which may 
 be disclosed to competitors in the interchange of information at 
 meetings of the local club. 
 
 It appears that there has been no direct effort to establish a definite 
 percentage of selling price as a standard rate of soiling cost for adop- 
 tion by all dealers. From time to time implement trade papers have 
 published average percentages compiled from the reports of a con- 
 siderable number of individual dealers, and in a general letter sent to 
 local clubs on May 15, 1914, the secretary of the National Implement 
 & Vehicle Association said that 20 clubs had reported their average 
 costs of doing business at figures ranging from 14 per ceut to 20 per 
 cent. The average was 16.9 per cent. The secretary added: 
 
 No dealer, however, should accept this average for finding the 
 selling prices of his lines, but study his own costs and use the 
 figures thus derived. The Local Club which knows its average 
 cost of doing business is progressing. Has Your Club Got That 
 Far? 
 
 The apparent implication of this suggestion is to call the attention 
 of the dealer to the advantage of using the average cost of his local 
 club in fixing his prices. 
 
 While the cost-educational movement has various aspects, the im- 
 portant fact to be considered is that the method of fixing prices 
 through cooperative study of costs is not merely susceptible of abuse 
 in particular cases, but directly militates against independent action 
 on the part of competitors. 
 
I 
 
 I 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 ExiiiniT 1. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS OF THE NATIONAL IMPLEMENT 
 
 AND VEHICLE ASSOCIATION. 
 
 Constitution. 
 
 article i. 
 
 This association shall be known as the National Implement and 
 Vehicle Association of the United States of America. 
 
 ARTICLE n. 
 
 The object of this association shall be to take suitable and timely 
 notice of, and action upon, matters of legislation, national and state ; 
 matters concerning freight and transportation, matters of educa- 
 tional interest pertaining to trade and agriculture, and all those 
 matters attention to which, and action upon which, will protect or 
 promote the interests of its members, and to foster and promote the 
 interests of American agriculture and agriculturists. 
 
 ARTICLE III. 
 
 Section 1.* Active members of this association shall consist of 
 two classes : 
 
 Members of Class I shall be persons, firms and incorporated com- 
 panies engaged in the manufacture and sale of agricultural imple- 
 ments, vehicles and lines allied thereto at wholesale. 
 
 Members of Class II shall be persons, firms, incorporated com- 
 panies, branch houses or general agencies, not manufacturers, en- 
 gaged in the jobbing, wholesaling or distribution of agricultural 
 implements, vehicles or lines allied thereto. 
 
 Members of this class shall be entitled to all privileges of mem- 
 bers of Class I, except that they may not vote at elections or hold 
 office. 
 
 Section 2. Associate members of this association shall be persons 
 or firms engaged in the manufacture and sale of merchandise, ma- 
 terials or accessories used or sold by the active members but who 
 are not in competition with them. 
 
 Section 3. The association may, by vote, admit to honorary mem- 
 bership an)^ person who, from eminence, shall seem entitled to such 
 
 ^ Sec. 1 as amended and adopted at the annual convention, Oct. 19, 1911. 
 
 245 
 
246 
 
 FARM-MACHINERY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 247 
 
 IIM 
 
 i 
 
 ! 
 
 consideration, and such honorary membership shall confer all the 
 rights and privileges of active members during life unless with- 
 drawn for cause. But no more than two persons shall be admitted 
 in any one year. 
 
 ARTICLE IV. 
 
 Section 1. The officers of the association shall be a president and 
 twelve vice-presidents, an executive committee of twelve, a treasurer, 
 a secretary and general manager and a chairman of the executive 
 committee, all to be elected by the ballot of the association, except 
 the secretary and general manager and chairman of the executive 
 committee. The president, vice-presidents and treasurer shall be 
 elected for a term of one year, "rtie members of the executive com- 
 mittee shall be elected for a term of three years. Four members of 
 the committee shall be elected each year for three years. The time 
 of service of all officers to commence with the closing of the annual 
 meeting at which they are chosen. The secretary apd general 
 manager shall be appointed by the executive committee. 
 
 Section 2. A nominating committee of five shall be selected by the 
 association to present nam3s to be voted for to fill the offices of presi- 
 dent, vice-presidents, treasurer and members of the executive com- 
 mittee. 
 
 Section 3. The president shall be a member of the executive com- 
 mittee. 
 
 Section 4. The members of the executive committee shall elect* 
 their chairman from among their members and also have power to 
 fill any vacancy which shall be occasioned by the death or resigna- 
 tion 01 any member of that committee or any other cause. 
 
 ASnCLB ▼• 
 
 The constitution mav be altered or amended as follows: The de- 
 sired change must be first submitted to the executive committee for 
 its consideration, and if said executive committee recommend the 
 adoption of the change, a copy of such change must then be mailed 
 by the secretary to each member of the association at least thirty days 
 in advance of the annual meeting, and at least two-thirds of the 
 members present at such meeting must vote in favor of such change 
 before it shall become a part of the constitution. 
 
 By-Laws. 
 
 article I. — OFPICEHS OP THE ASSOCIATION. 
 
 Section 1. The officers of the association shall be a president and 
 twelve vice-presidents, a board of twelve directors, which shall bo 
 designated as an executive committee ; a treasurer, a secretary and 
 general manager, and a chairman of the executive committee. 
 
 Sec. 2. The president shall be ex-officio member of the executive 
 committee. 
 
 ARTICLE n. — duties OP OFFICERS. 
 
 Section 1. The president shall preside at all meetings of the asso- 
 ciatioiL 
 
 «t 
 
 ii. 
 
 Sec. 2. The president shall sign all papers which are necessary for 
 the association to sign under seal attested by the secretary. 
 
 Sec. 3. In the absence or inability of the president to act, a vice- 
 president, following the order of election, shall preside. 
 
 Sec. 4. The chairman of the executive committee shall preside at 
 all meetings of the executive committee; he shall have power to call 
 the committee together and shall be the chief executive officer of the 
 association for the year. 
 
 Sec. 5. The secretary and general manager shall perform all duties 
 common to that office, and shall have supervision of all work of the 
 association, and shall also be an ex-officio member ot all committees. 
 He shall have custody of all books, records, also the corporate seal, 
 or other property of the association. He shall have power to engage 
 and discharge all help employed in the conduct of the work, and shall 
 ^x their compensation subject to the approval of the executive com- 
 mittee. In all matters requiring immediate action he, with the presi- 
 dent and chairman of the executive committee, shall constitute an 
 advisory committee, to determine the course to be taken. 
 
 Sec. 6. The treasurer shall have charge of all funds of the associa- 
 tion, and shall pay them out on vouchers made by the secretary and 
 general manager, and shall make a report on the condition of funds at 
 each annual meeting or when called upon by the executive com- 
 mittee. The treasurer shall give bond in the amount fixed by the 
 executive committee, the expense of obtaining which shall be paid 
 by the association. 
 
 Sec. 7. It shall be the duty of the executive committee to see that 
 the objects of the association are carried out to the best of their 
 ability. They shall have entire control of and give attention to 
 internal affairs of the association, and shall appoint the secretary 
 and general manager and fix his compensation, also committees to 
 carry out the various objects of the association, and shall be at 
 liberty to place on such committees members of the association not 
 members of the executive committee, and shall designate the place 
 for the annual meeting unless othei:wise directed by the votes of 
 the association. They may admit new members and report the names 
 of such members at the next meeting of the association, and they 
 shall have the accounts of the treasurer audited at least once in each 
 They shall also deal with all resignations and withdrawals 
 
 -• year. 
 
 and report results at the next general meeting of the association. 
 
 ARTICLE ni. — selection OF OFFICERS. 
 
 Section 1. The president, vice-presidents, treasurer and chairman 
 of the executive committee shall be elected at the annual meeting of 
 the association by the members thereof for a period of one year, and 
 the members of the executive committee shall be elected as follows: 
 There shall be elected at the first meeting of the association twelve 
 members, four for a period of one year, four for a period of two 
 years and four for a period of three years, and at each annual elec- 
 tion after the first election in 1912 there shall be elected four direc- 
 tors for a period of three years each. 
 
 Sec. 2. The chairman of the executive committee shall hold his 
 office for a period of one year and until his successor is elected and 
 qualified. Should the office of chairman of this committee become 
 
I' I' 
 
 248 
 
 FAEM-MACHINEBY TBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 249 
 
 N 
 
 I 
 
 vacant for any reason, the members of the executive committee shall 
 have power to elect one of their number as chairman to serve until 
 the next annual meeting of the association. 
 
 Sec. 3. The secretary and general manager shall be appointed by 
 the executive committee. 
 
 Sec. 4. If a vacancy occurs in the executive committee or in the 
 office of treasurer, the same may be filled by the executive committee 
 until the next general election. 
 
 Sec. 5. At the annual meeting of the association a nominating 
 committee of five shall be selected by the association to present names 
 to be voted for to fill the offices of president, vice-presidents, treas- 
 urer and members of the executive committee. 
 
 ABTICLE IV. — MEETINGS. 
 
 Section 1. The annual meeting of the association shall be held on 
 the fourth Tuesday in October each year, unless the executive com- 
 mittee, for good cause, shall be compelled to change the date. 
 
 Sec. 2. All general meetings of the association shall be held at 
 such places as shall be designated at a general meeting of the asso- 
 ciation, but if no place is selected for the holding of such meeting, or 
 it becomes impracticable to hold such meeting at the place designated, 
 then such general meeting shall be held at such time and place as the 
 executive committee may designate. 
 
 Sec. 3. Special meetings of the association shall be called by; the 
 president at the request of the executive conmiittee or at the written 
 i-equest of twenty-five members of the association, such call to be in 
 writing and to state the object of such meeting, and a copy of the 
 same to be mailed to each member at least ten days prior to the date of 
 such meeting. 
 
 Sec. 4. At all general meetings of the association, any number of 
 members present shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of 
 business. At any special meeting of the association at least twenty- 
 five members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. 
 
 Sec. 5. Meetings of the executive committee may be held upon 
 call of the chairman of the executive committee, upon the secretary 
 giving three days' notice to the members of such committee, stating 
 the object for which said meeting is called. 
 
 Sec, 6. A majority of the members of the executive committee 
 shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. 
 
 article v. — ^members. 
 
 Section 1. The membership of the association shall be divided 
 into three classes, viz. : active members, associate members, and hon- 
 orary members. 
 
 Sec. 2. Active members of this association shall consist of two 
 («^aosvo . 
 
 Members of Oass I shall be persons, firms, and incorporated com- 
 panies engaged in the manufacture and sale of agricultural imple- 
 ments, vehicles, and lines allied thereto at wholesale. 
 
 Members of Class II shall be persons, firms, incorporated com- 
 panies, branch houses or general agencies, not manufacturers, en- 
 gaged in the jobbing, wholesaling, or distribution of agricultural 
 
 t 
 
 implements, vehicles, or lines allied thereto. Members of this class 
 shall be entitled to all privileges of members of Class I, except that 
 they may not vote at elections or hold office. 
 
 Sec 3. Associate members of this association shall be persons or 
 firms engaged in the manufacture and sale of merchandise, materials, 
 or accessories used or sold by the active members but who are not in 
 competition with them. 
 
 Sec 4. The association may, by vote, admit to honorary member- 
 ship any person, who, from eminence, shall seem entitled to such 
 consideration, and such honorary membership shall confer all the 
 rights and privileges of active members during life unless withdrawn 
 for cause. But no more than two persons shall be admitted in any 
 one year. 
 
 Sec 5. New members of the association may be admitted at any 
 time by the executive committee in such manner and form as the 
 executive committee shall prescribe. All resignations or withdraw- 
 als from membership will be subject to the action of the executive 
 committee. 
 
 ARTICLE VI. DUES. 
 
 Section 1-A. Active Members of Class I. Each incorporated com- 
 pany having a paid-in capital stock and surplus not exceeding 
 $50,000, each individual manufacturer and each incorporated firm 
 engaged in manufacturing agricultural implements, vehicles and 
 lines allied thereto, shall, upon becoming a member, pay to the asso- 
 ciation annual dues amounting to $25; those having a capital and 
 surplus of more than 
 
 $50,000 and less than $100,000 shall pay $50 
 100,000 and less than 200,000 shall pay 75 
 
 200,000 and less than 
 300,000 and less than 
 400,000 and less than 
 500,000 and less than 
 600,000 and less than 
 700,000 and less than 
 800,000 and less than 
 
 300,000 shall pay 100 
 400,000 shall pay 150 
 500,000 shall pay 200 
 600,000 shall pay 250 
 700,000 shall pay 300 
 800,000 shall pay 350 
 900,000 shall pay 400 
 
 li 
 
 900,000 and less than 1,000,000 shall pav 450 
 1,000,000 and less than 5,000,000 shall pay 500 
 6,000,000 or over shall pay 750 
 
 In computing dues under the foregoing schedule consideration will 
 be given as to the amount of capital and surplus employed in the 
 manufacturing of agricultural implements, vehicles and lines allied 
 thereto, and in event of more than one-half of the capital and surplus 
 being employed in the manufacture and sale of lines foreign to im- 
 plements, vehicles or allied lines and going to a different class of 
 trade, the dues shall be computed on one-half of their capital stock 
 and surplus. 
 
 Sec 1-B. Active Members of Class II, consisting of persons, firms, 
 incorporated companies, branch houses or general agencies (not 
 manufacturers) engaged in jobbing, wholesaling or distribution of 
 agricultural implements, vehicles or allied lines, shall, upon becoming 
 a member, pay to the association annual dues of $50.00. 
 
 Sec 2. Annual dues shall be payable in advance, one-half upon 
 the first day of January and one-half on the first day of July of each 
 
250 
 
 FAKM-MACHINEEY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 251 
 
 A I 
 
 year. Each active member who shall join the association at any time 
 subsequent to the first day of January in any year shall pay to the 
 association the amount of dues as provided in section one of this 
 article pro rata for the unexpired time, but not less than twenty-five 
 dollars. 
 
 Sec. 3. The executive committee shall have the power to make from 
 time to time such special assessments against the members of this 
 association in addition to the annual dues as may be necessary to meet 
 the contingent expenses of the association. Such assessments shall 
 be made pro rata on the same basis as fixed for dues ; provided, that 
 the total amount so assessed by the executive committee in any one 
 year shall not exceed one-half the amount of the annual dues paid by 
 the members, except when directed to do so by two-thirds of the 
 members present at any meeting of the association. 
 
 Sec. 4. Associate Members will be entitled to all social privileges 
 of the association and to attend all general meetings of the associa- 
 tion, except those of an executive character. This membership does 
 not carry with it the privilege of voting. A nominal fee of $16.00 
 annually, payable January 1, will be charged associate members. 
 
 Sec. 5. The dues provided for in the foregoing sections of this 
 Article shall be for tne year, and no person, firm or corporation shall 
 be permitted to withdraw so long as any dues or obligations to the 
 association remain outstanding. 
 
 ARTICLE Vn. — CORFOBATE SEAL. 
 
 Section 1. The corporate seal of this association shall have en- 
 graved thereon National Implement and Vehicle Association, 
 tJ. S. A., and in the center the word " Seal." It shall be kept by the 
 secretary of the association, and shall be affixed to all papers or 
 documents that may be required to be executed under the corporate 
 seal of the association. 
 
 ARTICLE Vin. — delinquent MEMBERS. 
 
 Section 1. A list of members delinquent in the payment of dues 
 or assessments will be presented by the secretary to the executive 
 committee from time to time for such action as the executive com- 
 mittee may wish to take. 
 
 ARTICLE IX, 
 
 Section 1. All resolutions to be presented to the annual meeting 
 of the association must first be submitted to the committee on resolu- 
 tions. 
 
 ARTICLE X. 
 
 Section 1. "Eobert's Kules of Order" shall govern all such pro- 
 ceedings. 
 
 ARTICLE XI. 
 
 Section 1. The By-Laws may be amended at any meeting of the 
 association by a majority vote, thirty days' notice having been given 
 the members of the association of such proposed amendment, to- 
 gether with a copy of the proposed amendment. 
 
 Sept. S, WIS. 
 
 vl # 
 
 Exhibit 2. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS OP THE WAGON DEPARTMENT OP 
 THE NATIONAL IMPLEMENT & VEHICLE ASSOCIATION. 
 
 Constitution. 
 
 ARTICLE 1. 
 
 This organization shall be known as the Wagon Department of 
 the National Implement and Vehicle Association. 
 
 ARTICLE 2. 
 
 ■^ The object of this Department shall be the promotion of the in- 
 terests of the wagon manufacturers. 
 
 ARTICLE 3. 
 
 The members of this Department shall be persons, firms and cor- 
 porations engaged in the manufacture of wagons, also members of the 
 National Implement and Vehicle Association. Each firm or cor- 
 poration shall be entitled to one vote only. 
 
 * ARTICLE 4. 
 
 Section 1. The officers of this Department shall be a president, 
 vice president, secretary-treasurer, all of whom shall be elected at the 
 annual meeting to serve one year, and shall perform the duties usually 
 assigned to such officers. 
 
 Section 2. There shall be an executive committee of five, com- 
 posed of the president, vice president, secretary-treasurer, and two 
 others, who shall be elected at each annual meeting to serve for a 
 period of one year. Said executive committee shall elect its chairman 
 from among its own members. 
 
 Section 3. The members of the executive committee shall have 
 power to fill any vacancy which may be occasioned by the death or 
 resignation of any member of that committee. 
 
 ARTICLE 6. 
 
 This constitution may be altered or amended at any annual meet- 
 ing by an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members present at 
 such meeting. 
 
 By-Laws. 
 
 ARTICLE 1. 
 
 The president shall preside at the meetings of the Department ; in 
 his absence the vice president shall preside. 
 
 ARTICLE 2. 
 
 Section 1. It shall be the duty of the executive committee to see 
 that the objects of the Department are carried out to the best of its 
 
MuJd 
 
 FAKM-MACHINERY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 /" 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 253 
 
 M 
 
 t '■ 
 
 ability. It shall have entire control of and give attention to in- 
 ternal affairs of the Department, and shall appoint committees to 
 carry out the various objects of the Department, and shall be at 
 liberty to place on such committees, members of the Department 
 who are not members of the executive committee, and shall designate 
 the place for meetings of the Department, unless otherwise directed 
 by the Department at large. u * 
 
 Section 2. The executive committee may admit new members to 
 the Department and report the names of such members at the next 
 meeting of the Department. 
 
 ABTICLE 3. 
 
 Section 1. The regular annual meeting of the Department shall 
 be held on the third Wednesday of November in each year in Chicago 
 unless the executive committee, for good cause, should be compelled 
 
 to change the date. .,^ ^ ^t^ni. ii;i 
 
 Section 2. Special meetings of the Department shall be called 
 at the request of the executive committee, or a majority thereof, or 
 at the written request of ten members of the Department, and such 
 calls shall be in writing and shall state the object of the meeting, 
 and a copy of same shall be mailed to each member at least ten days 
 prior to the date of such meeting. 
 
 ABTICLE 4. 
 
 Section 1. Each member shall, upon the first day of May of each 
 year, pay to the Department, as annual dues, $1. 
 
 Section 2. The executive committee shall have the power to make 
 from tune to time, such special assessments against the active mem- 
 bers of the Department, in addition to annual dues, as may be neces- 
 sary to meet the contingent expenses of the Department, provided such 
 assessments shall not exceed $5 in any one year; no other assess- 
 ments shall be levied except when the committee are so directed to by 
 two-thirds of the members present at any meeting of the Department. 
 
 ARTICLE 5. 
 
 Section 1. The secretary-treasurer shall have charge of all funds 
 of the Department and shall pay them out on vouchers approved by 
 the chairman of the executive committee or on order of the executive 
 committee, and shall make a report of the condition of the funds in 
 his hands at each annual meeting of the Department, and whenever 
 called upon to do so by the executive committee. , , . , 
 
 Section 2. The secretary-treasurer shall have a record of the pro- 
 ceedings of all meetings of the Department and of the executive 
 committee, and of all other matters concerning the Department, and 
 he shall issue notifications of all meetings to each member of the 
 Department and shall be allowed all necessary expenses approved by 
 the executive committee. 
 
 •ARTICLE 6. 
 
 The Secretary-treasurer shall mention in his annual report the 
 names of such members as shall allow their dues or assessments to 
 
 remain unpaid for one year, and all such names shall be dropped 
 from the roll of membership. 
 
 ARTICLE 7. 
 
 Robert's Rules of Order shall govern the meetings of this Depart- 
 ment. 
 
 ARTICLE 8. 
 
 These by-laws may be amended at any annual meeting by a ma- 
 jority of the members present, provided five days' notice shall be 
 given in advance of said meeting by the secretary-treasurer to all 
 members of the association, advising them of the amendments to the 
 by-laws proposed to be made. 
 
 Exhibit 3. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS OF THE SALES MANAGERS* DE- 
 PARTMENT OF THE NATIONAL IMPLEMENT & VEHICLE ASSO- 
 CIATION. 
 
 (Adopted February 1, 1912 ; amended March 18, 1914.) 
 
 Constitution. 
 
 article i. 
 
 This organization shall be known as the Sales Managers' Depart- 
 ment of the National Implement and Vehicle Association. 
 
 ARTICLE n. 
 
 The object of this Department shall be the promotion of the inter- 
 ests of its members and the improvement of conditions. 
 
 ARTICLE in. 
 
 The members of this Department shall be persons or concerns who 
 are active members of the Association. The representation of the 
 members at the meetings of the Department shall be persons (not 
 traveling men or house salesmen) having charge of the selling of the 
 product or merchandise handled by the members. Each member or 
 house shall be entitled to one vote only. 
 
 ARTICLE IV. 
 
 Sec 1. The Officers of this Department shall be a President, Vice- 
 President, Secretary Treasurer, all of whom shall be elected at the 
 Annual Meeting to serve one year, or until their successors are elected 
 and qualify, and shall perform the duties usually assigned to such 
 officers. 
 
 Sec 2. There shall be an Executive Committee of seven, composed 
 of the President, Vice-President, Secretary-Treasurer and four others, 
 who shall be elected at each Annual Meeting to serve for a period of 
 one year. The President of the Department shall be ex-officio chair- 
 man of the Executive Committee. 
 

 FARM-MAOHINEBY TBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 ; 
 
 ARTICLE V. 
 
 This Constitution may be altered or amended at any meeting by 
 an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members present at such meet- 
 ing, due notice in writing having been given each member by the 
 Secretary-Treasurer thirty dayb in advance of such meeting of 
 changes proposed. 
 
 By-Laws. 
 
 ABnCLB I. 
 
 The President shall preside at the meetings of the Department; in 
 his absence, the Vice-President shall preside. 
 
 ARTICLE n. 
 
 Sec. 1. It shall be the duty of the Executive Committee to see that 
 the objects of the Department are carried out to the best of its ability. 
 It shall have entire control and give attention to the internal affairs 
 of the Department, and shall appoint committees to carry out the 
 various objects of the Department, and shall be at liberty to place on 
 such committees members of the Department who are not members 
 of the Executive Committee, and shall designate the place for meet- 
 ings of the Department unless otherwise directed by the Department 
 at large; also, shall have power to fill official vacancies. 
 
 Sec. 2. The Executive Committee may admit new members to the 
 Department and report the names of such members at the next meet- 
 ing of the Department 
 
 ABTICLB in. 
 
 Sec. 1. Kegular annual meeting of the Department shall be held 
 on the second Wednesday of October at such place as may be chosen 
 by the Executive Committee. ^ , ^ 
 
 Sec. 2. There shall be four regular meetmgs of the Department, 
 to be held on the third Wednesdays of January, March, June and 
 November of each year. 
 
 Sec. 3. Special meetings of the Department shall be called at the 
 request of the Executive Committee, or upon the regular request of 
 ten members of the Department, and such calls shall be in writing, 
 and shall state the object of the meeting, and copy of same shall be 
 mailed to each member at least ten days prior to date of such meeting. 
 
 Sec. 4. Any annual or regular meeting of the Department may be 
 changed as to time or place of meeting for good cause, by the Exec- 
 utive - Committee. 
 
 ARTICLE IV. 
 
 Sec. 1. The annual dues of the Department shall be $5.00, payable 
 May 1st of each year. New members as accepted shall pay at the 
 rate of $1.00 for each of the regular meetings scheduled to the follow- 
 ing May 1st dues, payable in advance. 
 
 Sec. 2. The Executive Committee shall have the power to make, 
 from time to time, such special assessments against the active mem- 
 bers of the Department, in addition to Annual Dues, as may be neces- 
 sary to meet the contingent expenses of the Department, provided 
 such assessment shall not exceed $5.00 in any one year; no other 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 255 
 
 assessment shall be levied except when the Committee is so directed 
 by two-thirds of the members present at any meeting of the Depart- 
 ment. 
 
 ARTICLE V. 
 
 Sec. 1. The Secretary-Treasurer shall have charge of all funds of 
 the Department, and shall pay them on vouchers approved by the 
 Chairman of the Executive Committee, or on order of the Executive 
 Committee, and shall make a report of the condition of the funds in 
 his hands at each Annual Meeting of the Department and whenever 
 called upon to do so by the Executive Committee. 
 
 Sec. 2. The Secretary-Treasurer shall keep a record of the proceed- 
 ings of all meetings of the Department and of the Executive Com- 
 mittee, and of all matters concerning the Department, and he shall 
 issue notifications of all meetings to each member of the Department, 
 and shall be allowed all necessary expenses approved by the Exec- 
 utive Committee. 
 
 ARTICLE VI. 
 
 The Secretary-Treasurer shall mention, in his annual report, the 
 names of such members as shall allow their dues or assessments to 
 remain unpaid for one year, and all such names shall be dropped 
 from the roll of membership. 
 
 ARTICLE vn. 
 
 Robert's Rules of Order shall govern all meetings of this Depart- 
 ment. 
 
 ARTICLE vin. 
 
 These By-Laws may be amended at any meeting by a majority of 
 the members present provided thirty days notice shall be given in 
 advance of said meeting by the Secretary-Treasurer to all members 
 of the Department, advising them of the amendments of the By-Laws 
 proposed to be made. 
 
 Exhibit 4. 
 
 LIST OF OFFICERS AND COMMITTEES OF THE NATIONAL IMPLE- 
 MENT & VEHICLE ASSOCIATION, AS OF AUGITST 20, 1914. 
 
 PRESIDENT. 
 
 J. A. Craig, Janesville Machine Co., Janesville, Wis. 
 
 VICE PEESIDENT8. 
 
 W. B. Taylor, Niles & Scott Co., La 
 
 Porte, Ind. 
 Wm. F. Hoyt, Dowagiac Drill Co., 
 
 Dowagiac, Mich. 
 Wm. Louden, Louden Machinery Co., 
 
 Fairfield, la. 
 
 B. P. ThornhlU, Thornhill Wagon Co., 
 Lynchburg, Va. 
 
 U. H. Brown, Brown Mfg. Co., Zanes- 
 viUe. Ohio. 
 
 C. A. Pattison, Peoria Drill & Seeder 
 Co., Peoria, IlL 
 
 R. F. Roberts, Randolph Wagon Works, 
 
 Randolph, Wis. 
 F. H. Delker, Delker Bros. Buggy Co., 
 
 Henderson, Ky. 
 A. T. Stevens, John Deere Plow Co., 
 
 St. Louis, Mo. 
 Francis Farquhar, A. B. Farquhar Co. 
 
 (Ltd.), York, Pa. 
 F. La Bare, Owatonna Mfg. Co., Owa- 
 
 tonna, Minn. 
 F. N. Taflf, Duane H. Nash, Inc., Mil- 
 
 lington, N. J. 
 
\ 
 
 I 
 
 256 
 
 FABM-MACHINBEY TBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 glCBBTAKT AND OENEBAL MANAGKB. 
 
 E. W. McCuUough, Cbicago, 111. 
 
 TBKASUBKB. 
 
 H. N. Wade. V. S. Wind Engine & Pump Co., Batavla, HI. 
 
 EXBCUTIVE COMMITTEB. 
 
 S. B. Swayne, chairman, Robinson & 
 
 Co., Richmond, Ind. 
 A. J. Brosseau, Gale Mfg. CJo., Albion, 
 
 Mich 
 Joseph Dam. Deere & ^;,,^''"wArta 
 H. M. WalUs. J. I. Case Plow Works, 
 
 Racine Wis. 
 C S. Brantingham, Emerson-Brantlng- 
 
 ham Co., Rockford, 111. 
 F. E. Myers, F. E. Myers & Bro., Ash- 
 land, Ohio. 
 
 G. A. Ranney, International Harvester 
 
 Co., Chicago, 111. 
 Panl E. Herschel, R. Herschel Mfg. 
 
 Co., Peoria, 111. ^ ^ , 
 
 Geo. R. James, James & Graham 
 
 Wagon Co., Memphis, Teun. 
 C S. Funk, M. Rumely Co., Chicago, 111. 
 W. H. Stackhouse, French & Hecht, 
 
 Springfield, Ohio. 
 A. B. McLean, Roderick Lean Mfg. Co., 
 
 Mansfield, Ohio. 
 
 STANDING COMMITTEES. 
 
 Advisoru committee {former presidents). 
 
 H. M. Kinney, chairman, Winona 
 
 Wagon Co., Whiona, Minn. 
 Wm. Butterworth, Deere & Co., Moline, 
 
 IlL 
 
 F. C. Johnson, American Seeding Ma- 
 chine Co., Springfield, Ohio. 
 
 E. D. Metcalt International Harvester 
 Co., Auburn, N. Y. 
 
 Newell Sanders, Newell Sanders Plow 
 Co., Chattanooga. Tenn. 
 
 C. F. Huhleln, B. F. Avery & SoM, 
 Louisville, Ky. . „ * w 
 
 F. E. Myers, F. E. Myers & Bro., Ash- 
 land, Ohio. 
 
 W. S. Thomas. The Thomas Mfg. Co., 
 Springfield, Ohio. 
 
 Jas. A. Carr, American Seeding Ma- 
 chine Co.. Springfield. Ohio. 
 
 
 Agricultural extension. 
 
 G. A. Ranney, chairman. International 
 Harvester Co., Chicago, 111. 
 
 Jas. A. Carr, vice chairman, American 
 Seeding Machine Co., Richmond, Ind. 
 
 L. N. Burns, J. I. Case Plow Works, 
 Racine. Wis. 
 
 P. G. Holden, International Harvester 
 
 Co.. Chicago, 111. 
 W. E. Taylor, Deere & Co., Moline, 111. 
 
 Attorneys and litigation. 
 
 C. S. Brantingham, chairman, Emer- 
 son-Bra ntingham Co.. Rockford, 111. 
 
 Wm. , Butterworth, vice chairman, 
 Deere & Co., Molhae, 111. 
 
 A. Hirshheimer, La Crosse Plow Co., 
 
 La Crosse, Wis. 
 Newell Sanders, Newell Sanders Plow 
 
 Co., Chattanooga, Tenn. 
 
 Credits and collections. 
 
 M. R. D. Owings, chairman, M. Rumely 
 
 Co., Chicago, 111. 
 W. M. Onton, vice chairman, Jonn 
 
 Deere Plow Co., Moline, 111. 
 F. H. Farnsworth, Janesvllle Machine 
 
 Co., Janesvllle, Wis. 
 C. A. Bines, Roderick Lean Mfg. U>m 
 
 Mansfield, Ohio. 
 
 B. C. Mosher, Sandwich Mfg. Co., 
 Sandwich, 111. ^ ^ 
 
 J. K. Scoggan, B. F. Avery & Sons. 
 Louisville, Ky. 
 
 C. H. Si)eck, R. Herschel Mfg. Co., 
 
 Peoria. 111. 
 
 ^ f 
 
 «l 
 
 ^ 
 
 i 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 Dealers* ossociationB. 
 
 257 
 
 W. S. Thomas, chairman, The Thomas 
 
 Mfg. Co., Springfield, Ohio. 
 A. J. Brosseau, vice chairman. Gale 
 
 Mfg. Co., Albion, Mich. 
 Wm. Black, B. F. Avery & Sons, Louis- 
 ville, Ky. 
 F. W. Burg, L. Burg Carriage Co., 
 
 Dallas City, 111. 
 L. N. Burns, J. I. Case Plow Works, 
 
 Racine, Wis. 
 W. C. Collins, Keystone Steel & Wire 
 
 Co., Peoria, 111. 
 J. A. Craig, Janesvllle Machine Co., 
 
 Janesvllle, Wis. 
 
 W. I. Grove, Mllbum Wagon Co., To- 
 ledo, Ohio. 
 
 J. H. Imus, Ohio Rake Co., Dayton, 
 Ohio. 
 
 H. M. Kinney, Winona Wagon Co., 
 Winona, Minn. 
 
 R. B. Lourie, John Deere Plow Co., 
 Moline, 111. 
 
 C. D. Velie, Deere & Webber Co., Min- 
 neapolis, Minn. 
 
 J. D. White, Emersou-Brantingham 
 Co., Rockford, IlL 
 
 Foreign commerce and tariff. 
 
 P. E. Herschel, chairman,. R. Herschel 
 
 Mfg. Co., Peoria, 111. 
 H. C. Roberts, vice chairman, Avery 
 
 c\t% Ppoi*i*i Til 
 M. M.' Baker, Holt Mfg. Co., Peoria, 111. 
 B. C. Douglas, W. & B. Douglas, Mid- 
 
 dletown. Conn. 
 Francis Farquhar, A. B. Farquhar Co. 
 
 (Ltd.), York, Pa. 
 R. W. Geauque, Flint & Walling Mfg. 
 
 Co., Kendallville, Ind. 
 
 Juan Homs, Emerson-Brantingham Co., 
 Rockford, 111. 
 
 F. C. Johnson, American Seeding Ma- 
 chine Co., Springfield, Ohio. 
 
 Frank Silloway, Deere & Co., Moline, 
 111. 
 
 A. O. Silver, Silver Mfg. Co., Salem, 
 Ohio. 
 
 W. A. Weed, Oliver ChiUed Plow 
 Works, South Bend, Ind. 
 
 Freight transportation. 
 
 W. J. Evans, chairman, National Imp. 
 
 k Veh. Assn., Chicago. 
 O. F. Becker, R. Herschel Mfg. Co., 
 
 Peoria. 111. 
 A. F. Bowman, J. I. Case Threshing 
 
 Mach. Co., Racine, Wis. 
 C. T. Bradford, International Har- 
 vester Co., Chicago, 111. 
 P. A. Coapman, The Whitman & 
 
 Barnes Mfg. Co., Chicago, 111. 
 A. R. Ebi, Deere & Co., Moline. 111. 
 R. D. Fentress, La Crosse Plow Co., 
 
 La Crosse, Wis. 
 R. E. Gephart, A. B. Farquhar Co. 
 
 (Ltd.), York, Pa. 
 J. Kanter, Avery Co., Peoria, III. 
 H. W. Klemme, Jos. W. Moon Buggy 
 
 Co.. St. Louis. Mo. 
 
 L. R. Martin, Oliver Chilled Plow 
 
 Works, South Bend, Ind. 
 J. H. Miller, Emerson-Brantingham 
 
 Co., Rockford, 111. 
 
 F. S. Pool, Deere & Webber Co., Minne- 
 apolis, Minn. 
 
 E. G. Schaeffer, Keystone Steel & Wire 
 Co., Peoria, 111. 
 
 G. M. Sherman, Studebaker Corp., 
 South Bend, Ind. 
 
 N. Stevenson, B. F. Avery k Sons, 
 
 Louisville, Ky. 
 W. W. Tallant, M. Rumely Co., La 
 
 Porte, Ind. 
 E. L. Wratten, Mitchell-Lewis Motor 
 
 Co., Racine, Wis. 
 
 Insurance. 
 
 A. B. Mclean, chairman, Roderick 
 Lean Mfg. Co., Mansfield. Ohio. 
 
 H. N. Wade, vice chairman, U. S. Wind 
 Engine & Pump Co., Batavia, 111. 
 
 J. S. Baker, Baker Mfg. Co., Evans- 
 viUe, Wis. 
 
 68248*— 15 VI 
 
 Wm. Butterworth, Deere & Co., Mo- 
 line, 111. 
 
 E. C. Merwin, The Russell & Co., Mas- 
 sillon, Ohio. 
 
 H. W. Suydam, Milburu Wagon Co., 
 Toledo, Ohio. 
 
Ill 
 
 256 FABM-MACHINEBY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 8ECBETABT AND GENERAL MANAOEB. 
 
 B. W. McCuUougli, C5hlcago, DL 
 
 TBEASTJBBB. 
 
 H. N. Wade, U. S. Wind Engine & Pump Co., Batavia. IlL 
 
 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 
 
 a E. Swayne, chairman, Robinson & 
 Co., Richmond, Ind. 
 
 A. J. Brosseau, Gale Mfg. Co., Albion, 
 Mich. 
 
 Joseph Dain, Deere & Co., Moline, 111. 
 
 H. M. Wallis, J. I. Case Plow Works, 
 Racine, Wis. 
 
 C. S. Brantingham, Emerson-Branting- 
 ham Co., Rockford, 111. 
 
 F. E. Myers, F. E. Myers & Bro., Ash- 
 land, Ohio. 
 
 G. A. Banney, International Harvester 
 
 Co., Chicago, 111. 
 Paul E. Herschel, R. Herschel Mfg. 
 
 Co., Peoria, 111. 
 Geo. R. James, James & Graham 
 
 Wagon Co., Memphis, Teun. 
 C. S. Funk, M. Rumely Co., Chicago, 111. 
 W. H. Stackhouse, French & Hecht, 
 
 Springfield. Ohio. 
 A. B. McLean, Roderick Lean Mfg. Co., 
 
 Mansfield, Ohio. 
 
 STANDING COMMITTEES. 
 
 Advisory committee (former presidents). 
 
 H. M. Kinney, chairman, Winona 
 
 Wagon Co., Winona, Minn. 
 Wm. Butterworth, Deere & Co., Moline, 
 
 lU. 
 
 F. C. Johnson, American Seeding Ma- 
 chine Co., Springfield, Ohio. 
 
 E. D. Metcalf, International Harvester 
 Co., Auburn, N. Y. 
 
 Newell Sanders, Newell Sanders Plow 
 Co., Chattanooga, Tenn. 
 
 C. F. Huhleln, B. F. Avery & Sons. 
 Louisville, Ky. 
 
 F. E. Myers, F. E Myers & Bro., Ash- 
 land, Ohio. 
 
 W. S. Thomas, The Thomas Mfg. Co., 
 Springfield. Ohio. 
 
 Jas. A. Carr, American Seeding Ma- 
 chine Co., Springfield, Ohio. 
 
 Agricultural eaetension. 
 
 G. A. Ranney, chairman. International 
 Harvester Co., Chicago, 111. 
 
 Jaa A. Carr, vice chairman, American 
 Seeding Machine Co., Richmond. Ind. 
 
 li. N. Bums. J. I. Case Plow Works, 
 Racine, Wis. 
 
 P. G. Holden, International Harvester 
 
 Co., Chicago, 111. 
 W. E Taylor, Deere & Co., Moline, 111. 
 
 Attorneys and litigation. 
 
 C. S. Brantingham, chairman, Emer- 
 son-Bra ntingham Co., Rockford, 111. 
 
 Wm. Butterworth, vice chairman, 
 Deere & Co., Moline, 111. 
 
 A. Hirshheimer. La Crosse Plow Co., 
 
 La Crosse, Wis. 
 Newell Sanders, Newell Sanders Plow 
 
 Co., Chattanooga, Tenn. 
 
 Credits and collections. 
 
 M. R. D. Owings, chairman, M. Rumely 
 
 Co., Chicago, 111. 
 W. M. Onton, vice chairman, John 
 
 Deere Plow Co., Moline, 111. 
 F. H. Famsworth, Janesville Machine 
 
 Co., Janesville, Wis. 
 O. A. Hines. Roderick Lean Mfg. Co., 
 
 Mansfield, Ohio, 
 
 E. C. Mosher, Sandwich Mfg. Co., 
 
 Sandwich. 111. 
 J. K. Scoggan, B. F. Avery & Sons, 
 
 Louisville, Ky. 
 C. H. Speck, R. Herschel Mfg. Co., 
 
 Peoria, IlL 
 
 /^ 
 
 # 
 
 
 m 
 
 4Jk 
 
 'if 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 Dealers* associations. 
 
 257 
 
 W. S. Thomas, chairman. The Thomas 
 
 Mfg. Co., Springfield, Ohio. 
 A. J. Brosseau, vice chairman, Gale 
 
 Mfg. Co., Albion, Mich. 
 Wm. Black, B. F. Avery & Sons, Louis- 
 ville, Ky. 
 F. W. Burg, L. Burg Carriage Co., 
 
 Dallas City, III. 
 L. N. Burns, J. I. Case Plow Works, 
 
 Racine, Wis. 
 W. C. Collins, Keystone Steel & Wire 
 
 Co., Peoria, 111. 
 J. A. Craig, Janesville Machine Co., 
 
 Janesville, Wis. 
 
 W. I. Grove, Mllbum Wagon Co., To- 
 ledo, Ohio. 
 
 J. H. Imus, Ohio Rake Co., Dayton, 
 Ohio. 
 
 H. M. Kinney, Winona Wagon Co., 
 Winona, Minn. 
 
 R. B. Lourie, John Deere Plow Co., 
 Moline, 111. 
 
 C. D. Velie, Deere & Webber Co., Min- 
 neapolis, Minn. 
 
 J. D. White, Emerson-Brantlnifham 
 Co., Rockford, IlL 
 
 Foreign comm^erce and tariff. 
 
 P. E. Herschel, chairman,. R. Herschel 
 
 Mfg. Co., Peoria, 111. 
 H. C. Roberts, vice chairman, Avery 
 
 CjO Peoria 111. 
 M. M.' Baker, Holt Mfg. Co., Peoria, 111. 
 B. C. Douglas, W. & B. Douglas, Mid- 
 
 dletown, Conn. 
 B'rancis Farquhar, A. B. Farquhar Co. 
 
 (Ltd.), York, Pa. 
 R. W. Geauque, Flint & Walling Mfg. 
 
 Co., Kendallville, Ind. 
 
 Juan Horns, Emerson-Brantlngham Co., 
 Rockford, 111. 
 
 F. C. Johnson, American Seeding Ma- 
 chine Co., Springfield, Ohio. 
 
 Frank Silloway, Deere & Co., Moline, 
 111. 
 
 A. O. Silver, Sliver Mfg. Co., Salem, 
 Ohio. 
 
 W. A. Weed, Oliver ChUled Plew 
 Works, South Bend, Ind. 
 
 Freight transportation. 
 
 W. J. Evans, chairman. National Imp. 
 
 & Veh. Assn., Chicago. 
 O. F. Becker, R. Herschel Mfg. Co., 
 
 Peoria 111. 
 A. F. Bowman, J. I. Case Threshing 
 
 Mach. Co., Racine, Wis. 
 C. T. Bradford, International Har- 
 vester Co., Chicago, 111. 
 F. A. Coapman, The Whitman & 
 
 Barnes Mfg. Co., Chicago, 111. 
 A. R. Ebi, Deere & Co., Moline, 111. 
 R. D. Fentress, La Crosse Plow Co., 
 
 La Crosse, Wis. 
 R. E. Gephart, A. B. Farquhar Co. 
 
 (Ltd.), York, Pa. 
 J. Kanter, Avery Co., Peoria, 111. 
 H. W. Klemme, Jos. W. Moon Buggy 
 
 Co., St. Louis, Mo. 
 
 L. R. Martin, Oliver Chilled Plow 
 
 Works, South Bend, Ind. 
 J. H. Miller, Emerson-Brantingham 
 
 Co., Rockford, 111. 
 
 F. S. Pool, Deere & Webber Co., Minne- 
 apolis, Minn. 
 
 E. G. Schaeffer, Keystone Steel & Wire 
 Co., Peoria, 111. 
 
 G. M. Sherman, Studebaker CJorp., 
 South Bend, Ind. 
 
 N. Stevenson, B. F. Avery k Sons, 
 
 Louisville, Ky. 
 W. W. Tallant, M. Rumely Co., La 
 
 Porte, Ind. 
 E. L. Wratten, Mitchell-Lewis Motor 
 
 Co., Racine, Wis. 
 
 Insurance. 
 
 A. B. Mclean, chairman, Roderick 
 Lean Mfg. Co., Mansfield, Ohio. 
 
 H. N. Wade, vice chairman, U. S. Wind 
 Engine & Pump Co., Batavia, IlL 
 
 J. S. Baker, Baker Mfg. Co., Evans- 
 Yille, Wis. 
 
 68248°— 15 ^17 
 
 Wm. Butterworth, Deere & Co., Mo- 
 line, 111. 
 
 E. C. Merwin, The Russell & Co., Mas- 
 sillon, Ohio. 
 
 H. W. Suydam, Milburn Wagon Co., 
 Toledo, Ohio. 
 
11! 
 
 258 
 
 FARM-MACHINERY TRADE ASSOCIATIONB. 
 
 Manufacturing costs. 
 
 Geo. B. James, cliairman, James & 
 Graham Wagon Co., Memphla Tenn. 
 
 Q. W. Grampton, vice cbairman, Deere 
 ft Mansur Co., Moline, 111. 
 
 W. D. BrintoD, Intematioiial Har- 
 vester Go., Chicago, HI. 
 
 C. A. Geiger, Troy Wagon Works Co., 
 
 Troy, Ohio. 
 A. B. Thlelens, Studebaker Corp., 
 
 South Bend, Ind. 
 
 Memhershif, 
 
 W, U. Myers, chairman, F. B. Myers ft 
 
 Bro., Ashland, Ohio. 
 0. A. Pattlson, vice chairman, Peoria 
 
 Drill ft Seeder Co., Peoria, 111. 
 B. S. Bach, A. Buch's Sons Co., Ellza- 
 
 hethtown. Pa. 
 W. O. Collins, Keystone Steel ft Wire 
 
 Go., Peoria, 111. 
 
 P. B. Herschel, B. Herschel Mffe. Co, 
 
 Peoria, 111. 
 W. R. Lumry, Associated Mfrs. Co., 
 
 Waterloo, Iowa. 
 F. J. Vea, Stoughton Wagon Go., 
 
 Stoughton, Wis. 
 
 Ifational legislation. 
 
 W. H. Stackhonse, chairman, French 
 
 ft Hecht, Springfield, Ohio. 
 Jas. A. Carr, vice chairman, American 
 
 Seeding Machine Co., Richmond, Ind. 
 Wdl Bntterworth, Deere ft Co., Moline, 
 
 in. 
 
 B. P. Gnrtis, Richardson Mfg. Co., 
 Worcester, Mass. 
 
 O. S. Funk, M. Rumely Co., Chicago, 111. 
 C. F. Huhlein, B. F Avery ft Sons, 
 
 Louisville, Ky. 
 G. A. Ranney, International Harvester 
 
 Co., Chicago, 111. 
 Daniel Seltzer, Ohio Cultivator Co., 
 
 Bellevue, Ohio. 
 
 Paienit. 
 
 Joseph Daln, chairman, Deere ft Co., 
 Moline, HI. 
 
 C. E. Lord, vice chairman. Interna- 
 tional Harvester Co., Chicago, 111. 
 
 01 W. Dickinson, La Crosse Plow Co., 
 Lb Crosse, Wi& 
 
 P. A. Myers, F. B. Myers ft Bro., Ash- 
 land, Ohio. 
 
 B. B. Sawyer, Cushman Motor Works, 
 Lincoln, Nebr. 
 
 State legislation. 
 
 A. J. Brosseau, chairman, Gale Mfg. 
 Co., Albion, Mich. 
 
 H. C. Stahl, vice chairman, Ohio Culti- 
 vator Co., Bellevue, Ohio. 
 
 J. H. Anderson, Anderson Co., St. 
 Paul, Minn. 
 
 F. J. Arend, De Laval Separator Co., 
 New York, N. Y. 
 
 P. N. Curtis, Richardson Mfg. Co., 
 
 Worcester, Mass. 
 C. J. Fulton, Louden Machinery Co., 
 
 Fairfield, Iowa. 
 H. J. Hlrshhelmer, La Crosse Plow 
 
 Works, La Crosse, Wis. 
 
 G. F. Messinger, Messinger Mfg. Co., 
 Tatamy, Pa. 
 
 W. M. Miller, Miller Wagon Co., 
 
 Edina, Mo. 
 Jas. E. Rankin, Henderson Wagon 
 
 Works, Henderson, Ky. 
 
 E. B. Sawyer, Cushman Motor Works, 
 Lincoln, Nebr. 
 
 T. M. Sechler, Sechler Implement ft 
 
 Carriage Co., Moline, 111. 
 W. C. Smith, Vermont Farm Machine 
 
 Co., Bellows Falls, Vt 
 
 F. N, Taflf, Duane H. Nash (Inc.), 
 Millington, N. J. 
 
 W. E. Taylor, NUes ft Scott Co., La 
 Porte, Ind. 
 
 Workmen*s accident compensation. 
 
 G. L. ATery, chairman, Avery Co., 
 Peoria, 111. 
 
 W. H. Stackhonse, vice chairman, 
 French & Hecht, Springfield, Ohio. 
 
 J. E. Brown, Aultman & Taylor Ma- 
 chinery Co., Mansfield, Ohio. 
 
 Jas. A. Carr, American Seeding Ma- 
 chine Co., Richmond, Ind. 
 G. W. Mixter, Deere ft Co., Moline, lU. 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 Exhibit 6. 
 
 259 
 
 LIST OF MEMBEBS OF THE NATIONAL IMPLEMENT & VEHICLE 
 ASSOCIATION, AS OF AUGUST 20, 1914. 
 
 ACTIVE MEMBERS OF CLASS 1. 
 
 Abingdon Wagon Co., Abingdon, 111. 
 
 Acme Wagon Co., Emigsville, Pa. 
 
 American Potato Machinery Co., Ham- 
 mond, lud. 
 
 American Seeding Machine Co., Spring- 
 field, Ohio. 
 
 Anderson Co., St. Paul, Minn. 
 
 Ann Arbor Machine Co., Ann Arbor, 
 Mich. 
 
 Appleton Mfg. Co., Batavia, 111. 
 
 Aspinwall Mfg. Co., Jackson, Mich. 
 
 Associated Manufacturers' Co., Water-, 
 loo, Iowa. 
 
 Auburn Wagon Co., The, Martinsburg, 
 W. Va. 
 
 Aultman & Taylor Machinery Co., The, 
 Mansfield, Ohio. 
 
 Avery Co., Peoria, 111. 
 
 Avery ft Sons, B. F., Louisville, Ky. 
 
 Bailor Plow Mfg. Co., Atchison, Kans. 
 
 Bain Wagon Co., Kenosha, Wis. 
 
 Baker Co., The A. D., Swanton, Ohio. 
 
 Baker Mfg. Co., Evansvllle, Wis. 
 
 Bateman Mfg. Co., Grenloch, N. J. 
 
 Bauer Bros. Co., The, Springfield, Ohio. 
 
 Blount Plow Works, Evansvllle, Ind. 
 
 Bowsher Co., The N. P., South Bend, 
 
 Ind. 
 
 Brown Mfg. Co., The, Zanesvilie, Ohio. 
 
 Buch's Sons Co., A., Elizabethtown, Pa. 
 
 Burg Carriage Co., L., Dallas City, III. 
 
 Case Plow Works, J. I., Racine, Wis. 
 
 Case Threshing Machine Co., J. I., 
 Racine, Wis. 
 
 Challenge Co., Batavia, 111. 
 
 Champion Potato Machinery Co., Ham- 
 mond, Ind. 
 
 Clark Carriage Co., J. L., Oshkosh, Wis. 
 
 Columbia Wagon Co., Columbia, Pa. 
 
 Columbiana Pump Co., Columbiana, 
 
 Ohio. 
 Cushman Motor Works, Lincoln, Nebr. 
 Daln Mfg. Co., Ottumwa, Iowa. 
 Deal Buggy Co., The, Jonesvllle, Mich. 
 Deere & Co., Moline, 111. 
 Deere & Mansur Co., Moline, III. 
 De Laval Separator Co., New York, 
 
 N. Y. 
 Delker Bros. Buggy Co., Henderson, 
 
 Ky. 
 Demlng Co., The, Salem, Ohio. 
 Dempster Mill Mfg. Co., Beatrice, Nebr. 
 Douglas, W. ft B., Mlddletown, Conn. 
 Dowagiac Drill Co., Dowaglac, Mich. 
 Dunham Co., The, Berea, Ohio. 
 Eckhart Carriage Co., Auburn, Ind. 
 Eddy Plow Co., W., Greenwich, N. Y. 
 Emerson-Brantingham Co., Rockford, 
 
 Empire Plow Co., Cleveland, Ohio. 
 Eureka Mower Co., Utlca, N. Y. 
 Farquhar Co. (Ltd.), The A. B., York, 
 
 Pa. 
 Flint & Walling Mfg. Co., KendaUvllle, 
 
 Ind. 
 Florence Wagon Co., Florence, Ala. 
 Foos Gas Engine Co., The, Springfield, 
 
 Ohio. 
 French & Hecht, Davenport, Iowa. 
 Gale-Hooper Co., Memphis, Tenn. 
 Gale Mfg. Co., Albion, Mich. 
 Gay Co., S. G., Ottawa, 111. 
 Gehl Bros. Mfg. Co., West Bend, Wis. 
 Geneva Metal Wheel Co., Geneva, Ohio. 
 Hart Grain Weigher Co., Peoria, III. 
 Hartman Mfg. Co., Vincennes, Ind. 
 Havana Metal Wheel Co., Havana, III. 
 Henderson Wagon Works, Henderson, 
 
 Henry & Allen, Auburn, N. Y. 
 
 Herschel Mfg. Co., R., Peoria, Hi. 
 
 Holt Mfg. Co., The, Peoria, III. 
 
 Hoover Mfg. Co., The, Avery, Ohio. 
 
 Huber Mfg. Co., Marlon, Ohio. 
 
 Indiana Wagon Co., Lafayette, Ind. 
 
 International Harvester Co., Chicago, 
 III. 
 
 James Mfg. Co., Fort Atkinson, Wis. 
 
 James & Graham Wagon Co., Mem- 
 phis, Tenn. 
 
 Jauesville Machine Co., The, Janesvllle 
 Wis. 
 
 Johnson & Field Mfg. Co., Racine, Wis. 
 
 Joliet Mfg. Co., Joliet, HI. 
 
 Kentucky Wagon Mfg. Co., Louisville, 
 Ky. 
 
 Keystone Steel & Wire Co., Peoria, lU. 
 
 King & Hamilton Co., Ottawa, III. 
 
 La Crosse Plow Co., La Crosse, Wis. 
 
 Lansing Co., Lansing, Mich. 
 
 Lauson Mfg. Co., The John, New Hol- 
 steln, Wis. 
 
 Lean Mfg. Co., Roderick, Mansfield, 
 Ohio. 
 
 Letz Mfg. Co., Crown Point, Ind. 
 
 Little Metal Wheel Co., J. R., Qunlcy, 
 
 111. 
 Louden Machinery Co., Fairfield, Iowa. 
 McClure Co., The, Saginaw, Mich. 
 Madison Plow Co., Madison, Wis 
 Mast, Foos & Co., Springfield, Ohio. 
 Maytag Co., The, Newton, Iowa. 
 Messinger Mfg. Co., Tatamy, Pa. 
 Mllburn Wagon Co., The, Toledo, Ohio. 
 Miller Wagon Co , Edina. Mo. 
 Minnetonna Co., The, Owatonna, Minn. 
 Mitchell Wagon Co., Racine, Wis. 
 
260 
 
 FAKM-MACHINEBY TBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 261 
 
 
 il 
 
 Moon Buggy Ck>., Joa W., St Louis, Mo. 
 Moon Bros. Carriage Co., St Louis, 
 
 Ma 
 Moore Co., The Given, Spring Valley, 
 
 HL 
 Moyer Mfg. Co., Montevideo, Minn. 
 Myers & Bro., F. E., Ashland, Ohio. 
 Nash, Dnane H. (Inc.), Millington, 
 
 N. J. 
 •* New Way " Motor Co., The, Lansing, 
 
 Mich. 
 Nlles & Scott Co., La Porte, Ind. 
 Northwestern Mfg. Co., Fort Atkinson, 
 
 Wis. 
 Ohio Cultivator Co., The, Bellevue, 
 
 Ohio. 
 Ohio Mfg. Co., The, Upper Sandusky, 
 
 Ohio. 
 Ohio Rake Co., Dayton, Ohio. 
 Oliver Chilled Plow Works, South 
 
 Bend, Ind. 
 Owatonna Mfg. Co., Owatonna, Minn. 
 Pattee Plow Co., Monmouth, 111. 
 Pekln Wagon Co., Pekin, 111. 
 Peoria Drill & Seeder Co., Peoria, 111. 
 Perkins Windmill Co., Mishawaka, Ind. 
 Peru Plow & Wheel Co., Peru, 111. 
 Porter Co., J. E., Ottawa, 111. 
 Randolph Wagon Works, Randolph, 
 
 Wis. 
 Richardson Mfg. Co.. The, Worcester, 
 
 Mass. 
 Robinson & Co., Richmond, Ind. 
 Ross Co., The E. W., Springfield, Ohio. 
 Rowe Mfg. Co., Galesburg, 111. 
 Rumely Co., M., La Porte, Ind. 
 Russell & Co., The, Massillon, Ohio. 
 St Marys Machine Co., St. M;irys, Ohio. 
 Sanders Plow Co., Newell, Chatta- 
 nooga, Tenn. 
 Sandwich Mfg. Co., Sandwich. III. 
 Schuttler Co., Peter, Chicago, 111. 
 Sechler Implement k Carriage Co., 
 
 D. M.. Moline, 111. 
 
 Sheffield Mfg. Co., Burr Oak, Mich. 
 Silver Mfg. Co., Salem, Ohio. 
 Smalley Mfg. Co., Manitowoc, W1& 
 Star Drilling Machine Co., The, Akron, 
 
 Ohio. 
 Sterling Mfg. Co., Sterling, 111. 
 Stoughton Wagon Co., The, Stoughton, 
 
 Wis. 
 Studebaker Corp., South Bend, Ind. 
 Superior Hay Stacker Mfg. Co., Lin- 
 
 neus. Mo. 
 Sweet Co., B. F. ft H. L., Fond du 
 
 Lac, Wis. 
 Thomas Mfg. Co., The, Springfield, 
 
 Ohio. 
 Thornhill Wagon Co., The. Lynch- 
 burg, Va. 
 Tiger Drill Mfg. Co., Beaver Dam, Wis. 
 Tower & Sons Co., The J. D., Men- 
 
 dota. 111. 
 Troy Wagon Works Co., The, Troy, 
 
 Ohio. 
 TurubuU Wagon Co., The, Defiance, 
 
 Ohio. 
 Tumey & Co., Joel, Fairfield, Iowa. 
 U. S. Wind, Engine & Pump Co., Ba- 
 
 tavia. 111. 
 Van Brunt Mfg. Co., Horicon, Wis. 
 Velie Carriage Co., Moline, 111. 
 Vermont Farm Machine Co., Bellows 
 
 Falls, Vt 
 Western Wheeled Scraper Co., Aurora, 
 
 111. 
 White Buggy Co., Geo., Rock Island, 
 
 111. 
 Whitman Agricultural Co., St. Louis, 
 
 Mo. 
 Whitman ft Barnes Mfg. Co., The, 
 
 Akron, Ohio. 
 Wilder Strong Implement Co., Mon- 
 roe, Mich. 
 Winona Wagon Co., Winona, Minn. 
 Wisconsin Carriage Co., JanesviUe, 
 
 Wia 
 
 ACTIVE MEMBEBS OF CLASS 2. 
 
 Deere Plow Co., John, Omaha, Nebr. 
 Deere Plow Co., The John, St. I^iouis, 
 
 Mo. 
 Deere Plow Co., John, Indianapolis, 
 
 Ind. 
 Deere Plow Co., John, Kansas City, 
 
 Mo. 
 
 Deere & Webber Co., Minneapolis, 
 
 Mimi. 
 Hudson & Thurber Co., Minneapolis, 
 
 Minn. 
 Sharpies Separator Co., Chicago, 111. 
 
 ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. 
 
 Acme White Lead & Color Works, De- 
 troit, Mich. 
 
 Alston-Lucas Paint Co., Chicago, 111. 
 
 American Chain Co., Bridgeport, Conn. 
 
 American Screw Co., Providence, R. I. 
 
 Amencan Sheet & Tin Plate Co , Pitts- 
 burgh, Pa. 
 
 American Steel & Wire Co., Chicago, 
 HI. 
 
 American Varnish Co., Chicago, HI. 
 Baeder, Adamson & Co., Chicago, 111. 
 Belle City Malleable Iron Co., Racine, 
 
 Wis. 
 Berry Bros. (Ltd.), Detroit, Mich. 
 Big Creek Colliery Co., Chicago, 111. 
 Brown & Co. (Inc.), Pittsburg, Pa. 
 Calumet Steel (3o., Chicago, 111. 
 Cambria Steel Co., Chicago, HL 
 
 / 
 
 Canadian Implement Trade, The, To- 
 ronto, Ontario. • 
 
 Carborundum Co., The, Niagara Falls, 
 N. Y. 
 
 Carnegie Steel Ck)., Pittsburg, Pa. 
 
 Castle & Co., A. M., Chicago, 111. 
 
 Chain Belt Co., Milwaukee, Wis. 
 
 Chicago Malleable Castings Co., West 
 Pullman, 111. 
 
 Chicago Varnish Co., Chicago, 111. 
 
 Clark Bros. Bolt Co., Milldale, Ck)nn. 
 
 Cleveland Punch & Shear Works Co., 
 The, Cleveland, Ohio. 
 
 Cleveland Steel Tool Co., Cleveland, 
 Ohio. 
 
 Cleveland Wire Spring Co., The, Cleve- 
 land, Ohio. 
 
 Colonial Steel Co., Pittsburg, Pa. 
 
 Continental Bolt & Iron Works, Chi- 
 cago, HI. 
 
 Cortland Welding Compound Ck)., Cort- 
 land, N. Y. 
 
 Cowin, Frederick & Co., Chicago, 111. 
 
 Crucible Steel Co. of America, Pitts- 
 burgh, Pa. 
 
 Detroit Seamless Steel Tubes Co., De- 
 troit, Mich. 
 
 Detroit White Lead Works, Detroit, 
 Mich. 
 
 Devoe & Raynolds Ck)., Chicago, 111. 
 
 Dodge Mfg. Co., Mishawaka, Ind. 
 
 Domhoff & Joyce Co., Chicago, IlL 
 
 £2dson Bros., Washington, D. C. 
 
 Farm Implement News Co., Chicago, 
 111. 
 
 Farm Implement Publishing Co., Min- 
 neapolis, Minn. 
 
 Farm Machinery, St Louis, Mo. 
 
 Garland Nut & Rivet Co., Pittsburgh, 
 Pa. 
 
 Gerts Lumbard Co., Chicago, 111. 
 
 Gibson, Wm. D., Co., Chicago, 111. 
 
 Glidden Varnish Co., Cleveland, Ohio. 
 
 Graham Nut Co., Pittsburgh, Pa. 
 
 Graton & Knight Mfg. Co., Worcester, 
 Mass. 
 
 Halcomb Steel Co., Chicago, HI. 
 
 Hanna & Co., M. A., Detroit, Mich. 
 
 Harrow Spring Ck)., Kalamazoo, Mich. 
 
 Heath & Milligan Mfg. Co., Chicago, 111. 
 
 Higgins Spring & Axle Co., Racine, 
 Wla 
 
 Highland Iron & Steel Co., The, Terre 
 Haute, Ind. 
 
 Illinois Steel Co., Chicago, 111. 
 
 Implement Age Co., The, Springfield, 
 Ohio. 
 
 Implement Trade Journal Co., Kansas 
 City, Mo. 
 
 Inland Steel Co., CMcago, 111. 
 
 Interstate Iron & Steel Co., Chicago, HI. 
 
 Jackman & Co., B. S., Chicago, 111. 
 
 Jones & Laughlin Steel Co., Pittsburgh, 
 Pa. 
 
 Kirk-Latty Co., Steubenville, Ohio. 
 
 La Belle Iron Works, Steubenville, 
 Ohio. 
 
 Lackawanna Steel Co., Chicago, 111. 
 
 Ladew, Estate of Edw. R., Glen Cove, 
 Long Island, N. Y. 
 
 Lake Erie Iron Co., Cleveland, Ohio. 
 
 Link Belt Co., Chicago, 111. 
 
 Louisiana Lumber Co., Cairo, 111. 
 
 Lucas & Co., John, Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 Luehrmann, Chas. F., Hardwood Lum- 
 ber Co., St. Louis, Mo. 
 
 Michigan Bolt & Nut Works, Detroit, 
 Mich. 
 
 Michigan Sprocket Chain Co., Detroit, 
 Mich. 
 
 Moline Malleable Iron Co., St. Charles, 
 111. 
 
 Moline Paint Mfg. Co., Moline, 111. 
 
 Morris, I. R., Chicago, 111. 
 
 Mound City Paint & Color Co., St 
 Louis, Mo. 
 
 Mutual Wheel Co., Moline, 111. 
 
 National Lead Co., Chicago, 111. 
 
 National Malleable Castings Co., Chi- 
 cago, 111. 
 
 National Tube Co., Chicago, 111. 
 
 Northwestern Malleable Iron Co., Mil- 
 waukee, Wis, 
 
 Norton Co., Chicago, 111. 
 
 O'Brien Varnish Co., South Bend, Ind. 
 
 Ohio Malleable Iron Co., Columbus, 
 Ohio. 
 
 Oliver Iron & Steel Co., Pittsburgh, Pa. 
 
 Oliver Typewriter Co., Chicago, 111. 
 
 Perfection Spring Co., Cleveland, Ohio. 
 
 Pickands, Brown & Co., Chicago, 111. 
 
 Pratt & Lambert (Inc.), Chicago, 111. 
 
 Queen City Varnish Co., Cincinnati, 
 Ohio. 
 
 Racine Lumber & Mfg. Co., Rachie, 
 Wis. 
 
 Rand-McNally Co., Chicago, HI. 
 
 Reeves Pulley Co., Columbus, Ind. 
 
 Reilly & Son, P., Newark, N. J. 
 
 Republic Iron & Steel (30., Pittsburgh, 
 Pa. 
 
 Rogers, Brown & Co., Chicago, 111. 
 
 Russell, Burdsall & Ward Bolt & Nut 
 Co.. Port Chester, N. Y. 
 
 Ryerson & Son, Jos. T., Chicago, HI. 
 
 Safety Emery Wheel Ck)., The, Spring- 
 field, Ohio. 
 
 Salisbury & Co., W. H., Chicago, 111. 
 
 Scully Steel & Iron Co., Chicago, 111. 
 
 Shadbolt & Boyd Iron Co., Milwaukee, 
 Wis. 
 
 Sharon Steel Hoop Co., Sharon, Pa. 
 
 Shepard Co., The Henry O., Chicago, 
 HI. 
 
 Sherwin-Williams (3o., The, Chicago, 
 IlL 
 
 Standard Chain Co., Pittsburgh, Pa. 
 
 Standard Tool Co., The, Cleveland, 
 
 Ohio. 
 Standard Varnish Works, Chicago, 111. 
 
 Tousey Varnish Co., Chicago, 111. 
 
 Townsend Co., C. C. & E. P., New 
 
 Brighton, Pa. 
 Transue & Williams, Alliance, Ohio. 
 
262 
 
 FABM-MACHINEBY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 L'nion Drawer Steel Co.. Beaver Falls, 
 
 Pa. 
 U. 8. Pressed Steel C5o., Ypsilanti, Mich. 
 Universal Rolling Mill Ck)., Bridge- 
 
 ville, Pa. 
 Upson Nut Co., The, Cleveland, Ohio. 
 Warren Iron & Steel Co., Warren, Ohio. 
 Western roondry Co., The, Chicago, 111. 
 
 Whitaker Mfg. Co., The, Chicago, IlL 
 
 Whiting Foundry Equipment Co., Har- 
 vey 111. 
 
 Williams,* White & Co., Moline, 111. 
 
 Wisconsin Steel Co., Chicago, 111. 
 
 Youngstown Iron & Steel Co., Youngs- 
 town, Ohio. 
 
 Exhibit 6. 
 list of membebs of the fabm wagon depabtment of the 
 
 NATIONAIi IMPLEMENT ft VEHICLE ASSOCIATION, AS OF AU- 
 GUST 20, 1014. 
 
 Abingdon Wagon Co., Abingdon, 111. 
 
 Acme Wagon Co., Emlgsville, Pa. 
 
 Auburn Wagon Co., Martinsburg, W. Va. 
 
 Bain Wagon Co., Kenosha, Wis. 
 
 Brown Mfg. Co., Zanesville, Ohio. 
 
 Columbia Wagon Co., Columbia, Pa. 
 
 John Deere Wagon Co. (Deere & Co.), 
 Moline, 111. 
 
 Emerson-Brantlngham Co., Bockford, 
 HI. 
 
 Henderson Wagon Works, Henderson, 
 Ky. 
 
 Indiana Wagon Co., La Fayette, Ind. 
 
 International Harvester Co., Chicago, 
 111. 
 
 James & Graham Wagon Co., Mem- 
 phis, Tenn. 
 
 Kentuctcy Wagon Mfg. Co., Louisville, 
 Ky. 
 
 Mllbum Wagon Co., Toledo, Ohio. 
 Miller Wagon Co., Edina, Mo. 
 Mitchell Wagon Co., Racine, Wis. 
 Northwestern Mfg. Co., Fort Atkinson, 
 
 Wis. 
 Pekin Wagon Co., Pekin, 111. 
 Randolph Wagon Works, Randolph, 
 
 Wis. 
 Schnttler Co., Peter, Chicago. 111. 
 Stoughton Wagon Co., Stoughton, Wis. 
 Studebaker Corp., South Bend, Ind. 
 Sweet Co., B. F. & H. L., Fond du Lac, 
 
 Wis. 
 Thornhill Wagon Co., Lynchburg, Va. 
 Troy Wagon Co., Troy, Ohio. 
 Tumbull Wagon Co., Defiance, Ohio. 
 Tumey & Co., Joel, Fairfield, Iowa. 
 Winona Wagon Co., Winona, Minn. 
 
 Exhibit 7. 
 
 LIST OF MEMBEBS OF THE PLOW AND TILLAGE IMPLEMENT 
 BEPABTMENT OF THE NATIONAL IMPLEMENT & VEHICLE AS- 
 SOCIATION, AS OF AUGUST 20, 1914. 
 
 American Seeding Machine Co., Spring- 
 field, Ohio. 
 
 Avery & Sons, B. F., Louisville, Ky. 
 
 Bailor Plow Mfg. Co., Atchison, Kan& 
 
 Brown Mfg. Co., Zanesville, Ohio. 
 
 Case Plow Works, J. I., Racine, Wis. 
 
 Deere & Co., Moline, 111. 
 
 De<^re & Mansur Co., Moline. HI. 
 
 Dempster Mill Mfg. Co., Beatrice, 
 Nebr. * 
 
 Eddy Plow Co., W., Greenwich, N. Y. 
 
 Emerson-Brantingham Co., Rockford, 
 111. 
 
 Empire Plow Co., Cleveland, Ohio. 
 
 Farquhar Co. (Ltd.), A. B., York. Pa. 
 
 Gale Mfg. Co., Albion, Mich. 
 
 Hartman Mfg. Co., Vincennes, Ind. 
 
 International Harvester Co., Chicago, 
 DL 
 
 Janeietville Machine Co., Janesville, 
 Wia 
 
 La Crosse Plow Co., La Crosse, Wis. 
 
 Lean Mfg. Co., Roderick, Mansfield, 
 Ohio. 
 
 Messinger Mfg. Co., Tatamy, Pa. 
 
 Nash (Inc.), Duane H., Millington, 
 N. J. 
 
 Ohio Rake Co., Dayton, Ohio. 
 
 Oliver Chilled Plow Co., South Bend, 
 Ind. 
 
 Pattee Plow Co., Monmouth, 111. 
 
 Peru Plow ft Wheel Ck)., Peru, 111. 
 
 Rumely Company, M., CJhlcago, 111. 
 
 Sechler Implement & CJarriage Co., D. 
 M., Moline, 111. 
 
 Sterling Mfg. Co., Sterling 111. 
 
 Sanders Plow CJo., Newell, Chatta- 
 nooga, Tenn. 
 
 Tower & Sons <j0.» J. D., Mendota, Hi. 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 Exhibit 8. 
 
 263 
 
 LIST OF MEMBEBS OF THE GBAIN DRILL AND SEEDER DEPABT- 
 MENT OF THE NATIONAL IMPLEMENT & VEHICLE ASSOCIATION, 
 AS OF AUGUST 20, 1914. 
 
 American Seeding Machine Co., Spring- 
 field, Ohio. 
 
 Deere & Co., Moline, 111. 
 
 Dempster Mill Mfg. Co., Beatrice, Nebr. 
 
 Dowagiac Drill Co., Dowagiae, Mich. 
 
 Emersou-Brantingham Ck)., Rockford, 
 111. 
 
 Farquhar Co. (Ltd.), A. B., York, Pa. 
 
 International Harvester Co., Chicago, 
 lU. 
 
 La Crosse Plow Co., La Crosse, Wis. 
 Owatonna Mfg. Co., Owatonna, Minn. 
 Peoria Drill & Seeder Co., Peoria, lU. 
 Sterling Mfg. Co., Sterling, 111. 
 Thomas Mfg. Co., Springfield, Ohio. 
 Tiger Drill Mfg. Co., Beaver Dam, Wis. 
 Van Brunt Mfg. Co., Horicon, Wis. 
 
 Exhibit 9. 
 
 LIST OF MEMBERS OF THE SALES MANAGERS' DEPARTMENT OF 
 THE NATIONAL IMPLEMENT & VEHICLE ASSOCIATION, AS OF 
 AUGUST 20, 1914. 
 
 American Potato Machinery Co., Ham- 
 mond, Ind. 
 
 American Seeding Machine Co., Spring- 
 field, Ohio. 
 
 Ann Arbor Machine Co., Ann Arbor, 
 Mich. 
 
 Appleton Mfg. Ck)., Batavia, 111. 
 
 Aspinwall Mfg. Ck)., Jackson, Mich. 
 
 Avery Co., Peoria, 111. 
 
 Avery & Sons, B. F., Louisville, Ky. 
 
 Baker Mfg. Co., Evansville, Wis. 
 
 Bateman Mfg. Co., Grenloch, N. J. 
 
 Bauer Bros. Co., Springfield, Ohio. 
 
 Blount Plow Works, Evansville, Ind. 
 
 Brown Mfg. Co., Zanesville, Ohio. 
 
 Buch's Sons Co., A., Elizabethtown, Pa. 
 
 Case Plow Works, J. I., Racine, Wis. 
 
 Champion Potato Machinery Co., Ham- 
 mond, Ind. 
 
 Cushman Motor Works, Lincoln, Nebr. 
 
 Deere & Co., Moline, 111. 
 
 Deere Plow Co., John, Moline, 111. 
 
 De Laval Separator Co., Chicago, 111. 
 
 Dempster Mill Mfg. Ck)., Beatrice, Nebr. 
 
 Dowagiac Drill Co., Dowagiac, Mich. 
 
 Douglas, W. & B., Middletown, Conn. 
 
 Eckhart Carriage Co., Auburn, Ind. 
 
 Emerson-Bra ntingham Ck)., Rockford, 
 
 111. 
 
 Farquhar Ck). (Ltd.), A. B., York, Pa. 
 
 Flint & Walling Mfg. Co., Kendallville, 
 Ind. 
 
 Gale Mfg. Co., Albion, Mich. 
 
 Gehl Bros. Mfg. Co., West Bend, Wis. 
 
 Geneva Metal Wheel Co., Geneva, Ohio. 
 
 Hartman Mfg. Ck)., Vincennes, Ind. 
 
 Herschel Mfg. Co., R., Peoria, 111. 
 
 International Harvester Co., Chi- 
 cago, 111. 
 
 James Mfg. Ck)., Fort Atkinson, Wis. 
 
 Janesville Machine Co., Janesville, 
 Wis. 
 
 Johnson & Field Mfg. Co., Racine, Wis. 
 
 La Crosse Plow Ck)., La Crosse, Wis. 
 
 Lauson Mfg. Co., J., New Holsteln, Wis. 
 
 Little Metal Wheel Co., J. R., Quincy, 
 
 111. 
 Louden Machinery Co., Fairfield, Iowa. 
 Madison Plow Co., Madison, Wis. 
 McClure Co., The, Saginaw, Mich. 
 Mast, Foos & Co., Springfield, Ohio. 
 Maytag Co., The, Newton, Iowa. 
 Milbum Wagon Co., Toledo, Ohio. 
 Minnetonna Co., Owatonna, Minn. 
 Mitchell Wagon Co., Racine, Wis. 
 Moore Co., Given, Spring Valley, IlL 
 Ohio Cultivator Co., Bellevue, Ohio. 
 Ohio Rake Co., Dayton, Ohio. 
 Oliver Chilled Plow Co., South Bend, 
 
 Ind. 
 Perkins Wind Mill Ck)., Mishawakajnd. 
 Peoria Drill & Seeder Co., Peoria, 111. 
 Randolph Wagon Works, Randolph, 
 
 Wis. 
 Robinson & Co., Richmond, Ind. 
 Ross Co., E. W., Springfield, Ohio. 
 Rumely Co., M., Chicago, 111. 
 St. Marys Machine Co., St. Mays, Ohio. 
 Smalley Mfg. Co., Manitowoc, Wis. 
 Sandwich Mfg. Co., Sandwich, III. 
 Sechler Imp. & Cge. Co., D. M., Moline, 
 
 111. 
 Sharpies Separator Co., Chicago, 111. 
 Thomas Mfg. Co., Springfield, Ohio. 
 Tower & Sons Co., J. D., Mendota, 111. 
 Troy Wagon Works Co., Troy, Ohio. 
 Tumbull Wagon Co., Defiance, Ohio. 
 Tumey & Co., Joel, Fairfield, Iowa. 
 Van Bmnt Mfg. Co., Horicon, Wis. 
 Vermont Farm Machine Co., Bellows 
 
 Falls, Vt. 
 Wilder- Strong Implement Co., Mon- 
 roe, Mich. 
 Whitman Agricultural Co., St Louis, 
 
 Mo. 
 Whitman & Barnes Mfg. Co., Akron, 
 
 Ohio. 
 Winona Wagon Co., Winona, Minn. 
 Wisconsin Carriage Co., Janesville, 
 
 Wis. 
 
S64 
 
 f ARM-MACHINEMY TRADE ASSOClATTONS. 
 
 Exhibit 10. 
 
 IiIST 07 HEMBEBS OF THE FOREIGN TBABE MANAGERS' DEPART- 
 MENT OF THE NATIONAL IMPLEMENT A VEHICLE ASSOCIATION, 
 AS OF AlTGirST 20, 1914. 
 
 American Seeding Machine Ck>., Spring- 
 field. Ohio. 
 
 Appleton M^. Co., Batavia, HL 
 
 Aspinwall Mfg. Co., Jackson, Mich. 
 
 Associated Mfra. Co., Waterloo, Iowa. 
 
 Avery Co., Peoria, 111. 
 
 Cnshman Motor Works, Lincoln, Nebr. 
 
 Deere & Co., Moline, 111. 
 
 Farquhar Co. (Ltd.), A. B., York, Pa. 
 
 FUnt & Walling Mfg. Co., Kendallyille, 
 Ind. 
 
 Herschel Mfg. Co., B., Peoria, DL 
 
 JanesTllle Machine Co., The, Janesville, 
 
 Wis. 
 La Crosse Plow Co., La Crosse, Wis. 
 Mitchell Wagon Co., Racine, Wis. 
 Northwestern Mfg. Co., Fort Atkinson, 
 
 Wis. 
 Emerson-Brantingham Co., Rockford, 
 
 111. 
 Peoria Drill & Seeder Co., Peoria, 111. 
 Robinson & Co., Richmond, Ind. 
 St. Marys Machine Co., The, St. Marys, 
 
 Ohio. 
 
 Exhibit 11. 
 
 REPORT OF COMMITTEE OF NATIONAL WAGON MANUFACTURERS* 
 ASSOCIATION APPOINTED IN NOVEMBER, 1903, TO FORMULATE 
 A PLAN FOR THE BETTER MAINTAINING OF PRICES— REPORT 
 MADE TO ASSOCIATION FEBRUARY 3, 1904. 
 
 To the National Waff on Makers Association: 
 
 Your committee appointed at the last meeting to recommend some 
 plan by which the Association could be made of more practical value 
 to its members, met in South Bend, on January 13, and devoted the 
 day to the discussion of the different suggestions that had been made. 
 One of these was somewhat discussed at the meeting of the Associa- 
 tion in November, viz: — ^the employment of a commissioner who 
 should have control of and regulate prices in the different localities 
 for each manufacturer, gjving due consideration to the usual differ- 
 ences in prices of the various brands of wagons. 
 
 At our meeting in South Bend Mr. Geiger presented a plan based 
 on this suggestion. Your committee after thorough discussion of the 
 whole matter, decided it would be unwise to at once attempt the regu- 
 lation of selling prices on complete wagons, but believed it well worth 
 the cost of the experiment to attempt first to establish a minimum 
 price for each size and kind of wagon box and for all parts of wagon 
 Doxes. Aside from the fact that some of our members use cotton- 
 wood and others poplar, the details of construction, size and kind of 
 material used, do not materially differ. They decided, therefore, to 
 recommend to the Association the adoption of the following plan of 
 procedure, believing if we can make it work in connection with 
 wagon beds and parts, we can then proceed with such parts as seats, 
 bribes and other extras, standard widths and thicknesses of extra 
 tire and possibly the establishment of standard list prices. While it 
 would not be either practical or desirable to have all list prices alike, 
 because of the variation in specifications of the different factories on 
 the various sizes and kinds of wagons, it is the belief of your com- 
 mittee that by taking some standard specifications for each size 
 wtmi and establishing a list price thereior, a plan could be devised 
 tofigure out the proper list price for any wagon of the same size by 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 265 
 
 figuring upon a uniform basis for any variation in specifications 
 established. The greatest variation would undoubtedly be found in 
 the size of tire. Without further discussion of the future work we, 
 therefore, recommend as a starter that we undertake the establish- 
 ment of minimum prices to jobbers, carload buyers and less than 
 carload buyers of wagon beds of different sizes, and of different ma- 
 terial and of all parts of same, like top boxes, tip top boxes, etc., that 
 to accomplish this, 
 
 First, The Association shall appoint a committee to be laiown as the 
 Executive Committee, and to consist of from nine to twelve repre- 
 sentative manufacturers who shall have charge of the work. 
 
 2nd, That the Executive Committee shall employ as a permanent 
 secretary a competent man, who under direction of the committee 
 shall devote his entire time to the work. He shall gather such infor- 
 mation and details as to materials used, construction, estimated 
 costs, and selling prices, as may be decided on by the committee, and 
 without mentioning names of members, tabulate the information 
 and present it to the committee in that form. 
 
 The committee shall then prepare, and through the Secretary, send 
 to each member of the Association the schedule of minimum prices 
 for the different classes of trade, on beds of all sizes and kinds and 
 parts thereof; that the report, when made, shall be the unanimous 
 recommendation of the committee to which they are willing to 
 pledge themselves, and that upon its adoption by the Association all 
 memoers thereof shall agree to be governed thereby and in good faith 
 carry it out in their business. 
 
 3rd. To defray the expenses of the Secretary and actual traveling 
 and hotel expenses of the committee, a fund shall be raised by levy- 
 ing an assessment upon each member of the association equal to one 
 quarter of one per cent upon the shop pay roll of each member for 
 the year 1903. In figuring the shop pay roll it shall include all em- 
 ployees except officers, superintendents and salesmen, but including 
 all foremen ; members manufacturing other lines than farm wagons, 
 shall, of course, only include that part of his pay roll which properly 
 belongs to the wagon business. 
 
 It is the belief of the committee that if we heartily and faithfully 
 pursue this course and live up to the recommendation of the com- 
 mittee, the increase in profits to each member shall many times exceed 
 the amount of the assessment he may be called upon to pay. 
 
 It is the earnest hope of the committee these recommendations may 
 be heartily endorsed and adopted by the unanimous vote of all the 
 members of the association. 
 
 Exhibit 12. 
 question sheet relative to prices of members, issued 
 
 BY THE NATIONAL WAGON MANUFACTURERS' ASSOCIATION, 
 JANUARY 1, 1906. 
 
 1 : Have your new advanced prices been placed in the hands of all 
 your selling agencies? If not, why? — Ans: . 
 
 2: Are your advances to both jobber and dealer in line with the 
 recommendation in all cases ? Explain any exceptions. — Ans : . 
 
4 
 
 266 
 
 FABM-MACHIKEBY TBADE A880CIATI0K8. 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 267 
 
 II' 
 
 S: Are your instructions that from Jan. 1st on, you will take no 
 more orders at your 1905 prices? — Ans: . 
 
 4 : Did you, or your jobbing or selling agent for you, ac5cept after 
 date of last meeting (Nov. 16) any orders for shipment after Jan. 
 1-06 at your 1^5 prices? — ^Ans: . 
 
 5 : If some such orders are taken, why were they given such pref- 
 erence? — ^Ans: . 
 
 6: How does the volume of your trade since last meeting to Jan. 
 1st compare with the same period of 1904? — Ans: . ^ 
 
 7: Does the present condition of the material markets indicate to 
 you that manufacturing cost is likely to diminish in the near fu- 
 ture ? — ^Ans : . 
 
 8: Is there any question in your mind but that the advance on 
 wagons should be and can be maintained, and are you determined 
 
 to maintain it? — ^Ans: • 
 
 (Signed) w 
 
 Date: 
 
 1906. 
 
 EXHIBFT 13. 
 
 BEPBBSENTATIVE SHEETS SHOWING DIFFEBENCES IN STANDABD 
 SPECIFICATIONS AND EQUIPMENT FOR FABM WAOONS SOLD IN 
 DIFFEBENT TEBBITOBIES ADOPTED BY THE NATIONAL WAGON 
 MANT7FACTTJBEBS' ASSOCIATION IN 190& 
 
 SfAKDABD Equipment fob Fabm Wagons. 
 
 (Adopted December 9, 1908. RepUces all prevlotis issuei.) 
 
 Showing equipment commonly used in the following trade terri- 
 tories :^ 
 Arkansas: Arkansas and Eastern Texas. 
 
 Dallas: All of Texas and Oklahoma North to Canadian Biver. 
 Iowa : Iowa East of Western two tiers of Counties. 
 Illinois: Illinois North of Springfield. 
 Indiana: Entire State. 
 
 Kansas City : Kans., W. Mo., and Okla., South to Canadian Kiver. 
 Kentucky and Tennessee : Entire States. 
 Ohio: Entire State. 
 Omaha : Nebraska and Western Iowa. 
 
 Minneapolis: Minnesota, N. & S. Dakota except Black Hills. 
 St Louis: Eastern and Southern Missouri and Southern Illinois. 
 Southeastern : Ala., Ga., Fla., No. and So. Car., Va., and W. Va. 
 Southern: All Southern States not included in Southeastern. 
 Western and Mountain States: All West of East line of Colorado. 
 
 RECOMMENDATION. 
 
 That we adopt the Standard Equipment with the changes recom- 
 mended by the Secretary, and that complete copies of it be furnished 
 
 » The sheets lor only three of these territories are shown in this exhibit. These indi- 
 cate the extmt and character of differences in spedflcations and equipment for different 
 Mrrltorlea. 
 
 to our members, as a guide or information to them of what is ordi- 
 narily considered standards in the various territories outlined, leav- 
 ing it optional with each member as to how far he would use these 
 equipments in furnishing his goods. 
 
 STANDARD EQUIPMENT. 
 
 Report of the National Wagon Manufacturers^ Association to its 
 members of what careful inquiry shows to he the equipment deemed 
 necessary in the territory outlined below, 
 
 (Territory: Kanna City. Comiuising: Kansas, Western Missouri and Oklahoma, South to Canadian 
 
 River.) . . 
 
 1. Size of Skein or Axle 
 
 Z. Helghrof wiiMJa.*.'!! 
 
 4. Siieof Tire 
 
 6. Drop or stiff Pole ... 
 
 6. Length of Box 
 
 7. Total depth of Box.. 
 
 Narrow 
 
 40-48 
 
 Ifxi 
 
 Drop 
 
 KK 
 
 20" 
 
 2f 
 
 Narrow 
 
 44-52 
 
 UxJ 
 
 Drop 
 
 W^' 
 
 24" 
 
 3 
 
 3i 
 
 Narrow 
 
 Narrow 
 
 44-52 
 
 44-52 
 
 IJxl 
 
 lixf 
 
 Drop 
 
 Drop 
 
 10' 6" 
 
 10' 6" 
 
 26" 
 
 26" 
 
 3i 
 
 Narrow 
 
 44-52 
 
 Ifx} 
 
 Drop 
 
 10' 6" 
 
 28" 
 
 % 
 
 arrow 
 44-52 
 IJxl 
 Drop 
 10'^' 
 28" 
 
 The following items are considered "regular" as indicated and 
 usually figured in price of standard or base wagon — The items 
 marked "extra" are regular but the charge for them is added to 
 base price, while those marked " special " are not commonly used in 
 the territory and of course should be charged for extra. 
 
 1. Bottom reinforced over rear Bolster Regular on all sizes. 
 
 2. Patent Endgate Do. 
 
 3. Common Endgate Not used. 
 
 4. Top box Fasteners Regular on all sizes. 
 
 6. Anti-Spreaders .- Do. 
 
 6. Grain Cleats Do. 
 
 7. Spring Seat- Do. 
 
 8. Lazyback ^^-. _^ Do. 
 
 9. 5th Cleat or Sill Extra on all sizes. 
 
 10. Foot Lever G«ar Brake Regular on all sizes. 
 
 11. Gear Brake hook up irons Do. 
 
 12. Bow Staples *__.. ^_^__ __^_ Not used. 
 
 13. Tool or Jockey Box Do. 
 
 14. 3rd Top Box Extra on all sizes. 
 
 15. Anti-Spreaders and Fasteners for third top boxes Do. 
 
 16. Boot End Beds with Joint Rods Not used. 
 
 17. Bows Do. 
 
 18. Feed Boxes Do. 
 
 19. Seat on Risers Special on all sizea 
 
 20. Lock Chains Extra on all sizes. 
 
 21. Bed Brake Do. 
 
 22. Reversible Gear Brake Special on all sizes. 
 
 23. Clipped Gear Brake Do. 
 
 24. Riveted Rims Do. 
 
 25. Wide Tires Do. 
 
 26. Bois D'Arc Felloes Not used. 
 
* 
 
 268 
 
 h! 
 
 FABM-MACHINEBY TBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 STANOABD EQUIPMENT. 
 
 Report of the National Wagon Manufacturers* Association to its 
 members of what careful inquiry shows to he the equipment 
 deemed necessary in the territory outlined helow. 
 
 (Territoty: Soatheaaton. Comprfaiai: 
 
 OtonkL floilds. N. * 8. CvoUns, Virginia A W* 
 TWO HOBSB. 
 
 1. SIm of Skein or Axlo 
 
 3. Track 
 
 •.Hri^tofWhMls.... 
 
 4. Sin of Tire 
 
 5. Drop or stiff Pole. . . 
 
 %. L«Ktho(Box 
 
 7. Total depth of Box. . 
 
 »TS 
 Wide 
 
 Stiff 
 
 V 
 
 Ifl" 
 
 11 8A 
 
 g-T8 
 
 Wide 
 
 Stiff 
 
 W 
 
 IT' 
 
 1|8A 
 
 21 TS 
 Wide 
 
 Uxi 
 
 Stiff 
 
 W 
 
 11 SA 
 3TS 
 Wide 
 4«-52 
 
 SUff 
 
 Wt" 
 
 34" 
 
 11 SA 
 
 3i-TS 
 
 Wide 
 
 44-63 
 
 liz| 
 
 Stiff 
 
 KKd" 
 
 24" 
 
 3J-T8 
 Wide 
 
 usa 
 
 l|xi 
 
 Stiff 
 
 WQ" 
 
 36" 
 
 ^■* 
 
 The following items are considered "regular" as indicated and 
 usually figured in price of standard or base wagon— The items 
 marked " extra " are regular but the charge for them is added to 
 base price, while those marked " special " are not commonly used in 
 !^ territory and of course should be charged for extra. 
 
 >%1» 
 
 1. 
 2. 
 
 a 
 
 4. 
 
 6. 
 
 e. 
 
 7. 
 
 8. 
 
 9. 
 10. 
 11. 
 12. 
 13. 
 14. 
 15. 
 16. 
 17. 
 
 la 
 
 19. 
 20. 
 21. 
 22. 
 23. 
 24. 
 25. 
 26. 
 27. 
 
 2a 
 
 29. 
 
 Bottom reinforced over rear Bolster Special. 
 
 Patent Endgate. Regular on aU siie& 
 
 Common Endgate ^^» 
 
 Top box Fasteners ^^^ used. 
 
 Anti- Spreaders ^' 
 
 Grain Cleftts ^ ^^^' „ _, 
 
 Spring Seat ^^ra <«» all sizes. 
 
 Lazyback Not used.. 
 
 5tb Cleat or Sill Special. 
 
 Foot Lever Gear Brake Extra on all sizea 
 
 Gear Brake hook up irons Not used. 
 
 Bow Staples S?^*^^\, 
 
 Tool or Jockey Box Not used. 
 
 3rd Top Box ^ 
 
 Anti-Spreaders and Fasteners for third top boxes — Do. 
 
 Boot End Beds with Joint Rods Special. 
 
 3Q^g Not used. 
 
 Feed Boxes 1. ^ P®* 
 
 Seat on Risers Special. 
 
 Lock Chains Extra on all sizes. 
 
 Bed Brake ^ P?- 
 
 Reversible Gear Brake Special. 
 
 Clipped Gear Brake Do. 
 
 Riveted Rims I>o- „ 
 
 Wide Tires Extra on all 
 
 Bois D'Arc Felloes Not used. 
 
 Club-Stakes Special. 
 
 Round Reach Do. 
 
 Ox Tongue ^^' 
 
 ^■t 
 
 •■# 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 STANDARD EQUIPMENT. 
 
 269 
 
 Report of the National Wagon Manufacturers^ Assodafion to its 
 members of what careful inquiry shows to be the equipment deemed 
 necessary in the territory outlined below. 
 
 (Twritory: Western and Mountain. Compririag: AH West of East Line of Colorado.) 
 
 1. SiM of Skein or Axle 
 
 2. Track 
 
 3. Height of Wheels. ... 
 
 4. Site of Tire 
 
 6. i>rop or stiff Pole . . . 
 
 6. Length of Box 
 
 7. Total depth of Box.. 
 
 2}SS 
 Either 
 
 40-48 
 
 Drop 
 
 IC 
 
 20" 
 
 21 SS 
 Either 
 44^2 
 lixf 
 
 Drop 
 
 ice" 
 
 22" 
 
 3 88 
 
 Eithw 
 
 44-52 
 
 Uxl 
 
 Drop 
 
 IC©" 
 
 24" 
 
 3^88 
 
 Either 
 
 44-52 
 
 Drop 
 
 24" 
 
 3^88 
 
 Eithw 
 
 44-52 
 
 if** 
 Drop 
 
 26" 
 
 31 8S 
 
 Either 
 
 44-^ 
 
 2xilcl 
 
 Drop 
 
 26" 
 
 The following items are considered "regular" as indicated and 
 usually figured in price of standard or base wagon—The items 
 marked " extra " are regular but the charge for them is added to 
 base price, while those marked " special " are not commonly used in 
 the territory and of course should be charged for extra. 
 
 1. Bottom reinforced over rear Bolster i. Regular on all sizes. 
 
 2. Patent Endgate Extra on all sizes^ 
 
 3. Common Endgate 5T !L 
 
 4. Top box Fasteners ^^t useo. 
 
 6. Anti-Spreaders „ ^ ^o. 
 
 6. Gram-Cleats Extra on all sizes. 
 
 7. Spring Seat Regular on all sizes. 
 
 8 Lazyback _ — ijo. 
 
 a 6th Cleat "oVs'llC Extra on all sizes. 
 
 10, Mountain or California Brake Regular on aU sizes. 
 
 11. Gear Brake hook up irons Not used. 
 
 12 Bow Staples Regular on all sizes but 
 
 not always wanted. 
 
 18. Tool or Jockey Box -Regular on all sizes. 
 
 14. 3rd Top Box Extra on all sizes. 
 
 15. Anti-Spreaders and Fasteners for third top boxes — Not used. 
 
 16. Boot End Beds with Joint Rods Do. 
 
 17. Bows S\*^^^ **^ ^*^ 
 
 18. Feed Boxes got usea 
 
 19. Seat on Risers ^P?^^ * i, „,„^ 
 
 20. Lock Chains g^tra on all sizes. 
 
 21. Bed Brake Not used. 
 
 22. Reversible Gear Brake ^^ 
 
 23. Clipped G^r Brake 1^- 
 
 24. Riveted Rims bpeciai. 
 
 25. Wide Tires _ , ^^ 
 
 26. Bois D'Arc Felloes ^ „' ,, ^„^^ 
 
 27. 12 and 14 foot Reaches Exti^ on all sizes. 
 
 g; ciinfo?^lireS:::::~::::^^^^^^^^^^ on au size* 
 
\l 
 
 270 
 
 FABM-MACHINEBY TBADE ASSOCUTIONS. 
 
 ExHiBir 14. 
 
 OBNEBAL LETTEB ISSUED BY ™BNATIONAL WAGON MAN^ 
 TOBEES' ASSOCIATION BELATIVE TO TBADE CONDITIONS IN 
 DECEMBEB, 1908. 
 
 General Offices, 
 
 625-627-529 American Trust Building, 
 
 Chicago, Dec. ^8-1908. 
 
 PRESENT AND FUTURE TRADE CONDITIONS. 
 
 CtEjNTLEI^IEN * 
 
 You undoubtedly have been made aware, through the trade papers 
 and other channels of publicity, that manufacturers representmg the 
 greater part of the farm and heavy wagon output of this country 
 have notified the trade of an advance in their sellmg prices May 1st 
 1909 to the extent of at least 10% over present figures, limiting the 
 time of shipment on orders taken at present prices to April 30th, lyuy. 
 
 With other manufacturers who have recently reviewed the con- 
 dition of their business, going back, say, for a period of fave years, 
 this action has not only been indorsed but like action will be taken 
 by them, and our purpose in calling your attention to the matter is 
 that we believe it should receive universal recognition. 
 
 Permit me to suggest a few propositions that have a vital bearmg 
 on this question as to whether present selling prices are prohtable or 
 
 ^Firat :Vagon materials (particularly Woodstock) , labor, and over- 
 head or fixed expenses, have increased beyond any advance m seUing 
 prices of wagons during the past ten years. 
 
 Second: During recent years when trade volume was large, tne 
 ratio of manufacturing profit greatly decreased. 
 
 Third • With the return of trade demand to normal, present selling 
 prices cannot return fair profits on the large investment necessary to 
 
 this line of manufacture. . ., • • ^ *_^«f 
 
 Fourth : It has been necessary to greatly increase our mvestment 
 m order to provide our usual supply of wagonstock because of the 
 rapid increase in price of that material, and we are confronted with 
 the certainty of still farther advances. . ^u- v 
 
 Fifth : During the past ten years a number of concerns m this line, 
 neglecting to give attention to these encroachments on profits and 
 changing conditions, have quit, failed, or become financially embar- 
 rassed— others may follow from the same cause. ^u x u 
 
 Sixth: Retail profits on wagons have also declined, so that by 
 many they are only handled of necessity, as with salt or sugar, and 
 because oi this condition the personnel of those who retail our prod- 
 uct as to financial worth or business ability is rapidly getting poorer. 
 
 Seventh : We believe it is a matter of self-preservation that a re- 
 adjustment of these conditions should occur in 1909, not only by an 
 advance in selling prices of the manufacturer but m the prices of 
 the retailer as well, and we should immediately explain the situa- 
 tion to our trade and support them in making their adjustments. 
 
 Eighth- The principal consumer of our product, the farmer, has 
 received the greatest share of prosperity and his ability to pay a 
 fair price for his necessary working equipment is unquestioned, so 
 that this reasonable advance in the price of his wagon wiU m no way 
 delay his purchasing. 
 
 f** » 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 271 
 
 Our purpose in presenting this matter to vou is two-fold: First, 
 that you may understand that the action taken by these manufac- 
 turers was not arbitrary or without absolute justification, and sec- 
 ondly, we believe that similar action wiU be taken by every intelli- 
 gent manufacturer who values the future of his busmess. We 
 believe, furthermore, that it is to the best interests of our trade that 
 it should not be kept in a constantly disturbed condition and 4;hat it 
 these adjustments be made now, simultaneously, they wiU be accepted 
 on their merits, just as a necessary advance m freight rates or taxa- 
 tion and we shall go forward on a new and more satisfactory basis, 
 with new prices remaming stable in all probability for some time. 
 
 CompetSion in the wagon business will never permit either the 
 manufacturer or retailer to obtain an exorbitant profit, and therem 
 lies the protection of the consumer, but it should not prevent the manu- 
 facturer from getting fair returns from his labor and mvestment. 
 
 Would be pleased to have you acknowledge this, with an expres- 
 sion of your views, if you are interested. ^ 
 Yours truly, 
 
 EWM-H. 
 
 Exhibit 15. 
 
 ■RTTVTSED TIBB LIST— WAGON DEPARTMENT— NATIONAL IMPLB- 
 ^^? AND VEHICLE ASSOCLA.TION-BECOMMENDED MAKCH 14, 
 
 1907. TO BEPLACE ALL PBEVIOXTS ISSUES. 
 
 (Previous Issue Aug. 20, 04. This issue May 1, 1911.) 
 yet extra charge for odd or wide tires. 
 ONE AND TWO HORSE WAGONS. 
 
 Regular 
 Tires 
 
 OddTires 
 
 ^ 
 
 ijxi 
 
 9^ ^ 
 
 luX 
 luX 
 
 Ux 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 L X 
 L X 
 
 xl 
 3 X 
 3 X 
 2 X 
 
 2 X 
 
 3 X 
 34x 
 
 ?* 
 3 X 
 
 S X 
 
 3 X 
 
 3 X 
 3f X 
 3>x 
 }x 
 Six 
 
 4 x 
 
 to. 29 
 
 .58 
 
 l|x| l|xA 
 
 $0.86 
 1.15 
 
 4 
 4 
 
 4 
 5 
 5 
 5 
 6 
 
 1.78 
 3.05 
 
 3.57 
 
 IfxJ 
 
 Ux| 
 
 $0.40 ' 
 .09 $0.29 
 
 2.36 
 3.62 
 
 5.18 
 
 6.96 
 
 4.14 
 5.75 
 
 1.90 
 3.16 
 
 3. 68 
 5.29 
 
 $0.92 
 1.84 
 
 UxA 
 
 1.50 
 2.76 
 
 3.28 
 4. 
 
 5.75 
 
 7.53 
 
 5.29 
 
 7.07 
 
 2.13 
 3.39 
 
 3.91 
 5.52 
 
 Uxj 
 
 lixA ljx| 
 
 $1.38^$0.92 
 1,84 
 1.44 
 2.59 
 1.90 
 
 1.67 
 2.93 
 4.20 
 
 3.45 
 5.06 
 
 4.1 
 6.84 
 
 6.67 
 8.97 
 
 5.52 
 
 7.48 
 
 7.30 
 9.60 
 
 lixi 
 
 1.21 
 2.47 
 3.74 
 
 5.06 
 7.02 
 
 6.84 
 9.14 
 
 2.99 
 4.60 
 6.21 
 
 $0.46 
 
 1.38 
 
 .98 
 
 2.13 
 
 1.44 
 
 $0. 
 
 .75 
 2.01 
 3.28 
 
 2.53 
 4.14 
 5.75 
 
 92 
 52 
 67 
 98 
 01 
 
 29 
 
 55 
 82 
 
 Ifxl 
 
 llxj 
 
 1.09 
 
 .63 
 1.90 
 3.16 
 
 Ifxl 
 
 l|xl 
 
 2xi 
 
 2x1 
 
 $0.75 $1.15 
 46 
 50 
 
 4.60 
 6.56 
 
 6.38 
 8.68 
 
 8.45 
 11.10 
 
 4.14 
 6.10 
 8.05 
 
 "6.'92 
 
 8.22 
 
 10.52 
 
 "7.99 
 10.64 
 
 13.34 
 16.68 
 
 3. 
 5. 
 
 7. 
 
 5.' 
 
 7. 
 
 10. 
 
 7.' 
 10. 
 
 68 
 64 
 59 
 
 46 
 76 
 06 
 
 53 
 18 
 
 1.15 
 2.76 
 4.37 
 
 2.76 
 
 .88 
 .22 
 
 4.54 
 6.84 
 9.14 
 
 6.'6i 
 9.26 
 
 11.96 
 15.30 
 
 1. 
 3. 
 
 1. 
 2. 
 3. 
 4. 
 
 3. 
 
 4. 
 
 6. 
 
 3. 
 
 5. 
 
 7. 
 
 9. 
 
 4. 
 
 7. 
 
 9. 
 11. 
 
 7. 
 
 9. 
 12. 
 14, 
 12. 
 15. 
 19. 
 
 $0.46 
 2.84 
 
 $1. 
 3. 
 
 04 
 30 
 57 
 83 
 
 16 
 77 
 38 
 16 
 12 
 07 
 03 
 95 
 25 
 55 
 85 
 02 
 66 
 31 
 
 1.Z7 
 2.53 
 3.80 
 
 36 
 70 
 03 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 2. 
 
 4. 
 
 6. 
 
 7. 
 
 3. 
 
 6. 
 
 8. 
 10. 
 
 5. 
 
 8. 
 11. 
 
 09 
 47 
 
 1.90 
 3.16 
 4.43 
 
 9513 
 
 13 
 
 74 
 35 
 13 
 08 
 04 
 99 
 91 
 21 
 51 
 81 
 98 
 63 
 27 
 92 
 33 
 66 
 00 
 
 2. 
 
 4. 
 
 5. 
 
 2. 
 
 4. 
 
 6. 
 
 8. 
 
 4. 
 
 6. 
 
 9. 
 11. 
 
 6. 
 
 9. 
 11. 
 14. 
 11. 
 15. 
 18. 
 
 $2.39 
 
 .81 
 2.07 
 3.34 
 
 $1.41 
 
 76 
 37 
 98 
 76 
 72 
 67 
 63 
 54 
 84 
 14 
 44 
 61 
 26 
 90 
 55 
 96 
 30 
 63 
 
 1. 
 
 3. 
 
 4. 
 
 1. 
 
 3. 
 
 5. 
 
 7. 
 
 3. 
 
 5. 
 
 8. 
 10. 
 
 5. 
 
 8. 
 10. 
 13. 
 10. 
 14. 
 17. 
 20. 
 
 2.42 
 
 67 
 
 28 
 89 
 67 
 62 
 58 
 53 
 45 
 75 
 05 
 
 2. 
 3. 
 
 2. 
 4. 
 6. 
 
 4. 
 
 7. 
 
 35 9. 
 52 
 
 54 
 
 87 
 
 2013 
 
 30 
 91 
 
 65 
 60 
 
 56 
 
 77 
 07 
 37 
 
 19 
 83 
 48 
 89 
 23 
 56 
 
 $0. 
 2. 
 
 98 
 59 
 
 2ix| 
 
 3. 
 5. 
 
 3. 
 5. 
 
 8. 
 
 5. 
 
 8. 
 11. 
 
 8. 
 11. 
 15. 
 90118. 
 
 39 
 
 35 
 
 45 
 75 
 05 
 
 S4.20 
 
 4.60 
 6.90 
 
 4.72 
 7.36 
 10.01 
 57! 7.42 
 9010.75 
 
 87 
 51 
 16 
 
 24 
 57 
 
 14.09 
 17.42 
 
m 
 
 M 
 
 mtm 
 
 FABM-MACHINEBY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 Net extra charge for odd or wide Wrc«— Continued. 
 
 LIGHT OKE HORSE WAGONS. 
 
 Bcgolar Tim. 4V 
 
 mi 
 
 im 
 
 U»A 
 
 llxl 
 
 Regular Tires. 49" 
 
 l|xi 
 
 IJXJ 
 
 IJXA 
 
 Ijxl 
 
 TivUxi 
 
 81.27 
 1.67 
 2.07 
 
 ti.oe 
 
 1.50 
 1.90 
 
 10.00 
 1.00 
 1.60 
 
 80.58 
 
 .81 
 
 1.00 
 
 Foraix} 
 
 S3. 80 
 5.06 
 
 83.62 
 4.80 
 
 13.22 
 4.49 
 
 82.82 
 
 «« i|xl 
 
 " 3 x| 
 
 4.06 
 
 * 2 xi... 
 
 
 
 
 
 ADDfw mA H**c* TMcknem Extm on IH^ Om Bone Wagon», 
 
 Tir«2 tn. wide 81.2 
 
 « 3^ " " 1.6 
 
 u % u u 1.9 
 
 NOTKX— The sizes of tires at ttM top of thesecolomns arecommon narrow tires r^ilarly used, while those 
 Id the extreme left column are the tires likely to be called for. The prices herein given are recommended 
 as net prices to the trade (see secretary's report of meeting, March 14, 1907) and should be the net basis for 
 your price list. The prices givea are for tires oa Iiigh or staadard wheels; no reductioa (o be made on 
 wheels of less height. 
 
 Exhibit 16. 
 
 n OB «BEPAIB'' FBICE LIST SUGGESTED BY SPECIAL 
 COMMITTEE APPOINTED AT CONFERENCE OF FARM WAGON 
 MANTJFACTT7BEBS, AT CHICAGO, JTTNE 5TH, 1912— 3i" x 10" 
 WAGON. 
 
 (Numbeis 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 represent the rtoa Usts of prominent concerns. The discounts shown are 
 those commonly given to the retail deuer. 8«e "NoUoe," below, for further explanation of tliis price* 
 list.) 
 
 Liai. Axle, wood only. 
 N«t Do 
 
 Lilt. Axle, finished with C. 8. 
 N«t Do 
 
 List. B<dsters, wood only.. 
 Net. Do 
 
 List. Boistera, finished, finmt. 
 Nut Do 
 
 List. Bolstos, finished, hind. 
 Net Do 
 
 List Clevises, with pfaa.. 
 Net Do 
 
 List Doubletrees, finished. 
 Net Do 
 
 List Gears, f^ont, with C. 8. 
 Net Do 
 
 40% 
 
 List Gears, hind, with C. 8. 
 Net. Do 
 
 List 8q. Hounds, (rant, wood only, R. & L . 
 Net Do 
 
 List Sq. Hounds, hind, wood only, R. A L, 
 Met Do 
 
 LM. Hounds, pde wood only R. & L. 
 Net Do 
 
 MM. 
 
 "^ 
 
 Belli. 
 
 S3.50 
 2.10 
 
 5.85 
 3.41 
 
 2.35 
 1.41 
 
 5.25 
 3.15 
 
 4.25 
 2.55 
 
 .30 
 .18 
 
 1.60 
 .96 
 
 17.50 
 10.50 
 
 16.60 
 9.96 
 
 .90 
 .54 
 
 1.25 
 .76 
 
 .80 
 .48 
 
 .80 
 
 2 
 
 50% 
 
 13.88 
 1.99 
 
 7.40 
 3.70 
 
 2.44 
 1.22 
 
 6.00 
 2.50 
 
 5.00 
 2.50 
 
 .25 
 .13 
 
 1.80 
 .90 
 
 27.88 
 13.04 
 
 21.48 
 10.74 
 
 1.06 
 .64 
 
 1.32 
 .00 
 
 .00 
 .30 
 
 .60 
 
 3 
 
 40% 
 
 82.50 
 1.50 
 
 5.00 
 3.00 
 
 1.60 
 .90 
 
 3.85 
 2.31 
 
 3.30 
 1.98 
 
 .22 
 .13 
 
 .88 
 .63 
 
 13.55 
 8.13 
 
 13.45 
 8.07 
 
 .64 
 .38 
 
 .92 
 .55 
 
 .64 
 .32 
 
 .40 
 
 83.10 
 2.01 
 
 5.65 
 3.07 
 
 1.70 
 1.11 
 
 3.25 
 2.U 
 
 3.25 
 2.11 
 
 .25 
 
 .16 
 
 1.00 
 .65 
 
 17. 00 
 11. C5 
 
 14.50 
 9.42 
 
 .90 
 .60 
 
 .80 
 .62 
 
 .60 
 .39 
 
 .25 
 
 5 
 
 «% 
 
 83.50 
 2.10 
 
 6.00 
 3.60 
 
 1.90 
 1.14 
 
 4.60 
 2.76 
 
 3.80 
 2.28 
 
 .30 
 .18 
 
 1.50 
 .00 
 
 1?.00 
 9.81 
 
 12.00 
 9.06 
 
 .80 
 .48 
 
 1.20 
 .72 
 
 .60 
 .36 
 
 .30 
 .IS 
 
 6 
 
 33J% 
 
 Recom- 
 mended 
 Gross 
 List 
 
 13.00 
 2.00 
 
 6.32 
 4.21 
 
 1.70 
 1.13 
 
 3.90 
 2.60 
 
 3.20 
 2.13 
 
 .50 
 .33 
 
 LOO 
 .66 
 
 12.50 
 8.33 
 
 11.60 
 7.66 
 
 .80 
 .53 
 
 1.00 
 .66 
 
 .40 
 .27 
 
 .40 
 .27 
 
 83.80 
 
 7.00 
 
 2.45 
 
 5.00 
 
 5.0O 
 
 .30 
 
 LOO 
 
 25.00 
 
 21.00 
 
 LOS 
 
 L25 
 
 .00 
 
 ,m 
 
 # f • 
 
 # 
 
 EXHIBITS, 
 
 **JSiXtra " or " repair " price Ust suggested, etc. — Continued. 
 
 273 
 
 List. 
 Net 
 
 List. 
 Net 
 
 List. 
 
 Net 
 
 List. 
 
 Net. 
 
 List. 
 Net 
 
 T 
 X/iSt. 
 
 Net 
 
 List. 
 
 Net 
 
 List. 
 Net. 
 
 List. 
 Net. 
 
 List. 
 Net 
 
 List. 
 Net 
 
 List. 
 Net. 
 
 List. 
 Net 
 
 List 
 Net. 
 
 List 
 Net 
 
 List. 
 
 Net. 
 
 Neck yokes, 42'', complete 
 Do 
 
 Reaches, regular 9'. 
 Do 
 
 Reaches, regular 12'. 
 Do 
 
 Reaches, regular 14'. 
 Do 
 
 Skeins, cast, boxes and nuts, sets. 
 Do 
 
 Sandboard, wood only. 
 Do 
 
 Singletrees, with ferrules. 
 
 ■^ 
 
 Tongues, complete. 
 
 «% 
 
 Wrenches. 
 Do... 
 
 Steel Skeins, with boxes. 
 Do 
 
 Set 44/52 Wheels, Hxf. 
 Do 
 
 Set 44/52 C. S. Wheels, U x ^. 
 Do 
 
 Stiff Pole, comp. finished. 
 Do 
 
 Stiff Pole, wood only. 
 Do 
 
 Stake, ironed. 
 Do , 
 
 Stake, wood only. 
 Do 
 
 8L50 
 .90 
 
 2.30 
 1.3S 
 
 3.55 
 2.13 
 
 3.90 
 2.34 
 
 7.50 
 4.50 
 
 L75 
 L05 
 
 L15 
 
 7.05 
 4.23 
 
 .20 
 .12 
 
 2 
 
 50% 
 
 50.80 
 
 81-68 
 
 .84 
 
 3.20 
 1.60 
 
 3.56 
 1.78 
 
 4.72 
 2.36 
 
 8.84 
 4.42 
 
 L64 
 .82 
 
 1.24 
 .62 
 
 7.60 
 3.80 
 
 (not 
 given) 
 
 3 
 
 40% 
 
 54.57 
 
 81.18 
 .71 
 
 2.52 
 L51 
 
 3.30 
 1.98 
 
 3.30 
 1.98 
 
 5.94 
 3.56 
 
 L61 
 .07 
 
 .92 
 .55 
 
 6.30 
 3.78 
 
 .44 
 .26 
 
 4 
 35% 
 
 42.00 
 
 81.15 
 .75 
 
 2.50 
 1.63 
 
 3.25 
 2.11 
 
 3.50 
 2.28 
 
 7.50 
 3.38 
 
 L40 
 .91 
 
 .75 
 .49 
 
 5.50 
 3.58 
 
 .30 
 .20 
 
 7.50 
 4.8S 
 
 42.00 
 27.30 
 
 5 
 
 «% 
 
 6.00 
 3.90 
 
 4.00 
 2.60 
 
 .60 
 .39 
 
 .25 
 .16 
 
 81-60 
 .96 
 
 2.30 
 1.38 
 
 3.60 
 2.16 
 
 5.40 
 3.24 
 
 5.80 
 3.48 
 
 1.60 
 .96 
 
 1.20 
 .72 
 
 7.00 
 4.20 
 
 .40 
 .24 
 
 10-80 
 6.48 
 
 35.50 
 26.66 
 
 35.00 
 26.25 
 
 8.50 
 5.10 
 
 3.50 
 2.10 
 
 .70 
 .42 
 
 .30 
 
 .18 
 
 6 
 
 33J% 
 
 81.30 
 .87 
 
 2.30 
 1.53 
 
 2.80 
 L87 
 
 3.30 
 2.20 
 
 5.04 
 3.36 
 
 1.60 
 1.07 
 
 1.00 
 .66 
 
 6.50 
 4.33 
 
 .40 
 .27 
 
 42.00 
 
 Recom- 
 mended 
 Gross 
 List. 
 
 11.65 
 
 3.00 
 3.50 
 
 4.50 
 8.80 
 
 L70 
 
 1.25 
 
 7.80 
 
 .40 
 
 15.00 
 
 54.00 
 
 7.ao 
 
 4.50 
 .60 
 .24 
 
 NOTICE. 
 
 The need of a uniform gross list for extra or repair parts for 
 Farm Wagons has been manifest for many years, and at a representa- 
 tive meeting of manufacturers in this line held at Chicago on June 
 5th, 1912, a Committee was appointed to recommend the proper 
 basis for such a list. Their labors were confined to the 3J"xlO" 
 size, commonly used throughout the middle west, and they present 
 below ^ a suggested list and recommendation on all common parts. 
 
 The first six columns of this list contain the present list prices of 
 as many leading concerns in the Farm Wagon line, and the discount 
 appearmg at the head of these columns are those commonly extended 
 by them to the retail dealer f . o. b. cars factory, subject only to the 
 usual cash discount in addition. 
 
 The list recommended by this Committee is that found in the 
 extreme right hand column, which, if discounted 50%, would result 
 in net prices covering costs of production and sale and netting on 
 
 t*' 
 
 •—15 ^18 
 
 > See list above. 
 
274 
 
 FABM-MACHINEBY TBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 average costs a fair margin. The Committee does not recommend, 
 however, the application of a discount of 50% or any other discount, 
 but does suggest the advisability of adopting the figures shown in 
 that column as a gross list by all manufacturers just the same as such 
 lists are used for Dolts, screws, nuts and other materials consumed in 
 manufacture. It is recommended that a special list be made up for 
 Mauntam Wagon Parts^ using the gross list presented on the reverse 
 side of this sheet * as a basis and adding 30 to 40 per cent, to those 
 figures to make the new list — this will enable the quoting of a 
 uniform trade discoimt applicable to both lists. 
 
 The proper discount to apply should be determined after an 
 investigation of one's own cost in the regular way. The widelv 
 differing lists of the several concerns shown in this report are a suf- 
 ficient illustration of the need of a uniform list, especially as the com- 
 mon parts referred to in the lists may be furnished by any concern in 
 the business and have very little in individuality, form or shape to 
 jiisfcify the wide difference often found in these lists. 
 
 Farm Wagon Department 
 National Implement and Vehicle Association, 
 
 Chicack), III., November 26y 191£. 
 
 Exhibit 17. 
 
 PAVEB OS STAITDABDIZATION 07 FABM WAGONS, BEAD BEFOBE 
 AMEBICAN SOCIETY OF AGBICTJLTTTBAL ENGINEEBS BY E. E. 
 7ABSONAOE, OF JOHN DEEBE WAGON CO., DECEMBEB 30, 1913. 
 
 (Approved by Wagon Department of National Implement & Vehicle Anodatton.) 
 
 Gentlemen : As you probably understand from the nature of my 
 business, I am vastly interested in the subject you have assigned me. 
 
 Manufacturers of farm implements in recent years have very 
 largely adopted steel construction. Wagons, however, of necessity 
 are built very largely of wood, and standardization of farm wagons 
 will tend toward economy in the use of wood stock. We are there- 
 fore all interested in the conservation of our forests. 
 
 As an advance step, the wagon manufacturers have done a great 
 deal toward standardizing wheel heights, and we have a set of 
 National Construction Rules governing the grading of wood stock. 
 Wagon axles, poles, etc., are standardized as to raw sizes, whereas in 
 times gone by each manufacturer had his own patterns, and the mills 
 were forced to cut accordingly, and the waste was large as a result. 
 
 W« have now come to a point where, in order to further standardize 
 farm wagon construction, it is necessary to get the co-operation of 
 the consumers. 
 
 I have some definite ideas that I will present, and I am myself posi- 
 tive that they will result in great benefit to the manufacturer of 
 wagons, the merchant who handles them, and the farmer who uses 
 them, finally. At least, I hope to outline a plan that may serve as a 
 nucleus in attempting to remedy the ridiculous situation that now 
 exists in the wagon trade. 
 
 ^ See list above. 
 
 ^m» 
 
 ^% 
 
 f* 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 276 
 
 Let me start with the statement that by reason of all wagon 
 factories being compelled to cater to the individual ideas of wagon 
 users in all sections of the country, an ordinary farm wagon is cost- 
 ing the manufacturer, and consequently the farmer, several dollars 
 more per unit than would be the case if farm wagons could be classi- 
 fied and built more with the idea of fitting the conditions from a 
 practical standpoint. 
 
 In other words, gentlemen, wherever the manufacturer of any 
 staiidard article of trade has studied the needs of the consumer and 
 built a line of goods to meet those needs in every practical way, and 
 has not listened to the whims and fancies of the purchaser as have the 
 wagon builders, the needs of the consumer are better supplied, and 
 greater efficiency in manufacturing is maintained. The farm wagon 
 of today is strictly a freight vehicle and its purpose is to haul farm 
 loads. Therefore, its use in practically all the country is precisely 
 the same, and there is no more real need of the very large variety of 
 construction and sizes than there is in watches, or any other article 
 of universal use. 
 
 Why, then, should wagons be made and marketed, in any given 
 localitv, with the idea of furnishing the merchant anything and 
 everything he thinks he wants— regardless of its adaptability from 
 a practical standpoint, and regardless of the effect upon the roads of 
 the various styles of tire equipment, etc. ? In this one particular, I 
 take it that you are all vitally interested in the tire equipment of 
 wagons, based upon approximate loads, and of such widths as will 
 insure the conserving of the roadbed, rather than the destruction of 
 it through ignorance. 
 
 As an example, I have with me an order, copy of which reads as 
 follows : 
 
 Amt. 
 
 1. 
 1. 
 
 3. 
 2. 
 
 3. 
 2, 
 3. 
 3. 
 
 Size. 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2. 
 2. 
 
 3|xll 
 3|xl0 
 
 3ixl0 
 3ixl0 
 
 3x9 
 3x9 
 3x9 
 3x9 
 
 2ix84 
 2fx8| 
 2|x8| 
 
 3x9 
 
 Kind. 
 
 lix 
 
 1132 
 1130 
 
 1130 
 1130 
 
 1128 
 1128 
 1128 
 1128 
 
 1126 
 
 126 
 
 1126 
 
 128 
 
 418 
 418 
 
 Wheels. Tires. 
 
 40/44 
 40/44 
 
 40/44 
 40/44 
 
 40/44 
 40/44 
 40/44 
 40/44 
 
 40/44 
 44/52 
 40/44 
 
 44/52 
 
 40/48 
 40/48 
 
 3 x|RE. 
 3 x|RE. 
 
 2 xj RE . 
 2 x|R£. 
 
 2 xfRE. 
 lixfRE. 
 2 xf RE. 
 lixfRE . 
 
 IJxf RE . 
 lixf RE . 
 lixf RE . 
 
 lixf RE . 
 
 l}xA. 
 lixA- 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 3x4 reach 12" long. 
 
 8" stakes 48" neckyokes. 
 
 8" stakes 48" neckyokes. 
 
 8" " 48" '• 
 
 8" stakes 42" neckyokes. 
 10" " 42" " 
 
 8" " 42" «* 
 
 10" " 42" " 
 
 10" " 42" 
 12" " 42" 
 10" " 42" 
 
 « 
 
 12" 
 
 42" 
 
 Please note that this is an order for a carload of 30 wagons, and it 
 includes 14 different varieties. This is a condition that is nothing 
 short of ridiculous. 
 
 In order to lay a foundation in a measure, that I am about to 
 recommend, let me go over the sizes of standard 2-horse farm wagons, 
 as designated by skein measurements. They are as follows: 
 
 2fx7 2ix8 2ix8i 3x9 3^x10 3^x11 3} x 12 4x12 
 
I I I! W i i p 
 
 « 
 
 
 276 FABM-MACHINEKY TBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 Bear in mind that practically each of these eight classes of wagons 
 is built in all sorts of eauipments— different heights of bolster stakes, 
 wide track, narrow track, wide track narrow bed, slip pole, drop pole, 
 36/44 wheels, 40/44, 40/48 and 44/52 heights of wheels. 
 
 Now let us take the 3J x 10 wagon. This is the size of wagon that 
 sells regularly in the central states from Ohio to the Wyoming and 
 Colorado lines. 
 
 Kindly mark this statement: If a large wagon factory to-day 
 should have on hand in the 3J x 10 size of wagon only, one each of 
 all the styles and forms of equipment demanded in various parts of 
 the country, and that they might be certain of being able to ship any 
 particular equipment within an hour's notice, they would have to 
 have on hand — 
 
 640 different styles of gears. . 
 
 157 different sets of wheels with various heights and tire 
 
 widths. 
 140 different styles of wagon boxes. 
 
 This is a condition that is appalling; and these figures will hardly 
 be believed by the wagon manufacturer himself, unless he spends a 
 week or more tabulating the various equipment he is compelled to 
 
 furnish. 
 I have in mind four avenues of standardization, viz : 
 First— Standardizing and Simplifying the Sizes of Wagons. 
 Second— Standardizing the Track of Wagons. 
 Third— Standardizing and Simplifying Wheel Heights. 
 Fourth— Standardizing Tire Widths and Thicknesses. 
 
 FIRSl^-STANDAKDIZING, OR IN REAMTY, REDUCING THE NUMBER OF SIZES 
 
 OP WAGONS. 
 
 For instance, a 2J x 8 and a 2i x 81—2 horse wagons. In reaUty, 
 it takes an expert to tell the difference in these two wagons. Dif- 
 ference in carrying capacity is barely nominal, as there is only from 
 35 to 50 lbs. difference in the weight of these wagons. The box 
 equipment, pole, axles— are the same. One wagon would take the 
 place of these two, were it not for the fact that— first, the salesman 
 is educated to sell both sizes— the merchant thinks he needs both 
 sizes, and buys them— and in turn asks the farmer which of the two 
 sizes he wants. If the implement man happens to have on hand a 
 21 X 8 wagon, he sells that. If he has the other size, that sells equally 
 
 as well, as a rule. 
 
 Now we have eight sizes of two-hors© wagons. Suppose we re- 
 move the incentive for the purchaser of a farm wagon asking the 
 measurements of the skein of the wagon he is going to buy. Sup- 
 pose we forget the size of the skein entirely. A farmer comes to 
 town. He wants a light 2-horse wagon, or he wants a medium 2-horse 
 
 ^ippose we recommend that four sizes of 2-horse wagons be 
 bought, instead of eight, designating them as follows : 
 
 light 2-borse Wagon «Qa»J» standard 2| x a 
 
 Medium 2-horse Wagon equals 3 x 9. 
 
 Standard 2-hor8e Wagon equals 3i x 10. 
 
 Heavy 2-hor8e wagon, such as is used far teaming 
 work, logging, hauling wood, etc equals 3i z 12. 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 277 
 
 Vl 
 
 Results — The manufacturer of wagons would gain materially by 
 such an arrangement. Jobbing trade and merchants generally would 
 gain for the same reason that the manufacturer would be the 
 gainer — and that is, their stocks would be simplified — ^they would 
 need to carry less stock in order to supply their trade, and a big in- 
 centive would be removed for the user of a wagon to buy other than 
 the wagon that would be fitted for his needs. 
 
 This, I think, could be brought out by concerted action, details 
 of which I will discuss later. 
 
 SECOND — STANDARDIZING THE TRACK OF WAGONS. 
 
 There is no necessity or value in the variation in the track of 
 wagons, and in fact, the variation in track widths is a positive detri- 
 ment, an inconvenience in many sections of the country, and is simply 
 brought about by one of two reasons. 
 
 I might say to start with, that there are no less than one-half 
 dozen widths of track in the United States, although the common 
 variation is the difference between the Narrow Track and the Wide 
 Track— viz: Narrow Track, 4' 6" center to center, and Wide Track 
 6' center to center. 
 
 The variation in the track of wagons has been brought about in 
 years gone by from one or two reasons, principally. 
 
 First — a local wagon maker, in many sections, would have a track 
 figured out of his own, and he would set the pace in his particular 
 neighborhood. 
 
 The other reason for maintaining a wide or narrow track in any 
 one neighborhood has been simply the so-called necessity of each 
 farmer buying his new wagon of a track that would fit the ruts made 
 by his neighbors. 
 
 There can be no objection made to standardizing the tracks to 
 conform to the standard narrow — 4' 6" center to center. The wide 
 track wagons naturalljr carry longer axles — therefore, with a maxi- 
 mum load on a given size of wagon, the wagon will stand up longer 
 and stand more hard usage by having a narrow track axle. 
 
 It may seem ridiculous to tell you that there are towns in several 
 of the states where an implement man is forced to carry both wide 
 and narrow track wagons — selling wide track east of his town, and 
 narrow track west of his town. 
 
 The necessity for following the custom as far as track is concerned 
 in any given territory is becoming less and less as the country roads 
 are becoming better. As roads are built up, rounded up, MacAdamed, 
 drained, etc., the ruts forming even at the worst time of the year, are 
 becoming less noticeable. 
 
 As a practical example — seven or eight years ago in California, all 
 tracks of gears were demanded, and each small valley or community 
 had its distinctive track. Thru the efforts of the National Associa- 
 tion of Wagon Manufacturers and the implement men generally in 
 that territory, the complicated situation was changed, and now in 
 California no other wagon is sold than the regular Wide Track 
 6-foot width. 
 
 Another example is that in the southern part of our own state, for 
 many years there was a 6' 1" track in use. This old track has been 
 
I 
 
 278 
 
 FABM-MACHINEBY TRADE ASSOGIATEOKS. 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 279 
 
 I 
 
 eliminated by several of the larger manufacturers who did business 
 in that territory, refusing to build 5' 1" track. 
 
 I have a plan for bringing it about which I will go into later for 
 standardizing track. 
 
 THIBD — STAKDAROIZINQ AND SIMPLIFYING AliL WHEEL HEIGHTS. 
 
 Until comparatively few years ago, there were more different wheel 
 heights in wagon wheels than could be counted on the fingers of 
 both hands; in fact — ^there were forty-one different heights. Thru 
 the efforts of the Wagon Manufacturers Association several years 
 ago, an. attempt was made to simplify wheel heights, by naming 
 four heights, viz : 
 
 36/44 40/44 40/48 44/52 
 
 This attempt at reducing the wheel heights to four standard sizes 
 has been very nearly successful. There are some exceptions, how- 
 ever, owing to one or more manufacturers not having the heart to 
 refuse building all heights of wheels because of the fear of losing 
 a little trade. There is one manufacturer that even at the present 
 time, makes a 54" rear wheel. 
 
 For the past vear, ouf Wagon Association has agitated a reduction 
 in the height of wagon wheels. 
 
 There is a consensus of opinion that there is no longer any necessity 
 for building a 44/52 wheel height. The reasons for this assumption 
 can be summed up as follows : 
 
 First — ^wagon spokes are mostly sawed to equip 44/52 wheels. 
 When 36/44 wheels are used, or smy other height, from 2 to 4 inches 
 of each spoke is wasted and thrown into the scrap pile. 
 
 Tn the interests of conservation of wagon stock, elimination of the 
 44/52 wheel height is advisable. 
 
 Again — the higher the wheel, the greater the strain on the axle and 
 wheel also. It may be interesting to some of us to know that strain 
 or breakage on a wagon wheel or axle is not brought about by the 
 downward pressure of the load, but axles are broken and wagon 
 wheels are crushed, in 99 cases out of 100, by reason of the side play 
 or shifting of the load sideways. 
 
 For instance, a medium 2-horse wagon may be carrying a load of 
 3000 lbs. If the road were good and level, the wagon could be loaded 
 up to 5000 lbs., or 6000 lbs., without injuring it, but with a 3000-lb. 
 load, one wheel drops sideways from the top of .a stone; result — a 
 smashed wheel or broken axle. 
 
 My. proposal then, is to make the 40/48 wheel height the standard 
 high wheel construction. Wherever the 40/48 height of wheel has 
 been standard, it has taken the place entirely of the 44/52 height. 
 
 Objection has been made that the 40/48*^ pulls harder than the 
 44/52. In answer, there is only a 10 per cent, reduction in height of 
 wheels, and tests show even under extreme conditions only a 2 per 
 cent difference in draft. Under ordinary road conditions the differ- 
 ence in draft is not readable on a dynamometer. 
 
 The only other possible objection to the elimination of the old 
 style high wheel is that in stump countries, as in Arkansas and 
 
 4l# 
 
 w 
 
 Eastern Texas, the stumps are so high as to interfere with the front 
 axle when using only 40" front wheels. 
 
 The difference in the heights of the front axle from the ground 
 as between 40" and 44" front wheels is only 2 inches, the 40" con- 
 struction having 18" and 19" clearance. This so called medium 
 height wheel wagon has taken well in the rough sections of the states 
 mentioned, and a little education will wipe out these fancied objec- 
 tions. 
 
 Furthermore, with the 40/48 wheel height the wagon box is lower, 
 closer to the ground, and easier to load into. 
 
 Then — 40/44 as medium height, which is largely used in the East 
 and South. 
 
 Then 36/44 as low wheel construction. 
 
 FOURTH — STANDARDIZING TIKE WIDTHS AND THICKNESSES. 
 
 This last proposition is, I believe, of more vital interest to your 
 Honorable Body than the sections preceding this. I take this to 
 be a fact, because you all necessarily would be interested in good 
 road building and road preservation. 
 
 Therefore, a sane, simple standardization of wagon tire widths, 
 based on various sizes of wagons and according to the maximum 
 size of load carried by the average wagon, is of vast importance. 
 
 At the present time, there are over 50 different widths and thick- 
 nesses of tires demanded on the various heights of wheels and on 
 various sizes of wagons. The result is that a wagon factory catering 
 to the trade in various parts of the country, is compelled to carry 
 many hundreds of different sets of wheels in order to supply the 
 demands. This wheel situation alone is little short of ridiculous. 
 
 Farmers throughout the country have clung to the narrow tire 
 because of the deep ruts in the road made by the other fellow's 
 wagons having narrow tires, and when a farmer comes to buy a new 
 wagon, he dare not buy a 3" tire wagon because four horses couldn't 
 pull the wide tire wagon when the wheels got down into ruts with 
 narrow bottoms made by narrow tire wagons. 
 
 I take it from the sentiment of those interested in better roads 
 lies entirely in recommending and forcing the use of wide tires. 
 Therefore, I have the following table to suggest as a standard tire 
 equipment. 
 
 Wood Axle w/Cast 
 or Steel Skein. 
 
 Size. 
 
 SoUd Steel 
 Axles, Size. 
 
 Tubnlar 
 or Hollow 
 Axles, Size. 
 
 Width of Tire. 
 
 
 /2-1/8" 
 
 \2i" 
 
 /2-3/8" .- 
 
 1-1/8" 
 
 
 These sizes to have tire IJ" wide. 
 
 1 Horse 
 
 li'( 
 
 1-5/8" 
 
 1-3/8".... 
 
 1-7/8" 
 
 2" 
 
 These sizes to have tire 2" wide. 
 These sizes to have tire 2" wide. 
 
 
 Light 2-horse 
 
 \24''. 
 
 /2|" 
 
 3^' 
 
 1-3/8" 
 
 i¥'. 
 
 1-5/8" 
 
 ir- 
 
 2^' 
 
 These siz^s to have tire 2" wide. 
 These sizes to have tire 2^" wide. 
 These sizes to have tire 3" wide. 
 
 Medium 2-horse 
 
 2-1/8" 
 
 2-3/8" 
 
 2-5/8" 
 
 2-7/8" 
 
 3-1/8" 
 
 Standard 2-horse.. - 
 
 rsj" 
 
 3" 
 
 4 ' 
 
 These sizes to have tire 3" wide. 
 These sizes to have tire 4" wide. 
 
 Heavy 2-hor8e 
 
 2J" 
 
 2-3/8" 
 
 2i" 
 
 These sizes to have tire 4" wide. 
 These sizes to have tire 4" wide. 
 
 n" 
 
 Ui" 
 
 These sizes to have tire 5" wide. 
 
 
 2-5/8" 
 
 
 These sizes to have tire 5" wide. 
 
 
 
 
 
•A<i 
 
 280 
 
 FAEM-MACHINEBY TBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 281 
 
 >l 
 
 
 i 
 
 At the present time, something over 45 various thicknesses of tire 
 are required. Some of the differences in the thicknesses are so small 
 that it takes an expert to tell the difference between the tires. As an 
 mstance, the difference between 9/16" and 5/8" thicknesses is l/16th 
 of an inch. This difference is so trifling that an expert handling a 
 dozen wheels, six of 9/16" and six of 5/8" thickness, absolutely can- 
 not tell them apart after he has handled the first two of the twelve. 
 
 Then again, on a 1^" tire alone, we are required to build wheels 
 of various heights and in the various thicknesses. 
 
 li X 3/8 11 z 5/8 1| z i li z I Hz 9/16 
 
 Now as to the various thicknesses of tire. On wide tire wagons 
 8/8" and |" thickness should be the rule ; that is, on light wagons 
 carrying tires from 1^" to 2^" in width. On the 3, 4 and 5 in. tires, 
 I would recommend 3/8 in. for soft roads or trucks used on the farm 
 ordy; 1/2 in. thicknesses for ordinary road conditions and 5/8 or 
 3/4 in. thickness for rough sections where rock is encountered in the 
 roads, Mac Adam, etc. 
 
 BEGOMMENDATIONS AS TO METHODS FOR BRINGING ABOUT STANDARDIZA- 
 TION OF WAGON EQUIPMENT. 
 
 The consensus of opinion seems to be that we should have uniform 
 wide tire laws passed by the various State Legislatures. If we can 
 arrive at some decision as to what we want and what is needed ; then 
 remains simply the problem of best reaching those men who have it 
 in their power to pass this uniform tire law. 
 
 We have all noticed that the various states are passing wide tire 
 laws, and every law is at variance with every other law. 
 
 I think what is needed is a plan worked out definitely whereby each 
 size of wagon now in use shall be equipped with a tire sufficiently 
 wide to carry a maximum load without injuring the road bed. Such 
 a table, coupled with a road law worded as would be approved by the 
 Eoad Engineers connected with the various Agricultural Colleges 
 and backed by your Society, would meet the approval of every body 
 of Legislators in every State. It is no criticism of our law makers 
 to state that they have in the past, in many cases, voted blindly for 
 road laws because they have no guide and have not understood just 
 what was needed to better preserve the road bed. 
 
 If laws are made in the various states with definite similarity as 
 to wording and forced equipment of tire widths, farmers will buy 
 wide tire wagons accordingly, and soon change the road conditions 
 for the better. 
 
 I would like to say that the Manufacturer has no selfish interest in 
 forcing wide tires in place of narrow tires, as he would just as soon 
 build one as the other. However, we are all interested in simplify- 
 ing the variety and we have of course a big interest in road better- 
 ment. In other words, we have no axe to grind in connection with 
 the changing of tire widths, other than simplification. 
 
 The Wagon Manufacturers, Implement Men and Jobbers are 
 vitally interested in the other lorms of standardization and simpli- 
 fication as described. The CJonsumer would be assured of a better 
 
 4 
 
 V 
 
 product in the wagon he buys, and he will, by co-operating with the 
 manufacturer, obviate the necessity for very large increases in the 
 cost of wagons within the next year or two. Farm wagons cannot 
 be long made under the job shop plan now existing without the neces- 
 sity of having to materially increase prices to the consumer. 
 
 1 believe that there is only one sane basis upon which to start an 
 agitation working toward the standardization described; viz: To 
 create such a sentiment in various ways as will bring the Public gen- 
 erally to an appreciation of what is to be gained. A great deal of 
 good can be done by your Honorable Body backing and recommend- 
 ing standardization along the lines described — or with such changes 
 and additions as you may see fit to recommend. The various Agri- 
 cultural Colleges can do a great deal. 
 
 The Farm Papers can be enlisted in our favor. I believe they 
 will cheerfully publish any matter that is given to them along these, 
 lines. 
 
 Then, I think that a definite plan should be laid out and published 
 through various channels, copies forwarded to the Legislators of 
 our various states, and copies sent to all Road Commissioners, enlist- 
 ing their efforts. 
 
 In turn, the National Wagon Makers Association could get back 
 of a plan and pass resolutions agreeing that after certain dates, 
 certain changes in simplification and standardization be adopted at 
 all wagon factories. 
 
 In turn, the various wagon factories, through their traveling sales- 
 men and jobbers, could carry on a definite campaign with the trade 
 and farmers generally, working toward the same results. 
 
 There is no question in my mind but that every man in this coun- 
 try, regardless of whether he live in a town or in the country, is in- 
 terested in better roads. The automobile people are wise in consist- 
 ently refusing to build anything but narrow track, and they have 
 been able to hold to one track. 
 
 Wide tires on all wagons will mean better roads, the hauling of 
 heavier loads with less horse power, less wear and tear on the wagon, 
 team and equipment, besides saving of time required to market the 
 farmer's product. This matter of time alone is getting to be a tre- 
 mendous factor to the farmer, owing to the scarcity and the high 
 price of farm labor. 
 
 I think I can speak very decidedly for the Wagon Manufacturers 
 in saying that they will be willing and anxious to co-operate with 
 this Body to bring about results that cannot help but be of vast bene- 
 fit to the country as a whole. 
 
 In conclusion, will say I would be very glad to have your sugges- 
 tions and criticisms. In speaking for the Wagon Manufacturers as 
 a whole, I think I would be safe in saying that our interests and the 
 interests of the consumer are so nearly identical that they would be 
 willing and glad to co-operate for the standardization plan that will 
 work to the greatest benefit of all concerned. 
 
I 
 
 II 
 
 I 
 
 ll 
 
 282 
 
 FARM-MACHINERY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 Exhibit 18. 
 
 BECOMMEITBATIOKS OF THE NATIOWAL PLOW ASSOCIATION TO 
 ITS MEMBEBS BEGABDING LIST FBICES, STAKDABD SPECIFICA- 
 TIONS, EQUIPMENT, ETC., 1907-1909. 
 
 To the members cf the National Plow Association: 
 
 This booklet contains the list prices of Walking Plows, Extra 
 Shares and Lever Harrows; also standard equipment for all Imple- 
 ments recommended by the Association since its organization, viz : 
 [Index to booklet omitted.] 
 
 None of the within recommendations are intended in any way to 
 regulate the net selling prices. 
 Respectfully, yours, 
 
 Charles E. Sanders, Secretary/, 
 
 Sums No. 525 American Trust Bldg., 
 
 Chicago, June 21, 1909. 
 
 LIST PRICES or WALKING PLOWS. 
 
 Beoommendsd Mat 8, 1907. 
 
 BTUBBLI SEKIES. 
 
 Steel Beam, Medium Landside, Double Shin, Soft Center Mould, 
 and Slip Share. 
 
 12 in flT. 00 I 16 In $21. 50 
 
 14 in 19.00 I 18 In 
 
 25.00 
 
 STUBBLE SERIES. 
 
 Steel Beam, Low Landside, Double Shm, Soft Center Mould, and 
 
 Slip Share. 
 
 12 In $17. 00 I 16 In $21. 50 
 
 14111 19. 00 I 18 in 
 
 25.00 
 
 TUET AHD BTUBBOE SEBIE8. 
 
 Steel Beam, Medium Landside, Double Shin, Soft Center Mould, 
 uid Slip Share. 
 
 12 in $18. 00 
 
 13 !n 10. 00 
 
 14 in..: 20. 00 
 
 16 in $22. 50 
 
 18 in 26. 00 
 
 TUBF AND STUBBLE SEBTE8. 
 
 Steel Beam, Low Landside, Double Shin, Soft Center Mould, and 
 Slip Share, 
 
 i2in $18.00 16 in — $22.50 
 
 13 In 19. CO 18 in 26. 00 
 
 14 in - — 20. 00 
 
 It is recommended that the 13 in., 15 in. and 17 in. in the Stubble 
 Series, both steel and wood beam, be dropped, and that the 16 in. 
 
 1 1 
 
 ^ ! • 
 
 '**! * 
 
 ^1* 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 283 
 
 and 17 in. in the Turf and Stubble Series, steel and wood beam, be 
 dropped, also Upset or Single Shin Plows in both the Stubble and 
 Turi and Stubble Series, be dropped from the list. 
 
 MIXED LAND — ^BLUE SEBIES. 
 
 Steel Beam, Soft Center Mould, Crucible Share and Landside, 
 Double Shin, Slip Heel, Medium Landside, with Extra Crucible 
 Share. 
 
 7to. 
 
 .8 in. 
 
 9in. 
 
 10 in 
 
 Northern 
 list. 
 
 SIO.OO 
 11.00 
 12.50 
 14.50 
 
 Southern 
 list. 
 
 $12.50 
 14.00 
 15.50 
 17.00 
 
 11 in 
 
 12 in 
 14 in 
 16 in 
 
 Northwn 
 list. 
 
 $15.75 
 17.00 
 19.75 
 22.50 
 
 Southern 
 list. 
 
 $19.00 
 21.50 
 24.50 
 27.00* 
 
 MIXED LAND — BLUE SEBIES. 
 
 Steel Beam, Solid Mould, Crucible Share and Landside, Double 
 Shin, Slip Heel with Extra Crucible Share. 
 
 
 Northern 
 list. 
 
 Southern 
 list. 
 
 
 Northern 
 list. 
 
 Southern 
 list. 
 
 7In 
 
 $9.00 
 10.00 
 11.50 
 13.50 
 
 $11.50 
 13.00 
 14.50 
 16.00 
 
 11 in 
 
 $14. 75 
 16.00 
 18.50 
 2L25 
 
 $18.00 
 20 50 
 
 Sin 
 
 12 in 
 
 91n 
 
 14in 
 
 23 25 
 
 10 in 
 
 16in 
 
 25.75 
 
 
 
 N. B. — ^The above 7-inch — Northern List — were reduced from $11.00 
 and $10.00 to $10.00 and $9.00 respectively, April 30, 1909. 
 
 BLACK LAND SEBIES. 
 
 Steel Beam, Soft Center Mould, Wrought Frog, Crucible Slip 
 Share and Landside, Single Shin, with Extra Crucible Share. 
 
 Southern List Only. 
 
 6 in $10. 50 
 
 7 in 11. 50 
 
 8 in 13. 00 
 
 9 In 14. 50 
 
 10 in 16. 00 
 
 Southern List Only. 
 
 11 in $18. 00 
 
 12 in 20. 50 
 
 13 in 22. 00 
 
 14 in 23. 50 
 
 BANDY LAND SEBIES. 
 
 Steel Beam, Soft Center Mould, Wrought Frog, Crucible Slip 
 Share and Landside, with Extra Crucible Share. 
 
 Southern List Only. 
 
 7 in $11. 00 
 
 8 in 12. 50 
 
 9 in 14. 00 
 
 10 in 15. 50 
 
 Southern List Only, 
 
 11 in $17.00 
 
 12 in 18. 50 
 
 14 in 22. 50 
 
 16 in 25. 00 
 
 WOOD BEAM PLOWS. 
 
 It is recommended that the list price on Wood Beam Plows in the 
 Stubble, Turf and Stubble, Mixed Land, Black Land, Sandy Land 
 
Ill 
 
 PI 
 
 l! 
 
 284 
 
 FARM-MACHINEBT TRADE AfiSOCUTIOKS. 
 
 fts listed above, be listed $1.00 each over Steel Beam, up to and in- 
 cliiding 11 in., and ^.00 for 12 in. and above. 
 
 On Railroad and Township Plows add $3.00 each to the list prices 
 yon are now using. 
 
 WOOD OB STEEL STAITDABD OB HAZEL TIAWS — STUBBLE SEBIE8. 
 
 Wood Beam, Soft Center Mould, Wood or Steel Standard, Solid 
 Bar Share, Iron Strap imder Beam with Quincy or Reversible Coul- 
 ter with Clamp. 
 
 13 In : $19.60 
 
 14 in 20.60 
 
 16 in 23.60 
 
 10 In 116.60 
 
 11 in 17.60 
 
 12 in 18.60 
 
 WOOD OB STEEL 8TANDABD OB BASEL PLOWS — TUBF AND STUBBLE SEBIES. 
 
 Wood Beam, Soft Center Mould, Wood or Steel Standard, Solid 
 Bar Share, Iron Strap under Beam with Quincy or Reversible Coul- 
 ter with Clamp. 
 
 10 in $16.60 13 in $19.60 
 
 11 in 17.60 14 in 20.60 
 
 12 in 1& 60 1 16 in 1 23. 60 
 
 Add $1.00 to the above list prices on each size for Beam Strapped 
 top and bottom. 
 
 BAB 8HABE PLOWS — STUBBLE SEBIES. 
 
 Steel Beam, Low Landside, Double Shin, Soft Center Mould and 
 Share. 
 
 10 in $15.00 
 
 11 in 16.00 
 
 12 in 17.00 
 
 14 in $19.00 
 
 16 In 21.50 
 
 BAB SHABE PLOWS — TUBF AlfD STUBBLE SERIES. 
 
 Steel Beam, Low Landside, Double Shin, Soft Center Mould and 
 
 Share. 
 
 14 in $19.00 
 
 16 in 21.50 
 
 10 in $15.00 
 
 11 in -- 16. 00 
 
 12 in 17.00 
 
 TIlfBEB LAND PLOWS. 
 
 Wood Beam, Soft Center Mould, Malleable or Steel Standard, 
 Solid Bar Share, Iron Strap Under Beam, with Quincy Cutter and 
 damp. 
 
 11 in.: $18.00 I 14 
 
 12 In 20.00 
 
 $22.00 
 
 Add for Beam Strapped Top and Bottom $1.00 list Extra to above 
 sizes. 
 
 COMBIlf ATIOH BASTEBN PLOWS. 
 
 From the Turf and Stubble list shown on page 2 * when equipped 
 with cast share and extra cast share deduct from list $1.50 each size. 
 
 > 8m 11.282. 
 
 '^^W 
 
 ^' 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 285 
 
 When equipped with cast landside, cast share and extra cast share 
 deduct $3.00 each size. 
 
 Recommended Apbil 30, 1909. 
 
 When equipped with cast landside deduct from list 50 cents each 
 
 size. 
 
 MIDDLE BBEAKEBS. 
 
 Steel Beam, Soft Center Mould, Crucible Share, no Extra Share. 
 
 8 in $14.50 
 
 9 in 15.00 
 
 10 in 15.50 
 
 12 in $16.50 
 
 14 in 19.00 
 
 16 in ^ 23.00 
 
 For Solid Mould instead of Soft Center deduct $1.50 from above 
 list for corresponding sizes. 
 
 Recommended May 8, 1907. 
 
 PBAIBIE BBEAKEBS. 
 
 Solid Mould, Gauge Wheel, Rolling Coulter, Crucible Slip Share 
 and Extra Crucible Share. 
 
 12 in $22. 50 I 16 in. 
 
 14 in 24.50 I 18 in. 
 
 $27. 50 
 
 28. 50 
 
 Add with Soft Center Mould instead of Solid Mould $2.00 list to 
 each size. 
 
 Add for Bar Welded Share $2.00 list to each size, in both Solid 
 and Soft Center Moulds. 
 
 Deduct $1.00 list when Standing Coulter is substituted for Kolling 
 Coulter. 
 
 Deduct if Gauge Wheel not wanted $1.50 list. 
 
 Deduct $2.00 list if Fin Cutter is furnished instead of Rolling 
 Coulter. 
 
 BBUSH BBEAKEBS. 
 
 Heavy Long Bar Share, Strap under Beam, Standing Coulter, 
 Gauge Wheel, Solid Mould and no Extra Share. 
 
 12 in $25.00 
 
 14 in 27.50 
 
 16 in 30.00 
 
 18 in $33.00 
 
 20 in 37.50 
 
 If Strap under Beam is not furnished deduct $1.00 list each size. 
 If Soft Center Mould is furnished add $3.00 list each size. 
 
 WISCONSIN BBEAKEBS. 
 
 Wood Beam, Solid Bar Share, Standing Coulter, Gauge Wheel, 
 Solid Mould Board and no Extra Share. 
 
 12 in $30.00 
 
 14 in 31.00 
 
 16 in 34.00 
 
 18 in 38.00 
 
 20 in $42.00 
 
 22 in 46.00 
 
 24 in 49.00 
 

 Ill 
 
 
 286 
 
 FABM-MACHINEBY TRilDE ASSOCIAnONS. 
 
 U8T PRICKS OF FLOW PABTS. 
 Rboommsndbd BiAT 8, 1907. 
 
 KXTBA. BOTTOMB. 
 
 16 in 117. 00 
 
 18 in 19.00 
 
 Extra Bottoms for Stubble and Turf and Stubble Walking and 
 Eiding Plo\vs, Soft Center Mould and Share. 
 
 12 in $14.00 
 
 13 In 14.00 
 
 14 in 15.00 
 
 For Crucible Mould Board deduct $1.00 list from each size. For 
 Crucible Share deduct 50 cents from each size. 
 
 HM-AKirR BfyrroMs ix>b Biniifo flows, solid mould with extba shabb. 
 
 16 in $17.00 
 
 18 in 19.00 
 
 12 In $14.00 
 
 13 in 14.00 
 
 14 in 15.00 
 
 For Soft Center Mould Board on above add $2.00 list to each size. 
 
 flow fixtubes. 
 
 Pin Cutter and Bolt for Walking Plow $1. 00 List 
 
 Steel Jointer for Walking Plow 2. 50 List 
 
 Chilled Jointer for Walking Plow ^ 2. 00 List 
 
 Combination Steel and Chilled Jointer for Walking Plow 2. 25 List 
 
 No Uniform list price is recommended for the following class of 
 plows for the reason tJiere seems to be a varied equipment, and 
 weight of same: 
 
 Township Road Plows. 
 Railroad Plows. 
 Com Plowa 
 Rod Breakers. 
 
 Root and New Ground Plows. 
 Potato Diggers. 
 Chilled Plows. 
 
 LIST PRICES OF HARROWS. 
 
 Recommended Mat 8, 1907. 
 
 It is recommended to place all Steel and Wood Bar Harrows except 
 the Boss Harrows on a list price and to quote net prices by using dis- 
 count from the list the same as is the common practice in quoting net 
 prices on Walking Plows. 
 
 PIPE OB U BAB 5 BAIL STEEL LEVEB HABBOW SECTIONS. 
 
 25 Tooth 5 Bar Section Pipe or U Bar % in. T $6. 25 
 
 25 Tooth 5 Bar Section Pipe or U Bar % in. T 6. 60 
 
 30 Tooth 5 Bar Section Pipe or U Bar ^^ in. T 6. 60 
 
 80 Topth 5 Bar Section Pipe or U Bar % in. T 7. 00 
 
 35 Tooth 5 Bar Section Pipe or U Bar % in. T 7. 30 
 
 35 Tooth 5 Bar Section Pipe or U Bar % in. T 7. 75 
 
 For Bunners add 40 cents per section list. Kevised April, 1908. 
 See below. 
 For 4 Rail Harrows deduct 40 cents per section list. 
 For Adjustable Tooth on Pipe Harrow add 60 cents per section list. 
 
 GUABDED END SPBINQ BELIEF, STEEL LEYEB HABBOW SECTIONS. 
 
 25 Tooth % in. Teeth $6. 60 
 
 25 Tooth % in. Teeth 7.00 
 
 30 Tooth % in. Teeth 7. 00 
 
 30 Tooth % in. Teeth 
 
 35 Tooth ^^ in. Teeth 
 
 36 Tooth % in. Teeth 
 
 $7.40 
 7.70 
 8. IS 
 
 « 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 287 
 
 A 
 
 For Runners add 40 cents per section list. Revised April, 1908. 
 See below. 
 
 For 4 Rail Harrows deduct 40 cents per section list. 
 
 Recommended April 8, 1908. 
 
 Runners. — For Independent or a One-Piece Runner — add, per sec- 
 tion list, $0.40. 
 
 For Combination Runner and Tooth or Tooth Socket — charge op- 
 tional. 
 
 Relief Springs. — Guarded End Lever Harrows not Equipped with 
 Relief Sprmgs, deduct from list prices per section, $0.20. 
 
 Recommended May 8, 1907. 
 
 wood bar 5 RAIL LEVER HARROW SECTIONS — SQUARE OR ZIGZAG OPEN END. 
 
 5 Foot Section, 30 Tooth, % in. Teeth $7 OO 
 
 5 Foot Section, 30 Tooth, % in. Teeth 7.50 
 
 6 Foot Section, 35 Tooth, ^ in. Teeth 7. 70 
 
 6 Foot Section, 35 Tooth, % in. Teeth 8. 25 
 
 5 Foot Section, 40 Tooth, % in. Teeth 7. 50 
 
 5 Foot Section, 40 Tooth, % in. Teeth .__ 8.00 
 
 For Runners add 40 cents per section list. 
 For 4 Rail deduct 40 cents per section list. 
 
 WOOD OR STEEL BAR FLEXIBLE 5 RAIL HARROW SECTIONS. 
 
 5 Foot Section, % in. Teeth $7. 50 
 
 6 Foot Section, % in. Teeth ^ 8. 50 
 
 For Runners add 40 cents per section list. 
 
 For 4 Rail Steel Bar deduct $1.00 per section list. 
 
 COMBINATION EYENEBS 4 AND 
 
 4 Foot Evener, 1 Section $0. 90 
 
 6 Foot Evener, 1 Section . 95 
 
 6 Foot Evener, 1 Section 1. 00 
 
 8 Foot Evener, 2 Section 1. 65 
 
 10 Foot Evener, 2 Section 1. 85 
 
 12 Foot Evener, 2 Section_l__ 2. 05 
 
 Recommended April 8, 1908. 
 
 Three and four section eveners. — Consisting of One Long Wood 
 Bar and Draft Irons, Complete. 
 
 5 BAR HARROWS, ALL STYLES. 
 
 12 Foot Evener, 3 Section.. 
 
 15 Foot Evener, 3 Section.. 
 
 16 Foot Evener, 4 Section.. 
 18 Foot Evener, 3 Section.. 
 20 Foot Evener, 4 Section.. 
 24 Foot Evener, 4 Section.. 
 
 $3.00 
 3.50 
 4.50 
 4.00 
 6.00 
 7.00 
 
 75 Tooth Evener, 3 Section— $2. 25 
 
 90 Tooth Evener, 3 Section.. 2. 75 
 
 105 Tooth Evener, 3 Section.. 3. 25 
 
 100 Tooth Evener, 4 Section.. $3. 50 
 120 Tooth Evener, 4 Section.. 5. 00 
 140 Tooth Evener, 4 Section.. «. 00 
 
 Recommended May 8, 1907. 
 
 steel lever harrows — 5 BAR PIPE OR U-BAR WITH EVENERS. 
 
 r 
 
 Withiin.t«6th. 
 
 With 1 in. teeth. 
 
 
 Comb. 
 Evenw. 
 
 With One 
 
 Piece 
 Evener. 
 
 Comb. 
 Evener. 
 
 With One 
 
 Piece 
 Evener. 
 
 60 Tooth 
 
 $14. 14 
 15.05 
 16.65 
 2L75 
 23.30 
 29.50 
 25.90 
 32.40 
 36.20 
 
 
 114.85 
 15.85 
 17.55 
 22.80 
 24.50 
 30.90 
 27.25 
 34.00 
 38.00 
 
 
 60 Tooth 
 
 
 
 70 Tooth 
 
 
 
 75 Tooth 
 
 S21.00 
 22.55 
 28.50 
 25.15 
 31.40 
 35.20 
 
 $22.05 
 23.75 
 29.90 
 26.50 
 33.00 
 37.00 
 
 90 Tooth 
 
 100 Tooth 
 
 105 Tooth 
 
 120 Tooth 
 
 liOTooth 
 
 
in 
 
 IH 
 
 2g8 FABM-MACHUSBBY TBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 STEEL LKVEB HA1UI0W»— B BAB GUABDED EHD. 8PBING BELIEF WITH EVENEBS. 
 
 fiO Tooth 
 
 00 Tooth 
 
 TO Tooth... 
 
 75 Tooth 
 
 Wlfii|ln.t8cth. 
 
 Comb. 
 Evener. 
 
 fiO Tooth. 
 100 Tooth. 
 106 Tooth. 
 120 Tooth. 
 140 Tooth. 
 
 til 85 
 15.85 
 17.45 
 22.80 
 24.50 
 aOiM 
 27.10 
 34.00 
 37.80 
 
 WIthOn« 
 
 Piec* 
 Eycdw. 
 
 With I in. tMth. 
 
 Comb. 
 EY«a«r. 
 
 322.05 
 23.75 
 29.90 
 26.35 
 33.00 
 36.80 
 
 i 
 
 tl5.65 
 16.65 
 18.35 
 24.00 
 25.70 
 32.50 
 28.45 
 35.60 
 39.60 
 
 With One 
 
 Piec« 
 £y«Qer. 
 
 $23.25 
 24.95 
 31.50 
 27.70 
 34.60 
 38.60 
 
 WOOD BAIL LEVEB HABBOWB. S BA»-8QUABE EKD OB MG BAG OPEN EWD WITH 
 
 EVENEB8. 
 
 60 Tooth, 10 Foot 
 
 70 Tooth, 12 Foot 
 
 JOTooth, ISFoot 
 
 106 Tooth, 18 Foot 
 
 120 Tooth, 20 Foot. 
 
 With I With! 
 liLtMQL in. teeth. 
 
 115.86 
 17.45 
 24.50 
 27.10 
 34.00 
 
 116.85 
 18.55 
 26.00 
 28.75 
 36.00 
 
 140 Tooth, 24 Foot.. 
 
 80 Tooth, 10 Foot.. 
 
 120 Tooth, 15 Foot.. 
 
 160 Tooth, 20 Foot.. 
 
 With* 
 in. teetn. 
 
 137.80 
 
 16.85 
 26.00 
 36.00 
 
 With I 
 in. teeth. 
 
 |4a00 
 17.85 
 27.50 
 3a 00 
 
 1 
 
 WOOD OB STEEL BAIL FLEXIBLE HABBOWS WITH EVENERS, 5 BAB. 
 
 With i in. teeth. 
 
 10 Foot $16.85 
 
 12 Foot 19-^ 
 
 16 Foot 26.00 
 
 With i in. teeth. 
 
 18 Foot $29.50 
 
 20 Foot 36.00 
 
 24 Foot 41.00 
 
 DISC HAKROWS— CLASSITICATION AND EQUIPMENT. 
 RBOOlilf ENDED JUNB 12, 1907. i t»i j 
 
 Basic disc harrow shall consist of Single Lever, 16-mch Blades- 
 no Weight Boxes, Neck Yoke or Stay Chains. 
 
 4 and 5 foot equipped with 2-Horse Eveners. . 
 
 6 foot and larger equipped with 3-Horse Eveners with Set-Over 
 
 Irons or 4-Horse Eveners. j /^« 
 
 The following to be considered as extras and always charged for 
 
 when furnished: 
 
 Set-Over Irons with 4-Horse Hitch. 
 Tongue Truck or Fore CJarriage. 
 6-Horse Hitch. 
 Center Cut Attachment 
 
 Double Lever. 
 Weight Boxea 
 Keck Yoke. 
 Stay Chains. 
 
 It is further recommended that the minimum differences m prices, 
 all sizes, be as follows: 
 
 BIZB OF DI8C0. 
 
 18-in. Blades for 4 and 5-ft. widths, $1.50 net more than 16-in. 
 
 ^^ 18^ki. Blades for 6-ft width or more, $2.00 net more than 16-in. 
 
 ^^20-L Blades for 4 and S-ft. widths, $3.00 net more than 16-in. 
 
 ^^20^ Blades for 6-ft width or more, $4.00 net more than 16-in. 
 blades. 
 
 BXHIBITS. 
 
 WIDTH OF CUT. 
 
 289 
 
 $1.00 net additional between 4 and 5-ft. Harrows. 
 2.00 net additional between 6, 6, 7 and 8-ft Harrows. 
 2.60 net additional between 8, 9 and 10-ft. and larger Harrows. 
 It is recommended that all Disc Blades may be polished on the 
 Concave side only at no additional charge. 
 
 It is recommended that the price of $1.00 net, be made on Plow 
 Cut Disc Harrows over the Solid or Concave Blades in all sizes. 
 Also this style of Harrow be made in 16-inch Blades only. 
 Recommended Apbil 30, 1909. 
 
 That the above clauses pertaining to Plow Cut Discs be rescinded 
 on account of one member making Plow Cut Discs a specialty and at 
 about the same cost as the Solid Discs. 
 
 It is recommended that the price of Cut Out Disc Harrow to be 
 12J cents net per blade, more than solid or concave blades. 
 
 Recommended April 30, 1909. 
 
 That the minimum net differences in prices for Cut Out Disc 
 Harrows over Solid or Plain Disc Harrows be changed to read as 
 follows : 
 
 4 Foot 
 
 5 Foot 
 
 6 Foot 
 
 7 Foot 
 
 $0. 50 
 
 0.75 
 
 1.00 
 
 1.25 
 
 8 Foot 
 
 9 Foot 
 
 10 Foot 
 
 $1. 50 
 
 1.75 
 
 2.00 
 
 It is understood that an exception will be made for Disc Harrows 
 so constructed that it is necessary to furnish them with Double Lever 
 and Weight Boxes; then the price may be made to include these 
 extras, but in all other cases Disc Harrows should be priced without 
 these parts. 
 
 cultivatobs. 
 
 Recommended June 12, 1907. 
 
 BASIC SHOVEL CULTIVATOB- 
 
 -WALKINQ AND BIDING — TO BE 4 SHOVEL, BTEEL BEAM, 
 PIN BBEAK. 
 
 Classification. 
 
 1. Walking tongue, with rigid or adjustable arch, 
 
 straight axle or balance frame. 
 
 2. Walldng tongueless, with rigid or adfustable 
 
 arch, with or without spring lift. 
 
 3. Straight Rider, Hammock seat, rigid or pivot 
 
 tongue. 
 
 4. Straight Rider, pivot axle , 
 
 6. Straight Riding surface 
 
 e. Foot Shift or Foot Guide Riding, rigid or pivot 
 
 tongue. 
 
 7. Straight combined Riding and Walking, strad- 
 
 dle seat, rigid or pivot tongue. 
 
 8. Two Row with rigid tongue , 
 
 9. Two Row with pivot axle , 
 
 10. Disc, rigid or pivot tongue , 
 
 11. Single Row sled lister 
 
 12. Single Row wheellister , 
 
 IS. Double Row wheel lister 
 
 14. Double Row wheel lister with high frame (or 
 three times over). 
 
 Equipment. 
 
 1. Neck yoke, hitch, shovels, wrench, shields and 
 
 handles. 
 
 2. Hitch, shovels, wrench, shields and handles. 
 
 3. Neck yoke, hitch, shovels, shields and wrench. 
 
 (No spreader arch.) 
 
 4. Neck yoke, hitch, shovels, shields and wrench. 
 
 5. Neck yoke, hitch, wrench, shields and levelers. 
 
 6. Neck yoke, hitch, shovels, wrench and shields. 
 
 7. Neck yoke, hitch, wrench, shields, shovels and 
 
 handles. 
 
 8. Three horse hitch, two neck yokes, wrench, shov- 
 
 els and shields. 
 
 9. Three horse hitch, two neck yokes, wrench, shov- 
 
 els and shields. 
 
 10. Neck yoke, hitch, wrench and shields. 
 
 11. Regular. 
 
 12. Two discs, two shovels, two horse hitch and neck 
 
 yoke. 
 
 13. Four discs, four shovels, shields, two two-horae 
 
 hitches and two neck yokes. 
 
 14. Same as No. 13. 
 
 68248''— 15 ^19 
 
Ill 
 
 I 
 
 IH 
 II 
 
 nil 
 
 290 
 
 FAJIM-MACHINBBY TRADE ASSOCIATIOlfB. 
 
 The following to be considered as extras and always charged for 
 
 when furnished: 
 
 MoMtKwrd Tnming Shovela 
 
 Spring Trip Legs. 
 
 Oopber Blades. 
 
 HmiBg SboTela 
 
 Bull Tongnea 
 
 Pipe Beams. 
 
 Surface Gangs. 
 
 It is further recommended that the minimum net differences in 
 
 prices be as follows: 
 
 Oanopy Tops. 
 
 Levellers for Disc Cultivators. 
 Lister Bars for Disc Cultivators. 
 Pivot Pole, or Pivot Pole Attachment 
 Handles, with Hammock Seat, Foot 
 Shift or Two Bow. 
 
 Spring trip over pin break 
 (per leg) I0.87J 
 
 Pivot pole or pivot attach- 
 ment 1.00 
 
 Lister bars on disc cultivator-. . 60 
 
 6 shovel over 4 shovel $1. 00 
 
 8 shovel over 4 shovel 2. 00 
 
 Eagle Claw over 4 shovel 1.00 
 
 8 Tooth Spring Tooth Gang 
 
 over 4 shovel 1.50 
 
 10 Tooth Spring Tooth Gang 
 
 over 4 shovel 2. 00 
 
 It is understood that Spreader Arches be considered a part of the 
 regular equipment of Combined Riding and Walking Cultivators, 
 Pivot Axle Cultivators, Crank Guide Cultivators and Two Row Cul- 
 tivators, and a reduction of fifty cents each can be allowed when 
 these arches are not furnished, excepting on the Crank Guide Culti- 
 vators, when they are also equipped with return springs, then they 
 are to be considered as extras and a charge of fifty cents made for 
 them. 
 
 BIDING FLOWS. 
 
 BXCOMMENDED AFBII. 8, 1908. 
 
 Oaaslflcatkn. 
 
 1. Sulky Fknir, Low Lift, Fk»mele88, no Pole. 
 
 1 flolkf Ptoir, HiKh Lift, wtth Rrnmo and Polo. 
 
 a a««Plinr, Low Lift, FnuMtai,ntFoit.. 
 
 Equipment 
 
 C Grag Plow, High lift, wflh FMone tnd Pole. 
 
 16 Inch Bottom, Seat, 1 Land Wheel, 2 Furrow 
 Wheels, 3-horse Evener, Weed Hook. 16 inch 
 Rolliiu; Coulter, Senper far rear Wheel and flat 
 W rPTM^h* 
 
 16 inch Bottom, Seat, 1 Land Whed, 2 Furrow 
 Wheels, S-horse Evener, Nedcyoke, Weed Hook, 
 15 faich RoUlnff Coulter, Scraper for rear Wheel, 
 and flat Wrencn. 
 
 Two 14 inch Bottoms, Seat, 1 Land Wheel, 2 Furrow 
 Wheels, 4-horae Evener, 2 Weed Ho<^ two 15 
 inch Rolling Coulters, Scraper for rear Wheel, and 
 flat Wrench. 
 
 Two 14 inch Bottoms, Seat, 1 Land Wheel, 2 Furrow 
 Wheels, 4-hor9e Evener, Neckyoke, two 15 Inch 
 Rolltaig Coulten, 3 ^««<1 Hooks, Scraper for rear 
 Wheel and flat wrench. 
 
 It is recommended that when the following Equipment is furnished 
 with Biding Plows, the ADomoNAL list prices be as Follows: 
 
 Pole Attaduneiit for Low lift Sulky or Gang. 
 
 Front Fnrrow Wlieel Scraper 
 
 Jointer, Steel 
 Jointer, Cast Iron. 
 
 $8.00 
 
 . 60 
 
 3.00 
 
 2. 60 
 
 Umbrella or Sunshade, Complete 3. 00 
 
 Four-Horse Evener over S-Horse for Sulky 2.00 
 
 MT^-Horse Abreast or Stnmg-out Evener Over 4-Hor8e for Gang 3.00 
 
 Five-Horse Strang-out Bvaier, less Lead, Doubletree, over 4-Hor8e for 
 
 Q«iig 2.00 
 
 Sfz-Horse Bvener over 4-Horse for Gang 4- 00 
 
 Ifactra Heairy Beams for Gang Plow _— ** 00 
 
 Sw«ep Attachment for Low Lift Sulky 3. 00 
 
 WMle Breaker Attachment for Low Lift Sulky 
 
 f> 
 
 291 
 
 Riding pix)w8 equipped with Black Land, Sandy Land, or Breaker 
 Bottoms, REGULAR WITH EXTRA soMD SHARES (the Same as Walking 
 Plows). * 
 
 listing plows. 
 Recommended April 8, 1908. 
 
 Claasifloation. 
 
 1. Walking Lister. MIn. S. C. Steel Bottom 
 
 2. Walking Combmed Lister, 14 in. S. C. Steel Bot- 
 
 tom. 
 
 8. Two Wheel Sulky Lister, 14 in. S. C. Steel Bot- 
 torn. 
 
 4. Foot Wheel Sulky Lister, with 14 in. 8. C. Steel 
 Bottom. 
 
 i. ToogoelesB Lister, with foor wheels and 14 in. 
 8. (3. Steel Bottom. 
 
 •■ ^ ^^ ^"^ I'*'*** ^^ *wo 14 in. 8. a 
 Steel Bottoms. 
 
 Equipment. 
 
 Sub-soil Attachment. 
 
 Subsoil Attachment, Indn)endent Drill Attach- 
 
 paent, Covering Shovels. 6 Plates (Including one 
 
 • m Machine and one blank). Root Cutter and small 
 Wrench. 
 
 Drill Attachment, 13 or 14 faich Rolling Coulter. 
 Covering Shovels, Sub-sofler, Seat, Pole, 4-Hoi8e 
 Evener, Neckyoke, 6 Hates (including one in 
 Ma c hine and one blank). Root Cutter and Flat 
 Wrench. 
 
 Drill Attachment, 13 or 14 inch RolUng Coulter, 
 Sub-eoller, Shovel or Knife Coverers. Pole, 4- 
 Horse Evener, Neckyoke. 6 Plates (induding one 
 in Machine and one blank), rear Wheel Scrapers. 
 Root Cutter and flat Wrench. 
 
 Drill Attachment, 13 or 14 hich Rolling Coultw, 
 Sub-soiler, Shovel or Knife Coverers, 4-Hotse 
 Evener, 6 Plates (includuig one hi Machine and 
 one blank), rear Wheel Scrapers, Root Cutter and 
 flat Wrench. 
 
 2 Drill Attachments, two 13 or 14 inch Rolling Coul- 
 ters, Seat, 2 pairs Shovel or Knife Coverers, 2 Sub- 
 soilers, 6-Horse Evener, Pole, Neckyoke, 12 Plates 
 (including two in Mft/>hinfi and two blank), and 
 flat Wrench. 
 
 It is recommended that when the following special equipment is 
 furnished with plows, the additional list prices be as follows : 
 
 1. Pole for Tongueless Lister not less than $3.00 each 
 
 2. Disc Coverers: 
 
 10 inch and under " « « lqq pair 
 
 over 10 inches « «« «< 2.OO " 
 
 8. Cotton Planter Attachment ZZHIl " " " 2.00 each 
 
 It is further recommended that when the following Parts are not 
 furnished with plows, the maximum deduction in list prices be 
 as follows: 
 
 Sub-soiler Attachment ^^^ g^^jjj 
 
 Solid Steel Shares in place of Soft Center Steel SharesIZIZZZIIIIII 1.00 •• ' 
 
 DISC PLOWS. 
 
 Rboommehdid Apszl 8, 1908. 
 
 Classification. 
 
 1. Sulky 
 
 2. Two Furrow Gang... 
 S. Three Furrow Gang. 
 4. Four Fnrrow Gang. . 
 
 Equipmoit. 
 
 
 24 fa. Disc. 3-Horse Evener, Disc Scraper or Cleaner 
 
 and Wrench. 
 Two 24 in. Discs, 4-Horse Evener. Disc Scrapers or 
 
 Cleaners and Wrench. 
 Three 24 m. Discs, 4-Horse Evener, Disc Scrapen 
 
 and Wrench. 
 Four 24 fa. Discs, 6-Horse Evener Disc Senders or 
 
 Cleaners and Wrench. 
 

 jSVjS 
 
 VABM-MAOHIirEBY TRADE ASS00IATI0K8. 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 
 It is recommended that when the following equipment is furnished 
 with Plows, the additional list prices be as follows : 
 
 Weed Hooks ^ch $ . 50 
 
 Plows with 26 inch Disc extra per disc 1.00 
 
 Cast Iron Wlieel Weiglits per pound .06 
 
 4-Horse Evener over 3-Horse for Sulky extra, each 2, 00 
 
 5-Horse Abreast or Strung-out Evener over 4-Horse for Gang__extra, each 3. 00 
 S-Horse Stmng-out Evener, less Lead Doubletree, over 4-Horse for 
 
 Qang extra, each 2. 00 
 
 e-Horse Eve'neroveri-Horsefor Two or Three Furrow Gang— extra, each 4. 00 
 
 ROD BREAKING FLOWS. 
 
 Classificfttkm. 
 
 1. Rod Breaking Plows, with Steel Beam, and Fin 
 Cutter attached to Bottom. 
 
 Equipment. 
 
 Extra Share with Fin Cutter, Gauge Wheel or 
 Gauge Shoe. 
 
 CORN PLANTERS AND DRILLS. 
 
 Becommende3> April 8, 1908. 
 
 Classification. 
 
 1. Corn PlanUsr, a-Row, with combined check 
 Rower and DrllL 
 
 % Com Planter, 9-Row with Drill, lets Cheek Rower. 
 
 n. Com Planter, a-Row, with Check Rower-Full 
 HUl Drop (no Drill}. 
 
 4. Com Drill, 3 Row. 
 
 Equipment 
 
 §, Com Drill, 2 Row Edge Drop. 
 
 «. Combined Cora and Cotton Planter, 2 Row with 
 Check Rower and DrilL 
 
 7. Combined Cotton and Com 2 Row Drffl. 
 
 Pole, Seat, 1 pr. 30 in. Wheels with open or concave 
 Tire, set for 3'-2", 3'-4", 3'-0", 3'-8" or 3'-10", 5 
 
 S'S. Plates (including one in Machine), 1 Marker 
 ope, 4 extra links Drive Chain. 80 Rods C. R. 
 S'-a*', 3'-4", 3'-6", 3'-8". or 3'-10" Wire, 6 extra 
 Open Links for C. R. Wire, 1 C. R. Rope, 1 pr. 
 Steel Stakes for C. R. Wire, one plain Wrench 
 (not Monkey). ^ 
 
 Pole. Seat, l pr. 30 in. Wheels, with open or Con- 
 cave Tire, set for 3'-2", 3'-4", 3'-6", 3'-8^', or 3'-10", 
 6prs. plates (including one in Machine). 1 Marker 
 Rope. 4 extra links Drive Chain , one Plain Wrench 
 (not Monkey). ^ 
 
 Pole. Seat, 1 pr. 30 in. Wheels, with open or Con- 
 cave Tire, set for 3'-2", 3'-4", 3'-6", 3'-S", or 3'-10", 
 8 prs. Plates (including one in Machine), 1 Marker 
 Rope, 4 extra links Drive Chain, 80 Rods C. R. 
 Wfre, 3'-2", 3'-4", 3'-6", 3'-8", or 3'-10", 6 extra 
 open Links for C R. Wire, I C. R. Rope, 1 pr. Steel 
 Stakes for C. R. Wire, one Plain Wrench (not 
 Monkey). 
 
 Pole, Seat, 1 pr. 30-ln. Wheels with open or Concave 
 Tire, 3 prs. Plates (including one in Machine), 1 
 Marker Rope, 4 extra Links Drive Chain, erne 
 Plain Wrench (not Monkey). 
 
 Pole, Seat, 1 pr. 30-in. Wheels with open or Ckmcave 
 Tire, 5 prs. Plates (Including one in Machine), 1 
 Marker Rope, 4 extra Links Drive Chain and one 
 Plain Wrench. 
 
 Pole, Seat, 1 pr. 30-ln. Wheels with open or Concave 
 Ti^e set for 3'-2", 3'-4", 3'-6", 3'-8", or 3'-10", 5 
 
 Srs. Plates (including one in Machine), Ipr. Cotton 
 gitator Plates, 6 extra open Links for C. R. Wire, 
 1 C. R. Rope, 1 pr. Steel Stakes and 1 plain Wrench. 
 Pole, Seat, 1 pr. 30-in. Wheels with open or Concave 
 Tire, 4 prs. Plates (including one in machine), 1 
 pair Cotton Agitator Plates, 1 marker Rope, 4 
 extra Links Drive Chain and one Plain Wrench. 
 
 ♦li 
 
 293 
 
 It IS recommen(ied that when the following special equipment is 
 furnished with Planters and Drills, the additional list prices be as 
 follows : 
 
 (( 
 
 u 
 
 tt 
 
 « 
 
 M 
 4( 
 
 Fertilizer Attachments |20. 00 each 
 
 Drill Attachment 4. (X) 
 
 Fodder Attachment I__II S. 00 
 
 Hand Drop Attachment including seat — changed April 30, '09 from 
 
 $1.00 to 2. 00 
 
 Disc in place of regular Runners 2. 00 
 
 Disc Furrowers g. 00 
 
 Shovel Furrowers 3. OO 
 
 Coverers 4. 00 
 
 Combined Furrowers and Coverers 4.00 
 
 Gauge Shoes for Runners 1.50 
 
 1 pr. Special Plates for Broom Com 
 
 1 pr. Special Plates for Kaffir Corn 
 
 f pr. Special Plates for Sorghum 
 
 1 pr. Special Plates for Milo Maize 
 
 1 pr. Special Plates for Millet 
 
 1 pr. Special Plates for Peas 
 
 1 pr. Special Plates for Beans 
 
 Two-Horse Evener and Neckyoke list $2. 00 each 
 
 Planters — with Wheels over 30 in. in diameter list 4. 00 *' 
 
 Pincers . Ust . 50 pair 
 
 It is further recommended that when the following are not fur- 
 nished with Planters, the maximum* deduction in list prices be as 
 follows: 
 
 Check Rower, Complete |io. 00 each 
 
 Check Rower, and all parts stripped to make " Com Drill " only 14. 00 *• 
 
 COTTON PLANTERS AND DRILLS. 
 Recommended Apbil 8, 190S. 
 
 Changed 4-30-09 from 
 $1.00 to 60c per pair, 
 list 
 
 Classification. 
 
 1. One Row Corn Drill Steel Frame and 
 
 Hopper with Cover, Chain or Gear 
 Drive. 
 
 2. One-Row Corn DrilJL Steel Frame 
 
 and Hopper with Cover, Chain or 
 Gear Drive. 
 
 3. One-Row Steel Frame Cotton and 
 
 Corn Plantar, Chain or Gear Drive. 
 
 4. Two-Horse One-Row Cotton and 
 
 Corn Planter. 
 
 Rectnnmended Tune 16, 1909. 
 
 Equipment. 
 
 Opening Shovel, 1 pr. Covering Shovels, 4 Plates (including on* 
 in Machine), and small Wrench. 
 
 Runner or Sword Opener, 1 pr. Covering Shovels, 4 Plates (in- 
 cluding one in Machine), and small Wrench. 
 
 steel Hopper or Box, 4 Corn Plates (Including one in Machine), 
 1 Cotton Agitator Plate and small Wrench. 
 
 2 Wheels, Seat, Pole, Steel Seed Box, with Open» or Seed 
 Shovel, 2 rear Covering Shovels, Front Shank or Standard 
 with Wood Break Pin lor Middle Breaker or Sweep, 4 Com 
 Plates (including one in Machine), 1 Cotton Agitator Plate, 
 flat Wrench. 
 Add Evener and Neckyoke. 
 
 It is recommended that when the following equipment is furnished 
 with Drills or Planters, except two horse one row C. & C. Planter, 
 the ADDITIONAL LIST PRICES be as follows : 
 
 Gauge Shoe for Drills $0. 50 each. 
 
 Wide or Open Tire Drive Wheel . 50 " 
 
 Cast Iron Roller Attachment for 1-Horse Machine 2. 00 " 
 
 Fertilizer Attachment for 1-Horse Machine 6. 00 " 
 
 Extension Hoppers . 50 »• 
 
 Spring Trip Standards for 2-Horse Planter 1. 50 •* 
 
 Two-Horse Evener and Neckyoke 2. 00 ** 
 
I 
 
 l< 
 
 im 
 
 HI 
 
 li 
 
 2v« 
 
 VABM-lCAOmKSET TRMUm A8800UII0N8. 
 
 STALK CUTTEBS. 
 
 Rbcommkhvid Afbil 8, 1908. 
 
 nnmilflrtitlffli 
 
 L Stelk Cmm, Sinsto Row.. 
 & BtMSk CaUm, Doobto Bow. 
 
 EqaipnuQt 
 
 Ftvt KaiTtB «ad SmaU flat Wrench. (No Eyvur 
 orNeekyoka.) .. ^ ^ 
 
 T«a Knives. 3-Borsa Evenv, 3 NackyokM, and 
 SmaU Oat Wraacii. 
 
 It is recommended that when the following equipment is furnished 
 with Stalk Cutters, the additional list prices be as follows : 
 
 Additional KnlTes for Single Row 
 
 *• " Double " 
 
 Two-Hone Brener and Neckyoke for Single Row . 
 
 per knife ILOO 
 
 2.00 
 2. 00 
 
 REVISED LIST PRICE OF EXTRA PLOW SHARES. 
 
 CAdopted AafQSt 25, 1908. Effectlre Sprinf Trade 1910 or Earlier.) 
 
 101 MWBUt BKKAinnt PLOWg. 
 
 Jfationai Plow i.M'fi fieHee. 
 
 9 Incb 
 
 10 inch 
 
 12 inch 
 
 12.00 
 
 2.90 
 
 2.50 
 
 14 inch 
 
 16 inch 
 
 FOB LXanifQ FLOWB. 
 
 14 Inch Mild ... 
 16 Inch Mild 
 
 $2.76 
 
 3.25 
 
 Hard..... 
 Hard 
 
 12.75 
 3.25 
 
 $4.00 
 4.50 
 
 For Stubble 
 
 Sandj Land 
 Mixed Land and 
 
 BOLIO OB MILD TEMPEBED BUF 8HABB8 
 
 Tarf and Stubble 
 Black Land 
 Blue Bird 
 
 SERIES OF WALKING AND BIDINQ FLOWS. 
 
 7 inch $1.10 
 
 7i inch 1.10 
 
 8 inch 1. 10 
 
 81 inch 1- 25 
 
 9 inch 1. 35 
 
 9i inch 1. 45 
 
 10 inch 1.60 
 
 11 inch 
 
 12 inch 
 
 13 inch 
 
 14 inch 
 
 15 inch 
 
 16 inch 
 
 18 inch 
 
 $1.76 
 2.00 
 2.00 
 2.50 
 3.00 
 3.00 
 3.50 
 
 CULTIVATOR SHOVELS. 
 
 Recommended Apbil 8, 1908. 
 
 ODlttrator Gaofi. 
 
 L Four Sbovd— far NorttMcm tsrttory. 
 1 WwB Shovd'for Soathara tcrtlory. 
 
 S. Six Shovel.... 
 4 EaglaClaw... 
 g, Spring Tootb. 
 
 DflBcr^tlon of Shovels. Hard or MOd. Straight 
 or Twisted. 
 
 Four— 5 inches wide or nnd« by 11 tBohes kog «r 
 
 under. 
 Two-5 Inches wide or under. 
 Two-Spedal Wing. 
 
 All 11 inches long or onder. 
 Six— 3i inches wide or onder by • IndieB long or 
 
 onder. 
 Eight— 3 inches wide or onder by 9 Incbea Vang or 
 
 onder. 
 8 biches wide or nnder. 
 
 by 6 inches long or onder, Single Point 
 by 8i inches long or onder, Double Point 
 
 EXHIBITS. 295 
 
 It is recommended that the additional list prices per cultivatoe 
 for all shovels in excess of above dimensions be as follows : 
 
 For Four and Six Shovel Cultivators $0. 50 per set, list 
 
 For Eagle and Spring Tooth Cultivators 1. 00 per set, list 
 
 N. B. The width to be measured at top of shovel. 
 
 CULTIVATOR WHEELS. 
 
 Coltivators. 
 
 Desoription of tire. 
 
 Walking Cultivators 
 
 U inch TirA or nnder 
 
 RldiUR Cultivator 
 
 2 inch Tire or under. 
 
 Two Row Cultivators 
 
 3 inch Tire or undn* 
 
 
 
 It is recommended that the additional list prices for all Wheels 
 with Wider Tire than specified above be as follows : 
 
 Walking Cultivators, for each additional J inch in width, 50 cents 
 per Cultivator, list. 
 
 Riding Cultivators, for each additional J inch in width, $1.00 per 
 Cultivator, list. 
 
 It is also recommended that the Maximum Width of Tire for 
 Walking Cultivators be 2 inches. 
 
 standard dimensions of common parts, 
 finished neck yokes. 
 Adopted Maboh 10, 1909. 
 
 Pattern No. 1 \ 2 6/16 in', centerinmi I ^°' sulky 
 
 I 
 [ 
 
 1% 
 
 in. ends.. 
 
 42 in. long 1 Fob walking, biding and 
 
 Pattern No. 2 { 2 5/16 in. center > disc cultivatobs and 
 
 1% in. ends ^J listing flows. 
 
 bingletbees. 
 
 1 
 ;1 
 
 AND QANO 
 
 plows. 
 
 Adopted Maboh 10, 1909. 
 
 No. 1 singletree — for cultivators, 
 
 1% in. thick X 2% in. wide— 26 in. Finished, 
 or 1% in. thick x 2% in. wide— 27 in. Rough. 
 
 No. £ singletree — for plows and harrows, 
 
 1% in. thick x 2 in. wide— 27 in. Finished. 
 or 2 in. thick x 2% in. wide— 28 in. Rough. 
 
 Adopted Afbil 14, 1909. 
 
 YELLOW pine POLES. 
 
 Fob Sulky 
 Gang 
 
 COBN 
 
 Stalk 
 Walking 
 Riding 
 Disc 
 
 Plows 
 
 Plows 
 
 Plantebs 
 
 Cuttebs 
 
 cultivatobs- 
 Cultivatobs- 
 cultivatobs. 
 
 Two Row Cultivatobs. 
 
 Rough Purchase Sizes. 
 (Two Poles in one piece.) 
 
 3 in. X 6 in., 12 feet 
 
 18 feet in one piece or 
 9 feet in one pole. 
 
 FobDiso 
 
 Habbows 
 
 -I 
 
 3 in. X 7 in., 12 feet. 
 
 21 feet in one piece, or 
 
 lOV^ feet in one pole. 
 
ihi 
 
 li 
 
 I 
 
 296 FABM-MAOHINEBY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 National Plow Association. 
 
 MST of officers AND EXECUTIVE COMMITTEES. 
 
 Fob 1907-1908. 
 
 Oiflcers, — J. A. Craig, president, Janesville, Wis.; Wm. H. Taylor, 
 vice president, Peoria, ill.; W. B. Brinton, treasurer, Dixon, 111.; 
 C. E. Sanders, secretary, Chicago, 111. 
 
 Executive committee, — Wm. Butterworth, Moline, 111.; G. A. 
 Stephens, Moline, 111. ; W. H. Parlin, Canton, 111. ; C. S. Branting- 
 ham, Rockford, 111.; H. M. Wallis, Racine, Wis.; C. F. Huhlein, 
 Louisville, Ky. ; J. A. Craig, Janesville, Wis. 
 
 Fob 1908-1909. 
 
 OUtcers. — C. S. Brantingham, president, Rockford, 111. ; C. E. Gilt- 
 ner, vice president, Racine, Wis.: A. J. Brosseau, treasurer, Albion, 
 Mich. ; C. E. Sanders, secretary, Chicago, 111. 
 
 Executive committee, — Wm. Butterworth, Moline, 111.; G. A. 
 Stephens, Moline, 111. ; W. H. Parlin, Canton, lU. ; C. F. Huhlein, 
 Louisville, Ky. ; W. I. Bogardus, Rock Island, 111. ; Wm. H. Taylor, 
 Peoria, 111. ; W. B. Brinton, Dixon, 111.; J. A. Craig, Janesville, Wis. ; 
 C. S. Brantingham, Rockford, 111. 
 
 F6b 1909-1910. 
 
 Oiflcera, — ^Wm. Butterworth, president, Moline, 111. ; H. C. Rob- 
 erts, vice president, Peoria, lU.; T. Y. Davis, treasurer. Sterling, 111.; 
 C. E. Sanders, secretary, Chicago, 111. 
 
 Executive committee, — ^W. H. Parlin^anton, 111.; C. S. Branting- 
 ham, Rockford, 111. ; W. B. Brinton, Dixon, IQ. ; Wm. H. Taylor, 
 Peoria, 111.; A. Hirshheimer, La Crosse, Wis.; H. M. Wallis, Racine, 
 Wis. ; J. F. Lardner, Rock Island, 111. ; A. J. Brosseau, Albion, Mich. ; 
 Wm. Butterworth, Moline, 111. 
 
 . STANDING COMMITTEES FOB 1909-1910. 
 
 Oast committee, — G. W. Crampton, chairman ; H. M. Wallis, XJ. G. 
 Orendorff, T. P. Luby, C. S. Brantingham. 
 
 Freight transportation committee, — C. B. Gregory, chairman; 
 A. R. Ebi, W. J. Evans. 
 
 Legislation committee, — ^U. G. Orendorflf, chairman ; Wm. Butter- 
 worth, W. B. Brinton. 
 
 Membership committee. — J. A. Craig, chairman; E. O. McLean, 
 A. J. Street, A. J. Brosseau, W. W. Wiard. 
 
 Standard equipment committee, — A. J. Brosseau, chairman; F. J. 
 Savage, U. G. Ciendorff, R. C. Anderson, Wm. Black, A. J. Street, 
 T. P. Luby. 
 
 Exhibit 19. 
 
 BEPOBT OF COMMITTEE ON SHOP COSTS ANB SELLINa EXPENSES, 
 TO NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF THBESHEB MANX7FACTI7BEBS, 
 AVOVST, 1904.' 
 
 Your committee would respectfully report that they have taken up 
 the cost of manufacturing engines, separators and parts, and the ex- 
 
 1 See text (p. 56) for reference to subsequent amendments to this report 
 
 EXHIBITS. 297 
 
 pense of marketing the same. They have also made comparisons of 
 machinery and costs a]jd taken into consideration the various sizes 
 and kinds of threshing machinery. 
 
 That after full investigation of the same, it is the opinion of your 
 committee that the machinery can not be manufactured and put on 
 the market, paymg cost of selling at less than so that they each shall 
 net the manufacturer the amount hereinafter set forth. 
 
 The results of cash sales, single or in large quantities and time 
 sales, have been taken into consideration. A cash sale requires no 
 additional expense. 
 
 These amounts are not reported as a price^ as each manufacturer is 
 free to fix and settle on his own lists and selling price, without limita- 
 tions, and are not governed by this Association. 
 
 , These amounts are found by your committee after comparisons 
 made of kind and sizes of goods and their knowledge of costs of 
 manufacture and expenses of selling and making collections, and 
 trust may be of value and of aid to each of us. 
 
 The commissions allowed for selling have not been added. We 
 believe that the net results of each sale would require an amount equal 
 to the amount quoted by us, in order to obtain a reimbursement for 
 the expense of manufacturing and selling, and that to sell below the 
 amounts would, in many cases, result in a loss. These figures are 
 given for what they may be worth, and can be used or not as each 
 manufacturer may determine, each being free to act and settle his 
 price list as he deems best. 
 
 The cost of engines and separators of other sizes, we believe to be 
 between the figures of the size named next above and below. 
 
 freight. 
 
 In making estimates we have assumed that customer pays freight 
 from factory. There would be no leeway, but, on the contrary, a loss, 
 if freight was allowed west of the Mississippi River. 
 
 transportation of customers. 
 
 We have made no allowance for cost of transportation of customers 
 to factory or Branch House. This would be an additional burden, 
 and such expense ought not to be allowed by any manufacturer. 
 
 NET RESUIiTS OF SALES. 
 PLAIN SEPARATORS, WITHOUT FOLDING STACKER AND HAND FEED ATTACHMENT. 
 
 (TlM«AU Cash" column is inteaded to mean where an agent cashes all sales made during tha season and 
 
 where it amounts to two or more outfits or machines.) 
 
 Sise Separator. 
 
 24x40. 
 28x40. 
 28x48. 
 30x43. 
 30x44. 
 30x48. 
 30x50. 
 32x48. 
 32x62. 
 33x52. 
 33x53. 
 33x5f.. 
 36x52. 
 
 Time. 
 
 S340.00 
 357.00 
 366.00 
 366.00 
 366.00 
 374.00 
 383.00 
 383.00 
 395.00 
 400.00 
 400.00 
 425.00 
 404.00 
 
 Shlgla 
 Cash. 
 
 1306.00 
 321.00 
 329.00 
 329.00 
 329.00 
 337.00 
 344.00 
 344.00 
 356.00 
 360.00 
 360.00 
 383.00 
 363.00 
 
 AUCash. 
 
 S300.00 
 315.00 
 323.00 
 323.00 
 323.00 
 330.00 
 338.00 
 338.00 
 349.00 
 
 '353.00 
 353.00 
 375.00 
 356.00 
 
 Size Separator. 
 
 36x54 
 
 36x56 
 
 36x60 
 
 37x60 
 
 40x56 
 
 40x60 
 
 40x63 
 
 40x64 
 
 44x64 
 
 44x66 
 
 44 X (8 
 
 For fold ill 5 or Plain 
 Carrier 
 
 Thne. 
 
 $417.00 
 434.00 
 468.00 
 472.00 
 468.00 
 489.00 
 493.00 
 497.00 
 510.00 
 523.00 
 531.00 
 
 25.50 
 
 Single 
 C^. 
 
 AUCash. 
 
 $376.00 
 390.00 
 421.00 
 425.00 
 421.00 
 440.00 
 444.00 
 448.00 
 459.00 
 470.00 
 478.00 
 
 22.95 
 
 $368.00 
 383.00 
 413.00 
 416.00 
 413.00 
 431.00 
 435.00 
 439.00 
 450.00 
 461.00 
 469.00 
 
 22.10 
 
^ 
 
 IR 
 
 298 
 
 FABH-MAOHIKBBT TR4IIB ASBOOIATEOITS. 
 
 TB40TXON wmmntB, 
 
 eB.r.C<»lBiii]iir. 
 
 g M MM 
 
 lO <* MM 
 
 U M MM 
 
 H It MM 
 
 1893.60 
 977. '*) 
 1,062.50 
 1,147.50 
 1,190.00 
 1,232.50 
 1,276.00 
 
 Slnclt 
 
 1808.26 
 
 879.75 
 
 95'^. 25 
 
 1,082.75 
 
 i,on.oo 
 
 1,100.25 
 1,147.60 
 
 idlOuh. 
 
 8iM EogiDe. 
 
 1787.50 
 862.50 
 937.50 
 
 1,012.50 
 
 i,06aoo 
 
 1,087.50 
 1^25.00 
 
 16 H. P. Coal BnniAr. 
 
 18 " « M 
 
 20 M MM 
 
 23 « MM 
 
 25 M u m 
 
 2D H MM 
 
 30 « MM 
 
 
 81,317.50 
 1,402.50 
 1,487.60 
 1,572.50 
 1,700.00 
 1,742.50 
 1,912.50 
 
 
 81,186.75 
 1,262.25 
 1,338.75 
 1,415.26 
 1,530.00 
 1,568.25 
 1,721.25 
 
 AU 
 
 81,162.50 
 1,237.60 
 1,312.60 
 1,387.60 
 1,500.00 
 1,637.60 
 1,687.60 
 
 Each additional horse power we estimate at $42.50, time. 
 
 To the foregoing should be added an additional cost if boilers are 
 
 jacketed. 
 
 On time sales— $42.50. 
 
 On single cash sales — $38.25. 
 
 All ca^ sales— $37.50. . . ^ . i 
 
 The additional cost of sfcraw-bummg engines, over and above coal, 
 would be the jacket and straw-burning attachments, which we be- 
 lieve would be on time sales, $85.00; single cash sales, $76.50, and all 
 
 cash sales, $75.00. -m- • i. 
 
 The cost of engine cabs varies according to sizes. We estimate 
 
 $30.00 for the smaller ones. 
 
 WKI0HEB8 AND BAGGiaEtB. 
 
 
 Time. 
 
 CMh. 
 
 All Cash. 
 
 TaOmdcPer. Weigber 
 
 Parfieetion Weigher.... 
 
 Doable Tube 
 
 $63.75 
 67.35 
 57.35 
 
 867.38 
 51.65 
 51.66 
 
 166.25 
 
 60.60 
 60.00 
 
 AIT other styles of baggers and weighers in like proportion. 
 
 lOBOELLAimmi. 
 
 8elffeeder»— 
 
 Above 83-iDdL. 
 
 sa-lnch and 
 
 smaller 
 
 HofseJPower*— 
 
 lOH. P 
 
 12H.P 
 
 14H.P 
 
 Attached Swing 
 Stkxs 
 
 Time 
 
 1180.00 
 
 143.60 
 
 150.00 
 157.50 
 166.00 
 
 137.60 
 
 Single 
 
 Cash 
 
 Sales. 
 
 PK.00 
 
 135.00 
 141.75 
 148.50 
 
 114.78 
 
 AU Sales 
 
 Cashed 
 
 Two or 
 
 more 
 
 Bales 
 
 1180.00 
 
 123.60 
 
 130.00 
 136.50 
 143.00 
 
 112.60 
 
 Steel 
 
 Steel 
 
 13 BbL 
 
 Tanks— 
 
 Iftd... 
 
 Plain. 
 
 15 Bbl. 
 
 Tanks— 
 
 Mtd 
 
 Plain 
 
 Fol<ling Stacker.... 
 Hand Feed Attach- 
 ment 
 
 Time 
 
 190.00 
 62.50 
 
 97.50 
 60.00 
 25.50 
 
 Single 
 Cask 
 Sales 
 
 881.00 
 47.25 
 
 87.75 
 54.00 
 22.95 
 
 All Sales 
 
 Cashed 
 
 Two or 
 
 more 
 
 Sales 
 
 8.60 
 
 7.66 
 
 t78.00 
 4ft.iO 
 
 84.80 
 68.00 
 22.10 
 
 7.60 
 
 BEPATRfl. 
 
 The cost of repairs would be too difficult for your committee to 
 act upon. We find that the usual commission paid is 25 per cent, 
 and that on lists not uniform in price. In the opmion of the com- 
 mittee such a commission for selling is sufficient. 
 
 299 
 
 Exhibit 20. 
 
 VOBM or LICENSE CONTBACT ISSUED BY INDIANA MANUEACTUB- 
 ING CO., AXJTHOBIZING THE USB OE ITS PATENTS, 1914. 
 
 [Form of agreement for use in connection with grain separators.] 
 
 Separator 
 
 LICENSE AND AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE INDIANA MANUPACTURINO 
 
 COMPANY AND , 
 
 Whereas, The Indiana Manufacturing Company, a corporation 
 duly organized under the laws of the State of West Virginia, and 
 having its principal office and place of business at Indianapolis, 
 Marion County, in the State of Indiana, hereinafter denominated 
 the party of the first part, is the owner of certain Letters Patent of 
 the United States upon various inventions and improvements relat- 
 ing to machines or apparatus for taking away straw, stalks, dust, etc., 
 from machines used m threshing or separating and cleaning grain, 
 seeds, etc., and conveying away and depositing the same upon stacks 
 or elsewhere, such machines being generally known as " Pneumatic 
 Stackers " ; and also by means of exclusive license contracts and other- 
 wise controls various other inventions and improvements and the 
 Letters Patent thereon, relating to such machines; which said Letters 
 Patent of the United States, so owned and controlled by said party 
 of the first part include those numbered and dated as follows, to- wit : 
 
 No. 532,428, Jan. 8, 1895 ; 
 No. 634,580, Feb. 19, 1895 ; 
 No. 535,296, March 5, 1895 ; 
 No. 536, 793, April 2, 1895 ; 
 No. 536,951, April 2, 1895 ; 
 No. 537,070, April 9, 1895 ; 
 No. 537,690, April 16, 1895 ; 
 No. 537,691, April 16, 1895 ; 
 No. 540,102, May 28, 1895 ; 
 No. 540,673, June 4, 1895 ; 
 No. 541,936, July 2, 1895 ; 
 No. 645,297, Aug. 27, 1895 ; 
 No. 552,275, Dec. 31, 1895 ; 
 No. 556,776, March 24, 
 
 1896 * 
 No. 557,020, March 24, 
 
 1896; 
 No. 559.196, April 28, 1896 ; 
 No. 562,227, June 16, 1896 ; 
 No. 566,491, Aug. 25, 1896 ; 
 No. 566,494, Aug. 25, 1896 ; 
 No. 566, 841, Sept. 1, 1896 ; 
 No. 567,031, Sept. 1, 1896 ; 
 No. 568,315, Sept. 22, 1896 ; 
 No. 568, 883, Oct. 6, 1896; 
 No. 569,504, Oct. 13, 1896 ; 
 No. 571,898, Nov. 24, 1896 ; 
 No. 673,126, Dec. 15, 1896 ; 
 No. 676,149, Feb. 2, 1897; 
 No. 676, 740, Feb. 9, 1897 ; 
 No. 677,117, Feb. 16, 1897 ; 
 No. 680,669, April 13, 1897 ; 
 No. 681,326, April 27, 1897 ; 
 
 No. 584,160, June 8, 1897 ; 
 No. 588,416, Aug. 17, 1897 ; 
 No. 588,910, Aug. 24, 1897 ; 
 No. 589,125, Aug. 31, 1897 ; 
 No. 589,146, Aug. 31, 1897 ; 
 No. 592,672, Oct. 26, 1897 ; 
 No. 592,673, Oct. 26, 1897 ; 
 No. 593,995, Nov. 23, 1897 ; 
 No. 594,124, Nov. 23, 1897 ; 
 No. 594,266, Nov. 23, 1897 ; 
 No. 595,390, Dec. 14, 1897 ; 
 No. 596,307, Dec. 28, 1897 ; 
 No. 596,914, Jan. 4, 1898 ; 
 No. 598,885, Feb. 8, 1898 ; 
 No. 599,279, Feb. 15, 1898 ; 
 No. 601,356, March 29, 
 
 1898 * 
 No. 602,063, April 12, 1898 ; 
 No. 603,040, April 26, 1898 ; 
 No. 603,593, May 3, 1898 ; 
 No. 605,925, June 21, 1898 ; 
 No. 608,223, Aug. 2, 1898 ; 
 No. 609,623, Aug. 23, 1898 ; 
 No. 611,383, Sept. 27, 1898 ; 
 No. 611,384, Sept. 27, 1898 ; 
 No. 612,213, Oct. 11, 1898 ; 
 No. 613,260, Nov. 1, 1898 ; 
 No. 614,979, Nov. 29, 1898 ; 
 No. 617,939, Jan. 17, 1899 ; 
 No. 621,428, March 21, 
 
 1899; 
 No. 633,383, Sept. 19, 1899 ; 
 No. 633,559, Sept. 26, 1899 ; 
 
 No. 633,560, Sept. 26, 1899 ; 
 No. 633,561, Sept 26, 1899 ; 
 No. 635,024, Oct. 17, 1899 ; 
 No. 638,191, Nov. 28, 1899 ; 
 No. 638,560, Dec. 5, 1899 ; 
 No. 638,878, Dec. 12, 1899 ; 
 No. 639,187, Dec. 12, 1899 ; 
 No. 639,448, Dec. 19, 1899 ; 
 No. 646,708, April 3, 1900 ; 
 D. No. 32,447, April 3, 
 
 1900; 
 No. 648,514, May 1, 1900 ; 
 No. 649,492, May 15, 1900 ; 
 No. 649,575, May 15, 1900 ; 
 No. 652,452, June 26, 1900 ; 
 No. 660,591, Oct. 30, 1900 ; 
 No. 663,150, Dec. 4, 1900; 
 No. 668,141, Feb. 12, 1901 ; 
 No. 672,732, April 23, 1901 ; 
 No. 675,337, May 28, 1901 ; 
 No. 685,628, Oct. 29, 1901 ; 
 No. 686,144, Nov. 5, 1901 ; 
 No. 686,145, Nov. 5, 1901 ; 
 No. 686,986, Nov. 19, 1901 ; 
 No. 696,954, April 8, 1902 ; 
 No. 697,653, April 15, 1902 ; 
 No. 702,766, June 17, 1^02 ; 
 No. 703,078, June 24, 1902 ; 
 No. 705,987, July 29, 1902 ; 
 No. 706,037, Aug. 5, 1902 ; 
 R. No. 12,022, Aug. 19, 
 
 1902; 
 No. 712,902, Nov. 4, 1902 ; 
 
300 
 
 »ABM-MA0H1NEBY TBADB ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 ilf 
 
 
 No. 718,119, Nov. 11, 1902 ; 
 No. 713,739, Nov. 18, 1902 ; 
 No. 714,525, Nov. 25, 1902 ; 
 No. 714.526, Nov. 25, 1902 ; 
 No. 715,349, Dec. 9, 1902; 
 No. 715,700, Dec. 16, 1902 ; 
 No. 717,465, Dec. 30, 1902 ; 
 No. 718395, Jan. 13, 1903 ; 
 No. 720,486, Feb. 10, 1903 ; 
 No. 721,243, Feb. 24, 1903 ; 
 No. 722,369, March 10, 
 
 1903* 
 No. 723,204, Marcli 17, 
 1903* 
 
 No. 725*624, April 14, 1903 ; 
 
 No. 727,093, May 5, 1903 ; 
 
 No. 728,511, May 19, 1903 ; 
 
 No. 729,947, June 2, 1903 ; 
 
 No. 736,599, Aug. 18, 1903 ; 
 
 No. 740,695, Oct 6, 1903 ; 
 
 No. 741,770, Oct. 20, 1903 ; 
 
 No. 747,251, Dec. 15, 1903 ; 
 
 No. 747,896, Dec. 22, 1903 ; 
 
 No. 761,627, Feb. 9, 1904 ; 
 
 No. 768,606, April 26. 1904 ; 
 
 No. 7«1,761, June 7, 1904 *, 
 
 No. 762,463, June 14, 1904 ; 
 
 No. 762,917, June 21. 1904 ; 
 
 No. 7«S2,918, June 21, 1904 ; 
 
 No. 765.403, July 19. 1904 ; 
 
 No. 776,456, Nov. 29, 1904 ; 
 No. 786,071, Marcli 28, 
 
 1905' 
 No. 811,532, Jan. 30, 1906 ; 
 No. 811,786, Feb. 6, 1906; 
 No. 821,584, May 22, 1906 ; 
 No. 823,418, June 12, 1906 : 
 No. 830,337, Sept. 4, 1906 ; 
 No. 830,618, Sept. 11, 1906 ; 
 No. 832,283, Oct. 2, 1906; 
 No. 840,603. Jan. 8, 1907 ; 
 No. 845,876, March 5, 
 
 1907 * 
 B. No! 12,655, May 21, 
 
 1907* 
 No. 856*609, June 11, 1907 ; 
 No. 866,240, Sept. 17, 1907 ; 
 No. 872,868, Dec. 3, 1907 ; 
 No. 873,829, Dec. 17, 1907 ; 
 No. 877,320, Jan. 21, 1908 ; 
 No. 888.571, May 26, 1908 ; 
 No. 902,841, Nov. 3, 1908 ; 
 No. 902,842, Nov. 3, 1908; 
 No. 903,743, Nov. 10, 1908 ; 
 No. 921,341, May 11, 1909 ; 
 B. No. 13,039, Nov. 16, 
 
 1909 * 
 No. 950*120, Feb. 22, 1910 ; 
 No. 958,137, May 17, 1910 ; 
 No. 958,213, May 17, 1910 ; 
 
 No. 962,068, June 21, 1910; , 
 No. 965,310, July 26. 1910 ; 
 No. 966,719, Aug. 9, 1910; 
 No. 970.183, Sept. 13, 1910 ; 
 No. 970,956, Sept. 20, 1910 ; 
 No. 9n,329, Sept. 27, 1910; 
 No. 971,933, Oct. 4, 1910; 
 No. 972,437, Oct. 11, 1910 ; 
 No. 973,113, Oct. 18, 1910 ; 
 No. 973,748, Oct. 25. 1910; 
 No. 974,483, Nov. 2, 1910; 
 No. 984.549, Feb. 21, 1911 ; 
 No. 989,296, April 11, 1911 ; 
 No. 997,307, July 11, 1911; 
 No. 997,936, July 11, 1911 ; 
 No. 1,000,032, Aug. 8, 1911 ; 
 No. 975,230, Nov. 8, 1910 ; 
 No. 1,014,778, Jan. 16, 
 
 1912; 
 No. 1,014,779, Jan. 16, 
 
 1912; 
 No. 1.019.194, Mch. 5, 1912 ; 
 No. 1,028.793, June 4, 
 
 1912; _ 
 
 No. 1,051,655, Jan. 28, 
 
 1913 * 
 No. 1,059,658, Apr. 22, 
 
 1913; 
 Other patents pending. 
 
 and has the exclusive right to issue licenses, or sub-licenses, or other 
 contracts or agreements, authorizing the manufacture, sale or use of 
 anv or all the inventions aforesaid. . , , • j j 
 
 ind whereas, , a corporation duly organized und^^^^ 
 
 the laws of the State of , and having its principal o ffice and 
 
 place of business at , County, m the State of ——, 
 
 Lremafter denominated the party of the second part, ^^, ^^^^^omof 
 acQuirinff a right to manufacture, sell and use " Pneumatic Stackers 
 or machmes embodying any or all the said inventions or improve- 
 
 ""n^, therefore, this mdenture witnesseth, that for and in con- 
 sideration of the s\mi of One Dollar ($1.00) m hand paid, the receipt 
 whereof is hereby acknowledged, and of the various undertakmg. 
 hereinafter expressed, the said party of the first part has licensed and 
 empowered, and does hereby license and empower, the sp^ P^jty «t 
 the second part, to manufacture, sell and use " Pneumatic Stackers 
 embodying any of the inventions of any of the aforesaid Letters 
 Paten/ownediy the said party of the first part or any reissues or 
 extensions thereof until the full end of the terms of any and all said 
 Otters Patent, or controlled by said party of the first part by means 
 of any license or agreement so long as the licens^ or agreements re- 
 latmg thereto are in force, to be used throughout the United States 
 and the Territories thereof, said manufacture, sale and use to be upon 
 the terms and conditions following, to-wit: i,«^^u„ 
 
 1 The said party of the second part has agreed and does hereby 
 aer^ to and with the said party of the first part, to pay to the said 
 pirty of the first part a license fee or royalty of thirty dollars 
 ( S30 00> upon each and every machine, or attachment to a machine, 
 embodying any of the above-mentioned inventions or improvements. 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 301 
 
 which may be made, sold or used by or for the said party of the 
 second part, which said royalty shall become due and payable at the 
 times of settlement hereinafter named; and said party of the first 
 part agrees to make a discount of Three Dollars ($3.00) per stacker 
 upon the royalty of Thirty Dollars ($30.00) to be paid by said party 
 or the second part under said license, if and when said party of the 
 second part shall promptly pay its royalties coming due under this 
 license m cash upon the first day of January of each year, or within 
 fifteen (15) days after demand therefor, during the continuance of 
 this license. 
 
 2. The said party of the second part further agrees to keep full, 
 just, true and proper books and accounts concerning the manufacture 
 and sale aforesaid, which shall be open to examination by the said 
 party of the first part, or its duly constituted agents or representa- 
 tives, during usual business hours, at all proper and reasonable times, 
 and will render to the said party of the first part full and complete 
 written reports on the last days of Jime and December of each year, 
 under oath if required, showing a full account of all said " Pneumatic 
 Stackers " which have been made or sold under this license and agree- 
 ment ; at which said times said party of the second part also agrees 
 to account for and pay over to the said party of the first part all 
 amounts which have accrued as royalties hereimder : Provided^ how- 
 ever, that the June settlements may be made by note at six months 
 without interest : And provided, further, that all " Pneumatic 
 Stackers" which the said party of the second part shall have re- 
 maining on hand and unsold on the last day of December of each year 
 shall be deducted from the account, and carried over to be accounted 
 for in the next succeeding settlement. 
 
 3. It is further agreed that each report rendered to the party of the 
 first part by the party of the second part shall particularly state 
 how many of each of the various distinctive kinds of "Pneumatic 
 Stackers " hereby licensed to be made, have been made by or for the 
 said party of the second part during the period covered by said 
 report, so that the party of the first part may have a basis for ad- 
 justment with the owners of such patents as it may hold or control 
 by means of licenses. 
 
 4. And whereas, the said party of the first part, for the purpose 
 of preserving its legal rights, and of securing publicity of the fact 
 that machines of this character are made under its authority, has 
 designed labels of a peculiar sort (known as "transfers"), and as 
 one of the conditions of granting license requires a set of three 
 thereof, composed of one label bearing a list of patent dates and two 
 medallions embodying the trade-mark of the said party of the first 
 part, to be affixed to each and every "Pneumatic Stacker" made 
 under its license or authority ; the list of patents in any convenient 
 place, and the two medallions or trade-marks on opposite sides of 
 the machine where they are conspicuously observable. Now, there- 
 fore, the said party of the second part further agrees to and with 
 the said party of the first part that it will procure (free of charge) 
 from said party of the first part labels as above described, and attach 
 or cause to be attached a set (3) of the same (in the manner herein- 
 before stated) to each and every machine made and sold by or for 
 the said party of the second part embodying any of the inventions 
 of any of the aforesaid Letters Patent; fauing in which the said 
 

 'I 
 
 It 
 
 302 
 
 VikBM-MAGHnnBBY TRADE ASBOOIAlIOirS. 
 
 party of tlie second part shall pay to the said party of the first part 
 the sum of one hundred dollars ($100.00), as liquidated damages, 
 now estimated, determined and agreed upon, and without relief, for 
 and on account of each and every machine sold by or for said party 
 of the second part without bein^ so marked or labeled with all the 
 said transfers or labels herein and hereby required. 
 
 5. And the said party- of the second part agrees to and with the 
 said party of the first part that the selhng price to users of " Pneu- 
 matic Stackers" embodying or including the inventions aforesaid, 
 or either or any of them, shall be two hundred and fifty dollars 
 ($250.00) on time, (but to be fully paid for within two years from 
 date of sale), or two hundred and thirty-five dollars ($235.00) in 
 ca^ ; and the said party of the second part expressly agrees to and 
 with the said party of the first part not to sell any such machine or 
 machines to any person or party, other than an agent or dealer who 
 buys the same to be sold ^S^^ who may have a discount of not to 
 exceed twenty-five dollars ($25.00), or an established jobber of thresh- 
 ing machinery who regularly buys at wholesale and retails through 
 sub-agents, and who is regularly licensed as such by the said party 
 of the first part under the aforementioned patents, who may have a 
 discoimt of not to exceed seventy-five dollars ($75.00), at any less 
 price or on any better terms than herein specified and agreed upon. 
 And it is further expressly agreed that should there be any violation 
 or evasion of this agreement, directly or indirectly, on the part of 
 the said party of the second part, said party of the second part shall 
 
 Say to tne said party of the first part the sum of one hundred 
 ollars ($100.00) as liquidated damages, now estimated, determined 
 and agreed upon, for each and every such violation or evasion hereof. 
 This agreement is made for the purpose of effectually protecting the 
 rights secured by the Letters Patent hereinbefore mentioned, which 
 form the basis of this agreement, and the price so established em- 
 bodies the license fee which it has been determined is fair and just 
 to users of said patented inventions or improvements. 
 
 6. The said party of tiie second part further agrees to and with 
 the said party of the first part to take all orders for "Pneumatic 
 Stackers" upon separate order blanks of a form approved by the 
 said party of the first part, or as separate and distinct items of the 
 orders when ordered in connection with other machinery. 
 
 7. The said party of the second part, for and as a part of the 
 consideration for tlie granting of this license, has expressly agreed, 
 and does hereby agree, to ana with the said party of the first part, 
 not to dispute, directiy or indirectly, the Letters Patent upon which 
 this contract is founded, or any reissues thereof, nor make their 
 alleged' invalidity a defense in any proceeding under this contract, 
 or a jCToimd of refusing to make any payments called for hereby. 
 
 8. The said party oi the second part further expressly agrees to 
 and with the said wrtj of the first part, to mark each and every 
 machine made by the said party of the second part with the marks 
 required by the present patent laws of the United States, or any law 
 hereafter enacted concerning the marking of patented articles, to 
 preeerve any of the rishts of the patentee or patent owner. 
 
 9. Tlie said party oithe first part, in consideration of the promises 
 and agreemente herein containea, to it made by the said par^ of the 
 
 • 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 303 
 
 second part, promises and agrees to prosecute all substantial infringe- 
 ments of its rights, and of the rights of the parties hereto granted by 
 the United States Letters Patent upon which these articles are based ; 
 
 fand also to give to the said party of the second part the right to use 
 all improvements made or acquired hereafter by said party of the 
 first part upon or pertaining to " Pneumatic Stackers," without any 
 additional royalty fee. It is, however, expressly understood and 
 agreed that all patents and inventions relating to "Pneumatic Stack- 
 ers," the title or control of which may hereafter be obtained or 
 acquired by the said party of the first part, if used by the said party 
 ^ of the second part, shall be used under and subject to all the terms 
 and conditions of this license and agreement, which it is hereby ex- 
 pressly agreed shall apply to any and all such newly obtained or ac- 
 quired patents and inventions. 
 
 - 10. The said party of the first part further agrees to and with the 
 said party of the second part that if it shall hereafter grant any more 
 favorable terms in any license to build " Pneumatic Stackers " to be 
 ^ used in connection with machines for threshing grain than the terms 
 " granted in these articles, either in amount of royalty or otherwise, 
 to any person or corporation, that the same concessions shall upon 
 like terms and conditions be made to the said party of the second 
 part, and shall become a part of these articles. 
 
 11. This license and agreement may be terminated at the option of 
 the party of the second part at the expiration of the El ward Patent 
 (Re-issued Letters Patent numbered 12,022, expiring December 10, 
 1918), hereinabove mentioned, or at the option of the party of the 
 second part may then be continued until the full end of the terms 
 of each and all of the Letters Patent of the United States pertaining 
 to " Pneumatic Stackers " herein recited owned by said party of the 
 first part, or any reissues thereof, or for such less period as said party 
 of the second part may elect, upon the terms and conditions in this 
 agreement set forth, or upon such other terms and conditions as the 
 parties hereto may then mutually agree upon. 
 
 The rights, duties, privileges and obligations arising under or 
 
 p-owing out of this license and agreement shall extend to and be 
 
 binding upon the successors, assigns and legal representatives of the 
 
 parties hereto respectively. 
 
 Executed in duplicate. 
 
 In Testimony Whereof, said The Indiana Manufacturing Com- 
 
 Sany has caused these presents to be executed at Indianapolis, In- 
 iana, this day of 191 — . 
 
 Attest: 
 
 The Indiana Manufacturing Company, 
 By y President. 
 
 In Testimony Whereof, said 
 ents to be executed at , - 
 
 -, this 
 
 -, has caused these pres- 
 — day of 191—. 
 
 Attest: 
 
 By 
 
 
I ■■ 
 
 m\ 
 
 II! 
 
 Ill 
 
 804 farm-machineby trade assooiatiohb. 
 
 Exhibit 21. 
 
 VOBM or PATENTS PTTBCHASB AGBEEMENT BETWEEN THE IH- 
 BIANA MANXIEACTUBINO CO. AND LICENSEES. 
 
 PATENTS PUHCHA8E AGREEMENT. 
 
 Memorandum of an Agreement made between The Indiana ^n- 
 UPACTURING Company, a corporation of West Virginia, having oflftces 
 at Charleston, West Virginia, and at Indianapolis, Indiana, herein- 
 after called the licensor, and , hereinafter called the 
 
 licensee, Witnesseth : , * . x* 
 
 Whereas, the licensor is sole owner of a large number of inventions 
 and Letters Patent on " Pneumatic Stackers," respecting which the 
 licensee has heretofore secured the right to make, use and sell all 
 of said inventions or improvements, by written license from the 
 licensor, now in full force; and, j j i 
 
 Whereas, the licensor aims to encourage the invention and develop- 
 ment of various improvements in "Pneumatic Stackers," and de- 
 sires to purchase improvements or inventions and Letters Patent 
 relating to " Pneumatic Stackers," and, under its exclusive control, 
 seeks to vest the benefit thereof amongst its several licensees ; and. 
 
 Whereas, the licensee desires to acquire for use m its business, the 
 right to adopt and employ any one or more of the improvements 
 aforesaid, held within control of the licensor only; 
 
 Now, therefore, the parties hereto have severally agreed as follows, 
 
 that is to say: ,. ^ ^ x x j- xi. 
 
 I. During the term of the license at present outstanding, the 
 licensee undertakes to faithfully keep and perform each and every 
 of the following named conditions, viz. : 
 
 a. To use reasonable efforts in the endeavor to improve upon 
 Pneumatic Stackers, and, as often as may be, to promptly disclose 
 unto the licensor full knowledge of the several improvements m 
 Pneumatic Stackers from time to time coriiing within its notice and 
 
 control. . , ., .^ _x 'J 
 
 b. At expense of the licensor, and as often as it may request, said 
 licensee is required to execute or cause to be executed the usual appli- 
 cation papers and assi^ments deemed necessary to vest in said 
 licensor the rights or privileges pertaining to such improvements in 
 Pneumatic Stackers, thus including the Letters Patent of the United 
 States and of the Dominion of Canada, or other foreign countries, 
 now or hereafter issued and owned or controlled by the licensee, or 
 in which it has or may later acquire an interest. 
 
 IL So long as the licensee faithfully keeps and performs the 
 conditions aforesaid, and each of them, respectively, the licensor on 
 
 its part agrees: , . ., - , . 
 
 c. To grant unto said licensee the right and privilege of making, 
 using and vending, without extra charge, all and singular, the 
 improvements acquired hereunder, or by other agreement of similar 
 sort, made from time to time, with any other party or parties, and to 
 give the licensee prompt notice of such acquirements. 
 
 d. To pay unto said licensee the sum of Five Dollars ($5.00) on 
 each and every wind stacker made and sold for attachment to thresh- 
 ing machines and settled for at the royalty rate by said licensee, 
 including aJl made and sold during 1908, ana thereafter. 
 
 
 BXHIBITS. 
 
 805 
 
 ^ 
 
 in. Upon failure or refusal of the licensee to faithfully keep and 
 perform the several conditions named in Article I hereof, or any of 
 them, or material parts thereof, it is mutually agreed that this con- 
 tract may be annulled at the option of the licensor, duly exercised 
 on written notice given within thirty days next after expiry of a 
 preliminary period of thirty days, allowed the licensee for proper 
 correction of the delinquencies, called to its attention by written de- 
 mand ; and no other or further penalty, or liability, shall be incurred 
 by the licensee, through its failure or refusal to perform the several 
 conditions named in Article I, except the cancellation of this con- 
 tract, to take effect only in the future; and the payment made or lia- 
 bility incurred by licensor under Clause d. Article II, prior to its 
 cancellation shall not be withheld or recovered back by the licensor 
 from the licensee. 
 
 " Said licensee may also at its own option at any time cancel this 
 contract by giving the licensor at least thirty (30) days written 
 notice thereof and thereupon all rights and obligations of either 
 party to the other under this agreement shall from said date cease 
 and determine, and this contract be deemed to be canceled. 
 
 In testimony whereof, said The Indiana Manufacturing Company 
 has caused these presents to be executed at Indianapolis, Indiana, 
 this day of , A. D. 1909. 
 
 The Indiana Manufacturing Company, 
 
 By , President. 
 
 Attest: 
 
 In testimony whereof, said 
 to be executed at this 
 
 Attest : 
 
 day of 
 
 -, has caused these presents 
 , A. D. 1909. 
 
 By 
 
 Exhibit 22. 
 
 FOBM OP EOTALTY BEPOBT REQUIRED OF LICENSEES OF THE 
 INDIANA MANUFACTURING COMPANY. 
 
 Form 60-10-1-12. 
 
 ROYALTY REPORT (SEPARATOR). 
 
 191- 
 
 
 The Indiana Manufacturing Company, 
 
 Indianapolis, Ind. 
 Gentlemen :--The following is a full and complete report cover- 
 ing all transactions relating to the manufacture and sale of pneu- 
 matic STACKERS by the undersigned during the year 191 — , authorized 
 by License Contract with your Company, together with a statement 
 01 all " Transfers " handled during the same period. 
 
 (Sign here) , 
 
 Per ^-^-^ ^ 
 
 68248'— 16 70 
 
 |i^ 
 
806 
 
 VABM-MAOHnnSRY TSLUm ASSOOUllONa 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 807 
 
 tit 
 
 
 style of staokefB. 
 
 DMi!i'l|41'Vik 
 
 Gear- 
 
 
 
 
 
 Oraod 
 total. 
 
 TMa] rnimlHir hnmfftit fluff wild from ifll-— ..ttt-t-t-^-- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Tnte^ miTP^^'i' vnftiiiilb^Hir«4 in VMT 101— ..-••■•■••-• - 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total to iMaooouiitod for .... 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 BOTALTT REPORT, THE INDIANA MANUPACTTJRINa OOMPANT, INDIAN- 
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 1 Original form proviles for 40 numbered entres. 
 
 Exhibit 23. 
 COmbtxtutiON and BY-LAWS OP THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OT 
 
 implement and vehicle dealebs' associations. 
 
 Constitution, 
 article l — ^namb. 
 
 This corporation shall be known as the National Federation of 
 Retail^ Implement and Vehicle Dealers' Associations, and under 
 such name mall its business be conducted and transacted. 
 
 ARnCLB n. — LOCATION. 
 
 Its domicile shall be Kansas Citv, state of Missouri, but its corre- 
 spondence may be conducted, bulfetins issued, and other necessary 
 business transacted at the office of the Federation secretary, wherever 
 that may be. 
 
 ARnCLB m. — OBJECT. 
 
 The object for which this Federation is formed is to supply its 
 constituent associations and their members with any and all legal 
 and proper information which may legitimately come into its pos- 
 session, and which may be of interest or value to the same. 
 
 ABnCLB IV. — ^MEMBERSHIP. 
 
 The members of this Federation shall consist of the several con- 
 stituent associations, by their accredited representatives, as provided 
 for in Section 5 of the By-laws hereto attached. 
 
 Pom 01, io-is>i8» 
 
 * At the ananal meeting in October, 1914. the word " Retail " was eliminated. 
 
i 
 
 IpfH 
 
 I 
 
 808 
 
 7ABM-MACHINE&T TEMM ASSOCIATIOKa 
 
 ABTlCIiB v.— OFFICaBM. 
 
 309 
 
 The affairs of this Federation shall be man^d by an Official 
 Board consisting of a President, Vice-president, Secretary-treasurer, 
 and six Directors. The Secretary-treasurer shall be elected at the 
 first meeting of tiie Official Board for a period of one year. The 
 others shall be elected by the annual meeting, the President and Vice- 
 president for one year, the directors first time, two for one year, two 
 for two years, and two for three years, thereafter two annually for 
 a term of three years; provided, however, that any officer or Director 
 shall serve until his ipiccessor shall be elected and qualified. 
 
 ▲BTICLE VI. — DUTIB8. 
 
 The duties of the several officers shall be such as usually devolve 
 upon like officers in similar positions, and the Secretary-treasurer 
 shall perform such special duties as are assigned him by the Official 
 Boara. Should a vacancy occur the Official Board shall have au- 
 thority to elect someone to fill the same, who shall serve until the 
 neadi regular or special meeting of the Federation. 
 
 ARTIGLB Vn. — MMBrrSQS. 
 
 » 
 
 The Federation shall hold an annual meeting at such time and 
 
 Slace as the Official Board or Executive Committee may each vear 
 etermine. Special meetings shall be called by the President when- 
 ever a majority of the Official Board may request the same. The 
 Cifficial Board shall meet as soon as practicable after the close of the 
 annual meeting. Other meetings shall be called by the President on 
 request of a majority of the Board or of the Executive Committee. 
 A quorum for the annual meeting shall be ten, of the Official Board 
 five, and of the Executive Committee two. 
 
 AimCLE Vm. — ^AMENDMENTS. 
 
 The by-laws or oonsfcitution may be amended from time to time by 
 a majority vote of the delegates present at any annual meeting, «r 
 at any special meeting if ten days' written notice of the pro^)sed 
 change shall have been given. Or, in case of emergency, the Official 
 Board shall have authority to ainen<L and such amendments shall 
 iHaid until the next annual meeting of the Federation. 
 
 • ABTIGLE H. — EXECUTIVE OOMMITTEB. « 
 
 The President, Vice-President and Secretary-treasurer shall ex- 
 officio constitute an Executive Committee, which shall act during 
 the interim between meetings of the Official Board, and during such 
 time said committee shall have and exercise the full power and au- 
 thority of the said Board, and its acts shall stand and be in effect 
 until the next meeting of the Offidal Board or of the Federation. 
 The Executive Committee shall meet on call of the President, or of 
 the Seawtary, when in the judgment of either the interests of the 
 Federation require. 
 
 O 
 
 By-laws. 
 
 SECTION 1. 
 
 It shall be the duty of the Secretary, on order of the Official Board, 
 to receive and file for the information of the constituent associations 
 and their members all such legal and proper information as shall 
 be transmitted to this Federation by and through its members, but 
 no such information or bulletins shall be disseminated imtil the same 
 shall have been considered and approved by the Official Board or the 
 Executive Committee, either in session or by correspondence,^ 
 
 SEcrnoN 2. 
 
 It shall be the duty of the Secretary quarterly, or as often as the 
 Official Board may deem advisable, to issue a bulletin to the con- 
 stituent associations and their members. 
 
 SEC5TI0N 8. 
 
 When and so often as such bulletins shall be ordered by the Official 
 Board of this Federation it shall be the duty of the Secretary to 
 publish and disseminate the same. 
 
 SECTION 4. 
 
 It shall be the duty of each constituent associaticm, through its 
 secretary, to supply a corrected list of the members in good standing 
 of said association, to the Secretary of the Federation, whenever and 
 so often as tiie same shall be corrected and published. 
 
 SECTION &. 
 
 Any retail Implement and Vehicle Dealers' Association which 
 shall have accepted the constitution, by-laws and rules of this Feder- 
 ation, and shall have provided for the payment of the sum of forty 
 cents (40^) per annum for each member in good standing in said 
 association on the first day of October next preceding (payable as 
 soon as possible after the annual meetings of the several associations) 
 toward the expenses of this Federation, shall by virtue of the same, 
 become a member or constituent association of this Federation, and 
 shall be entitled to representation in annual and special meetings of 
 the Federation on the basis of one delegate for each one hundred 
 members, or fraction thereof exceeding fifty, on which said associa- 
 tion pays per capita tax. And all members in good standing of said 
 constituent association, shall by virtue of the payment as above de- 
 scribed, be entitled to all bulletins, correction sheets, or other infor- 
 mation published by said Federation, which shall be designed for the 
 information of members, and to call upon the officers of said Feder- 
 ation at all times for any special information which it may be in 
 their power to give; provided, however, that if the legitimate ex- 
 penses of the Federation for any year be f oimd to exceed the amount 
 
 ^ItaUcized words in ink in copy. 
 
810 
 
 FABM-MAOHDmr —*"■ ASSOOUHOKB. 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 811 
 
 
 >i| 
 
 m 
 
 b 
 
 f 
 
 realized from the per capita tax of forty cents (4(V) per member, 
 then the deficit shall be paid by the several constituent associations 
 pro rata in proportion to the number of members in good standing 
 on the first of October next preceding, as aforesaid, except that in 
 no case shall any association be asked to pay over twenty cents (2(V) 
 per member in a^ddition to the per capita tai of forty cents (40^) prcH 
 ¥ided for in this section. 
 
 SECTION e. 
 
 No officer of this Federation shall receive any salary except the 
 Secretary, who shall be paid such salary as may oe fixed by the Offi- 
 cial Board. But each member of the Official Board shall be entitled 
 to have his necessary expenses paid when attending meetings or 
 acting under the instruction of the Board, provided, however, that 
 no member or members of the Official Board from any one association 
 shall be allowed a greater amount for expenses than will equal the 
 amount paid by sam association toward the expenses of the Feder- 
 ation. Any additional expenses over that amount, as well as expenses 
 of delegates who are not members of the Official Board, must be 
 borne by the individual or his own association. 
 
 BBCnON T. 
 
 The Official Board shall take such action as may be deemed neces- 
 sary or advisable in regard to inspecting and auditing the books and 
 accounts of the Secretary-treasurer, and safeguardi]^ the funds of 
 the Federation. 
 
 ExHinrr 24. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND BT-LAWS BECOMMENDED IN 1004' BY THE 
 NATIONAL FEDBBATION 07 IMPLEMENT AND VEHICLE ASSO- 
 GZATIONS FOB AIXIFTION BY CONSTITirBNT ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 CONSTTTUnON. 
 DECUIBATION OF PURPOSE. 
 
 We realize the convenience, if not necessity, of the retail imple- 
 ment, vehicle and hardware dealer to every community, and we are 
 interested in the promotion of the general welfare and the perpetua- 
 tion of the retail implement, vehicle and hardware business. 
 
 We recognize the absolute right of every person, partnership or 
 corporation to establish and maintain as many retail stores as he, 
 the vj or it may see fit.' 
 
 We recognize the legal right of the manufacturer and wholesale 
 dealer in implements, vehicles or hardware to sell implements, vehi- 
 cles or hardware' in whatever, market, to whatever purchaser, and 
 at whatever price they may see fit 
 
 ' ^ CliftiiKes subsequently recommended bj tbe Federation are Indicated In tbe footnotes to 
 this ezlilbit. 
 
 *At tbe meeting of tbe National Federation In October, 1910, It recommended, by 
 unanimous rote, tbat tbls paragraph be omitted and that each constituent association 
 take prompt action in executive session on tbe matter. (See pp. 160, 161.) 
 
 • In tbe cony of tbe constitution furnished tbe Bureau of Corporations a line has been 
 dfawn through the words " implements, Tehleies or hardware." 
 
 We also recognize the disastrous consequences which result to the 
 regular retail implement, vehicle and hardware dealer from direct 
 competition with wholesalers and manufacturers, and appreciate the 
 importance to the retail dealer of accurate information as to the 
 nature and extent of such competition where any exists. 
 
 And, recognizing and appreciating the advantage of co-operation 
 in securing and disseminating any and all proper information for 
 our mutual convenience, benefit or protection, we have organized this 
 association, and have adopted the following articles for the govern- 
 ment of our affairs. 
 
 ▲BnCLES OF ASSOCIATION. 
 
 Abtice I. — Name. 
 The name of this organization shall be - 
 
 Abtiole IL — The Ohiect 
 
 The object of this association is and shall be to secure and dissemi- 
 nate to its members any and all legal and proper information which 
 may be of interest or value to any member or members thereof in his 
 or their business as retail implement, vehicle or hardware dealers. 
 
 Abtiole III. — Limitations and Restrictions, 
 
 Section 1. No rules, regulations or by-laws shall be adopted in any 
 manner stifling competition, limiting production, restraining trade, 
 regulating prices, or pooling profits. 
 
 Sec. 2. No coercive measures of any kind shall be practiced or 
 adopted toward any retailer, either to induce him to join the asso- 
 ciation, or to buy or to refrain from buying of any particular manu- 
 facturer or wholesaler. Nor shall any discriminatory practices on 
 the part of this association be used or allowed against any retailer 
 for the reason that he may not be a member of the association, or to 
 induce or persuade him to become such member. 
 
 Sec 3. No promises or agreements of any kind shall be requisite to 
 membership in this association, nor shall any penalties be imposed 
 upon its members for any cause whatsoever. 
 
 Abticlb IV. — Membership. 
 
 Sec. 1. Any person, firm or corporation regularly engaged in the 
 retail implement, vehicle or hardware trade, carrying an assorted 
 stock of implements, vehicles or hardware reasonably commensurate 
 with the demands of his community, shall be considered a regular 
 retail implement, vehicle or hardware dealer, and be eligible to mem- 
 bership in this association. 
 
 Sec 2. The membership fee shall be dollars ($ ), 
 
 payable in advance, and this fee shall cover the dues for one year 
 
 from date of certificate. The annual dues thereafter shall be 
 
 dollars per year. 
 
 Betail dealers having more than one store shall be considered as 
 members only at points for which they have taken memberships. 
 
 Sec 3. The membership fee and annual dues, as provided in the 
 preceding section, when paid, shall entitle the party to membership 
 
 II 
 
II 
 
 I 
 
 312 
 
 FABM-MAOHIKEBT TRADE A8S00IATI0KB. 
 
 and to all the rights and privileges of this association to the end of 
 the year for which such dues are paid, and no longer; but member- 
 ship may be renewed for each successive year by the pre-payment of 
 the annual dues for any such year, unless the board of directors shall, 
 for cause, determine mat the party is undesirable, or ineligible to 
 membership. 
 
 Sec. 4. Any member may withdraw from membership in this asso- 
 cisliQn at any time by giving written notice to the secretary of such 
 wiliidrawal, and by surrendering his certificate of membei-shap. Any 
 member going out of the retail miplement, vehicle or hardware busi- 
 ness which entitled him to membership^ shall be deemed to have 
 withdrawn from membership. 
 
 Sec, 5. Any member withdrawing from membership, or ceasing to 
 be a member for any reason, shall not be entitled to refund of mem- 
 bership fee, or of any annual dues, or any part thereof, but the same, 
 and the whole thereof, shall belong to the association absolutely. 
 
 AsnoLi y. — Officers and their 4uHe»,* 
 
 Sec. 1. The affairs of this association shall be managed by a presi- 
 dent, vice-president, and a board of directors, including the 
 
 president, vice-president and secretarjr, who shall be ex-officio mem- 
 bers thereof. The president and vice-president shall be elected 
 annually. Tlie balance of the directors ^all be elected as follows: 
 One-half for one year and one-half for two years, and one-half to 
 be elected yearly thereafter, to hold office for the term of two years; 
 all officers to be elected by ballot. It shall be the duty of the presi- 
 dent, or, in his absence, the vice-president, to preside at all meetings 
 of this association. The directors shall have the power to hold meet- 
 ings at such times as they may deem proper, to make or amend 
 by-laws for carrying into effect the objects of this association; to 
 appoint committees ; to print and circulate documents in the interest 
 of this association; to disbui^se the funds of this association; to 
 
 > In tbe copy of thp constitution furnished to tbe Bartaa of Corpontions, a line has 
 been d»wn throai;h the words •' 'etail imi»k>ment. vehicle or hardware" in this para 
 gnpb, and tlie words " wMcli entitled him to membership " are inserted in pencil on the 
 
 Ma rgin. 
 
 « Snbseouently Articles V and VI were consolidated. Article V of the present constitu- 
 tioa of the Western Retail Implement Vehicle & Hardware AssociaUon furnished the 
 Bureau reads as follows : 
 
 AsTicLX V. — OfUcen and Their Dutiea. 
 
 8«c. 1. The aflFairs of this Association shall be managed by a Board of Director! 
 consisting of a President, Vice-President, Secretary-Treasurer, and eight (8) Directors. 
 
 Sec. 2. The President and Vice-President shall be elected annually. The Directors 
 ahaU be first elected as follows : Two for one year, two for two years, two for three 
 jmars, and two for four years; thereafter two Directors shall be elected annually for 
 a ^rm of four years. Above named Officers and Directors to be elected by ballot. 
 The Secretary-Treasurer shall be elected by the Board of Directors, as hereinafter pro- 
 Tided. The Officers and Directors shall serve until their successors are elected and 
 duly qualified. _ 
 
 Sbc. 3. Executive Comwtitiee. — The President, Vice-President and Secretary, ex- 
 ofBcio, are constituted the Executive Committee of this Association. In all matters 
 relating to reports made by this Association between the sessions of the Board of 
 Directors, the said Committee shall have the same powers as those conferred upon 
 the said Board of Directors. Upon the request of the Secretary, said Committee shall 
 convene to determine such matters as are not clearly defined by the Articles of Asso- 
 ciation, or such other questions as he deems of great importance to the Association. 
 
 8bc. 4. Pretiding Officers. — It shall be the duty of the President, or in his absence. 
 the Vice-President, to preside at all meetings of this Association, and of the Board of 
 Directors, or Executive Committee. 
 
 Sec. 5. Auditing Committee. — The President shall immediately preceding the annual 
 ■laeting, appoint a committee of two from the membership and one from the Board to 
 examine the accounts of the Secretary-Treasurer and report at said meeting. 
 
 8bc. 6. Board of Directora. — The Board of Directors shall have power to hold meet- 
 at such times as they may deem proper ; to make, or amend by-laws for carrying 
 
 i 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 313 
 
 employ a suitable person as secretary, at such salary as in their 
 judgment will be for the best interests of the association; and de- 
 vise and carry into execution such other measures as they may 
 deem proper to promote the welfare of this association. All resolu- 
 tions of the board of directors may be authenticated by the signature 
 of the president and the countersignature of the secretary. The 
 directors shall be paid their necessary expenses in attendance upon 
 meetings of the board, or acting under the instructions of the board. 
 
 Election of Secretary-Treasurer. 
 
 Sec. 2. It shall be the duty of the board of directors after each 
 annual meeting to elect a secretary-treasurer for the term of one 
 year, who shall give bond to be approved by the board of directors, 
 for the faithful performance of the duties of his office. They shall 
 fix his salary; but such salary shall not be in excess of the sum 
 which said board may reasonably expect to receive from the mem- 
 berships of this association. 
 
 Duties of Secretary-Treasurer, 
 
 Sec. 3. Upon election, the secretary shall become a member of the 
 board of directors, to serve during his term of office, and to have a 
 full voice in the management of the affairs of this association, dur- 
 ing the time which he may serve. 
 
 It shall be the duty of the secretary-treasurer to keep the minutes 
 of this association, and to keep a strict account of all moneys belong- 
 ing to the association. He shall make an itemized report at each 
 annual meeting of the business of the previous year. 
 
 The secretary shall notify each member of this association of the 
 annual or special meetings at least ten days previous to such meeting. 
 
 The board of directors shall prescribe and determine what other 
 service he shall give to the association during the term of his office. 
 
 Into effect the objects of this Association ; to appoint committees ; to print and circu- 
 late documents in the interest of this Association ; to disburse the funds of this 
 Association, and devise and carry into execution such other measures as they may 
 deem proper to promote thi welfare of this Association. All resolutions of the Board 
 of Directors may be authenticated by the signature of the President and the counter- 
 signature of the Secretary-Treasurer. 
 
 Sac. 7. Examining Books. — The Board of Directors shall examine the books of the 
 Secretary-Treasurer as often as they may deem necessary, and if they shall find any- 
 thing not satisfactory to themselves, they shall at once report the same to the Presi- 
 dent, who shall have power to remove the Secretary -Treasurer with consent of the 
 Board. 
 
 Sec. 8. Vacancies. — Should a vacancy occur in any of the offices of this Association. 
 the Board of Directors shall appoint a successor to serve until the next annual 
 meeting. 
 
 Sbc. 9, Election of Secretary-Treasurer. — It shall be the duty of the Board of 
 Directors after each annual meeting to elect a Secretary-Treasurer for the term of one 
 rear, who shall give good and sufficient bond, to be approved by the Board of Direc- 
 tors, for the faithful performance of the duties of his office. They shall fix his 
 salary ; but such salary shall not be in excess of the sum which said Board "may 
 reasonably expect to receive from the memberships of this Association. 
 
 Sac. 10. Duties of Secretary-Treasurer. — Upon election, the Secretary shall become 
 a member of the Board of Directors, to serve during his term of office, and to have a 
 full voice in the management of the affairs of this Association, during the time which 
 be may serve. 
 
 It shall be the duty of the Sccretarv-Treasurer to keep the minutes of this Associa- 
 tion, and to keep a strict account of all moneys belonging to the Association. He 
 shall make an itemized report at each annual meeting cf the business of the previous 
 year. 
 
 The Secretary shall notify each member of this Association of the annual or special 
 meeting at least ten days previous to such meeting. 
 
 The Board of Directors snail prescribe and determine what other service he sliaU 
 five to the Association during his term of office. 
 
\w 
 
 II 
 
 814 
 
 VABM-MAGHINBBY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 BmecuUve Oommitiee, 
 
 Sec. 4. The president, vice-president and secretary, ex-officio, are 
 constituted the executive committee of this association. In all mat- 
 ters relating to reports made by this association between sessions of 
 the board ol directors, the said committee shall have the same powers 
 as those conferred upon the said board of directors. That upon the 
 request of the secretary, said committee shall convene to determine 
 such matters as are not clearly defined by the articles of association 
 or such other questions as he deems of great importance to the asso- 
 ciation. 
 
 Abticlb Yl.— Duties of Olflcer$,^ 
 
 Sec. 1. Presiding Officer. It shall be the duty of the president, or, 
 in his absence, the vice president, to preside at all meetings of this 
 association, or its board of directors. In the absence of both presi- 
 dent and vice president, the directors in order of their seniority shall 
 preside. 
 
 Sec. 2. Vice President In the absence of the president the vice 
 president shall perform the duties of the president. 
 
 Sec. 3. Directors, It shall be the duty of the board of directors, 
 after each annual meeting, to elect a secretary-treasurer for a period 
 not exceeding one year, on such terms as may be agreed upon. 
 
 The directors shall examine the books of the secretary-treasurer as 
 often as they mav deem necessary, and if they shall find anything not 
 satisfactory to themselves, they diall at once report the same to the 
 president, who shall have power to remove the secretary-treasurer 
 with consent of the board oi directors. 
 
 The president shall immediately preceding the annual meeting 
 appoint a committee of two from the membership and one from the 
 board to examine the accounts of the secretary-treasurer and report 
 
 at said meeting. 
 
 Should a vacancy occur in any of the offices of this association, the 
 board of directors shall appoint a successor to serve imtil the next 
 annual meeting. 
 
 The board of directors may make such bj-laws, not inconsistent 
 with the provisions of the foregoing declaration of purpose and these 
 articles, as to them may seem necessary and practicable for the proper 
 management and conduct of the affairs of this association. 
 
 Sec. 4. Secretary-Treasurer. It shall be the duty of the secretary- 
 treasurer to keep safely all moneys of the organization received by 
 him from any source, and pay out the same on consecutively num- 
 bered vouchers, approved by the president and attested by him as 
 
 secretary. He shall give a bond in the sum of Dollars, 
 
 (J — I ) to be approved by the board of directors. 
 
 He shall keep the minutes of the meetings of this organization and 
 of the board of directors, and keep a strict account of all moneys 
 belonging to the same. He shall make a report at each annual meet- 
 ing of the work of the previous year. 
 
 The secretary shall notify each member of the annual and special 
 meetings at least ten days previous to such meetings. 
 
 The board of directors shall prescribe and determine what other 
 service he shall give to the organization during the term of his office. 
 
 1 See footnote on v». S12-313. 
 
 / 
 
 
 i 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 Abticlb Vll.— Reports io Secretary.* 
 
 315 
 
 Sec. 1. Any member of this association having knowledge of a 
 sale by a manufacturer or wholesale dealer or his agents to other 
 than a regular dealer within the territory of such member, may 
 notify the secretary of this association in writing, giving as full 
 information in reference thereto as practicable, such as date or dates 
 of shipment and arrival, original point of shipment, names of con- 
 signor and consignee, and such other particulars as may be obtain- 
 able. 
 
 Such notice, if filed at all, must be sent, with or without informa- 
 tion in detail, within a reasonable time after receipt of shipment at 
 point of destination, and no notice shall be filed of any such sale or 
 shipment occurring within fifteen days after date of said member's 
 'Certificate of membership. 
 
 Upon receipt of such written notice, the secretary shall imme- 
 diately verify such report so far as practicable. 
 
 Sec. 2. Ail sales or shipments made to other than regular dealers 
 by commission merchants, agents or brokers, shall be considered as 
 though the same were made directly by the manufacturer or whole- 
 saler from whom such commission merchants, agents or brokers 
 secure such goods or shipments. 
 
 Sec. 8. Each member, when he joins this association and once 
 each year thereafter (and oftener if the board of directors shall re- 
 quest it) is expected to furnish the secretary, when called upon to 
 do so, a list of those manufacturers and wholesalers and agents, 
 from whom he buys. 
 
 AbtioiiB Ylll.— Meetings, 
 
 Sec. 1. Annual. The annual meeting of this association shall be 
 held at such time and place as the board of directors may determine. 
 
 Sec. 2. Special. Special meetings of this association may be called 
 by the board of directors when in the opinion of the board such 
 meetings are necessary. 
 
 Sec. 3. Notice. Members shall be notified by mail of annual and 
 special meetings at least ten days previous to such meetings. 
 
 Abticlb IX. — Compensation of Officers. 
 
 All officers and directors of this organization shall be entitled to 
 have their necessary expenses paid when attending meetings, or 
 acting under the instructions of the board. 
 
 Abticlb X. — Quorum. 
 
 A quorum of this organization for the transaction of business shall 
 be a majority of its board of directors. 
 
 Abticlb XI. — Am^endments. 
 
 Amendments to these articles may be made at any regular meeting, 
 or special meeting called for that purpose, by a vote of at least two- 
 thirds of the members present and voting. 
 
 *At the meeting of the National Federation In October, 1910, it recommended, by 
 unanimous vote, that sections 1 and 2 of this article be omitted from the constitution of 
 each constituent association. Each of the latter was adylsed to take prompt action in 
 •iMcatlTe aeaaion on the matter. (See pp. 160, 161.) 
 
; i 
 
 816 
 
 FABM-MAOHIKESY TBADB ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 In case of necessity, of which the board of directors shall be the 
 sole judge, such board may amend these articles, and such amend- 
 ment shall hold good until the next following meeting of the asso- 
 ciation. 
 
 Exhibit 25. 
 
 TTNIFOBM ABTICLES 01* ASSOCIATIOir BECOMMENDED BY NA- 
 TIONAL EEDEKATION OP IMPLEMENT A VEHICLE DEALEBS' 
 jynOGIATIONS FOB ADOPTION BT LOCAL CLUBS OF DEALEBS. 
 
 « 
 
 Articles and By-Laws op Local Club, Number — , of Association 
 
 Adopted 
 
 PREAMBLE. 
 
 191- 
 
 We acknowledge the interest and value to the retail dealers of the 
 State Associations and the Federation, and yet we realize the need 
 of a closer and more personal community of interest among the 
 Betail Implement, Vehicle and Hardware Dealers in our own terri- 
 
 Believing that the intimate association in a social club will induce 
 a more cordial and friendly feeling among us, thereby avoiding 
 Srtrife and enabling us to be mutually helpful to one another in mat- 
 ters of Credits, Cx)llections and Reduction of Operating Expenses, 
 we have adopted the following Articles for the regulation of our 
 Local, and cordially invite the regular Implement, Vehicle and Hard- 
 ware Dealers of this section. to join with us and participate in the 
 pleasures and benefits of our social organization. 
 
 CLUB articles. 
 
 Abticlb I. — Name. 
 
 This Chib shall be known as Local Number — of 
 
 Abticli n.— Od/ec*. 
 
 Its object shall be social enjoyment and entertainment, together 
 with such benefits in a business way as will naturally be brought 
 about by a feeling of fraternity and good fellowship among its 
 membership. 
 
 AsncLB III. — TerrUonf. 
 
 The territory proper of this Local shall be in the 
 
 g^l^ 0f J though dealers in adjoining territory may be re- 
 ceived on same terms and conditions if they desire to do so. 
 
 AsncLi tV.—Be8tfiction. 
 
 No Article or By-Laws shall be adopted which will conflict with 
 the regulations of the constituent association under which this Club 
 IB OTgmized, nor with those of the National Federation of Betail 
 
 i 
 
 XXHIBIT8. 
 
 317 
 
 Implement and Vehicle Dealers' Associations, of which it is a 
 membw. 
 
 Abtiou Y.—MembersMp, 
 
 Section 1. Any person, firm or corporation engaged in selling at 
 retail Agricultural Implements, Vehicles or Hardware, maintaining 
 a regular place of business, and carrying on hand at all times a stock 
 of goods reasonably sufficient for the territory where located, shall 
 be considered a regular dealer and eligible to membership in this 
 
 club. 
 
 Section 2. The membership fee shall be dollars, payable 
 
 in advance, which shall cover the dues for the first year. The 
 annual dues thereafter to be dollars per year. 
 
 Section 3. Signing these Articles and payment of membership fee 
 * shall entitle an applicant to full membership, unless objection be 
 made, in which case a majority vote of members present shall be 
 required to elect. 
 
 Section 4. Any member may be expelled bv a majority vote, or 
 may withdraw at any time by surrendering his membership card. 
 Also anyone going out of the business which made him eligible shall 
 be considered as withdrawn. 
 
 AimcLB VI. — Officers and their Duties, 
 
 Section 1. The affairs of this Club shall be conducted by a Presi- 
 dent, Vice-President, and a Secretary-Treasurer, who in addition to 
 performing the usual duties of such office, shall, ex-officio, constitute 
 an Executive Committee, which shall have and exercise the full 
 authority of the Club in the interval between meetings. 
 
 Section 2. The President, by and with the consent of the Club, 
 or of the Executive Committee, shall appoint standing committees 
 of three members each on Entertainment, Grievance, and Credits and 
 Collections. 
 
 Section 3. The Entertainment Committee, under general direction 
 of the Club or Executive Committee, shall be charged with the duty 
 of planning and providing suitable entertainment, literary or other- 
 wise, for the various meetings of the Club. . 
 
 Section 4. The Grievance Committee shall be expected to investi- 
 gate and adjust smj difference arising between members of the Club, 
 and anyone continuing to remain a member shall be expected to abide 
 by the decisions of the Grievance Committee, subject, however, to 
 an appeal by either party to the Club or Executive Committee. 
 
 Section 6. The Committee on Credits and Collections shall from 
 time to time devise and submit for the approval of the Club, such 
 plans as in their judgment may be for the best interest of the mem- 
 bers along this line, and shall perform such other duties as may be 
 assigned them by the Club or Executive Committee. 
 
 Section 6. AH officers and standing committees shall hold their 
 office for one year, or until their successors are elected and qualified. 
 
 Abticle VII. — Meetings. 
 
 Section 1. Kegular meetings shall be held as the Club may from 
 time to time direct, but special meetings may be held at any time or 
 
H 
 
 tit 
 ill 
 
 II 
 
 II 
 I 
 
 || 
 
 il 
 
 318 
 
 VABM-MAOHnnSBY TRADE ABSOOIATIOKa 
 
 I>lace on call of the President, or of any two members of the Eiectt- 
 tive Committee. 
 
 Skction 2. Any number of members shall constitute a quorum for 
 the transaction of business, except where an expulsion or an appeal 
 is to be considered, without previous notice to members of such pro- 
 posed consideration, in whicn case a majority of the Club members 
 must be present to make such decision binding. Two shall constitute 
 a quorum of the Executive Committee at any time. 
 
 AixiGLE YJII.—BihLawa ami Amendmaiilt. 
 
 Sectiok 1. The Club or the Executive Committee may enact from 
 time to time such By-Laws as may be found necessary &r the carry- 
 ing out of the provisions of these Articles. 
 
 SBcnoN 2. The Club Articles or the By-Laws may be amended by 
 a two-thirds vote at any regular meeting or special meeting of the 
 Oub, provided a majority of the members are present, or that reason- 
 able notice had been given the members of sach proposed changiw 
 
 ExHiBrr 26. 
 
 HUKBEB 07 MEMBERS Q g RETAIL I MPLEMENT DEALERS' ASSO- 
 CIATIONS AFFILIATED WITH THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF 
 IMFLEMENT A VEHICLE DEALERS' ASSOCIATIONS, 1001-1913.' 
 
 Name of usodatkm. 
 
 iffn 
 
 1902 
 
 1903 
 
 1904 
 
 1905 
 
 1906 
 
 1907 
 
 Western B«tail Implenieiit, Vehicle & Hard- 
 wan Assodatkni 
 
 1,000 
 
 240 
 230 
 
 100 
 
 1,100 
 
 331 
 120 
 
 UO 
 
 1,100 
 
 306 
 1ft) 
 
 180 
 
 1,300 
 
 100 
 333 
 
 1,3S0 
 
 68 
 340 
 
 1,360 
 
 36 
 386 
 
 Laoo 
 
 87 
 340 
 
 188 
 
 IT7 
 
 106 
 180 
 
 190 
 
 98 
 
 Nebraska & Western Iowa Retail Imptomeat 
 
 DflalflTs' A.'wociatioii 
 
 Iowa Implement Dealers' Assodatfon 
 
 Tri-State Vehicle A Implement Dealers' Asso- 
 dation 
 
 Michigan Retail Implement & Vehicle Deal- 
 ers' Association 
 
 
 90 
 
 110 
 119 
 
 130 
 
 160 
 110 
 
 m 
 
 136 
 
 Minnesota Retail Implement Dealers' Aasoeia- 
 tlon 
 
 
 
 
 
 Texas Hardware A Implement Association . . . 
 Illinois Retail Implement Dealers' Associa- 
 tion 
 
 143 
 107 
 
 IGO 
 107 
 
 100 
 100 
 
 396 
 80 
 
 Wisconsin Retail Implement it Vehide DeaU 
 ers' Association 
 
 Betafl Implement Dealers' Assoeiatkm of 
 South Dakota, Southwestern Minnesota 
 A Northwestern Iowa 
 
 137 
 
 Ul 
 
 147 
 
 336 
 
 136 
 
 104 
 
 If 
 
 71 
 
 Colorado Retail Hardware A Implement As- 
 soeiatian 
 
 North Dakota A Northwestern Minnesota 
 Implement Dealers' Association... 
 
 
 
 
 lOS 
 
 63 
 176 
 
 88 
 
 166 
 44 
 
 106 
 4S 
 
 n 
 
 The 'Oklahoma Retail Hardware A Imple- 
 ment Dealers' Association 
 
 
 19 
 280 
 
 10 
 310 
 
 83 
 
 86 
 
 Eastern Vehicle Dealers' Association 
 
 
 Bonthwestem Kansas A Oklahoma Assocbk- 
 tion 
 
 
 
 
 
 Rloe Belt Association 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 U 
 
 18 
 
 Montana Implement Dealers' Assodatlmi 
 
 22 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 1,0S» 
 
 2,378 
 
 3,455 
 
 3,574 
 
 3,335 
 
 3,366 
 
 3,756 
 
 
 « 
 
 'KJI 
 
 # 
 
 ^ 
 
 .1 
 
 
 319 
 
 Vmiiber of members of retaU implement dealers* associations afJUiated toith the 
 National Federation of Implement d Vehicle Dealers' Associations, 1901- 
 ISlS—ConUnued. 
 
 Name of association. 
 
 1908 
 
 1909 
 
 1910 
 
 1911 
 
 1912 
 
 1913 
 
 Western Retail Implement, Vehicle A Hardware As- 
 sociation 
 
 1,400 
 260 
 188 
 
 210 
 105 
 150 
 214 
 
 114 
 
 1,400 
 325 
 300 
 
 307 
 128 
 125 
 232 
 
 200 
 60 
 
 85 
 90 
 
 35 
 
 88 
 
 60 
 
 1,400 
 350 
 400 
 
 400 
 200 
 350 
 250 
 
 250 
 100 
 
 175 
 150 
 
 35 
 
 75 
 
 60 
 
 1450 
 400 
 450 
 
 375 
 200 
 350 
 250 
 
 175 
 125 
 
 200 
 125 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 1,600 
 450 
 450 
 
 350 
 275 
 850 
 200 
 
 200 
 225 
 
 200 
 200 
 
 125 
 
 100 
 
 1 000 
 
 Iowa Implement Dealers' Association 
 
 fiTS 
 
 Trl-State' Vehicle & Implement Dealers' Association.. 
 Michigan Retail Implement A Vehicle Dealers' Asso- 
 
 400 
 
 am 
 
 Minnesota Retail Implement Dealers' Association 
 
 Texas Hardware A Implement Association 
 
 600 
 
 Illinois Retail Implem^t Dealers' Association 
 
 Wisconsin Retail Implement A Vehicle Dealers' Asso- 
 ciation. 
 
 150 
 
 Mid- West Retail Implement Dealers' Assocbtion 
 
 350 
 
 Retail Implement Dealers' Association of South Da- 
 kota, Southwestern Minnesota A Northwestern Iowa. 
 
 Colorado Retail Hardware A Implement Association. . 
 
 The Mississippi Valley Implement A Vehicle Dealers' 
 Association 
 
 124 
 
 74 
 
 100 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 N(»th Dakota A Northwestern Minnesota Implement 
 Dealers' Association 
 
 100 
 60 
 
 ISO 
 
 The Oklahoma Retail Hardware A Implement Deal- 
 ers' Association 
 
 
 Vlr^taJa A North Carolina Retail Implement, Machin- 
 ery & Vehicle Dealers' Association*. 
 
 
 50 
 50 
 
 50 
 
 New York State Retail Implement A Vehide Dealers' 
 Association 
 
 
 48 
 
 50 
 
 50 
 
 50 
 
 Fennsylyania A New Jersey Retail Implement A Ve- 
 hicle Dealers' Association 
 
 
 100 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 2,999 
 
 3,492 
 
 4,245 
 
 4,350 
 
 4,725 
 
 5,126 
 
 
 I Tba Faeifle Northwest Hardware A Implnttent Assodation and the Montana Implement Dealers' 
 Aaoeiattan ww repmoited by thair seoretarte as ddegates in tha annual oanyentlon v Oet U, 14. and 
 lifltM. 
 
 Exhibit 27. 
 
 CARD ENTITLED "SIMPLE SUGGESTIONS ON COST FIGURING," 
 ISSUED IN DECEMBER, 1909, FOR INFORMATION OF DEALERS.' 
 
 First, Charge interest on the net amount of your total investment 
 ' at the beginning of your business year exclusive of real estate. 
 
 Second, Charge rental on all real estate or buildings owned by you 
 and used in your business at a rate equal to that which you would 
 receive if renting or leasing it to others. 
 
 Third, Charge in addition to what you pay for hired help, an 
 amount equal to what your services would be worth to others, also 
 treat in like manner the services of any member of your family em- 
 ployed in the business not on your regular pay roll. 
 
 Fourth, Charge depreciation on all goods carried over on which 
 you may have to make a less price because of change in style, damage 
 or anv other cause. 
 
 Fifth, Charge depreciation on buildings, tools, fixtures or any- 
 thing else suffering from age or wear and tear. 
 
 Sixth, Charge amounts donated or subscriptions paid. 
 
 Seventh, Charge all fixed expense, such as taxes, insurance, wat^r, 
 lights, fuel, etc. 
 
 Eighth, Charge all incidental' expense such as drayage, postage, 
 office supplies, livery or expense of horses and wagons, telegrams and 
 telephones, advertising, canvassing, etc. 
 
 > Itallciied words In this exhibit were printed in black-face type in original. 
 
 
 
 f Hi 
 
)ll 
 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 380 
 
 FABM-MAOHINBBT IIUDB ASSOOIATIOire. 
 
 Ninth. Charge losses of every character including SP°^^}^?' 
 sent^t and not charged, alWances made customers, bad debts, etc 
 
 Tenth. Charge collection expense. 
 
 Eleventh. Charge anv other «»?««»« not «»"'«« J**?;^,?^ J^. _-^_ 
 
 Twelfth. When you have ascertained the sum of all the foregoing 
 itemTprove it by your books, and you will have your total expense 
 fSe^Jelr, ttien Lide this'figureV the total ojf your sales and it 
 will show the per cent which it has cost you to do busing. 
 
 Thirteenth. Ifi^^ this per cent and deduct it from the pnce of ai^ 
 nrticle vou have sold, then subtract from the remainder what it cost 
 you (i/voirprice .id freight) and the result will show your net 
 
 "^'tZ^h^^olT^. selling prices of the various articles you 
 
 '^'^^rfAtt^rseS^ri^Sbe™^ 
 take the total expensed of the old year and divide this by the total 
 S your p^chases for the old ye»r^(mvoice .price and Wht) and 
 the result wUl be the per cent to add to invoice and freight to cover 
 S^^, thm add youfprofit and you have your selling pnce. 
 
 Exhibit 28. 
 
 CoBT Educationai, A880ciation-£ompo8H) or Manotactotbrs, 
 ^BBEBS, Rktau, Mebchanm, Trade Papebs and Tbaveuno 
 
 Organized for the purpose of improviM buriness «>n^ti?«» i^.^' 
 
 «ffig of Agriculfiral ^^^£tf}^jt^^^^ 
 through more correct knowledge of the "Coet« of Doing uusineas. 
 
 gtroQEsnoMS iro. i. 
 
 In offering the within suggestions and rules we do so with the 
 kn^ledge that no two business houses are on the same baas either 
 
 "'f£e'"£kt^g?oTexSnL''nne can not safely be applied to 
 anottier^OT should any general average of expense be used, you 
 Muirteow for YOTJKSiir what touk expenses are and in the very 
 woK out of them you will be rewarded, for to know «^ery impor- 
 tmtdetoil of your business not only puts you m command but you 
 S^tlos^a^ dollar unknowingly as is now true in many cases 
 
 ""SpSJci&Sown in the wilWn suggestions can be applied 
 to any retail business with profit. If every merchant can be induced 
 to ^7oyiA<> in his seUing prices all his costs, rumous competition will 
 ^p^ar, for the meaiuVe of profit can safely be left with the man 
 who knows his exact expense. 
 
 ,' 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 ■XPLANATIOIT (OF ITEMS ON OPPOSITE PAGE [iN TABLE BELOW]). 
 
 321 
 
 1. Taxes. Include all taxes and licenses. 
 
 2. Insurance. Fire and all protection except life insurance. 
 
 3. Fuel, light and water. 
 
 4. Rent. Include rent of all property used in the business or if 
 owned by you, consider an amount equal to what it would cost if 
 rented from others. 
 
 5. Salaries. Include amounts to cover salaries of proprietor, part- 
 ners, officers or members of their families employed in the business, 
 equal to what their services would command elsewhere, if not already 
 on your pay roll. 
 
 6. Clerk hire. Incl. canvassers and extra labor. 
 
 7. Advertising. Include all monejr expended in advertising, or en- 
 tertainment of customers in promoting trade. 
 
 8. FjXfress, telephone and telegraph. Include all amounts ex- 
 pended for these items where not added to invoice price of goods or 
 charged to customer. 
 
 9. Office supplies, postage, etc. Include all bills for stationery, 
 ink, pens, pencils, postage stamps, etc. 
 
 10. Store supplies. Include all bills for wrapping paper, twine, 
 boxes, crating, brooms, etc. 
 
 11. Livery, drayage, etc. Figure in all expenses of these items 
 where hired of others. 
 
 12. Horses and wagons. If owned by you figure all expenses of 
 
 their upkeep. 
 
 13. Repairs. This item should include all amounts paid to keep 
 buildings in order if not figured in rent, also repairs on fixtures and 
 equipment. 
 
 14. Depreciation. Include a proper deduction (some say 10%) 
 from your last inventory of fixtures, tools and other personal prop- 
 erty subject to decline in value because of wear and tear. Also de- 
 preciate goods carried over which can not be sold at full or regular 
 
 prices. 
 
 16. Deductions. Include amounts allowed customers for damage 
 or any cause whatever. 
 
 16. Donations and subscriptions. Include money or goods do- 
 nated to charity or public enterprises. (Private charities not in- 
 cluded.) 
 
 17. Losses. Include notes and accounts which are imcollectible, 
 also amounts paid attorneys for collections, and goods lost or stolen 
 or sent out and not charged. 
 
 18. Miscellaneous expenses. Include all expenses not provided 
 
 for above. 
 
 19. Interest on total investment. Figure interest on your total 
 assets at the beginning of your business year (cash, notes, accounts, 
 merchandise, etc.). If this is done it insures your getting profits at 
 least equal to interest had your capital been loaned instead of 
 invested. 
 
 68248'— 15 21 
 
'.Sk 
 
 1% 
 
 il 
 
 322 
 
 FABM-MACHINEBY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 COST OF DOING BUSINESS — YK4BLT STATEMENT. 
 
 1. Tnm. •..•... 
 
 
 
 12. Home and Wagwis. 
 
 
 
 
 
 13. Repairs 
 
 
 3. TnimraiiM 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 H. IHnraciatka 
 
 
 3. Fntl. Tftriit. Wittr. Etc. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1>. Dtdnctkniii ........,-- 
 
 
 4 B«Bt 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 16. Doitati<nis asd Subscriptions 
 
 17. T/fflUMff 
 
 
 & SalariM 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 «. OtrkHira 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 18. Miscellaneous expenses 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 19. Intwest on Total Investment 
 
 Total expense 
 
 
 &. Exprws, Ttl«ph. and Teleg 
 
 
 
 
 
 «. Offiot Supplies, Postage, Etc 
 
 
 
 
 
 Totel sales. 
 
 
 10. Stan Snovlies 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 11. Livery. DraTase. Etc. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^,4,^ 
 
 «l 
 
 Per Cent — Cost of doing business. 
 
 Bum: — ^Divide Total Expense by Total Sales and result will be per 
 cent of cost to do business. 
 
 To fix selling prices see rule on next page [below]. 
 
 TABLE FOB FINDING THE SELLING PRICE OF ANY ABTIOLE. 
 
 
 Net per cent profit desired. 
 
 
 
 Cost to do 
 
 
 
 
 business. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 79 
 
 7 
 78 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 
 12 
 
 13 
 
 14 
 
 15 
 
 20 
 65 
 
 25 
 
 60 
 
 30 
 
 35 
 
 40 
 
 50 
 
 im 
 
 84 
 
 83 
 
 S3 
 
 81 
 
 80 
 
 77 
 
 76 
 
 75 
 
 74 
 
 73 
 
 72 
 
 71 
 
 TO 
 
 55 
 
 50 
 
 45 
 
 35 
 
 10% 
 
 83 
 
 82 
 
 81 
 
 80 
 
 79 
 
 78 
 
 77 
 
 76 
 
 75 
 
 74 
 
 73 
 
 72 
 
 71 
 
 TO 
 
 69 
 
 64 
 
 59 
 
 54 
 
 49 
 
 44 
 
 34 
 
 17% 
 
 82 
 
 81 
 
 80 
 
 79 
 
 78 
 
 77 
 
 76 
 
 75 
 
 74 
 
 73 
 
 73 
 
 71 
 
 TO 
 
 69 
 
 6S 
 
 63 
 
 58 
 
 53 
 
 48 
 
 43 
 
 33 
 
 |MJl 
 
 81 
 
 80 
 
 79 
 
 78 
 
 77 
 
 76 
 
 75 
 
 74 
 
 73 
 
 73 
 
 71 
 
 TO 
 
 69 
 
 68 
 
 67 
 
 62 
 
 57 
 
 52 
 
 47 
 
 42 
 
 32 
 
 19m 
 
 80 
 
 79 
 
 78 
 
 77 
 
 76 
 
 75 
 
 74 
 
 73 
 
 73 
 
 71 
 
 TO 
 
 69 
 
 68 
 
 67 
 
 66 
 
 61 
 
 56 
 
 51 
 
 46 
 
 41 
 
 31 
 
 30^ 
 
 79 
 
 78 
 
 77 
 
 76 
 
 75 
 
 74 
 
 73 
 
 73 
 
 71 
 
 TO 
 
 69 
 
 68 
 
 67 
 
 66 
 
 65 
 
 60 
 
 55 
 
 50 
 
 45 
 
 40 
 
 30 
 
 21% 
 
 78 
 
 77 
 
 76 
 
 75 
 
 74 
 
 73 
 
 73 
 
 71 
 
 TO 
 
 69 
 
 68 
 
 67 
 
 66 
 
 65 
 
 64 
 
 59 
 
 54 
 
 49 
 
 44 
 
 39 
 
 29 
 
 HVyL 
 
 77 
 
 76 
 
 75 
 
 74 
 
 73 
 
 72 
 
 71 
 
 TO 
 
 69 
 
 6S 
 
 67 
 
 66 
 
 65 
 
 64 
 
 63 
 
 58 
 
 53 
 
 48 
 
 43 
 
 38 
 
 28 
 
 39% 
 
 7e 
 
 75 
 
 74 
 
 73 
 
 73 
 
 71 
 
 70 
 
 69 
 
 68 
 
 67 
 
 66 
 
 65 
 
 64 
 
 63 
 
 62 
 
 57 
 
 52 
 
 47 
 
 42 
 
 37 
 
 27 
 
 ^ 
 
 75 
 
 74 
 
 73 
 
 72 
 
 71 
 
 TO 
 
 60 
 
 68 
 
 67 
 
 66 
 
 65 
 
 64 
 
 63 
 
 62 
 
 61 
 
 56 
 
 51 
 
 46 
 
 41 
 
 36 
 
 26 
 
 74 
 
 73 
 
 73 
 
 71 
 
 TO 
 
 69 
 
 68 
 
 67 
 
 66 
 
 65 
 
 64 
 
 63 
 
 62 
 
 61 
 
 60 
 
 55 
 
 50 
 
 45 
 
 40 
 
 35 
 
 25 
 
 BULE. 
 
 Divide the cost (invoice price with freight added) by the fi^re in 
 the column of " net rate per cent profit desired " on the line with per 
 cent it costs you to do business. 
 
 Example: 
 
 If a wagon cost $60.00 
 
 Freight 1. 20 
 
 61.20 
 
 You desire to make a net profit of 5% 
 
 It costs yon to do business 19% 
 
 Take the figure in column 5 on line with 19 which is 76 
 
 76 1 61.2000 I $80.52=the selUng price. 
 
 ^608 
 
 400 
 380 
 200 
 152 
 
 ^ 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 Exhibit 29. 
 
 323 
 
 COST SYSTEM BECOMMENDED FOR THE USE OF THE MEMBERS OF 
 THE NATIONAL IMPLEMENT AND VEHICLE ASSOCIATION OF THE 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
 (Published bj the AssocUitioii, 1912. General Offices: 76 W. Monroe Street, Chicago. 
 
 Illinois.) 
 
 [Index omitted.] 
 
 FOREWORD. 
 
 The value of an adequate system of Costs to a modern business 
 is undiluted, for the greater portion of our trade evils, particularly 
 those or competition, result from lack of knowledge of these essen- 
 tials. If the line separating profit from loss is not illuminated and 
 made to stand clearly before us by our cost and expense figures, 
 how can we hope for gain and growth? It is rather to emphasize 
 this than to present a perfect system that these suggestions are 
 compiled. 
 
 The present system is the result of the revision of a similar plan 
 published by the National Plow Association and compiled by its 
 Secretary, Mr. C. E. Sanders, under the direction of Mr. G. W. 
 Crampton, who continues as Chairman of the Committee on Manu- 
 facturing Costs of this Association. This revision was submitted 
 by Mr. Crampton at the Annual Convention of the National Imple- 
 ment & Vehicle Association at Cleveland, Ohio, October 24, 1912. 
 The Convention ordered the publication of the system for the use 
 of the members. 
 
 The principles of this system are of general application, and they 
 can be used oy all concerns in the lines comprehended within the 
 term — '^ Farm Operating Equipment." 
 
 THE SYSTE3I IN OUTLINE. 
 
 The method of determination of the cost of production, and mar- 
 keting or distribution of any article, involves many considerations 
 and the detailed treatment of the elements of this cost. In general 
 the total cost is made up of the cost of manufacture, and the cost of 
 marketing or distribution. Each of these main divisions includes so 
 many elements that it is considered advisable to set forth in outline 
 the phases which will be considered. They are as follows : 
 
 1. COST OF GOODS IN WAREHOUSE. 
 
 This includes all manufacturing expense imder the following head- 
 ings : 
 
 (a) Costs of material. 
 
 (b) Costs of labor. 
 
 (1) Productive labor. 
 
 (2) Non-Productive labor. 
 
 (c) Other manufacturing expense. 
 
 2. BALES AND ADMINISTBATIVE EXPENSE. 
 
 Sales and Administrative Expense is considered under two head- 
 ings depending upon whether the distribution is to the jobber or to 
 the retail dealer. 
 
^ 
 
 II 
 
 I 
 
 324 
 
 VABM-MAOHUnBBY TBMȣ ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 •• VOVAL KZPENSK. 
 
 The totil expense is, of course, the sum of all contributing elements 
 considered. If the delivered cost is desired, freight charges should 
 be added. 
 
 THE SYSTEM IN DETAIL. 
 
 The Cost ow Goods in Wabbhouss. 
 
 MATEBIAL, 
 
 Items Included. 
 
 Steel 
 
 Malleables 
 
 Lumber 
 
 Bolts 
 
 and all other materials. 
 
 General Considerations, 
 
 All material should be considered at Cost Price. 
 
 In figuring steel and lumber use sizes purchased, i. e., use size and 
 weight before drilling, punching or cutting is done. 
 
 A proper percentage for waste should be allowed, including waste 
 bv errors in manufacture or defective material or material rendered 
 
 obsolete. 
 
 An amount should be figured and reduced to a percentage to cover 
 loss in using material not according to specifications or material pur- 
 chased from jobbing stock on which there is waste. 
 
 This percentage should also include extra freight paid, bonus 
 prices and all differences in prices paid in excess of contract on 
 which costs are based. 
 
 Unless provided for by an interest charge on capital and surplus, 
 as explained under Other Manufacturing Expenses, the interest 
 charge should be added to cost of material by reason of carrying 
 charges on material from the average date of purchase imtil the 
 average date of delivery of goods in the warehouse. In the figuring 
 of this average, material carried on inventory should be taken into 
 account. In figuring the cost of lumber, which is carried on longer 
 time, the carrying charge should be considered. 
 
 LABOB. 
 
 All labor is divided into two general classes— Productive labor and 
 Non-J*roductive labor. 
 
 Productive labor is the labor put directly on the article under 
 manufacture. Non-Productive labor is that labor which is not asso- 
 ciated directly with the article under manufacture, but is necessary 
 for the operation of the factory. 
 
 Productive labor may be figured for each individual job, i. e., 
 for each implement or article and is determined directly from 
 workmen's time slips. 
 
 Non-Productive labor on the contrary must be figured in a dif- 
 ferent manner. The most practical means is to separate the items 
 of productive and non-productive labor and determine the ratio of 
 
 % 
 
 m$ 
 
 ^' t t 
 
 f ■ >i 
 
 
 I: 
 
 il 
 
 EXHIBITS. 325 
 
 the total non-productive labor of the factory to the productive 
 labor for a given period, such as a month, or year. After such a 
 figure has been obtained with sufficient accuracy, the percentage may 
 be used to apply to the productive labor to any article imder manu- 
 facture and secure the cost of non-productive labor on the article. 
 
 1, Productive Labor, 
 Items Included. 
 
 1. Day work. 
 
 2. Piece work. 
 
 3. Boxing or crating for domestic trade. 
 
 4. Boxing or crating for foreign trade, etc 
 
 General Considerations. 
 
 Under this heading should be included only the actual specific 
 labor performed on any piece of work. 
 
 Care should be taken to allow sufficiently for changing dies, forms, 
 etc., unless accounted for in Non-Productive labor. Labor lost upon 
 work which is defective or which is spoiled in manufacturing should 
 be considered. It is in these two items that there is oftentimes an 
 underestimate. If there is an underestimate the amount of produc- 
 tive labor in each article is figured too low, likewise the non-pro- 
 ductive labor which is based upon productive labor (explanation 
 later) is figured correspondingly too low, and the total labor costs 
 suffer from the double error. To guard against an underestimate, 
 a check should be made monthly of the productive labor in total by 
 making a comparison of the total productive labor as figured on the 
 cost sheets with the total productive labor shown by the pay roll or 
 labor account, and if the cost sheets show less productive labor than 
 the total of the pay roll, add the proper percentage to cover this dif- 
 ference. (See System of Accounts.) 
 
 Illustration. 
 
 Pay Roll : 
 
 Total wages paid for productive labor in all departments for 
 
 the month $5, 000. 00 
 
 Cost Sheet: 
 
 Productive labor on implements finished and partly finished dur- 
 ing the month j. 4, 750. 00 
 
 Loss 250. 00 
 
 which is five per cent of the actual productive labor cost. This per- 
 centage, therefore, should be added to the productive labor items 
 shown on the cost sheet in computing the cost of any tool. 
 
 Non-productive labor. 
 
 Items Included. 
 
 1. Foreman and department clerks. 
 
 2. Engineers and firemen. 
 
 3. Oilers and elevator men. 
 
 4. Watchmen and gate keepers. 
 
 5. Teamsters and helpers, except one-half for shipping. 
 
 6. Roustabouts. 
 
 7. Expert work, viz., analysis of paint, iron, etc. 
 
 8. Lining fumaoes. 
 
Hill 
 
 ><l 
 
 II 
 
 
 326 
 
 FAEM-MACHINEBY TKADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 9. Changing dies (unless charged in productive labor). 
 
 10. Repairs on returned implements. 
 
 11. Changing over implements, 
 
 12. Experimental work. 
 
 13. Extra labor on Fair goods. 
 
 14. Cost of taking inventory. 
 
 15. Miscellaneous (any other items not specified above which art 
 non-productive labor). 
 
 16. Labor on maintenance of plant : 
 
 Bepairs on tools and machinery, 
 Bepairs on fixtures. 
 Repairs to plant. 
 Repairs to patterns. 
 
 17. Shipping cost (unless included in Sales and Administrative 
 Expenses). 
 
 General Congiderations, 
 
 The total of the items above in dollars and cents should be re- 
 duced to a percentage of the total productive labor. Having ob- 
 tained this percentage it is easy to obtain the non-productive labor 
 cost for any article by applying the percentage found to the pro- 
 ductive labor on the article. 
 
 • 
 
 Illustration, 
 
 If the productive labor of any article amounts to $1.00 plus the 
 loss of 5% as illustrated under the subject of productive labor, thus 
 making the actual productive labor $1.05 and the non-productive 
 labor when reduced to a percentage amounts to 80%, 84c would 
 be the amount to add to the productive labor, making the total labor 
 on the article $1.89. 
 
 Method of Apportioning Labor, 
 
 In order to carry out the foregoing instructions, a record should 
 be kept of the distribution of labor, separating the productive from 
 the non-productive labor as well as from items chargeable to other 
 
 accounts. 
 
 This can be accomplished by providing each foreman with a 
 printed list showing the productive labor items and the non-produc- 
 tive labor items separately as indicated above, and assigning to each 
 item an account number. 
 
 The foreman should then mark on the time sheet the number of 
 the account on which the labor is expended. These time slips can 
 be checked in the office with the pay roll and the percentages for pro- 
 ductive and non-productive labor ascertained. 
 
 As the plan herein set forth contemplates the determination of a 
 base price delivered in the warehouse, the shipping expense should 
 be figured as part of the Sales and Administrative Expenses. In 
 some cases, this may not be convenient or desirable, and if so, the 
 shipping expense may be included in Non-Productive Labor, in 
 which case the prices would be figured f . o. b. cars or depot. 
 
 OTHEB MANUFACTUBINO EXPENSES. 
 
 This division includes those expenses which are incident to the 
 operation of the factory but which can not be associated directly with 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 327 
 
 a particular article under manufacture. It is necessary, therefore, 
 to obtain the expense on an individual article in a roundabout way, 
 and this is best accomplished by determining the amoimt of such 
 expense and finding the percentage which it is of the labor, produc- 
 tive and non-productive, expended on the article. This can be done 
 by taking the expense over an interval of time, a year for example, 
 and obtaining the figure. 
 
 I terns Inclvded, 
 
 1. Fuel under boilers and all other fuels except for foundry. 
 
 2. Water costs, if any. 
 
 3. General supplies, including files, emery, glue, emery wheels, 
 twist drills, reamers, machinery oilers, borax, tempering solutions, 
 etc. 
 
 4. Insurance, fire, accident, etc. (proportion chargeable to manu- 
 facturing) . 
 
 5. Taxes — real estate and personal (proportion chargeable to man- 
 ufacturing). 
 
 6. Interest on borrowed money (proportion chargeable to manu- 
 facturing) . 
 
 7. Depreciation. 
 
 8. Overhead, including salaries of superintendent, purchasing 
 agent, timekeepers, clerks, etc. 
 
 9. Barn account (one-half chargeable to shipping). 
 
 10. Factory stationery and supplies. 
 
 11. Light. 
 
 12. Donations chargeable to manufacturing. 
 
 13. Rent (if any). 
 
 14. Miscellaneous. 
 
 General Considerations. 
 
 In connection with the inclusion of interest, it is recognized that 
 there are many who oppose the application of interest as an item of 
 manufacturing cost. Others, however, among the highest authori- 
 ties, for example — Cole, Chase, Nicholson, etc. — advocate this method 
 of accounting, and it is believed that it is only a question of time 
 when it will become universal. It is not a difficult matter if desired 
 to apply the interest cost actually where it belongs. The book 
 charges may be ignored and the interest applied against each item 
 of cost, including carrying charges on material and interest on plant, 
 up to the point where the goods are delivered in the warehouse, and 
 the selling interest cost (shown below) computed from the average 
 date of delivery in the warehouse to average date of payment. 
 
 Others prefer to charge to cost, a moderate rate of interest on the 
 capijtal, surplus, and undivided profits invested in the plant. 
 
 The total of the items above in dollars and cents should be reduced 
 to a percentage of the total productive and non-productive labor paid 
 during the year (less such items as are included in manufacturing 
 expense) it is then possible, having obtained the productive and non- 
 productive labor costs as above, to find the other manufacturing 
 expense cost for any article by applying the percentage obtained to 
 the productive and non-productive labor costs. 
 
 Illustration. 
 
 If the total productive labor on a given article amounts to $1.05, 
 as shown above, and likewise the non-productive labor is 84c, the 
 
HI! 
 
 Ill 
 
 I'i 
 
 r 
 
 Li i 1. 
 
 328 
 
 WMBM-MiJOSaSMMY XBADB ▲8800IATI0N& 
 
 total labor cost being $1.8d, this is the figure to which the percentage 
 for other manufacturing expense should be applied. Assuming that 
 this percentage is 60%, then H^c will be the " other manufacturing 
 expense " cost on this particular article. 
 
 Sales amd Administsatiti Bzmin. 
 
 Sales and Administrative expenses are considered under two gen- 
 eral headings— expense for distribution to jobbers and expense for 
 distribution to retail dealers. 
 
 The method of determination of the cost for these two classes of 
 distribution is shown separately below. 
 
 MSTBIBUTION TO JOBBBI. 
 
 Items Included, 
 
 1. Shipping cost (imless included in Non-Productive Labor). 
 
 2. Salaries and traveling expense of officers and others such as 
 
 travelers or experts delegated to look after the jobbing trade. 
 8. Proportion of office salaries other than above (chargeable to 
 the jobbing trade). 
 
 4. Proportion of interest, insurance, taxes and advertismg, in- 
 
 cluding wood cuts, electrotypes, postage, etc. (chargeable to 
 jobbing trade). 
 
 5. Allowances: 
 
 fa) For defective repairs. 
 
 fb) For blacksmith work, 
 (c) Other allowances from invoice price. 
 
 6. All other items not mentioned above. 
 
 General Camidertttions. 
 
 As stated under the heading— Other Manufacturing Expenses, 
 interest on borrowed money or on the goods at cost prices, should be 
 included and can be figured from the average date of dehvery m the 
 warehouse to average date of payment. , . -, „ j 
 
 The total of the items enumerated above figured in dollars and 
 cents should be reduced to a percentage of the annual sales after 
 deducting cash discounts, sales freight, returned goods, sales and 
 administrative expense and profit 
 
 lUustroHan, 
 
 Total annual sales of a factory less cash discount, sales 
 freight, returned goods and other items leaving the net 
 
 StTO&R cost __——————.— — __———————————•——"••*"""""■"*"**""■*""* 
 
 Sales and Administrative expense applicable to the Jobbing 
 trade, one-fourth of total of $15,000 or — — _— — ?3,7W 
 
 Sales and Administrative expense applicable to the retaU trade, 
 tliree-fourths of total of $15,000 or -^-^'^^ 
 
 1100,000 
 
 Profit estimated at.. 
 
 15,000 
 .- 10,000 
 
 76,000 
 
 Net cost F. O. B. cars factory 
 
 Assume that one-half of this amount, or $37,500, is distributed to 
 the jobbing trade. The Sales and Administrative Expense, charge- 
 able to jobbing trade is $3,750.00, and the proper percentage to apply 
 in determining the cost of any article is 10%. 
 
 J 
 
 
 ^' .if 
 
 i 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 DISTRIBUTION TO RETAIL DEALERS. 
 
 329 
 
 Items Included. 
 
 1. Shipping cost (unless included in Non-Productive Labor). 
 
 2. Salaries and traveling expense of officers, travelers, etc., as 
 above. 
 
 3. The office salaries, including all not chargeable to manufactur- 
 ing and jobbing expense. 
 
 4. Transfer expense. 
 
 5. Loss on notes and accounts. 
 
 6. Proportion of interest, insurance, taxes and advertising, includ- 
 ing wood cuts, electrotypes, chargeable to retail sales. 
 
 T. General office expense, postage, etc. 
 
 8. Fair or other exhibition expense. 
 
 9. General expert work on implements. 
 
 10. Exchange on customers' checks and other collection expense. 
 
 11. Allowances: 
 '&) For defective repairs. 
 
 b) For blacksmith work. 
 
 c) Other allowances from invoice price. 
 
 12. All other items not mentioned above. 
 
 Illustration. 
 
 Assuming the same factory as was illustrated in the paragraph 
 preceding, the net cost of goods distributed through the retail trade 
 is $37,500. Assume also that the sum of the items of sales and admin- 
 istrative expense chargeable to the retail trade is $11,250, then the 
 percentage of the sales and administrative expense for the retail trade 
 to the total costs of goods to the retail trade is 30%. This percentage 
 then is to be used in determining the sale and administrative cost on 
 an individual article, which is to be distributed through the retail 
 trade. 
 
 Total Ck)ST. 
 Illustration, 
 
 Coat of 60-Tooth lever harrow. 
 
 Material $4.50 
 
 Productive labor — 50 cents, add 5% .525 
 
 Non-productive labor 80% of productive labor .42 
 
 Other manufacturing expense 50% of productive and non-productive 
 labor . 4725 
 
 Total cost f. o. b. warehouse 5. 9175 
 
 Distrihution to jobber. 
 
 Cost f. o. b. warehouse $5. 9175 
 
 Sales and administrative expense 10% of above cost . 5917 
 
 Total cost f. o. b. cars factory 6. 5092 
 
 Distribution to retail dealer. 
 
 Cost f. o. b. warehouse $5. 9175 
 
 Sales and administrative expense 30% of above cost 1. 7752 
 
 Total cost t o. b. factory — ■■-„„■ ,,— , 7. 6927 
 
II 
 
 II 
 
 H 
 
 I 
 
 sao 
 
 FARM-MAGHINEBT TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 GOODS SOLD DEUVEBED. 
 
 If goods are sold deUvered, add the cost of their freight 
 
 SYSTEM OF ACC50UNT8. 
 
 For use in connection with the foregoing Cost System the follow- 
 ing general system of accounts is suggested : 
 
 Account No. 1. To include all materials used in the construction 
 of implements. It may be deemed best to have separate accounts 
 for pig iron, steel, lumber, paints and varnishes, etc. 
 
 Account No. 2. To include all Manufacturing Expense materials, 
 viz.: Steam, coal, machinery oils and all other items not computed 
 directly in the cost of implements. 
 
 Account No. 3. Productive Labor for all departments, except 
 Foundry, as reported on daily time cards. 
 
 Account No. 4. Non-Productive Labor, including foremen, factory 
 clerks, laborers, etc., as reported on daily time cards except Foundry 
 and Shipping Department. 
 
 Account No. 5. Shippers and all labor handling finished goods at 
 warehouse, loading cars, etc., as reported on daily time cards. 
 
 Separate accounts should be kept for the Foundry and these will 
 be described under the subject — Cost System for Foundry — which 
 follows. 
 
 7AGT0RT It)RMS. 
 
 The following represent a' few forms necessary and applicable to 
 any implement factory : 
 
 1. Workmen's Daily Time Card, showing name, date, kind and 
 quantity of work, also prices paid for day or piece work. A complete 
 record of all workmen's day wages and piece work wages, approved 
 by the Superintendent, should be on me with the time-keeper to 
 check up tne workman's daily time cards. 
 
 2. Specifications. A full set of specifications showing every item 
 used in the construction of each machine should be made up and can 
 be used for ordering material and for recording material and labor 
 prices. 
 
 3. Order Forms.— Loose Leaf or Cards. For all orders on factory, 
 including complete implements and parts, dies, patterns, and repairs 
 of all kinds. Written order should be used in every case. 
 
 4. Material Records. — Loose Leaf or Book. For keeping record of 
 each and all kinds of material, including steel of all kinds and sizes, 
 malleables, lumber, bolts, etc. This book should represent a record 
 of all purchase orders and factory orders showing the waste or loss 
 in addition. 
 
 6. Production Form. For the use of all departments to report 
 their daily production. 
 
 COST SYSTEM FOR FOUNDRY, MAKING GREY IRON CASTINGS. 
 
 It is recommended that a foundry be operated independent of the 
 other branches of the business. 
 
 
 4 ' 1^ 
 
 "♦>•*■/ 
 
 1^ lf<"l 
 
 
 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 331 
 
 All of the principal materials are purchased by weight, the finished 
 product is computed by weight and for these reasons the Costs should 
 be easily obtained. 
 
 SYSTEM aF AC5C50UNTB. 
 
 A system of accounts is first necessary and the following ai« 
 suggested : 
 
 1. Materials Account. 
 
 This account is to be charged with all productive materials includ- 
 ing pig iron, scrap iron, coke for cupolas, etc. 
 
 Credit this account with materials as used. A daily record should 
 be kept of all materials. This account should correspond with inven- 
 tory taken at the end of the fiscal year. 
 
 2. Manufacturing Account. 
 
 This account should be charged with all materials received from 
 the material account and all productive labor including moulders' 
 and core makers' wages. 
 
 Credit this account with all good castings monthly and at a price 
 based on costs. 
 
 This account should be closed into the profit and loss account at the 
 end of the fiscal year. 
 
 S. Other Manufacturing Expense Account. 
 
 This account should be charged as follows: 
 
 Expense Materials: Sands of all kinds, facings, rosin, machinery 
 oils, steam coal, fuel for core oven, etc. 
 
 Non-Productive Labor: Foremen, clerks, laborers, grinders, chip- 
 pers, furnacemen, engineers, firemen, etc. 
 
 This account should be charged with the rent of the building, or 
 interest on plant, power (if furnished from main power plant), and 
 an amount as may be agreed upon for Administrative Expense, in- 
 cluding taxes, insurance, depreciation, etc. Equipment subject to 
 especial or excessive depreciation such as flasks and follow boards 
 should be taken into account. 
 
 This account should be closed into Manufacturing Account at the 
 end of the fiscal year. 
 
 General Considerations. 
 
 The finished castings should be carefully inspected, weighed and 
 charged to the same account as malleable castings, steel and other like 
 materials. 
 
 This set of accounts should be charged with all expense of operat- 
 ing the foundry so as to determine the exact Cost of its finished 
 product. 
 
 The total debit balance of No. 2 and No. 3 Accounts for any calen- 
 dar month or year, divided by the total good castings produced dur- 
 ing the same period, should give the net Cost per pound. 
 
 This system can be enlarged upon by adding extra Accounts to 
 show the Cost of the Core Department and Milling or Cleaning 
 Department. 
 
»l 
 
 I 
 
 332 
 
 FARM-MACHINEBY TBADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 In a foundry making both light and heavy castings it is recom- 
 mended that a record be kept for each class of castings, as the hght 
 castings will cost considerably more than the heavy castings— for 
 example— in an implement factory manufacturing hght castings 
 for com planters and heavy castings for hay pre^s, ^^ }^^^^^ 
 likely that the com planter castings will cost as much as $20.00 per 
 net ton more than the heavy castings. 
 
 ESBOBS lO BE AVOIDED IN THE USB OF A CX)8T SYSTEM. 
 
 In the application of any cost system it is easy to overlook many 
 important items which may appear small and perhaps negligible, but 
 which, when combined, have a pronounced and unexpected effect on 
 the total cost of an article. 
 
 It is the purpose of this chapter to bring out some of the common 
 errors appearing in the usual methods of figuring costs and explam- 
 ing how and why they should be avoided. 
 
 In the preceding pages an effort has been made to explain every 
 step carefully, but perhaps a comparison of the commonly used 
 methods with the principles advocated m this system will be of 
 assistance in arriving at true costs. 
 
 r«CTCQST 
 
 A.66 ACTUAL COST 
 
 rmnrmr. 
 
 77 
 
 NATEMAL 
 400 
 
 COST 
 6O0 
 
 TOTAL 
 FACTORY 
 COST 
 7.00 
 
 TOTAL 
 COiT 
 7.70 
 
 SELLING 
 
 PRICE 
 
 a47 
 
 The chart opposite [above] has been prepared by Mr. (>• W. 
 Crampton, and shows graphically the various items of cost which 
 contribute to the total cost and are hence involved in determining the 
 selling price of any article. The effect of the various common omis- 
 sions and errors which will be discussed, is also shown. 
 
 It will be seen that the elements of the total cost are the same as 
 those considered m previous pages. The first element is Material, 
 the next Labor (productive and non-productive) ; the sum of these 
 two costs is known as the Prime Cost. The Prime Cost with Other 
 Manufacturing Expenses added gives Total Factory Cost. Ihe lotal 
 Cost includes m addition the Sales and Administrative Expense; to 
 determine the Selling Price an amount representmg profit is added 
 
 ^ For the purposes of illustration, actual fibres will be used, and thd 
 implement miaer consideration is a tillage implement 
 
 % 
 
 
 ijl n 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 838 
 
 The cost of material is taken at $4.00, the Labor cost $2.00, of 
 which $1.00 is productive labor cost, and a like amount non-produc- 
 tive labor cost. The Prime Cost is, therefore, $6.00. The Other 
 Manufacturing Expense amounts to $1.00 as commonly figured, the 
 Sales and Administrative Expense 70c. The Total Factory Cost is 
 then $7.00 and the Total Cost is $7.70, with a profit estimated at 10% 
 on the cost, the Selling Price would he $8.47. 
 
 It will also be assumed that in determination of the cost as com- 
 monly figured, i. e., — the method which gives a selling price of $8.47, 
 there have been no errors in figuring percentages, and that the items 
 of cost as displayed by the books have been properly included. 
 
 Consider now some of the omissions and errors which caused this 
 figured selling price of $8.47 to be less actually than the real total 
 cost. These omissions and errors will be considered in connection 
 with the various elements making up the Total Cost. 
 
 MATEBIALS. 
 
 It is assumed that the concern making this article puts its products 
 in the warehouse on an average date of February 15th. In figuring 
 the costs of material it has been taken at invoice price. It did not 
 come to the factory, however, on the day it was used. Perhaps there 
 was a large supply of the material carried over from one season to 
 another. In fact it is safe to say that in order to place goods in the 
 warehouse February 15th, the material will have to be carried four 
 or five months on the average. Hence it will he necessary to make 
 a carrying charge on the material^ and this will he figured arhi- 
 trarily at 2%, 
 
 Very likely some of the material used includes material bought 
 from store, material on which extra freight had to be paid, or, on 
 which there has been a bonus price and material purchased at a price 
 in excess of contract. This cost of material over contract prices is 
 placed arhitrarily at ^%, and it is believed that with the conditions 
 existing during the year 1912, that this is very conservative. 
 
 It is necessary, also, to include in the Materials Cost, the material 
 waited in manufacture and this loss is taken arhitrarily at 2%. This, 
 of course, would be entirely too low on wood work for example, but 
 for the purpose of this illustration it is better to underestimate than 
 to overestimate. 
 
 From the chart it will be seen that the losses from these three 
 sources, namely — carrying charges, extra costs over contract, wastes 
 in process — increase the wMerial cost a total of $03^5, 
 
 LABOB. 
 
 One of the commonest omissions is labor on waste material. Again 
 it has been forgotten, perhaps, that each piece manufactured is not 
 turned out continuously throughout the year, but sometimes quick 
 changes have to be made and day work prices have to be paid rather 
 than piece work prices. It will he assumed that these omissions 
 aggregate 5%. 
 
 Having figured the productive labor cost too low and the non- 
 productive cost heing hosed on the productive^ a douhle error is made 
 80 that it is necessary to add a similar percentage — 6% to non-pro- 
 
■■■ 
 
 ll ^It 
 
 S34 
 
 PAKM-MACHINEBY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 dueUve labor, even if nio error is made in the computation of non- 
 productive labor itself. 
 
 OTHER UANUFACTUBIHO EXPENSE. 
 
 Other Manufacturing Expense is based on the total labor, and on 
 account of the errors in the labor cost, the Other Manufacturing Ex- 
 pense cost is too low. 
 
 In the figures used, the Other Manufacturing Expense was 50% 
 of the total labor expended. After making corrections, total labor 
 is found to be $2.10 instead of $2.00 ; hence the Other Manufactur- 
 ing Expense should be $1.05 or an addition of five cents. 
 
 However, there is another item which very likely has been neg- 
 lected, and that is interest on the plant As explained previously, 
 many cost accountants do not take this item into consideration, but 
 if it is not done the selling price will be too low, and its omission 
 will contribute to an actualloss on the article when it is believed that 
 it is being made at a very fair profit. 
 
 Professor Wm. Morse Cole of Harvard University, an authority 
 on the subject, says : 
 
 I believe accountants are coming more and more largely to favor the treat- 
 ment of interest on plant as cost ; at least the number taking this side is com- 
 ing to my attention rather frequently. The main argument can be stated in a 
 few words; if interest is disregarded heavy costs for equipment may be in- 
 curred to make a slight saving in labor and the reduction in labor cost will 
 show in the annual figures; whereas the cost (in interest) of the equipment 
 does not Fhow ; and thus the investment in labor saving machinery may appear 
 as a great saving, whereas in reality (due to the interest on investment) it 
 actually has caused a loss. 
 
 A 5% interest charge on the plant will he figured, and in order 
 to arrive at a ready working figure it is assumed that each $1.00 of 
 plant will produce $1.50 in goods at cost prices. This figure is con- 
 servative. Figuring in this way, an addition of $0,245 should be 
 added to the cost corrected for errors in basing on labor. 
 
 The total error in Other Manufacturing Expense amounts then to 
 $0£95. 
 
 SALES AND ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSE. 
 
 This was figured on a basis of 10% of the total Factory Cost but 
 on account of the error in the factory costs already explained, there is 
 an underestimate of 4c in Sales and Administrative Expense. 
 
 Interest on sales has probably been neglected. It must be admitted 
 that the concern has been out the use of its money from the average 
 date of delivery of goods in warehouse to average date on which 
 payment is received. It will be assumed that the average time from 
 date of receipt in warehouse to payment is eight months, although in 
 many lines this period is much greater. Eight months interest at 
 5% should then be added to the cost of the goods and this adds 28c. 
 
 - COMPARISON OF NEW TOTAL COST WITH SELLING PRICE ORIGINALLY FIGURED. 
 
 From the chart it will be seen that on account of the accumulated 
 errors the refigured Total Cost is actually in excess of the original 
 selling price, which allowed what was supposed to be a reasonable 
 amount of profit. 
 
 '^f 
 
 •' ^ 
 
 
 P 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 335 
 
 Moreover, the above explanation does not include or bring out all 
 oversights and errors, for example the smaller amounts of interest 
 on the pay roll from the average date of payment to the average date 
 of delivery of goods in warehouse. The same is of course true of 
 sums advanced in like manner on Other Manufacturing Expense, 
 and on Sales and Administrative Expense. Likewise, if goods are 
 carried over one season or the terms of payment are extended, the 
 items of interest on sales will be materially increased. 
 
 Every concern has expenses peculiar to the operation of its plant. 
 Care should be taken to see that every item of expense is included, 
 and the following illustrative questions may well be asked as sug- 
 gestive of some of the items which are commonly omitted: 
 
 1. Are castings figured at the price which the foundry cost shows 
 or at a price which contemplates loss through breakage, through 
 riveting, in handling, or in any other ways ? 
 
 2. Are malleable cas£ings figured at the invoice price as rendered 
 by the malleable company, or at the cost with shop loss added? If 
 figured at invoice price are malleables lost in working the goods 
 through the shop considered and charged in with the cost? 
 
 3. Are all materials figured at contract prices regardless of length 
 of time carried and additional bonus or store price paid ? Are allow- 
 ances made for waste of materials and materials wasted and materials 
 scrapped at the end of the season as obsolete ? 
 
 4. Is lumber figured green or dry? Is the waste considered first 
 in the pile, second in the wood shop and third in the process of man- 
 ufacture ? 
 
 5. Is all labor considered, i. e., direct, wasted direct and indirect? 
 Is not Other Manufacturing Expense figured too low by leaving out 
 interest on plant, depreciation, belting, twist drills and like items ? 
 
 6. Are all Sales and Administrative expense or items shown in the 
 System herein described considered and figured on the proper basis? 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Any Cost System in its application must be developed to meet the 
 peculiar conditions of each individual concern. For this reason the 
 System outlined is intended simply to serve as a foundation on 
 which can be built a stable cost structure. 
 
 All of the principles given are believed to be adapted to the re- 
 quirements imposed by any manufacturing concern, but each step 
 must be enlarged upon and handled in a manner that will give the 
 most accurate and illuminating results. 
 
 Cost study and scientific management are in these days being given 
 close attention, and there are many comprehensive methods advocated. 
 If the foregoing system is used as a basis, however, it may be elabo- 
 rated upon to any extent desired. Each step taken should be subject 
 to a careful analysis in order that the accuracy of the results may be 
 unquestioned. 
 
 It is hoped that the system may prove of value to all members of 
 the National Implement & Vehicle Association, but if it serves only 
 in a small degree to increase the knowledge of costs of manufacture 
 and distribution, it will have achieved its mission. 
 
I 
 
 336 
 
 VABM-MAOHINEBY TBADB ASSOCIATIOK& 
 
 Exhibit 30. 
 
 I.OCA*nOir AHB NITMBEB Ol* TOnntKlia 07 DBAI.EBS' LOCAL CLirBS 
 OBOANIZEB FBOM JASTJABLY 29, 1913, TO MAY 29, 1914. 
 
 (lilt fnrnislied hj the National Implement and Tehlde Association.) 
 
 [Note bt Bubeau. — The list inclndes 82 clubs having a membership of 
 1,055. It is, of course^ understood that clubs were organized both before and 
 after the period here covered. On May 15, 1914, the secretary of the National 
 Implement and Vehicle Association reported that he had records of 104 clubs 
 having a total membership of 1,148. The membership of each clnb includes 
 dealers located at neighboring towns or cities as well as those doing business at 
 the towns or.dties mentioned in the list (See p. 232.) ] 
 
 Colorado Retail Hardware & Implement Dealers* Association: Members. 
 
 Western Slope Hardware & Implement Club, Delta, Colo 24 
 
 lUinois Retail Implement Dealers' Association: 
 
 Local Club No. 1, JacksonvlUe, 111 16 
 
 Macon County Implement Dealers* Clnb, Decatur, 111 2 
 
 Iowa Implement Dealers* Association : 
 
 Kossuth Club No. 6, Algona, Iowa 12 
 
 Credit Club No. 7, Hampton, Iowa 15 
 
 Tri-County Club No. 8, Iowa City, Iowa 11 
 
 Mahaska County Implement Club No. 9, Oskaloosa, Iowa 10 
 
 Ftayette County Implement Industrial Club No. 1, Dounan Junction, 
 
 Iowa 10 
 
 Linn & Benton County Implement Dealers* Club, Cedar Rapids, Iowa_ 15 
 
 Palo Alto County Implement Dealers' Club No. 12, Emmetsburg, Iowa_ 11 
 
 Cedar Valley Local Club No. 13, Waterloo, Iowa 16 
 
 Jefferson County Hardware, Implement & Vehicle Club No. 14, Fair- 
 field, Iowa 10 
 
 Ottumwa Local Club No. 15, Ottumwa, Iowa 13 
 
 Michigan Retail Implement & Vehicle Dealers' Association : 
 
 Implement Dealers* Club of South Michigan, Adrian, Mich 14 
 
 Implement & Vehicle Dealers* Association of Grand Rapids, Grand 
 
 Rapids, Mich 10 
 
 Wayne- Washtenaw Retail Implement & Vehicle Dealers' Association, 
 
 Wayne, Mich 11 
 
 Eastern Retail Implement & Vehicle Dealers' Association : 
 
 Local Club No. 1. Salem, N. J 10 
 
 Local Club No. 2, York, Pa 10 
 
 Local Club No. 3, Newtown, Pa 12 
 
 Local Club No. 4, Allentown, Pa 12 
 
 Retail Implement Dealers' Association of South Dakota, Southwestern 
 Minnesota & Northwestern Iowa: 
 
 Local Club No. 1, Centerville, S. Dak 12 
 
 Western Retail Implement, Vehicle & Hardware Association : 
 
 Local Club No. 48, Pleasanton, Kans 12 
 
 Local aub No. 49, Fort Scott, Kans 8 
 
 Local Club No. 51, Lebanon, Mo 11 
 
 Local Club No. 52, Coflfeyville, Kans 13 
 
 Local aub No. 54, Ellsworth, Kans 10 
 
 • Local Club No. 55, Alva, Okla 14 
 
 Local Club No. 56, Phillipsburg, Kans 11 
 
 Local Club No. 57, Lincoln, Kans 10 
 
 Local Club No. 58, McPherson, Kans 10 
 
 Local Club No. 59, Trenton, Mo 10 
 
 Local Club No. 60, Stafford, Kans 16 
 
 Local aub No. 61, Holton, Kans 11 
 
 Local aub No. 62, Ponca City, Okla 16 
 
 Linn County District Association No. 63, Brookfield, Mo 16 
 
 Southwest Missouri Retail Implement, Vehicle & Hardware Dealers* 
 
 Ai0ociation, Carthage, Mo _« ^, 18 
 
 ^ 
 
 / 
 
 ^\ 
 
 337 
 
 Wisconsin Retail Implement & Vehicle Dealers* Association: Members. 
 
 Implement Dealers' Social aub, Milwaukee, Wis 35 
 
 Western Wisconsin Club No. 10, La Crosse, Wis 12 
 
 Columbia County Retail Implement Dealers' Club, Portage, Wis 14 
 
 Fox River Valley Implement & Vehicle Club, Green Bay, Wis 12 
 
 Tri-State Vehicle & Implement Dealers' Association : 
 
 Local Club No. 7, Goshen, Ind 10 
 
 Local Club No. 8, Princeton, Ind JO 
 
 Local aub No. 9, Sullivan, Ind U 
 
 Local Club No. 10, Martinsville, Ind 10 
 
 Local Club No. 11, Greensburg, Ind 11 
 
 Local Club No. 12, Noblesville, Ind 11 
 
 Local Club No. 13, Freemont, Ohio J^ 
 
 Local Club No. 14, Marion, Ind 20 
 
 Local Club No. 15, Columbus, Ind 12 
 
 Local Club No. 16, Wabash, Ind-* 12 
 
 Local aub No. 19, Rockport, Ind IJ 
 
 Trl-State Local No. 20, Oak Harbor, Ohio 16 
 
 Tri-State Local Club No. 21, Tiffin, Ohio 13 
 
 Tri-State Local aub No. 22, Bowling Green, Ohio 11 
 
 Trl-State Local Club No. 23, Upper Sandusky, Ohio _ 12 
 
 Mid-West Retail Implement Dealers' Association : 
 
 Cedar County Local Implement Club, Laurel, Nebr 10 
 
 North Platte Valley Implement Dealers' Association, Bridgeport, 
 
 Nebr ^^ 
 
 Local Club No. 1, Osceola, Nebr 14 
 
 Local Club No. 8, Omaha, Nebr. — — --— 10 
 
 Southwestern Iowa Implement Dealers' Club, Red Oak, Iowa lA 
 
 Fillmore County (Nebr.) Local Implement Club, Geneva, Nebr 11 
 
 Minnesota Retail Implement Dealers' Association : 
 
 Local Club No. 4, Mankato, Minn 14 
 
 Local Club No. 5, Preston, Minn 14 
 
 Local Club No. 6, Rochester, Minn 17 
 
 Local Club No. 7, Windom, Minn 1^ 
 
 Local aub No. 8, Detroit, Minn 14 
 
 Local aub No. 9, Sauk Center, Minn 10 
 
 Local aub No. 10, Faribault, Minn 13 
 
 Ijocal Club No. 11, Crookston, Minn 17 
 
 Local aub No. 12. Breckenridge, Minn 14 
 
 Local Club No. 13, New Ulm, Minn 10 
 
 Local Club No. 14, Thief River Falls, Minn 11 
 
 Local Club No. 15, Glenwood, Minn 12 
 
 Local Club No. 16, Elbow Lake, Minn 10 
 
 Local Club No. 17, Henning, Minn 12 
 
 Local Club No. 18, Blue Earth, Minn 12 
 
 Local Club No. 19, Bird Island, Minn H 
 
 Local Club No. 20, Albert Lea, Minn 16 
 
 Local Club No. 21, Marshall, Minn 14 
 
 Local Club No. 22, Luverne, Minn 20 
 
 Mower County Implement & Hardware aub, No. 23, Austin, Minn__ 13 
 
 Local Club No. 24, Hinckley, Minn__^ 26 
 
 Exhibit 31. 
 
 THE IMPLEMENT DEALER AND HIS PROBLEMS— ADDRESS BT THE 
 SECRETARY OF THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF IMPLEMENT 
 AND VEHICLE DEALERS* ASSOCIATIONS BEFORE THE MEMBERS 
 OF THE NATIONAL IMPLEMENT AND VEHICLE ASSOCIATION, 
 OCTOBER 22, 1914.^ 
 
 When your worthy secretary and general manager extended to me 
 the invitation to address this distinguished body he left open no loop- 
 holes, no avenues of escape. He was particular, however, to caution 
 
 » As reported in the Farm Implement News, October 22, 1914, pp. 28e-281i. 
 68248'— 15 ^22 . . - 
 
388 
 
 FABM-MACHINEBY TBADE A5S00IAII0N& 
 
 'I 
 
 Ip 'II ''-i 
 
 iW^flW * J^'u.^'^?''* """"* """"y e^*^^'^' ''''^ ^^'^ f^ar t*»at I might 
 mflict a fliffht or two upon you, I have safeguarded the situation by 
 reducing what I have to say to manuscript This wiU be reassuring 
 
 I am not unmindful of the importance and the magnitude of the 
 task which your program committee has set, but my great interest in 
 this work of improving conditions in the implement business 
 prompted me to undertake it, and so, gentlemen, I am here trying 
 to fit and fill the place assigned. 
 
 I had the honor and privilege of addressing one of your conven- 
 tions when your association was in its infancy and have attended 
 most of your conventions since, keeping in as close touch as possible 
 with your work I have come to you on behalf of the dealers for 
 many favors and have a full appreciation of your many courtesies 
 ana tor the consideration given to requests. 
 
 , Problems are always difficult of right solution, and those confront- 
 ing us twlay are gigantic ones. We need all our energy and courage 
 m the effort to find the light demanded by all branches of the trade 
 connected with our linked interests. We must wear the yoke with 
 honest purpose and determination to bear our full part of its obliga- 
 tions. ^ 
 
 The problem most difficult to settle fully is how to make a fair 
 proht m the business of retailing implements. The average dealer 
 allows his mmd to be agitated by the question " Will my competitor 
 maintain prices which permit a margin of profit over and above the 
 cost of domg business? " Only the dealer who is ever on the alert 
 can hope for success. There is too much lack of confidence, and 
 confadence is the highest standard of trade. Without it there is no 
 true fellowship m trade or in life. Honest methods make safe busi- 
 ness and real men. That dollar made by false dealing is high in 
 price and its possession too dear for any man to own it, for he has 
 sacrificed too much of his better self to make it. In the business 
 problem, or social problem, there is only one code, that of upright- 
 ness, courtesy, truth. 
 
 Since the organization of dealers' associations and of your asso- 
 ciation, many changes have taken place m the relations between 
 manufacturer and dealer. But with your experience and study you 
 have come to look upon the duties which you owe to your customers 
 from a broader viewpoint. You have a fuller realization of the 
 mutuality of interests which must obtain if the largest measure of 
 success for all is to be realized. Unquestionably good results have 
 come from your movement to raise the standard of the dealers, suffi- 
 cient at least to encourage you to continue your co-operation for bring- 
 mjg about more helpful relations in all departments of our business. 
 
 Our associations have gone on record as characterizing the co- 
 operation which you are giving us in our efforts to improve condi- 
 tions as the greatest achievement we have to our credit, and on behalf 
 of those whom I have the honor to represent I express our deep ap- 
 preciation of your good will. 
 
 You are so familiar with the resolutions adopted by the conven- 
 tions of our associations and by our federation, which are supposed 
 to summarize the problems which confront the dealer, that you will 
 perhaps be most interested in an outline of the work our associations 
 have in hand which is of mutual interest and a brief mention of 
 matters deemed of paramount importance. 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 EDUCATIONAL METHODS NEEDED. 
 
 339 
 
 Ever present among these is the necessity of pursuing continually 
 educational methods. We cannot disguise the fact that there is an 
 element engaged in our business that is lacking in knowledge of 
 modern mercantile processes. This is said without disparagement to 
 this class, for it is recruited from walks of life that have made a 
 study of business methods unnecessary, in fact impossible. In most 
 lines of merchandising those engaged in it have grown up in the busi- 
 ness. They have been educated to it, not only m the particular line 
 in which they are engaged, but in business methods in general. The 
 reverse is true with too large a percentage of those engaged in the 
 implement line. They are not lacking in intelligence, but need sug- 
 gestions concerning those methods which make for success. 
 
 The assistance you have rendered in educational and local club 
 work is evidence that you recognize the correctness of the foregoing 
 statement. 
 
 There are those who think that our associations are organized for 
 the sole purpose of compelling other branches of the trade to respect 
 our rights. If any here present have had this impression I need but 
 refer you to the proceedings of our conventions. These show clearly 
 that we are trying as earnestly to remedy the troubles for which 
 we are responsible as we are to correct those which we lay at the door 
 of the manufacturer. We are studying the business and trying in 
 every way possible to stop the leaks. 
 
 We are putting forth an honest effort to make the relations between 
 the manufacturer and dealer more satisfactory by advocating and 
 urging the discontinuance of the practices of which you complain 
 and which have been brought to our attention by your committee on 
 dealers' associations. I refer particularly to : 
 
 Unjust cancellation of orders. 
 
 Deducting cash discounts after bills are overdue. 
 
 Delaying settlements. 
 
 Delaying reports of damage to shipments. 
 
 Returning goods without order or instructions. 
 
 Giving free repairs without regard to conditions of warranty. 
 
 Making undue demands for expert help, and other matters of 
 
 lesser importance. 
 
 We are urging upon members the necessity of giving the best of 
 
 service to their customers and are continually suggesting ways in 
 
 which this can be done. We realize that it is one of the necessities 
 
 if we expect to keep the trade in the right channel. 
 
 We are recommending that they treat your travelers courteously; 
 first, because it is right; second, because they are good fellows and 
 can assist the dealers in many ways ; and, third, because discourteous 
 treatment of the traveler is too apt to result in a sample agency with 
 the corner grocery or blacksmith. 
 
 We are advocating that the rule of requiring settlements on de- 
 livery be adhered to and that this subject be made a topic for dis- 
 cussion at club meetings. 
 
 In short, we are doing everything we can to help build up a better 
 class of merchants and in this work you are vitally interested. But, 
 gentlemen, we must have all of the encouragement you can give us. 
 We can not control our members in these matters, but the efforts we 
 are putting forth have already resulted in a betterment of conditions. 
 
> 
 
 III 
 
 i|(i: 
 
 340 
 
 FABM-MAOHINEBY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 The percentage of dealers who have retired from the implement 
 business the past year, taking the membership of several large asso- 
 ciations as a basis, shows a very considerable reduction oyer former 
 years, notwithstanding the business conditions m much of the terri- 
 tory have been far from satisfactory. 
 
 STANDARDIZATION. 
 
 Our associations have gone upon record as favoring standardiza- 
 tion. Dealers while willing to admit that they are in a large measure 
 responsible for present conditions by reason of demands made for 
 goods to meet the whims of customers, have long realized the dis- 
 advantage of having to carry large assortments which should not 
 be necessary. The general movement looking to a reduction of 
 variety and the elimination of many unnecessary sizes which has been 
 started, as a result of our conferences will receive the support of 
 the dealers. Sentiment is all in favor of a reform, but we were 
 powerless to take the initiative. We can only supplement your 
 efforts by assisting in determining what sizes shall be considered as 
 standard and urging the use of same. Dealers have no recommenda- 
 tions to make as to where the reforms should commence, whether on 
 wagons or disk harrows, buggies or plows. This is detail which will 
 be worked out by the committees of our respective organizations to 
 Whom the subject has been referred. The prospect of ultimate suc- 
 cess shows the advantage of co-operation, for there are but few sub- 
 jects of greater mutual interest. 
 
 DEAUERS' OPENINGS AND SPECIAI. SAI^ES DAYS. 
 
 In a very commendable effort to reduce the cost of distribution 
 your officials and sales managers' department have been discourag- 
 ing the practice which has been gaining popularity among dealers 
 of holding openings and special sales days. You are familiar with 
 the methods employed by the dealers to draw crowds and the in- 
 ducements offered to sell the goods, for you are expected, in most 
 cases at least, to contribute to the expense. Hence it is unnecessary 
 to dwell upon that phase of the question. . . ,, m- 
 
 For two years past I have endeavored to ascertain the prevailing 
 sentiment among experienced dealers of the profitableness of these 
 openuiffs and find that it is about evenly divided. Perhaps those 
 who are satisfied with their efforts have not analyzed the matter 
 thoroughly and have not made a careful estimate to ascertain if 
 after all the extra sales, those which would not have been made 
 during the season anyhow, really justified the extra expense. How- 
 ever, it is difficult to convince a dealer who succeeds in selling be- 
 tween $5,000 and $6,000 worth of goods in a three-days special sale 
 that all his efforts have profited him nothing. In your associations, 
 as m dealers' associations, inconsistency of members is frequently 
 apparent, and without referring to our own shortcommgs, which 
 touch too tender a spot, the cold truth is that so long as some of 
 vour members encourage dealers' openings by promismg the help 
 cf your special salesmen, giving special terms on sample goods, 
 furnishing some article from your Ime to be given to the holder of 
 the lucky ticket, and so long as your travelers, m order to make a 
 
 I 
 
 ^ ^ k 
 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 341 
 
 V 
 
 showing of volume, encourage the dealers to put on these sales with 
 u 5 per cent special, free dinner, picture shows, brass bands, etc., 
 just so long will be delayed that reduction in distribution expense 
 which you hoped would come from your efforts for a discontinuance 
 of this practice of the implement trade which has added so materially 
 to the cost of doing business. 
 
 CJO-OPERATION WITH FARMERS. 
 
 Dealers are beginning to see that there is something else in busi- 
 ness besides buying and selling merchandise. They are commencing 
 to take an interest in the resources of the country. They see that if 
 they can induce the farmer to try advanced methods that will enable 
 him to raise more wheat, com and other grains, use greater care in 
 the selection of seeds and in diversifying crops and conserve the re- 
 sources of the farm heretofore gone to waste, they are building for 
 the future of their own business. Many dealers are becoming inter- 
 ested and taking a leading part in the farmers' institutes, they study 
 the farmer's problems and discuss them with him. This is in line 
 with advanced thought and must be encouraged and it is a helpful 
 sign that they are receiving from you just the inspiration they need. 
 Let this good work go on. We pledge ourselves to do our part. 
 This leads to a mention of the farm adviser. 
 
 FARM ADVISERS. 
 
 Considerable encouragement has been given to this movement both 
 by the manufacturers and dealers. During the past year in an en- 
 deavor to learn the consensus of opinion of the dealers who have 
 been interested in it, I found that in a majority of cases the results 
 are satisfactory and that merchants and farmers are anxious to have 
 the arrangement continued. In some localities the merchants are 
 enthusiastic. There is one phase of this question, however, to which 
 it may be well to call your attention — ^the temptation which comes 
 to some of these gentlemen to advise co-operative buying. Many 
 reports regarding this came in connection with the investigation 
 made. You know of the efforts of the rural organization service of 
 the Department of Agriculture to exploit the suhject of co-operative 
 buying of farm operating equipment. The farm advisers were 
 among those urged to help in the consummation of the plans. In 
 most cases the situation can be handled by the merchants who con- 
 tribute to the farm adviser's support, but a word of caution would 
 make them alert to the importance of the matter before it is too late. 
 
 We are interested in any movement that will make better business 
 men of the vast army of implement dealers in this country. Our 
 associations have been educational factors. The educational work 
 you have done among our people has brought ample returns and has 
 paid you better dividends than any investment you have made. The 
 fact that there is a better class of business men conducting the im- 
 plement business to-day than there was a few years ago proves the 
 statement. You might say that there is room for improvement. 
 There will ever be room for improvement, but you cannot afford, and 
 we cannot afford, to relinquish the efforts we have been putting forth. 
 The pamphlet — ^" A Few Facts About Agriculture " — issued by your 
 
i 
 
 342 
 
 VABM-MACHIHBEY TRADB AS80CUTI0NB. 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 343 
 
 iflsociftlicm will accomplish a good pur|)ose and we will co-operate 
 with you by urging our people to read it and carry out its sugges- 
 tions. The_agitation of the cost educational movement has wrought 
 wonders. TOs and the local club work are responsible for the 
 dianged conditions. 
 
 I/K3AL CLUBS. 
 
 The assistance you have given the local club movement can not be 
 too strongly commended. We appreciate your financial help, but 
 still more do we appreciate the moral support you are giving the 
 movement. The fact that the manufacturers see in the local club a 
 remedy for many troubles that prevent the business from showing 
 good results has been an incentive to our members to try it. It can 
 not be expected that every club organized will make a good showing, 
 for sometimes mistakes are made in the selection of officials, but the 
 improvement in many localities is little Jess than remarkable. We 
 trust that we may have a continuance of your assistance. We hope 
 you will instruct your traveling men to take an active interest in it. 
 We want their influence and active help in building up sentiment in 
 favor of the local club. 
 
 Our clubs are not organized for the purpose of agreemg upon a 
 price schedule, but we do meet to study cost accounting, general con- 
 ditions in the trade, credits, the advantage of settlements on delivery 
 and hundreds of other things which suggest themselves to a body of 
 business men. Some of our clubs arrange for addresses by attorneys 
 upon the collection laws, garnishment laws, employers' liability and 
 other important matters. You can have no conception of the splen- 
 did work these clubs are doing, unless you get out into the territory 
 and personally attend the meetings. Just m proportion as this 
 movement expands will conditions improve. 
 
 CROWDING TERRITORY. 
 
 One of the great problems we have to contend with is the competi- 
 tion we meet upon our own goods, caused by the placing of agencies 
 too close together. A dealer may build up ever so good a reputation 
 for giving good service, making good every promise made to cus- 
 tomers, but when he undertakes to maintain a orice commensurate 
 with good, sound business principles, he will find himself losing out 
 when a competitor in a nearby town offers the same goods for less 
 money. We know perfectly well that a good salesman should talk 
 the superior merits of his goods and he can make it win out against 
 an article of another make which is offered at a lower price, but such 
 argument does not count for much as against a lower price in a com- 
 petitive town on the same goods. Cases which illustrate this come 
 to almost daily attention. The manufacturer gets a greater volume 
 of business in some cases, but the dealers wind up the season without 
 profit and in the end such policy results disastrously to the manufac- 
 turer, for a line of goods on which a dealer can not make a profit soon 
 becomes unpopular. ., , 
 
 No dealer has a right to expect to control more territory than he 
 can work successfully. On the other hand, when he builds up a good 
 trade on the line by the liberal use of printer's ink, canvassing, 
 
 \ 
 
 #-».| 
 
 4 
 
 M> 
 
 
 demonstrations and Other ways, he is entitled to the undivided trade 
 of the territorv he is covering. There is nothing so discouraging as 
 to find that after spending a large sum in advertising certain goods 
 that the dealers in several of the surrounding towns are reaping the 
 benefits of this, and it does not take a dealer long to decide what 
 policy he should pursue. He simply concludes that he will get rid 
 of the goods he has on hand at any sacrifice I'nd seeks another line. 
 As you probably know, my office is a sort of clearing house for all 
 trade troubles that arise in about one-half of the States in the Union. 
 
 Recently my attention was called to a case in point and satisfac- 
 tory evidence was presented to prove the statements made. A con- 
 tract for a seasonable article was placed at a central point and at 
 five surrounding towns. The popularity of the article made it pos- 
 sible to place these contracts so close together. A contract for 
 another implement, made to do the same work, was placed at the 
 central point only. The result of the season's business was that the 
 combined sales of the six agencies were about the same as the sales 
 made by the dealer who had the territory all his own and he was 
 able to maintain a price which afforded a profit while the others 
 could not. Every one of these dealers started the season with a good 
 list of prospective buyers, but they became discouraged early. You 
 might say that they needed a local club. Well, they were all mem- 
 bers of such an organization, but a special salesman sent into the 
 territory for the purpose of stimulating his six agents showed too 
 great eagerness for volume and the dealers relinquished their efforts. 
 
 Gentlemen, is this a problem for the dealer or the manufacturer to 
 settle? 
 
 Again, we feel that the dealer who is giving a line an honest 
 representation should be the judge of the quantity of goods he needs 
 for his trade and when he is dictated to and told that his trade re- 
 
 2uires so many goods, then the foundation is laid for trouble later. 
 )ealers' warehouses are full of goods which were ordered against 
 their better judgment simply because they were told that about so 
 many goods had been assigned to their territory and that unless they 
 would contract for them it would be necessary to curtail their terri- 
 tory and place the goods at competitive points. 
 
 FARM PAPER ADVERTISING. 
 
 Wo do not want you to gain a wrong impression of the dealers' 
 attitude toward your policy of advertising in farm journals, many 
 of which are most excellent mediums through which to reach the 
 user of implements. We do think that your advertisements in such 
 papers are in bad company and that a large percentage of the in- 
 quiries you receive are sent in with the expectation of being able to 
 buy direct at a wholesale price. We are aware that well-advertised 
 goods are easier to sell, but when the dealer sees your advertisements 
 alongside of those of the mail order houses with their exaggerated 
 statements he wonders if you are not helping to build sentiment in 
 favor of mail order buying. I do not recall seeing many of your 
 advertisements that contained the statement " Sold through dealers 
 only." This always looks good to the dealer and if more would 
 
 i 
 
344 
 
 FABM-MACHINBBY TRiLDE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 adopt the. plan of using it you would hear less complaint from 
 
 dealers. ^ j • u 
 
 A few years ago vigorous protest was made by our federation be- 
 cause your advertisements appeared in journals whose editorials 
 were teeming with advice to farmers to eliminate the middlemen and 
 patronize the mail order houses exclusively. Many of your adver- 
 tising managers, perhaps all of them, gave these journals to under- 
 stand that such a policy was not approved, and we are pleased to 
 say that of late the number of these editorials has been greatly less- 
 ened. This relieves the situation to a certain extent. 
 
 You doubtless are aware of the suggestions which have been mj; i 
 by dealers to the effect that the manufacturers would do well to use 
 more space in local newspapers and less in farm journals, and a few 
 are trying out the plan. We believe that the subject concerns our 
 
 success. 
 
 Circulation is not the only element that enters into successfiil ad- 
 vertising — quality must be considered. In many respects this is the 
 more important factor in publicity. How many of you have ever 
 made a careful investigation of this element of quality ? 
 
 In farm papers that build up their subscription lists by offerirg 
 for 50 cents a three-years' subscription to a weekly journal, the pub- 
 lished price of which is one dollar annually, and give 45 cents of that 
 to the solicitor who represents that it goes to a benevolent fund — the 
 element of quality is lacking. Particularly is this true when the 
 efforts of the solicitor are confined to the towns and cities. A circu- 
 lation of this character is all right for the mail order houses, but 
 how much good does it do you? 
 
 ATTENTION TO INQUIRIES. 
 
 We do not want you to get the idea that dealers as a class fail to 
 give attention to prospects which are referred to them and which are 
 the results of your advertising campaign. My reason for mentioning 
 this is that so many complaints from manufacturers have been heard. 
 You must make allowances for the fact that a very large percentage 
 of your inquiries in answer to farm paper advertisements come from 
 farmers' sons who are making collections of catalogs, or who have a 
 curiosity to know prices. I have found it necessanr to make some 
 inquiries from dealers in regard to this matter, for I felt that if our 
 members are not doing their part their attention should be called to 
 their short-comings. One member reported that he had had five 
 inquiries for a certain article referred to him. He sent his canvasser 
 to see-every prospect, with the result that three out of the five were 
 children, and the other two had not the slightest idea of buying. It 
 cost him nearly $20 to find this out. Another dealer reported having 
 received the names of three prospective purchasers. He worked all 
 at a considerable expense, only to find that the parties were simply 
 curious to know what machines of that kind cost. Out of reports 
 from about twenty dealers covering 30 or 40 prospects, all of which 
 were worked, just two sales resulted. These statements are not made 
 as an argument against your farm paper advertising, but as a defense 
 of the dealers whom some of you accuse of not giving you a square 
 deal on the inquiries you refer to them or when you show an honest 
 
 t 
 
 # 
 
 I I 
 
 % I *^ 
 
 ^¥t 
 
 % V 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 345 
 
 desire to distribute your goods through the proper channels. You 
 doubtless have much cause for complaint, but take into account the 
 above statements and do not censure the dealer too severely. 
 
 PROLIFIC CAUSE OF FAILURES. 
 
 The most prolific cause of failures among dealers engaged in the 
 implement business is the fact that they do not maintain prices 
 which afford a fair profit. The dealers who have been injured by 
 this kind of competition feel that the traveler can encourage his cus- 
 tomers, and be of material assistance to them, and we contend that the 
 policy of the dealer in disposing of your goods should be a potent 
 factor in determining his credit rating. It surely is evidence of his 
 ability to pay for the goods he buys from you. The dealer who so 
 far forgets the fundamental principles of business that he fails to 
 provide for his overhead expenses when pricing his goods, is not a 
 good credit risk, to say nothing of the hazard to a manufacturer's 
 business. The latter sees his line lose popularity in a community 
 simply because a price has been established which precludes all pos- 
 sibility of making any money on it. The cost educational work is 
 having a good effect, but the changes are taking place so rapidly that 
 we need the aid of every lawful influence that can be brought to bear 
 for relief of the situation. I am firm in the conviction that you 
 should know whether or not the prices at which your customers are 
 selling your goods are netting them a fair profit. 
 
 PROTEC3TION OF DEALERS. 
 
 What the dealer needs more than anything else is protection. You 
 have helped him over the rough places; you have been lenient and 
 have given him liberal terms — ^too liberal sometimes for his own 
 good — but what he needs is to be given the retail trade unmolested. 
 This is the main plea I have to make to you at this time. But you 
 say : " Not guilty, my factory's policy is to protect the trade to the 
 fullest extent." And you are sincere in making the assertion, but 
 have you ever taken the pains to learn if your policy is being carried 
 out to the letter ? Before me are the officials and the sales managers 
 of the great manufacturing concerns that compose the membership 
 of this association. You are not the men who make the direct sales 
 to our customers — ^you rarely ever hear of them. But you may have 
 employes who, in their eagerness to make a record, will assume that 
 you are entitled to your share of the trade and that if the dealer will 
 not handle your line they are privileged to get the business as best 
 they can. We congratulate ourselves that our associations have 
 brought this matter to your attention in such a way that a change for 
 the letter has taken place, but there is still room for improvement. 
 
 Subterfuges of all kinds are resorted to to buy direct to save the 
 dealer's meager profit. Firm names are assumed; letterheads are 
 printed; carloads of goods are ordered for future delivery, and a 
 wagon, plow or some other article is ordered out at once, and as soon 
 as it is received the carload order is canceled. 
 
 Of course, all of the direct sales are made because the goods are 
 shop worn or out of date ; or, perhaps the customer was listed in the 
 commercial agency books as "G. S." and you took it for granted 
 
> 
 
 346 
 
 FABM-MACHINSBY TBADE ASSOCIATIONB. 
 
 m. 
 
 that a general store stock included implements; perhaps the customer 
 had some thought of engaging in the implement business and wanted 
 a plow or wallnng cultivator and if he liked it well enough he might 
 buy the line when he got ready to trade his farm for a stock of im- 
 plements, and, wishing to place him under obligations, the goods were 
 fwld to him at a net wholesale price. Again, perhaps the deal was a 
 highly competitive one, and if you had not made it some one else 
 
 You will say the picture is overdrawn, but it is not. Correspond- 
 isnce is on file in the office of the secretary of any dealers' association 
 to warrant every statement made. I know cases, gentlemen, where 
 it^hipments of a neighborhood's requirements have been made to one 
 man and when dealers have called attention to it the defense has been 
 set up that the customer carried a stock and had a place of business 
 and a good warehouse. Every word of this was true m a sense, but 
 it developed that the stock consisted of implement in use on the 
 farm, the place of business was the farm yard, and the warehouse 
 was the implement shed. The shipments had been taken from the 
 depot by the parties for whom they were ordered. . 
 
 You have no conception of the way retailers are annoyed. It is 
 part of my mission here today to inform you, and the best way to do 
 Siis is to outline specific cases which have come to the attention of 
 
 your associations. , , , i. • u i. i 
 
 I was privileged last spring to read the correspondence which took 
 place between a manufacturer's distributing house manager and a 
 Sealer in regard to a buggy shipment. Several Jf.^^f, ^«f ,?^^- 
 changed, and finally the manager dismissed the subject by stating 
 that the job had been on the floor until it tired the ey^ looking at it 
 mnd he was glad to dispose of it at any price. The^acts were, the 
 buffgy was in possession of the dealer when he filed the complaint 
 Wiethe branch house manager, he having taken it in on a trade for 
 an automobile, and it was one of the factory's 1914 models and had 
 never been taken out of the crate after leaving the factory. Now the 
 president of the factory that made that )ob would not sanction such 
 business methods for a minute, but he does not keep close enough 
 tab on his manager who believes that his job depends on the volume 
 of sales. 
 
 eOME CASES IN POINT. 
 
 Let me tell you something that occurred a short time ago. A 
 dealer, who complained of a direct shipment to the user of an im- 
 plement, was told that the shipper's system of good service compelled 
 shipment first and investigation afterwards. A further explanation 
 was made to the effect that when orders are received from grain deal- 
 ers, blacksmiths, general store merchants, and others with a credit 
 rating, they are referred to the credit department and if O. K d. 
 the shipments are hurried out; and if upon later investigation it is 
 found that the party is not a dealer m implements they adjust it 
 with some dealer. In other words, if no dealer objects to this lack 
 of protection nothing is done, but if a vigorous protest is entered 
 
 the investigation commences. .„ .„ . ^ tv: i. v.- 
 
 Here is another circumstance which will illustrate: Direct ship- 
 ment of a vehicle was made to a small town. A branch house man- 
 ager admitted making it and said that he had shipped the same 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 847 
 
 \ 
 
 p 
 
 
 ^fr 1* w 
 
 m f f^ 
 
 party three or four j'obs and knew that he had sold them to his neigh- 
 bors, but he stated that if the dealers there were not wide awake 
 enough to see the advantage of selling his buggies he saw no reason 
 why he siiould be shut out of that trade. In some unaccountable way 
 the correspondence fell into the hands of the general manager at the 
 home office. He wrote the secretary of the association for full par- 
 ticulars. Result — the branch house manager was seeking a new job. 
 Here is what the general manager wrote the secretary: "In two 
 weeks we will have our annual round up to our travelers, and I can 
 assure you that none of them will go away from here without having 
 acquired some knowledge as to whom we can sell and to whom we 
 cannot sell, and there will be a severe penalty added for violation of 
 our instructions." Such a letter sounds good to the dealer. 
 
 If you want to help the retail dealer you can remove the greatest 
 obstacle to his success if you will instruct your sales managers, 
 branch house managers and travelers that vou will not countenance 
 direct sales or sample shipments. Not only instruct them of your 
 policy, but see that your instructions are complied with. 
 
 We do not consider that we have received the proper degree of pro- 
 tection when the manufacturer simply protects his agent to the extent 
 of declining retail business in said agents' particular territory. Our 
 interests as a class should- be considered. We feel that the con- 
 sumers' trade is ours. If every manufacturer were to insist upon the 
 privilege of selling direct to users where he has no contract agent, 
 what would become of our calling? Through the dealer is your 
 most economical channel of distribution, and he will continue to be 
 just as long as you assist in making his business profitable. He needs 
 every encouragement you can give him. When you interfere with 
 his business by making an occasional direct sale you simply contribute 
 toward his downfall. He forgets all about the cost of doing busi- 
 ness and offers his stock at any sacrifice, because he is discouraged. 
 
 As stated by a prominent writer upon this subject, it is simply a 
 case of making a choice arid abiding by it. If the manufacturer 
 wishes to choose the consumers' trade and become a dealer as well 
 as a manufacturer, let him do it. There is nothing dishonorable in 
 such an act. But if he chooses the dealers' trade, let him remember 
 it is the business of the class that he seeks, hence it is the interest 
 of the class that he must protect. Any other policy carried to its 
 logical conclusion means the absolute destruction of the retail system. 
 
 A manufacturer in his eagerness for representation in a town 
 where he has never been able to get a foothold, made a sale direct 
 to user and set up the claim, " We make a good line of goods and are 
 entitled to representation at every good town." It is unfair to take 
 this position. There are not enough dealers in even the most pros- 
 perous towns to represent all of the good lines of implements manu- 
 factured, and the manufacturer who assumes that he is entitled to 
 representation, even though the field is covered, and sets about getting 
 it with utter disregard of good trade ethics is inflicting injury upon 
 the retail trade that is hard to overcome. 
 
 The claim is made by some that there are certain new goods in 
 the implement line in which dealers will not become interested and 
 that you must demonstrate their usefulness by selling direct to users. 
 It is possible that there may be some such goods, but there is abso- 
 lutely no excuse for selling such articles at a wholesale price. The 
 
/ 
 
 FABM-MAOHINBBY ttLMSM ABSOCUTIOim. 
 
 price set on such goods should be a retail price which contemplates 
 the average cost of conducting the retail business. Then when the 
 demand is established the dealei-s can take hold of the goods and ^11 
 at a price which affords a legitimate profit and remunerates them for 
 service rendered. 
 
 Now, right in this connection let me ask, " When making such a 
 sale would it not be better to deliver the article through some regu- 
 larly established dealer who will receive it, set it up properly and 
 render other service to you and to the customer? " For this service 
 you can afford to pay a commission. By pursuing such a course you 
 have made a friend of the dealer, convinced him of the merit and of 
 demand for the article and paved the way for future business. You 
 gain a worker for your goods, instead of a knocker. Dealers would 
 prefer to have you make your deliveries of direct sales through their 
 houses, rather than to ship direct to their customers even though 
 there were not one cent of profit in the transaction for them. In 
 making this statement, I am simply voicing the sentiment expressed 
 in our conventions time and again. 
 
 There are some goods which the average dealer cannot afford to 
 stock, but he is dihgent in looking after prospective buyers for the 
 same, and reports them to the manufacturer who sends special sales- 
 men to close the sale. On this kind of business the dealer is entitled 
 to a fair compensation, but too often the sale is made at a price which 
 shuts the dealer out entirely, and he is told that it was a highly com- 
 petitive deal and sale had to be made at a net wholesale price or not 
 at all. Why is it that your special salesmen who handle this class 
 of business are so free with the knife until they have eliminated the 
 dealers' profits entirely ? Why is it that the limit is established at a 
 net wholesale price to dealers? Why not make the arbitrary price 
 at a figure which would afford the dealer some profit so he will be 
 encouraged to continue his efforts? The dealer does not relish being 
 told that the deal was a highly competitive one, hence it was neces- 
 sary in order to save it to give his profit away. These cases are not 
 rare by any means; they are of everyday occurrence. If you were a 
 retail dealer and had worked diligently to close a sale and had 
 received this kind of treatment, what would you do I 
 
 THE TRADE PRESS. 
 
 I am not unmindful of the good work for our cause which has 
 been done by the trade press. It has labored constantly for the 
 upbuilding of our business. To these friends we are indebted in a 
 large ineasure for what improvement has been made in conditions. 
 
 If I have been able to throw any light upon any of the subjects 
 I have mentioned I trust you will give them some thought. What 
 I have said comes from my intense interest in this work. We are, all 
 of us, every year, coming to a fuller realization of our dependency 
 upon one another and have learned that only by honest co-operation 
 of all branches can real progress be made. 
 
 In conclusion, there is one thing in which we are more or less prone 
 to err, that is in harping continually upon the evils of our business, 
 instead of holding up to view its brighter side, but I have tried to 
 bring some of our problems to your attention in such a light that some 
 good may result We can not hope to remedy these difficulties which 
 
 BXHisnB. 
 
 349 
 
 *^ • f I 
 
 .-5«» 
 
 ..J»>.:- 
 
 •h 
 
 i> 
 
 ill 
 
 "H I f 
 
 
 ♦^' 
 
 
 ./ 
 
 * 
 
 lie in our pathway to success without calling attention to them, and 
 for this privilege of presenting to you some of the great problems 
 which are ever present in the retail business, I wish on behalf of the 
 constituency, which I represent, to thank you. 
 
 Exhibit 32. 
 
 resolutions adopted by the national implement & 
 vehicle association at the annual convention held 
 
 OCTOBEB 21, 22, AND 23, 1914.^ 
 
 Your committee on resolutions begs leave unanimously to report 
 as follows: 
 
 STIMULATION OF DOMESTIC TRADE. 
 
 Whereas, The National Implement and Vehicle Association, 
 through its members and representatives, has such relations with 
 agricultural affairs in America as to afford it a clear and accurate 
 knowledge of general business conditions in the agricultural field; 
 
 and 
 
 Whereas, We believe that the agricultural communities of America 
 and the bankers who serve them were never in a more secure posi- 
 tion than today, nor one that promised more if present opportunities 
 were embraced; 
 
 Whereas, Because of the great European war now in progress, it 
 became necessary to take certain protective steps to insure this coun- 
 try against some of the evil financial effects threatened by such war, 
 which steps, so taken, have operated as a partial financial suffocation 
 in this country; and 
 
 Whereas, We believe that the present need of the country is to 
 restore confidence at home and put the nation's unemployed back on 
 the pay roll; and believing the American banker, as the advisor of 
 commerce and the counsellor of rural communities, holds the key to 
 the situation ; and believing he can lead the way to a resumption of 
 industry through bringing home to the American farmer the re- 
 sponsibility imposed upon him to help feed the nations of Europe 
 and that by so doing, and by recognizing his own opportunities and 
 obligations in the matter, he may set the wheels of industry and 
 commerce in motion, to establish credit confidence and beget courage ; 
 now, therefore, be it 
 
 Resolved, That we earnestly make the following recommendations : 
 
 (1) Urge the farmer who has harvested his grain not to speculate 
 on the fluctuation of future prices. 
 
 (2) Kecommend to the farmer of the south to diversify his crops. 
 Experience has shown that a one crop country cannot continue to 
 bring prosperity to its farmers. The great wheat states of the 
 Dakotas are diversifying. Our cotton states should do likewise. 
 
 (3) Preach preparedness for the 1915 harvest. Care in seed selec- 
 tion, proper tillage and cultivation will bring increased crops to 
 meet the increased demands. More intensive cultivation quite as 
 much as increased acreage will bring prosperity to the farmers. 
 
 (4) Increase the number of farms raising stock and thereby se- 
 cure a natural fertilizer for the soil. Cattle, hogs and poultry mean 
 ready money and bank accounts. 
 
 »Ai reported In the Farm Implement News. October 22, 1914, pp. 33-34. 
 
 / 
 
/ 
 
 I 
 
 iriliil 
 
 i 
 
 I, ■ 
 
 FABM-MACHINEBY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 (5) Secure for the agricultural community the benefits provided 
 in the new currency law by creating a demand for the early opening 
 of the various federal reserve banks. 
 
 (6) Discourage all speculation, but encourage the expansion of 
 legitimate business in the rural communities by reasonable extension 
 
 of credit. . x- n j 
 
 In this connection we reiterate that, we enthusiastically endorse 
 the effective efforts of the secretary of the United States' Department 
 of Agriculture and the various state agricultural departments to- 
 wards promoting the welfare of our agricultural interests by ac- 
 ?uainting the farmers with the most practicable methods of intensive 
 arming, and by various means stimulating a beneficial rivalry in 
 crop production as well as in many other ways. 
 
 STANDARDIZATION OF PRODUCTS AND EQUIPMENT. 
 
 Whereas, The multiplicity of variety and styles renders the manu- 
 facturing economy difficult, and believing that both we and our 
 customers are jointly responsible for this excess, and 
 
 Whereas, At a recent conference with the representatives of the 
 dealers in our lines we found a strong co-operative spirit to exist, 
 
 Resolved, That those manufacturing the various lines represented 
 by this association immediately investigate conditions regarding 
 this multiplicity of sizes and styles and immediately begin a prac- 
 tical effort to ascertain how far variety may be reduced to the benefit 
 of manufacturer, dealer and consumer, yet not interfere with fur- 
 nishing the best practical equipment. 
 
 CX)8T EDUCATION AND DEALERS' LOCAL CLUBS. 
 
 Whereas, Our executive board in reviewing the work of cost edu- 
 cation and dealers' local clubs has heartily endorsed its continuance 
 and renewed our pledge of financial support, therefore be it 
 
 Resolved, That we approve the action of our executive board and 
 pledge our moral and financial support to a greater degree than 
 everbefore in the work to be undertaken for the ensuing year. We 
 also strongly urge the active and practical co-operation of the sales 
 forces of our members who occupy a peculiarly advantageous posi- 
 tion in their relations with the dealers and can render effective serv- 
 ice in this imdertaking. 
 
 UNIFORM PROPERTY STATEMENT. 
 
 Whereas, Kealizing the difficulties in obtaining authentic credit 
 information relative to a customer's standing, and believmg that he 
 himself can best render this information, ^ ^ . ,.^ _ 
 
 Resolved, That we heartily endorse the efforts of our credits and 
 collections committee in the preparation of a uniform property state- 
 ment whereby it will be possible for the dealer to render his creditor 
 desirable information concerning his standing accurately and with- 
 out unusual demand upon his time. We believe also that the use 
 of such statement will acquaint him more frequently with his own 
 condition and thereby prove a mutual benefit. We recommend that 
 when the form under consideration has been approved by the credits 
 and collections committee and our executive board, that all members 
 make use of it at the earliest date possible thereafter. 
 
 
 t 
 
 4> 
 
 > 
 
 A 
 
 
 < 
 
 EXHIBITS. 
 
 LEGISLATION. 
 
 351 
 
 Resolved, That this association, through its several committees, 
 and as a matter of practical importance, continue the policy, as the 
 necessity arises, of appearing personally, either before Congress or 
 the various state legislatures, as the case may be, and expressing 
 properly its attitude regarding legislation that may be pending, that 
 seriously affects the interests of its membership. 
 
 TRADE COMMISSION ACT. 
 
 Resolved, That we heartily endorse the general character of the 
 law recently enacted by Congress, creating the Federal Trade Com- 
 mission, and charging it with the general supervision of all inter- 
 state and foreign commerce, except banks and common carriers. 
 
 CLAYTON ACT. 
 
 Resolved, That we are unalterably opposed to the unfair provisions 
 of the Clayton act, which exempts certain elements of the country's 
 business and commercial life from all criminal liability under the 
 federal anti-trust laws, in addition to promoting industrial strife 
 by legalizing such reprehensible acts as picketing and boycotting. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 Resolved, That we extend thanks and appreciation to the retiring 
 officers and members of committees for the substantial results se- 
 cured, and for their liberal donation of time and thought to asso- 
 ciation problems. 
 
 Resolved, That we extend to the management of the Congress 
 hotel and Annex our appreciation of their efforts to make the con- 
 vention a success, and for the careful consideration shown our 
 members and their guests. 
 
 Resolved, That we extend to the trade press our sincere thanks 
 for their cordial co-operation during the past year, and in connec- 
 tion with the reporting of our convention. 
 
 Resolved, That the Auxiliary of our associate members be ap- 
 prised of our hearty thanks lor their very generous and liberal 
 entertainment. 
 
 Resolved, That the speakers who have contributed so much to 
 the success of our convention during the business session and banquet, 
 be informed of our deep appreciation and gratitude. 
 
 Resolved, That we desire to express our appreciation of the ad- 
 dress of H. J. Hodge, secretary of the National Federation of Imple- 
 ment and Vehicle Dealers' Associations, and thank him for the many 
 valuable suggestions he gave us. 
 
 Recommendations by Resolutions Committee. 
 
 The resolutions committee also offered the following recommenda- 
 tions on subjects which, in the opinion of the committee, should be 
 acted upon by the convention. AH of these recommendations were 
 approved by unanimous vote : 
 
352 
 
 TABM-MAOHimBT TRADE ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 t 
 
 I 
 
 OEAIiERS' OPENINGS, 8PECIAI. SALE DAYS AND DONATIONS. 
 
 Whereas, Commendable progress has been made in eliminating 
 dealers' openings, special sales days, auction sales and donations, 
 which were declared matters of unwarranted expense, both by our 
 sales managers' department and dealers' associations, and 
 
 Whereas, Completing this effort will depend on the continuation 
 of the same educational methods which have thus far proved so 
 successful, therefore be it 
 
 Resolved^ That we re-affirm our opposition to these forms of 
 expense and that our members be requested to inform their sales 
 forces with instructions that these wasteful items of expense be 
 discontinued ; and be it further 
 
 Resolved^, That to the end that we may have the co-operation of 
 our dealer customers, our secretary be requested to mail a copy of 
 this resolution to the secretaries of the several retail dealers' asso- 
 ciations, thanking them for their past efforts and soliciting a con- 
 tinuance of their endeavors in this movement. 
 
 ATTENDANCE AT SALES MANAGERS' MEETINGS. 
 
 Whereas, The Sales Managers' Department is thoroughly investi- 
 
 fating all problems which affect the marketing of our product and 
 ave applied timely suggestions and suitable remedies as well as 
 having had such a beneficial effect upon our mutual relationship with 
 ihe retail trade, and 
 
 Whereas, Questions involving many economies, trade difficulties 
 and better business methods are of the utmost importance to all of 
 us, therefore be it 
 
 Resolved, That all active memberships of our association see to it 
 that they have a representative in attendance at each of the five meet- 
 ings held annually and co-operate in this valuable work. 
 
 GAB STOPPING PRIVILEGE. 
 
 Whereas, It is understood that the railroad companies are about 
 to discontinue the practice of stopping cars in transit to finish load- 
 ingand to partly unload, and 
 
 Whereas, We believe such a move will be seriously detrimental to 
 the interests of the shippers and general public, therefore be it 
 
 Resolved, That we earnestly object to this movement, and hereby 
 urgently request the railroad companies to continue the said prac- 
 tice heretofore existing to the great advantage of all concerned. 
 
 STATE LEGISLATIOK. 
 
 While opposed to professional lobbjnng, the association earnestly 
 urges the membership in the different states to assist the state com- 
 mitteemen of the state legislation committee in each state by present- 
 ing objections or making suggestions to the various committees to 
 whom bills are referred, in a dignified and honorable way, either by 
 personal representation, or by letter, or both endorsed by our 
 members. 
 
 ) 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Pi«e. 
 Aooid«Dt prevention 106 
 
 Aooounting. See Cost accounting. 
 
 Advertising, expenditures of large companies . 84 
 
 ibnn*paper 203-206 
 
 legislation against misrepresentation In. . 202-203 
 local4iew8paper, conference of dealers and 
 
 manufacturers as to advantages of 205 
 
 See also Mail-order advertising. 
 Agreements among dealers («ee aUo Price 
 
 agreements among dealers) 130, 
 
 160, 185, 187, 191, 193, 194, 195, 208, 210, 238 
 Agricultural Publishers' Association, attitude 
 
 toward mail-<»'der advertising 206 
 
 Alberta, Province of, legislation 86,87 
 
 A merlcan Association of Public Accountants . 97 
 
 American League of Associations 200, 201, 202 
 
 American Plow Co.... • • 19 
 
 American Seeding Machine Co 20 
 
 Anti-Middleman Association 170 
 
 Antitrust laws, allied violation by Indiana 
 
 Manufacturing Co 123, 123n, 124n 
 
 effect on association activities 32,34,35,200 
 
 efforts to secure amendment to 192,200 
 
 Arbitration committee, joint, of dealers and 
 
 manufacturers 136,139,140,154 
 
 Arbitration oonunittees, joint, of dealers and 
 
 jobbere 150,161,195 
 
 Arbitrationoommitteesof dealers'associations. 
 
 Su Grievance committees. 
 Arkansas, suit of National Implement and 
 
 Vehicle Association to test tax law of. . 96 
 Articles of association of dealers' associations. 5 
 
 amendments 141,142,168-163,172,187 
 
 direct-sale provisions 187 
 
 prloe^igreement provisions 243 
 
 uniform, recommended by National Feder- 
 ation of Implement and Vehicle Deal- 
 ers' Associations 186,187 
 
 Associations, causes of fOTmatian 11,22,129 
 
 cost-accounting activities 55 
 
 ooets, efforts to reduce 13,57-88 
 
 dealers'. See Dealers' associations. 
 
 development f-11 
 
 early activities 11-20 
 
 executive sessions 161 
 
 farm-wagon manufacturers. See National 
 Wagon Manufacturers' Association; Na- 
 tional Implement and Vehicle Associa- 
 tion, trade departments. 
 
 Government investigation 163-172 
 
 infcvmation disseminated by 185,193 
 
 legislative activity of manufacturers' 8^110 
 
 loyalty of members 12 
 
 membership, eligibility 6 
 
 merger of minufaoturers' • 3 
 
 68248*»— 16 ^2S 
 
 Page. 
 
 Associations, methods of adjusting dealers' 
 
 complaints . . 160, 161, 162, 163, 172-175, 182-183 
 methods used with manufocturers unwill- 
 ing to adjust complaints amicably. . . 185-193 
 plow manufacturers. See Northwestern 
 Plow Association; Northwestern Plow 
 and Cultivator Association; National 
 Plow Association; National Imple> 
 ment and Vehicle Association, trade 
 departments. 
 
 producers of wagon stock 59,60,61 
 
 seeding-machinery manufacturers. See 
 National Association of Grain Drill 
 Manufacturers; National Implement 
 and Vehicle Association, trade depart- 
 ments. 
 
 policy 170 
 
 price activities 11-20,21,207-243 
 
 secrecy in recording transactions 33 
 
 thresher manu&u;turers. Su National 
 
 Association of Thresher Manufacturers. 
 
 violations of rules by members (tee also 
 
 Penalties) 12 
 
 AttOTnejrs, report to National Implement and 
 Vehicle Association by (teeaUo Legal 
 
 advice; Litigation) 92,08 
 
 Automobile dealers, membership in Western 
 Retail Implement, Vehicle and Hard- 
 ware Association 184 
 
 Avery Manu&ctunng Co., allied concessicms 
 
 by Indiana Manufacturing Co. to 124 
 
 Bain Wagon Co .•••••• 29 
 
 Bankruptcy act of 1898 79 
 
 Banner Buggy Co 167 
 
 Bent rims, cooperation among wagon manu- 
 facturers to produce supply 65 
 
 Bent-wood stock, unsatis&ctory conditions in 
 
 securing 69 
 
 Bills of ladhig, railroad, efforts of associations 
 
 to secure improvement 69 
 
 Binder twine, cooperation among early manu- 
 facturers 8 
 
 prison-factory manufacture 107-109 
 
 railroad classification, proposed changes... 72,73 
 Black list (tee aiso Boycott; Information) .... 157 
 
 Bois d'arc felloes, cost to manufacturers 65 
 
 Bolsters, farm-wagon, standard heights for . . . 60 
 
 Boxes for farm wagons, advance in price 27, 
 
 30,33,34 
 
 shop costs 30 
 
 uniform prloe list 23 
 
 Boycott, acts ci Iowa Implement Dealers' 
 
 Association held to constitute 158 
 
 attitude of dealers' associations 165, 182 
 
 See alto labatDAtiaa. 
 
 353 
 

 ill 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Brakes, wagon, minimiim pfiecB 29 
 
 Bnoeh retail stores of manufactorers, deal- 
 era* resolutions on 139,140,141,142,143 
 
 deateis* and manufacturers' conference on. . 141 
 
 dealeis' opposition 138-143 
 
 effect upon trada of regular dealers 141 
 
 Iowa dealers' attitude toward 188, 140, 143 
 
 National Federation of Implement and Ve- 
 hicle Dealere' Associations, statement 
 
 by secretary regarding 1^ 
 
 spreadof ^ 
 
 Commercial law ^ 
 
 Commercial News, The, publication of names 
 
 of direct-selling manufacturers W8 
 
 Commi^ion-agency contracts, dealerV ofppoffl- 
 
 tionto 7,129,136,137 
 
 National Wagon Manufacturers' Associa- 
 tion, attitude toward 85,80 
 
 plow companies' ••••••••••• ^^ 
 
 retail prices fixed in •••.••••••.• 20*^,208 
 
 thresher manufacturers' •••••••.. . 1*6 
 
 Commissions en irregular sales 132 
 
 Buchanan, James, inventor of wmd stacker., ill 
 
 transfer of patent lights by 113 
 
 BuUetin, Implement Deatera*. Ste Imple- 
 ment Dealers' Bulletin. 
 Bulletins of National Implement and Vehicle 
 
 Associaticm 69,82,83 
 
 Buyeisofwagon stock, conferences..,. 60,61,62,66 
 
 eflort to regulate competition among 61 
 
 Sm alio Pnrchasing agents. 
 By4aws of associations. <Sm AztideB of asso- 
 
 dation. 
 
 136n 
 86 
 
 Canada, reciprocity with W,100 
 
 Canadian manufacturers in United States 
 
 mazket "^ 
 
 CuanaKO, wed in connecttoii with com- 
 
 misBlon contracts. 13** 
 
 deals' associations oppose 7,15,16 
 
 expense of, as an item hi cost oS distribution 86 
 
 CazriaiEe Builders' National Association 134, 
 
 ^ 194,22Qn 
 
 Caniage ManolBctnrers' Assodaticn 22Cta 
 
 Carrying clause in dealers* contracts 
 
 •• Carrying over" goods 
 
 Case, J. I., Threshing Machine Co., Indiana 
 
 ManulSacturing Co., controversy with. 114-119, 
 130,121,122,123,124,126,127 
 
 Uoensaoontraetwlth 114-115 
 
 profits in manutftcture of wind stacker 112n 
 
 shopright in Nortwi patents 117,121,123 
 
 Catalogue agents, opposition of dealers' 
 
 ggiyy»i^ fiQ H» 175 
 
 CUakgoe^ioase committee, JoiDt 194,196 
 
 Cktalogoe houses. See Direct sales; Mailr 
 
 order bouses. 
 Chamber of Commerce of tha United States of 
 
 America. 91,92 
 
 Chattanooga Wagon Co. 29 
 
 Chautauqua hom^-trade talks 206 
 
 fqiiMffti^atton of dealers by commercial agen- 
 cies 133,134,135 
 
 Clawifications, standard, for plows 41 
 
 CoercioD, prohibited by articles ol association 
 
 of dealers' associations 187,287 
 
 "Co-eixpense" ^ 
 
 Collections. See Credits and collections. 
 Colorado Retail Hardware and Implement 
 
 Association. 
 
 local clubs in territory of 
 
 Combination to fix uniform selling prkw lor 
 
 wind stacker, alleged 123-ia4n 
 
 Combinations among manufacturers o( grain 
 
 binders. ^»^ 
 
 Commeroial agendfs, olassiflcation of imple- 
 
 mtnt dealers bj. ^ 
 
 meet and Vehicle Association 15«n, 90 
 
 Common parts, association efforts to stand- 
 ardize i»e( aUto Repair parts) W,W 
 
 Competition, direct-selling concerns. •,» 
 
 irregular dealers tt,128 
 
 twice catting among dealers, prevention 
 
 of 207-243 
 
 regulation of, by associations. 176,176,177,187,237 
 
 suppression. ^** 
 
 Competitors, efforts to limit number of 12, 175 
 
 Complaints by dealers 4,129,131,132 
 
 adjustment 133. 150-152, 172, 178, 174, 175 
 
 disposition of, by dealers' associations 130, 
 
 148,149,150,172,173,185 
 
 importance in work of associations 163, 
 
 164,165,166,167 
 
 methods of handlfag 5,6, 137, 147-154, 
 
 160, 161, 162, 163, 166, 167, 172-175. 185-198 
 National Association ol Agricultural Imple- 
 ment and Vehicle Manufacturers, atti- 
 tude toward 138,134,1S7 
 
 National Federation ol Implement and 
 Vehicle Dealers' Associations, attitude 
 
 toward 168,169,163,164 
 
 windmill and pump manufacturers 188 
 
 Concessions, price. S« Price concessions, 
 Conferoices, between manufacturers' and 
 
 dealers' (Hganitations 136-138, 
 
 144,146,166,169 
 
 between manufactorers nd Jobbers. — 30, 43, 44 
 
 See aleo Cooperation. 
 Consignment contract. See Commission- 
 agency contracts. 
 Consolidation, proposed among plow mann- 
 
 11 
 
 facturws 
 
 10 
 
 among wagon companies !• 
 
 Constitutions of associations. See Articles of 
 
 association. 
 Consular service, interest of manufacturers fa 98, 101 
 Contracts, license, of Indiana Manufacturing 
 
 Ca Se* Wind-stacker patents-license 
 
 system- 
 manufacturers', with jobbers.. 2" 
 
 sale, between manufacturers and dealers. . . 7 
 
 uniform drafted * 
 
 titleclause in "*' 
 
 wind-stacker patents-license. See Wind- 
 stacker patents-license system. 
 Convfct labor. Su Prison-factory legisto* 
 
 tion. 
 Cooperation, cost educational movement .... 224 
 
 credits ^6-78 
 
 dealers' associations in other trades . . 192, 199, 200 
 
 dealors and implement-trade papers 208 
 
 and jobbers 90,134,160-162,162,196 
 
 > f 
 
 \ 
 
 ' I p.. 
 
 f l| M^ 
 
 - - 
 
 V 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 355 
 
 CooperatiOB, deakn and mannfMtarers. 2,86,139, 
 133-147, 153, 164, 169, 170, 171, 172, 194, 226, 227 
 
 legislation 93 
 
 National Federation of Implement and 
 Vehicle Dealers' Associations and o<Hi^ 
 
 stituent associations UB 
 
 Cooperative baying, dealers 86 
 
 manu&cturing companies 58,60 
 
 Cooperative stores of farmers, policy of 
 National Federation of Ratail Imple- 
 moit and Vehicle Dealers' Associa- 
 tions toward 178,181 
 
 negotiations by dealers' associations with 
 
 manufacturers relative to 175-182 
 
 number 181 
 
 opposition, by implement-trade papers .... 179, 
 
 181,193 
 by Iowa Implement Dealers' Associa- 
 tion 154-158 
 
 by Virginia-Carolina Retail Implement, 
 Machinery and Vehicle Dealers' Asso- 
 
 cktkm 178,179 
 
 reasons for 156 
 
 sale of implements by 178,181,182 
 
 Cwn planters, cooperation among manufac- 
 turers of 8 
 
 prices. Northwestern Plow and Cultivator 
 
 Association recommends advance 19 
 
 Corporation laws, expense to manufacturers.. 92,93 
 
 Corporation tax law. Federal 51,96-97 
 
 Corporatk>ns, State taxation of foreign — 92, 98-96 
 Cost accountants employed to collate farm- 
 wagon costs, report of. 51,52 
 
 Cost accounting, activities of associations 
 
 fa Implement trade 27,37,45,63,55 
 
 bureau i»-oposed by National Implement 
 
 and Vehicle Association 53,226,227 
 
 faterestasanitemin. 45 
 
 resolutions of National Federation of Imple- 
 ment and V ehicle Dealers' Associations . 227 
 
 standard specifications 51 
 
 uniform, origfa of movement for 218, 219, 220 
 
 uniform selUng prices, relation to. . . 46-56, 241-243 
 uniform system of, recommended by Na- 
 tJona Implement and Vehicle Associa- 
 tion 46,47,61,53 
 
 See also Cost Educational Association; 
 Cost educational movement. 
 
 Cost Educational Association 178 
 
 cooperation of dealers to promote cost edu- 
 cational movement 230 
 
 Cost Suggestions No. 2 issued by 229 
 
 dealers and manufacturers divide work of. . 232 
 
 formation 226,228 
 
 items included fa cost suggestions recom- 
 mended by 241 
 
 littfature sent out by 231 
 
 proposed organizatio 1 221 
 
 purpose i28 
 
 relation of kical-clab movemen*^ to 228 
 
 work of 230,231,232 
 
 Cost educational movement 218-243 
 
 association activities fa 4,208 
 
 comment by dealers on ...•••• 232 
 
 cooperation to promote 83,230 
 
 Cost ednoational movement, cost committees 
 
 appofated by dealers' associations 226 
 
 discussed by dealers' organizations 226 
 
 functions of traveling salesmen fa 82, 
 
 83, 219, 223, 224, 228, 233, 237 
 importance fa improvfag financial condi- 
 tion of dealers 81-83 
 
 mportance to wagon trade 224,225 
 
 local clubs' relation to 11, 228, 233, 240, 241 
 
 manufacturers' efforts to promote — 221, 222, 223 
 method of establishing retail prices 
 
 through 226,234,241-243 
 
 National Implement and Vehicle Associar 
 
 tion, faterest fa 82,83,230,233,235,236 
 
 National Federation of Implement and Ve- 
 
 hide Dealers' Associations indorses . . 224, 240 
 
 origfa 26,27,218 
 
 price advances, relation to -220 
 
 price regulation fa 234,237 
 
 purpose 81,82,241 
 
 special cost committee, report on — 220, 227, 228 
 Cost of doing busfaess, discussed by dealers' 
 
 associations 2S5 
 
 items facluded fa 222 
 
 movement to educate dealers fa 218, 219, 220 
 
 reports on 226 
 
 See also Cost educational movement; Cost 
 Educational Association. 
 
 Cost of insurance, efforts to reduce 74-75 
 
 Cost of materials, discussed by special trade 
 departments of National Implem^it 
 
 and Vehicle Association 65 
 
 standard specifications, effect on 61 
 
 See aJso Materials. 
 
 Cost suggestions, adoption. S4 
 
 distribution of 224 
 
 retail prices, relation to 51 , 53, 54, 55, 241-243 
 
 Cost system. National Implement and Ve- 
 hicle Association's recommendatimis 
 
 on - 64,55 
 
 National Plow Association's recommend** 
 
 tions on 45 
 
 Costs, comparison of, as a basis lor selling 
 
 prices 32,35,52,55 
 
 temptation to price agreements S5 
 
 wagon manufacturers' activities 23,51,52 
 
 Costs, efforts to reduce 14,49,57-88 
 
 elimination of sizes to reduce 52, 86 
 
 ncreasefa 19,25,26,30,48,49 
 
 reports on 46,226 
 
 sellmg, efforts to determine average 243 
 
 shop labor 27 
 
 special committee on iron and sted SO 
 
 standardization as a means of reducing — 86 
 
 variations fa 21,23,26,27,32,51,86 
 
 wagon, mcrease during 1906 32 
 
 wfadstacker 112n 
 
 See also Distribution, cost of. 
 Court decisions, precautions taken by associ- 
 ations because of 158-163,189 
 
 Cr«dit, handbook of information. 76 
 
 terms of 27,235,236 
 
 Credit faformation, bureau of, proposed by 
 National Implement and Vehicle Asso- 
 ciation 78^77,78 
 
 •^.-.... 
 
I 
 
 356 
 
 > I i 
 
 IHDEX. 
 
 pnptftd by lootl 
 
 7S-7IIB 
 
 Oradlt Usti «f 
 
 dnla «f impltiiMat d«len, 
 Cradlt nporting agoney, diacussed by Na^ 
 
 tional Plow Assoclfttian W 
 
 Cnditrkk8,cffort8ofiiiainilMtann to limit.. 7<M1 
 
 efforts to lmproT»d«]«nM 91-9S 
 
 IntarwtofMBoebtions In ^7 
 
 Gndlts, arrangements between mannfeMV 
 
 tanrs and dealers f 
 
 claasifioatkin of regalar dealers by oommer^ 
 
 dal agcndes 135 
 
 cooperation in judging W-W 
 
 Natioiial Aaoeiatioo of Agrionltural Impl»» 
 mint and Vehicle Maiwihfiturers, com- 
 
 mittsaon ^ 
 
 Natkinal Association of Credit If on 7S 
 
 plan of exchanging Information T7 
 
 Natiooal Assodation of Thresher ManolM)' 
 
 tmers, recommendations on 81 
 
 Natioiial Implement and Vehicle Aasoda- 
 i^Mvt of committee on terms 
 
 235,236 
 
 taxation of/inStaU of Arkansas 95 
 
 thresher trade 13,80-81 
 
 nnltem p ro pe i iy statements recommended 
 
 by manufactoran 78 
 
 Cradita and ooUeotions, interest of aasocia- 
 
 tioos in 6,78,90 
 
 Cottlvatiws, recommendation of Northwestern 
 and Cultivator Association to ad> 
 
 prloesof !• 
 
 1 equipment <rf <8 
 
 CydoooCo 1^* 
 
 s, ooopecatiye buying among 
 
 difficulties of manufacturers in procuring 
 
 dlreetorlesof 134,136 
 
 dtotrict associations 10,U 
 
 extravagant practices as fckctor In cost of 
 
 distribution 85,87,88 
 
 iBixperience of implement 7 
 
 loealdttbsof. 9m Local dubs of dealers. 
 
 6,7 
 
 misation among (•« also Dealen* aa> 
 
 Mciiiiioiis) 4 
 
 pMfiBtioo of price cutting among oompet- 
 
 fgg 207-243 
 
 lelatioas with manufacturers 6,7 
 
 Dealen* assoclaticHis, cooperation with organ- 
 ised manuftustoren 133-147,1» 
 
 coat of doing buainees discussed by 2U 
 
 fliUlHiiHiait «(W1.131 
 
 dktot ite fefifiihir aales, attitude toward. 17, 
 
 m,161.164,185,187,l88,ia 
 
 dotiaB Of members 1*7 
 
 exeoutiTe sessions, prooeedtaigs 148, 
 
 149,161,173,174,185 
 
 Miijht transportation charges 7»-74n 
 
 fc i»m>tto« sapplied by seoretarlss 189-192 
 
 naU-otder hooaas, opposition to 198-206 
 
 National Association of AgriealtQral Imple- 
 nmt and Vehide Manoiietarers, falter* 
 
 «tlil 134,138.137 
 
 pMAfMklflgUationoppoeadby 199.200 
 
 mMfliBBboaiit meetings of 197 
 
 ... 1»-I86 
 
 Dealiia' aaaooiiitioBi, nnltorm artUn ef iiio- 
 
 dation M7 
 
 work 10,16,17 
 
 9m else State and interstate associations ot 
 dealers; Local dubs of dealers. 
 Debtors, mining, tf orts of National Imple* 
 
 ment and Vehicle Association to locate . 77, 78 
 
 Deere, John, Wagon Co 66n 
 
 Department of Justice, investigation of im- 
 plement associatioDS 164-167, 172 
 
 Departments of the National Implement and 
 Vehide Association. See National Im> 
 plement and Vehide Association, trada 
 departments. 
 Dimensions, standard, for materials. 9ii 
 Specifications, standard, materials. 
 
 Direct salesw ' 
 
 activities of Michigan Retail Implement and 
 
 Vehide Dealers* Association 180 
 
 Tri-State Implement and Vehide Dealers' 
 
 Assodation 153^ 
 
 adjusting complaints 147-185,187 
 
 arrangements to supply dealers with names 
 of manufacturers maldng... 160,167,182,189, 
 
 190,191,192,193 
 at poiata where manufocturers have no 
 
 acants 131,143-146 
 
 commisBions on. 173,174,189 
 
 competition with companies making 81 
 
 oonferenooa between manu^turers and 
 
 datlaraon. 144,146,169 
 
 cooperation between Jobbera* and dealers' 
 
 o^anisations (m 150-153 
 
 deatos' aaaodaUons, attitude toward 17, 
 
 131,161,164,185,189,191 
 pledged not to patronise manufac- 
 
 m*irfac 130,185 
 
 dtaNminating notice of 160, 
 
 166,167,182,189-193 
 
 azecQtlye aeaaiona of dealers' aasodations 
 
 discuss 174 
 
 fcrmatiwi of asaoeiatinns caused by 129 
 
 Government investigation of association 
 
 activities regarding 168-172 
 
 Imidement Deelers' Bullethi on 150 
 
 Natinial Asaodation of Agricultural Imple- 
 MBOt and Vehide Manufacturers' reao- 
 
 Intlona on 144,141 
 
 National Federation of Implement and 
 Vflbiole Dealera' Associations' reedu> 
 
 Hum on 144,145 
 
 leaults of efTorta to curtail 148,149 
 
 aetttement of dealers' oomplahita of 147-185 
 
 threabermaDolactarers 7 
 
 naeof oniform complaint blanks to report.. IM 
 See also Irregular sales; Mail-order housaa. 
 Direct sailing. 9m Direct sales. 
 
 Directories of regular dealers 134,135,149 
 
 Dtooounts,unllormt ade 50 
 
 Dtotrfbutlon, cost of 84-88,93,169,170,243 
 
 mall^Nrder houses, advantages daimed by.. 169 
 
 naonllMturers' control of facilities of • 
 
 ■atail system, ooaq>ared with other methods 
 
 of 128,129,170,171 
 
 eoqpense ^^ 
 
 indoraement by National Inclement and 
 Vehide Association.. ...... •••••.•... 109,170 
 
 1 
 
 
 /. 
 
 >€ 
 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 357 
 
 %^\ 
 
 Page. 
 Distribution, system of, in implement trade . &-8 
 threshing machinery, functions of retail 
 
 dealer hi 146-147 
 
 wastes of 88 
 
 Donations, demands on dealers for 85 
 
 Druggists' association. 1^ 
 
 Bastem Dealer, The 193 
 
 Elward patent Su Wind-stacker patents- 
 lic«>nse system. 
 
 Emerson Manufacturing Co., correspondence 
 with Iowa Implement Dealers' Asso- 
 ciation 155,156,157 
 
 Empire State Implement Men's Club, in- 
 dorsement of cost educational move- 
 ment by 223 
 
 Employers' liability. See Industrial indem- 
 nity. 
 
 Equipment, differences in. 14 
 
 standard, in cost sjrstem of National Im- 
 plement and Vehicle Association . . — 46 
 
 grain-drill manufacturers discuss 47 
 
 plow manufacturers adopt 41 , 47, 48 
 
 wagon manufacturers adopt 36 
 
 Executive sessions, procoedings 148, 
 
 149,161,173,174,185 
 
 Exhibition bureau for fOTeIgn trade 102 
 
 Expenses, general (SM o/»o Costs) 27,86 
 
 Experts, factory 7 
 
 Export trade. See Foreign trade. 
 
 Extra parts. See Common parts; Bepalr 
 parts. 
 
 Fargo District Retail Implement Dealers' 
 
 Association. 152,153,210 
 
 Farm-machinery trade, annual sales 1,6 
 
 capital stock of concerns engaged in 22 
 
 condition of. 22 
 
 Farm-paper advertising. See Advertishig, 
 (arm-paper. 
 
 Farm trucks, increasing use 37 
 
 Farm-wagon department, Naticmal Imple- 
 ment and Vehicle Association. See Na- 
 tional Implement and Vehicle Associa- 
 tion, trade departments. 
 
 Farm-wagon manufacturers, comparison of 
 
 costs among 61 
 
 decrease in number 37 
 
 Farm-wagon prices, advances 22, 
 
 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 30, 33, 34, 36 
 
 Farm-wagon trade, conditions 37,49 
 
 Farmers' credit ratings, prepared by dealers' 
 
 tocaldubs. 7^79n 
 
 Farmers' cooperative stores. See Cooperar 
 tive stares of farmers. 
 
 Farmers' Friend Stacker Co., merger with 
 
 Indiana Manufactxiring Co 113 
 
 Fasteners, top-box. 27 
 
 Federal corporation-tax law 51,96-97 
 
 Federation of implement dealers. See Na- 
 tional Federation of Implement and 
 Vehicle Dealers' Associations. 
 
 Federation of lumbermen's associations 186 
 
 Federation of retail merchants. See National 
 Federation of Retail Merchants. 
 
 Financial condition of dealers, efforts to im^ 
 prove. 81-83 
 
 Fire insurance, interest of associations in . . 57, 74-75 
 statistics collected by implement manufac- 
 turers 74 
 
 Fire-preventing device? 76 
 
 F(ffeign coimtries, rejKvt as to prospects for 
 
 trade with 101 
 
 tariff laws of, bulletins of National Imple- 
 ment and Vehicle Association on 100 
 
 Foreign trade, facilities of National Imple- 
 ment and Vehicle Association to secure 
 
 information with respect to 100 
 
 legislation relating to the tariff and 97-102 
 
 manners' department, National Imple- 
 ment and Vehicle Association 101,102 
 
 Forest Service, United States Department of 
 
 Agriculture 66 
 
 Franchise fees. Su Taxation, State, of cor- 
 porations. 
 
 Freight auditing bureatis 69, 70, 71, 73, 74n 
 
 Freight claims. See Freight audithig bu-; 
 reaus. 
 
 Freight classifications 67, 68, 69, 70, 71 , 72, 73 
 
 Freight overcharges {tee al$o Freight audit- 
 tog bureaus) 68,60 
 
 Freight rates. See Transp<Miation charges. 
 
 Freight-traffic department. National Imple- 
 ment and Vehicle Association 60, 
 
 70,71,72,73 
 
 Freight transportation charges. Sef. Trans- 
 portation charges. 
 
 "FuU-ltoe" houses 84 
 
 Oaar, Scott & Co 112,115 
 
 Qasolme-engine manufacturers, dealos criti- 
 cize distributing methods of. 15 J 
 
 Oovmunent investigation of associations in 
 
 Implement trade 163-172 
 
 Gowrie(Iowa) Farmers' Elevator Co.. 156-158,189 
 Grading and inspection rules for wood stock .. 60, 
 
 61,62,64 
 Grain-btoder prices, fixed by manufocturers. . 15 
 
 variations in 15 
 
 Grain binders, complatots of dealers against 
 
 manufacturers of 12,15,16 
 
 conferences between manufacturers of 8 
 
 consolidation of manufacturers attempted 
 
 mlSQO 15 
 
 costs and prices, 1898 to 1902 18 
 
 distribution 6 
 
 price agreements among manufacturers 8 
 
 Grain cleats, allowance for 30 
 
 Grato drills. See Seeding machmery. 
 Grievance committees of dealers' associations, 
 duty of, m settlement of complaints 
 
 (see also Complaints by dealers) 148, 172 
 
 Grievances of dealers. See Complaints by 
 dealers. 
 
 Bteirdware dealers, membership m imple- 
 ment dealers' associations 183 
 
 Hardwood Manufacturers' Association ^ 
 
 Harrows, advance in prices 19 
 
 standard equipment for 48 
 
 Harvester committee, dealers' 16, 133 
 
 Harvesting-machine companies, n^otiations 
 
 of dealers' associations with 132-133 
 
 petition to manufacturers to maintain 
 prices 207 
 
). i 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 358 
 
 Hai mlliit iimiliinecompftnfas, pri« catting 
 
 by »1.M2 
 
 Mill to iRvgnlar dMkn by ^ 
 
 flte fliM Grain binders. 
 Hfty-pNM manulM!tur«f8, dMlm crttfciM 
 
 dMxibutittg BMlbodt of UO 
 
 H»y ptiwM, co^>it«ttBn wmmg twiy mi«i- 
 
 CMsUuifS oIL.... .-.•••••••••••♦••••••*•• • 
 
 Harcnks Buggy Co 1* 
 
 H«reiilit SngioA Co., aatei to nutt^Mntar 
 
 bonsn - lW-198 
 
 Hom«-tnMl« talks. ** 
 
 Honfl8t«dv«rtidi« Imp. am AdfVtlring, 
 
 l n%%f <**ii injitm iiilwiimawitiitlnn in. 
 
 HQbi, oooimtioB of NstJonal Wagon Manu- 
 
 Aiwwl«ttnn with manulao- 
 
 of • 
 
 IHBBl. 
 
 INDEX. 359 
 
 Idaho Retail Hardwanand Implement Deal^ 
 
 en* Association. 1® 
 
 Illinois, Indnstrial-indemnity legislation... 106,106 
 
 Illinois Ratoll Impionuiit Deakrs' AsBoeia< 
 
 tion ia-u,iw,aos,239 
 
 Implement Dealers' Associatton of Northern 
 
 Iowa ^^ 
 
 ImplenMiit Deakn' Bnlletin 17, 
 
 86,130,131,136,208,205 
 
 bnnoli retail stona 140,141 
 
 Chantanqnaboma-tiadatalls 206 
 
 floopenlftHi between jobben' and dealers' 
 
 Qigaalsations 151,153 
 
 eost educational borean. 226,227 
 
 direct aolee. 150,191,192,196 
 
 194 
 203 
 194 
 160 
 
 215 
 
 lao 
 
 Kansas City Jobben, trade policy of 
 
 mail-order advertising in local newspapers. 
 
 mail-order houses 
 
 MWssippi lumbermen's case 
 
 official organ of National Federation of 
 Implement and Vehicle Dealers' Asso- 
 ciations 
 
 policy of 
 
 prici fixing by local dubs 209 
 
 poblieation begun ■" 17*130 
 
 Western association, accomplishments of. 148,143 
 Implement industry, extent 1 
 
 investment.. * 
 
 number of companies engaged 1 
 
 Implement and Vehicle Manu&cturers' War 
 
 tual Fire Insurance Co 74 
 
 Inoorporation law, national 98,94,96,96 
 
 Indiana Manufacturing Co., acquisition <tf 
 
 patents by 113, 116n, 116,121, 1280 
 
 business poUey of 126,127 
 
 GQooessiQOS to Uomsees, allefed. lUn, 
 
 123,123,124 
 
 oontnmny with J. I. Ctee Threshing Ma- 
 
 chine Co 114-119,120-124 
 
 Farmeis' Friends Stacker Co., merger with. 113 
 
 formatioii ^^^ 
 
 income threatened by expiratkm of patents. 116 
 
 Utintion with licensees. 122, 
 
 122n, 123, 123n, 124, 124n, 125 
 raanuflMsture of wind stackers b^un by.... 112 
 
 negotiations to sen shares of H* 
 
 negotiatiaos with officers of J. I. Case 
 
 Threshing Machine Co. U^ 
 
 116, 120, 121, 122, 123, 126, m 
 
 Indiana Hanuftkotorlng Co.. patants-Ucenae 
 
 contaetaoC 56,113 
 
 patentsipiii i hue agreement of lA 
 
 122n, 123, 124, 126, 137 
 
 price of wind stackers fixed by 56 
 
 Sattley Stacker Co., control acquired 128D 
 
 supplemental contract with J. L Gms 
 
 ThiwiiiivMaehineCo. 115 
 
 trustees appointed for IIS 
 
 wincMwker patents, control of . . 117,118,119,125 
 wind-ttMker patents - Uoeose contracts, 
 
 changes in. 115,116,124,125 
 
 Seealao Wind-stacker patenta-Uoense system. 
 Industrial-indemnity legislation, interest of 
 
 asBodaUons in 58,90,104-106 
 
 Information, secretaries' work in supply- 
 
 ll« 189-192,193,201 
 
 Borean, Lumbermen's 186 
 
 dissemination by associations 182, 
 
 185-189, 190, 19^-193, 196, 208 
 
 exchange of , regarding costs 23 
 
 object of disseminating 187,193 
 
 Information Bureau of the National Federa- 
 tion of Implement and Vehicle Deaters^ 
 Associations, advkw of attorney as to 
 
 method of conducting 188 
 
 doubtful legaUty 189 
 
 formatitm 166,167,188 
 
 inactivity 189 
 
 incorporation 188 
 
 names d manntwtnrers disseminated by. . 196 
 
 purpose *188 
 
 wort: commended by federation of dealers' 
 
 associations. 180 
 
 work proposed fbr 185-189 
 
 iDSuranoe brokers, arrangements of National 
 Implement and Vehicle AssociatioD 
 
 with 75 
 
 Insurance committee of National Association 
 of Agricultural Implement and Vehide 
 
 Manufacturers 74 
 
 Insurance department, National Implement 
 
 and Vehide Association, proposed 75 
 
 Insurance facilities, advantage to associations 
 
 inftoiishing 76 
 
 Insurance, industrial Indemnity, plan to 
 form mutual company among manu- 
 
 liacturers 106 
 
 Insurance rates, fire, efforts to reduce 74-75 
 
 Incerest, as an item in cost accounting. . . 51, 54, 241 
 Intemattonal Harvester Co., conference on 
 
 standard equipment 48 
 
 tem-wagon business 22,33,37,38,39,66tt 
 
 freight transportotion, represented at hear- 
 ings before Interstate Commerce Com- 
 mission 68 
 
 irregular agendes discontinued 133 
 
 margins between costs and prices 22 
 
 Natiwial Federation of Implement and Ve- 
 hkle Dealers' .Associations, negotia- 
 tions with 132-133,208 
 
 net earnings 22 
 
 number of retail agents 1 
 
 organization • 20 
 
 prices fixed in agency contracts 208 
 
 fffisoD-bctory legislation, effed on 109-110 
 
 'f\ X 
 
 
 ■*>^| f 
 
 :^ 
 
 
 Ui 
 
 Page. 
 International Harvester Co., report of Com- 
 missioner of Corporations Ill 
 
 salaried agents 1^ 
 
 Intemational Harvester Co. of America, 
 license contract with Indiana Manu- 
 facturing Co 124 
 
 Interstoto commerce, efforts of manufacturers' 
 associations to devise plan of conduct- 
 ing business as 93-97 
 
 Interstoto Commerce Commission, hearings 
 
 befora 68,70,72,73 
 
 Iowa Implement Dealers* Association 10 
 
 attitude toward branch retell stores.. 138, 140, 143 
 
 oooperative stores, opposition to 154-158,181 
 
 court decision against methods used by . 154-158,189 
 Emerson Manufacturing Co., correspond- 
 ence with 155,156,157 
 
 litigation with Farmers' Elevator Co., of 
 
 Oowrie, Iowa 1^9 
 
 local clubs organized by 215,239 
 
 Manufacturers' Implement and Vehicle 
 
 Club of Des Moines, cooperation with.. 150 
 
 Irregular agencies 129,132,133 
 
 Insular dealers, conunent of Implement 
 
 Dealers' Bulletin 131 
 
 sales by harvesting-machine companies to. 131 
 Irregular sales, cause formation of associar 
 
 tions 129,131,187 
 
 commissions on 132, 163 
 
 cooperation between jobbers' and dealers' 
 
 organizations regarding 150-152 
 
 directories of dealers, used to prevent 135 
 
 dissemination of informatioi regarding 172 
 
 fitorts to prevent 17,130,155,156 
 
 pledge of dealers regarding 130 
 
 uniform complaint blanks, use of, to report. 154 
 
 Jackson County, Mich., local club among deal- 
 ers in 79n,210 
 
 James 4k Graham Wagon Co 29n 
 
 Jobbers, cooperation with dealers in resale 
 
 price fixfaig 207,208 
 
 joint catalogue-house committee of dealers 
 
 and 195 
 
 manufacturers' contracts with 27 
 
 Membership in National Implement and 
 
 Vehicle Association 4 
 
 Minneapolis, attitude toward Intemational 
 
 Harvester Co 109n 
 
 oooi>eration with manufacturers' associa- 
 tions in opposiitcm to prison-factory 
 
 legislation 107,108,109 
 
 National Plow Association, efforts to secure 
 
 cooperation of 42, 43, 44, 45 
 
 opposition to dealers' associations 151 
 
 relations with Implement manufacturers. 6, 
 
 30,107,108,109,130 
 Jobbers' clubs, cooperation with dealers' 
 
 associations 5,90,136,150-152,195 
 
 location 3,4 
 
 special cost committee, membership In 220n 
 
 See also Kansas City Implement Dealers' 
 Association; Kansas City Implement, 
 Vehicle and Hardware Club; Manufac- 
 turers' Implement and Vehicle Club of 
 Des Moines; Twin City Implement, 
 Vehicle and Hardware Club. 
 Jobbing arrangements, cooperative 6 
 
 Page. 
 Kansas, chattel-nuHtgt^e law 79 
 
 local clubs formed by dealers 213,214 
 
 suit to test foreign corporation law 94, 95 
 
 Kansas City Implement Dealers' Association, 
 conference with Kansas dealers {see alto 
 Kansas City Implement, Vehicle and 
 HardwareClub) 139 
 
 Kansas City Implement, Vdiicle and Hard- 
 ware Club, cooperation with other asso- 
 ciations 133,134,150,162,194 
 
 early activities IS 
 
 Kansas City Retell Hardware Dealers' Club, 
 affiliation with Western Retell Imple- 
 ment, Vehicle and Hto-dware Associa- 
 tion 183,184 
 
 Kansas Retell Implement Dealers' Associ£^ 
 tion. See Western Retell Implement, 
 Vehicle and Hardware Associatioo. 
 
 Kentucky Wagon Manufacturing Co 28 
 
 King, Theophilus, negotiations to sell shares 
 
 of Indiana Manufacturing Co. by 118 
 
 I^abor, hours of, interest of manufocturers' 
 
 associations in legislation regarding 57,58 
 
 increase in cost of shop 27 
 
 National Council for Industrial Defense 67ta 
 
 organizations, attitude toward prison-fac- 
 tory labor legislation in Minnesote 109n 
 
 Lancaster County (Nebr.), local club of deal- 
 ers 209 
 
 Lancaster County (Pa.) Farmers' Association, 
 
 opposition to sales by manufacturers to . 179, 
 
 180, 193 
 
 L^al advice, to dealers' associations 183 
 
 to manufactvu'ers' associations 80,90 
 
 Legal precautions 158-163 
 
 Legality of association work 32 
 
 L^islation, branding goods 196 
 
 dealers' interest in 4 
 
 dealers' opposition to parcel post 198-202 
 
 industrial Indemnity. See Indnstrlal-in- 
 
 demnity legislation, 
 labor. See Labor, hours of. 
 manufacturers' associations' activities as to. 89-110 
 manufacturers' associations' cooperat ion in . 92, 93 
 National Association of Agricultural Imple- 
 ment and Vehicle Manufacturers 89, 90 
 
 National Federation of Retail Merchants' 
 
 activities as to 200,202 
 
 National Implement and Vehicle Associa- 
 tion, interest in. 58 
 
 prison-factory. See Prison-factory legis- 
 lation. 
 Stete, activities of manufacturers' associa- 
 tions asto 13,89,92 
 
 tariff and foreign trade, activities of manu- 
 facturers' associations as to 97-102 
 
 tire widths 50 
 
 warranty, attitude of National Implement 
 
 and Vehicle Association toward 86,87 
 
 License contract, wind-stecker. See Wind- 
 stacker patents-license system. 
 List prices. See Prices, list. 
 
 Listers, standard equipment for 48 
 
 Litigation, activities of a.ssocIations as to . . 90, 94, 95 
 wind-stacker patents 114-125 
 
I i 
 
 aeo 
 
 iin>xz. 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 861 
 
 II 
 
 i" 
 
 jrw|§w« 
 
 LocaMhib maveiiMnt, tssbtanoe by manu- 
 
 ftOtonntO 235,236,238,240 
 
 «08t «diieat1onal movement, relation to.. 22S,240 
 
 difBoalty of maintaining interest 230,240 
 
 •Obrts of dealers to pnsli... 235,238 
 
 powtb 215,229,235,238,240 
 
 Local clubs <rf dealers. 4.309 
 
 articles of associations 162,168,238,242 
 
 daaiofdealoisreacbed by SM 
 
 ' oast edncatknal movement, relation to — H, 
 
 233,234,235,341 
 
 eoonty agants employed to organise 228 
 
 development ^^ 
 
 •ocdiaiiga of Information tbroni^. . .. 211-218, 243 
 indorsed by State and Interstate assoela- 11, 
 
 tions of dealers 17,213,214,227 
 
 Umitations <ni aid given by National Implo* 
 
 meat and Vehicle Association 4, 
 
 338,239,240,243 
 
 membership, eligibility to «,183n 
 
 ICichigan Retail Implement and Vehicle 
 
 Dealers' Association 's experience with. 343 
 National Federation of Implement and Ve- 
 bJde Dealers' Associations, attitado 
 
 toward 215,216,217,227 
 
 immber 233,239 
 
 object 6,211,233,241,242,243 
 
 officers and committees 6,6,217 
 
 oiganixatlon, •' ready-made helps "tor. 21S 
 
 price agreements, tendency of members to 
 
 attempt 210,214,241,243 
 
 proceedings at meetings 209,213,214,215,229 
 
 retail prices, influence on 211, 
 
 214,217,218,329,332,241,242,243 
 
 twitory covered 228,229.233 
 
 Western Betail Implement, Vehicle and 
 Hardware Assoclatloa recommends for- 
 mation of 211 
 
 work 6, 17, 78-T9n, 213, 2U, 233, 241, 242 
 
 Lock chains ^ 
 
 Lumber, grading and inspection rules for 
 
 hardwood 
 
 mills, ooq^Mration with implement manu- 
 
 fBcturers in standardizing materials — 
 
 prodnoers of, list issued by National Wagon 
 
 Manufacturers' Association 
 
 Secretaries Bureau 200 
 
 Lumbermen's associations, information bu- 
 
 186 
 
 eo 
 
 58 
 
 flO 
 
 206 
 
 206 
 
 McKatn, A. A., organiser of Indiana Manu- 
 facturing Co 111,113 
 
 Mall-order advertising, Agricultural Publish- 
 ers' Association, motution adopted by. 
 ooantry-mwqpaper publishers, attitude 
 
 toward 
 
 duakrs' request of manufacturers not to ad- 
 tin papers carrying 204,205 
 
 t to oxdude from farm papers 203-206 
 
 Inde papers, refusal to publish 208 
 
 Mail-order houses, advantages claimed by . . . 16B 
 branding goods with maker's name is 
 
 means of opposition to 196 
 
 Chautauqua home-trade talks in opposi- 
 
 tkmto M» 
 
 Qonfamoe of dealers and manuliActarers as 
 
 toMllBtO 184, 1« 
 
 Mail-order houses, cooperation of National 
 Federation of Implement and Vehicle 
 Dealers' Associations and National Fed- 
 eration of Retail Merchants m opposi- 
 tion to 206 
 
 dealers' anoolatlons, opposition. 4, 
 
 166,183,193-206 
 
 dealers compile list Of 166,195 
 
 efforts to prevent State fair exhibit? by — 196 
 
 factories, implement, purchased by 169, 196 
 
 Hercules Engine Co., sales to 197-198 
 
 Kansas City jobbers, policy toward 194 
 
 legislation against misrepresentation in ad- 
 vertising as a means of opposition to. 202-303 
 National Federation of Implement and 
 Vshiele Dealers' Associations requests 
 manufacturers to discontinue sales to. . 196 
 
 supplies, efforts to cut oft. 183,193-198 
 
 See also Direct sales. 
 
 Mandt Wagon Co 66n 
 
 Manufacturers' associations, development.... 8 
 
 merger • 
 
 Manufactturers' attitude toward cooperativ* 
 
 buying among dealers 86 
 
 Manufacturers, fixing of retail prices by . . . 307,208 
 Manufacturers' Implement and Vehicle Club 
 of Des Moines, cooperation with Iowa 
 
 Implement Dealers' Association 150 
 
 Manufacturers' influence on retail prices {see 
 
 aZ«o Prices, resale; Prices, retail) 7,8,309 
 
 Manufacturers' relations, with dealers 6, 7, 134 
 
 with jobbers • 
 
 Manure spreaders, conference among manu- 
 facturers of. 137 
 
 conference between dealers and manufao- 
 
 turers as to trade in 137 
 
 dealers reports as to trade In 138 
 
 direct sales by manufacturers of 137 
 
 Material bureau. National Implement and 
 
 Vehicle Associatk>n. 86 
 
 National Wagon Manufacturers' Associa- 
 tion 88 
 
 criticized by producers 81 
 
 efforts to hiterest outside manufacturers. 62 
 
 establishment of 89 
 
 value to members 81 
 
 Materials, changes in 14 
 
 cocqperation among manufacturers to jn'o- 
 
 duce supply of. 59,65,66 
 
 cooperative purchase of 68 
 
 eostof, advances 17, 
 
 18,19,21,22,25,26,31,67,61,62 
 discussion by special trade departments. 
 National Implement and Vehicle Asso- 
 ciation. 48,65 
 
 effect on prices 216 
 
 manufacturers' association, committee on . . 69, 65 
 
 producers, list 60 
 
 standardization 58-67 
 
 steel, advance in price. 68,60 
 
 cooperation among manufacturers in pur- 
 chase of 88 
 
 freight rate hichided in cost to buyers 63 
 
 proposed changes in contracts for 66 
 
 report of committee of National Imple- 
 ment and Vehicle Association as to 
 twifl on. ........•.•.•.•.....••...••... UU 
 
 :r^n 
 
 ^. ; A 
 
 ^ if: 
 
 x \ .-. .-I. 
 
 ? 
 
 I 
 
 fl 
 
 m 
 
 Page. 
 Materials, report to manufacturers' associa- 
 tion as to tariff on 98,99 
 
 SDiplns, exchanged among dealers of Na- 
 tional Implement and Vehicle Associa- 
 tion 66 
 
 unsatisfact(»y conditioas in securing bent- 
 wood stock 69 
 
 Merdiant marine, resolutions adopted by Nar 
 tional Implement and Vehicle Associa- 
 tion on 98,101 
 
 Methods of dealers' associations in adjusting 
 
 complaints 152,154,1S5-193 
 
 Mk^igan Retail Implement and Vehicle 
 
 Dealers' Association 11,180,239,242 
 
 Michigan Retail Lumber Dealers' Association 260 
 Michigan, suit of National Association of Ag- 
 ricultural Implement and Vehicle 
 Manufacturers to test foreign corporar 
 
 tion law of W 
 
 Mid-West Retail Implement Dealers' Asso- 
 ciation 11,162,163,239 
 
 Milbum Wagon Co 28n 
 
 Minneapolis, opposition to prlson-factcffy 
 
 legislation by jobbers at 107, 108, 109 
 
 Minneapolis Threshing Machine Co 12!hi 
 
 Minnesota, opposition of jobbers and manu- 
 facturers to prison-factary legisla- 
 tion hi 107,108,109 
 
 Minnesota Manufacturers' Association 108,109 
 
 Minnesota Retail Hardware Association 183n 
 
 liinnesota Retail Implement Dealers' Asso- 
 ciation 11,76,172,173,234,239 
 
 cooperation with Twin City Implement, 
 
 Vehicle and Hardware Club 160 
 
 cooperative stores, farmers', opposed by.. 175-178 
 
 local clubs in territory oL 239 
 
 protective activities of 182,183 
 
 Minnesota Retail Implement Dealers' Mutual 
 
 Fire Insurance Co 76n 
 
 Mississippi lumbermen's case 159, 160, 190 
 
 Mississippi Valley Implement and Vehicle 
 
 Dealers' Association U 
 
 Missouri, local clubs formed by dealers in 214 
 
 Missouri Slope Retail Implement Dealers' 
 
 Association 210 
 
 Mitchell & Lewis Co. (Ltd.) 28n 
 
 Moline Plow Co 37,6en 
 
 Moltoe Wagon Co. 20n 
 
 Monopolistic conditions in farm-machinery 
 
 trade 21 
 
 Monopoly of patents. See Wind-stacker 
 
 patents-license system. 
 Montana Implement Dealers' Association — lOn 
 Mortgage laws, interest of associations in — 79,80 
 
 National Association of Agricultural Imple- 
 ment and Vehicle Manufacturers 2, 57, 
 
 63,64,220n 
 
 activities, cost educational movement ^26 
 
 fire insurance 74 
 
 freight transportation 67,68,69 
 
 industrial indemnity and insurance — 104, 105 
 
 legislation 89,94,97,98,99,199 
 
 litigation 90,94,95 
 
 patent laws 102 
 
 tariff legislation 97,98,99 
 
 attitude toward, branch retail stores 139, 142 
 
 Page. 
 National Association of Agricultural Imple- 
 ment and Vehicle Manufacturers, atti- 
 tude toward, complaints of dealers. . 133,134 
 dealers' associations .... 79, 133, 134, 136, 137, 151 
 
 direct sales .- 144,146,146 
 
 mail-order houses — — 194,195,199 
 
 psircel-post legislation 199 
 
 price agreements 9,17 
 
 prison-factory legislation 107,lOS,109 
 
 Torrey bankruptcy bill 79 
 
 uniform cost accounting 48n 
 
 uniform order blanks 79 
 
 bullotms 69 
 
 conferences with other associations 134, 
 
 136,144,216 
 
 cooperation with other associatioiLs 80, 
 
 89, 99, 107, 109, 1 09, 133, 135, 136, 194 
 
 early activities 13 
 
 efforts to improve credits 79 
 
 eff(Hts to shorten terms 44 
 
 formation 8 
 
 International Harvester Co., n^otiations 
 
 with 132-133 
 
 membership, qualifications 196 
 
 merged with other associations 9 
 
 National Association of Credit Men, exchange 
 
 of credit information 77 
 
 National Implement and Vehicle Associa- 
 tion, relations with 96 
 
 National Association of Factory Mutual In- 
 surance C OS 74 
 
 National Association of Grahi Drill Manufac- 
 turers 2,8,20 
 
 cost educat ional movement indorsed by — 226 
 
 merged with other associations 9, 47 
 
 National ^Association of Manufacturers 57n, 
 
 90,95,98,105 
 National Association of ThreshCT Manufac- 
 turers 2n,13,56 
 
 credits, recommendati(ms on. 81 
 
 National Federation of Implement and Ve- 
 hicle Dealers' Associations' relaticma 
 
 with 147 
 
 price activities 55-56 
 
 National Business League of America 58 
 
 National Implement and Vehicle Associa- 
 tion, cooperation with 91 
 
 National Council for Industrial Defense, pur- 
 pose 57n 
 
 National Federation of Implement and Vehi- 
 cle Dealers' Associations, admonition 
 to secretaries of constituent associar 
 
 tions 158,167,184,185 
 
 arrangements to supply dealers with names 
 of manufacturers making irr^ular 
 
 sales 196,191,192,193,194,196 
 
 attitude toward, advertising of mail-order 
 
 houses in farm papers 203,205 
 
 branch retail stores of manufacturers 138-143 
 
 directsellfag 128,144,161,184,185,190 
 
 farmers' cooperative stores 1 55, 1 79, 180, 181 
 
 legislation against misrepresentation in 
 
 advertising 202-203 
 
 branding goods with maker's name... 196 
 
 mail-order houses 192, 
 
 194, 195, 199, 200, 201, 203, 205, 206 
 parcel-post legislation.... ..••••...•.••— 201 
 
) i 
 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Natkmal Fedmtioa of taipleiiieDt and 
 Vtiieto Utatara* AsMetotions, bnmch 
 rotaU tCaiM iA nHamtecturani, stand- 
 
 arditation of farm macIilDery ^ 
 
 sjmdJcate c&ta]<^ues 86 
 
 miifonaipn^wrty statement 78 
 
 complatiiti, dealers', adjustment 1^7* 
 
 1£2-154» in, 162, 163, 164, 166, 166, 167, 
 168, 174, 179,180, 184, 186, 190, IM, 196 
 
 flOBleniMM Willi maantectiirers. 86, 
 
 87, 88, 136, 138, 144. 194, 316, 230D 
 With National Implement and V hide 
 Association. Su National Implement 
 and VefaidB Aasoeiatkm. 
 
 coDftlliiient associations, relations wltlt 6, 
 
 158,159,163,167,186,187 
 
 constitution ol ^^^ 
 
 •ooperation witb, American Leafoe of A«o- 
 
 ciations. ** 
 
 National Federation of Retail Merchants. 193, 
 
 300,306 
 
 KaUonal Haidwara Dealers' Anoeiitian. UB 
 National Implement and Veliicle Assodi- 
 
 Hon 137,308,206,233 
 
 oost educatkmal activities 3»,234, 336, 337, 
 
 238, 239, 333, 233, 335, 336, 837, 388, 339 
 
 coat suggestions indorsed by 334 
 
 fire-insurance arrangements for members 
 
 of 75-Tto 
 
 lomialloii.. l.,133 
 
 fe«]|Hht auditing service proposed for 73-74n 
 
 fundammtal principle of. 138 
 
 Government investigation of activities 164 
 
 Implement Dealers' Bulletin ad<H>ted as 
 
 official organ 21* 
 
 Information, Bureau of. 167, 18^-189, 196 
 
 Information, exchange of, among secretariBS 
 
 ' of eonstituent associations 198 
 
 tnlflraitional Harmtcr Co., negotiations 
 
 with 208 
 
 local dnbs, dealers', aidad by U, 
 
 163,315,216,217,235,237,238 
 mailorder houses, eflwts to prevent sales 
 
 by manufacturers to. 194,196 
 
 ■lembership 1,3,4,10-11 
 
 minutes 138 
 
 National Association of Thresher Manufku^ 
 
 turers, rations with 147 
 
 National Implement and Vehicle Associa- 
 tion indorses general p(dicy of. 170 
 
 oIKoers 4,6 
 
 plan of organization 4 
 
 poUcy in adjusting dealers' complaints 163, 
 
 164,165,166,167,168,189,170.196 
 prices, n^TOtiations with International Har- 
 vester Co. as to maintenance of retail.. 208 
 
 8e(3«tariBs' Association of 6,193 
 
 unlionn articles oC association recom- 
 mended by 183,186,187,237,238 
 
 unifcnrm complaint blanks adopted by 154 
 
 vorkof 4,137,161, 
 
 183, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 184, 185, 188, 190 
 National Federatkn of Retafl Merchants — 192, 
 
 300,301,303,206 
 
 National Fire Pxoteclive Association 74 
 
 National Hardware Dealers' Aflsool»tkn, 
 coopoatkm with National Federation 
 of latplement and Vehicle Dealers' 
 AsRociatioaa aa to parcel-post legisla- 
 tion w^ 
 
 National Hardwood Lumber Association. . 60, 63, 68 
 
 National Implement and Vehicle Association 1 
 
 actirttiesM to, cost education of dealers... 83, 
 
 83,330,332,233.238,239 
 
 cradlt and collection matters 76,77,78,88 
 
 direct ntaa ^^ 
 
 fire insurance 75 
 
 freight«lMiifl«tlan 67, 
 
 68,69,70,71,72,73 
 
 industrial indemnity and indemnity in- 
 
 68,104-106 
 
 , Federal corporation tax-law. .. 96-97 
 
 ptttent 10^104 
 
 prisan-factory 108-110 
 
 warranty 87 
 
 titration W,95 
 
 prioeB **-*• 
 
 itaadardization, cost accounting 68 
 
 equipment 47.48 
 
 flMStory products 47,52.53,86 
 
 matwtels 65-67 
 
 tarifl and foreign trade 99,100,101 
 
 attitude toward, cooperative stores 180,181 
 
 man-order advertising 303,203,204,206.206 
 
 3 
 
 bnHettn 3,69,82,81 
 
 eommittees 3,3,13a 
 
 cooperation with. National Federation of 
 Imidement and Vehide Dealeraf Aaood* 
 
 atlano 86,86,87,88,146,170,30) 
 
 other eommercial bodies M> 
 
 95, 96, 97, 100, 101 , 105, 108, Iff 
 Wwtem Retafl Implement, Vehicle and 
 
 Hardware Association ,.. 83,110,146 
 
 oost^MXWuntlng bureau, functions pro- 
 posed for 88 
 
 ooetacoounting system, furm-wagon de- 
 partment M»58 
 
 dealers' aaMKiations indorsed by 170 
 
 dWributlon, efforts to reduce costs 84-88 
 
 dues of members 3 
 
 executive committee, duties 8 
 
 foreign trade managers' department 101, 103 
 
 treight-trafBc department 69, 70, 71, 73,73 
 
 grain-drill department. See National Im- 
 plement and Vehicle Association, trade 
 departments. 
 
 O ovemment investigation 163, 163, 164, 168 
 
 incorporation 8 
 
 local-club movement aided by . 4, 238, 239, 240, 242 
 
 meetings ^ 
 
 members, classesof •••> %8 
 
 number of 1 
 
 membership in other associations 91,9^ 
 
 National Federation of Implement and 
 
 Vehicle Dealers' Associations indorsed. 170 
 
 plan of organization 3 
 
 jdow and tlOage-implement department. 
 8u National Implement and Vehicle 
 Aaoociation, trade departmenta. 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 36S 
 
 \ 
 
 I 
 
 crl ^ 
 
 if^ 
 
 ■Y 
 
 
 1 
 
 Page. 
 Hational Implement and Vehicle Association, 
 
 politic&i action, committee on 90,91 
 
 price activities ^^-56 
 
 receipts ^ 
 
 resolutions adopted 3n 
 
 retail system of distribution indorsed 169, 
 
 170,237 
 
 sales managers' department. . 2, 78, 82, 83, 233, 236 
 
 scope of activities ^ 
 
 secretary and general manager, duties 2 
 
 selling expenses, efforts to reduce 84-88 
 
 trade departments 2, 9, 41, 46-56, 64, 65-67, 86 
 
 wagon department. See National Imple- 
 ment and Vehicle Association, trade 
 departments. 
 National legislation. See Legislation. 
 National One-Cent Letter-Postage Associa- 
 tion 201,202 
 
 National Plow Association 2,76,220n 
 
 cooperation with National Association of 
 Agricultural Implement and Vehicle 
 
 Manufacturers 80 
 
 cost educational movement indorsed by . . . 226 
 
 eoit oystem recommended by 45 
 
 efforts to shorten terms 44-45 
 
 freight transportation committee created by 68 
 
 merged with other associations 9,45 
 
 price activities <l-45 
 
 iwommendations, extent of adoption by 
 
 members 41-42,43 
 
 standardization of materials by 63-64 
 
 uniform promissory note discussed 80 
 
 National Tariff Commission Association i9 
 
 National Wagon Manufacturers' Associa- 
 tion 2,8,9,lln,12,13,18,220n 
 
 activities as to, cost educational movement . 218, 
 
 224,225 
 
 fire insurance 74 
 
 transportation charges 67 
 
 agreements at meetings 29,30 
 
 benefits derived by members 33 
 
 commission contracts discussed by mem- 
 bers 80 
 
 cooperation with wagon-hub manufac- 
 turers 63 
 
 cost accounting committee appointed 27 
 
 executive committee 29 
 
 legality of worlc 32 
 
 material bureau.. 59,62 
 
 materials, efforts to standardize 58-63 
 
 increased costs discussed 19 
 
 meetings 17,18,19,29 
 
 merger with other associations 9 
 
 pool attempted 8,12 
 
 price activities 8,11,19,22-41 
 
 reorganization 27,28,29 
 
 Eoutheastem department 29,39,40,76 
 
 secretary, duties 28 
 
 VAicle Woodstock Co., conference with.. .'9 
 
 warranty discussed by members 13 
 
 National Wagon Stock Co f9,65,66 
 
 Nebraska and Western Iowa Retail Imple- 
 ment and Vehicle Dealers' Association. 10, 148 
 
 Nethery patents 114 
 
 New machines, difficulties of introducing — ^b 
 New York State Retail Implement and 
 
 Vehicle Dealers' Association 11,172 
 
 Nichols & Shepard Co I22n 
 
 North Dakota, legislation as to warranty 86,87 
 
 North Dakota and Northwestern Minnesota 
 
 Implement D««lers' Association 11 
 
 Northwestern Implement Dealers' Associa^ 
 
 tlon 10 
 
 Northwestern Plow Association 8 
 
 costs, selling, efforts to reduce 13 
 
 output, limitation 12 
 
 prices, uniform 12 
 
 Northwestern Plow and Cultivator Associa- 
 tion, recommendation to advance prices 19 
 Northwestern Plow and Implement Associa- 
 tion 8 
 
 Norton patents 116,117,121 
 
 Note settlements 44 
 
 Official classification committee 72,73 
 
 Ohio, activities of National Implement and 
 Vehicle Association as to proposed 
 
 industrial-indemnity legislation in 106 
 
 Oliver Chilled Plow Works 43,44 
 
 Order blanks, uniform, proposed by National 
 Association of Agricultural Implement 
 
 and Vehicle Manufacturers 79 
 
 Output, limitation of 9,12 
 
 Overcrowding territory 88 
 
 Overloading dealers 88 
 
 Overproduction, effect of 8 
 
 Pacific-Northwest Hardware and Implement 
 
 Association lOn 
 
 Panic of 1907, effect on farm-wagon trade 35,36 
 
 Parcel-post legislation, activities of associa- 
 tions in opposition 90, 196, 198-202 
 
 Patent laws, activities of implement msuiu- 
 
 lacturers' associations as to 102-104 
 
 Patentees, foreign, attitude of National Im- 
 plement and Vehiele Association as to 
 
 privileges of 108 
 
 Patents, Commissioner of 108 
 
 license system, Indiana Manufacturing Co. 
 See Wind-stacker patents-license sys- 
 tem. 
 
 monopoly of wind-stacker 117,118,119,121 
 
 National Implement and Vehicle Associar 
 
 tion, committee on 103,104 
 
 to act as mediator in disputes concerning. 104 
 
 opposition to compulsory license laws 102, 
 
 103,104 
 purchase {tgreement {su aUo Wind- 
 stacker patents-license system) 122, 
 
 123,124,126,127 
 United States House of Representatives, 
 
 committee on 102,104 
 
 wind-stacker, concentration of ownership 
 (jtee alao Wind-stacker patents-license 
 
 system) 111-127 
 
 Penalties on members of dealers' organiza- 
 tions {see alto Agreements among deal- 
 ers) ; 187,238 
 
 Pennsylvania and New Jersey Retail Imple- 
 ment and Vehicle Dealers' Association. 11, 
 
 179. 180, 181 
 sales to fanners' cooperative stores opposed 
 
 by 179-180 
 
 Personal acquaintance, value in local-club 
 
 work 212,213 
 
>*■ 
 
 / (. 
 
 364 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 
 8,» 
 
 208 
 64 
 
 Page. 
 n<dg0 of members of dealers' assodatknis 
 
 {m abo Agreements among dealers) . . 185, 
 
 187,206 
 
 Flow associations («« also Northwestern Plow 
 Association; Northwestern Plow and 
 Cultivator Association; Northwestern 
 Plow and Implement Association; Na* 
 tional Plow Association; and National 
 Implement and Vehicle Association, 
 trade departments) ■ 
 
 Plow-beam bUlets. standardization pro- 
 posed ^'^ 
 
 Plow BMaiufacturers, agency contracts 7,208 
 
 consolidation amoo^ ^* 
 
 distributing arrangements * 
 
 early organisation among * 
 
 meetings 17,19,20 
 
 price agreements among * 
 
 prices, list, in eontracts 
 
 specifications, standard, activities as to. . . . 
 Pneumatic stackers. See Wind stackers. 
 
 Pole stock, grading and Inspection rules 64, 66 
 
 Political action, committee on *>'*1 
 
 Pool, attempted by wagon manufscturers... 8,12 
 
 Port Huron Engine and Thresher Co 122n 
 
 Portland, Oreg., branch retail stores in tetrl- 
 
 loty around ^^ 
 
 P«»tage, 1-cent letter, indorsed by dealers* 
 
 associations *^ 
 
 Postal laws, eflwts of dealers' associations to 
 
 secure revision 201,208 
 
 Price agreements, among dealers 16> 
 
 7911,208,200,210,214,243 
 
 among manufocturers 8,17,27,65-56 
 
 relation to coat educational movement 241 
 
 temptation to, in discussion of costs 66 
 
 Price concessions, Indiana Manufacturing 
 
 Co., alleged concessions by 122,124 
 
 International Harvester Co., effect of for- 
 mation on ** 
 
 prevalence of 1* 
 
 thresher manulEurturers discuss ••... 66 
 
 au olM Price cutting. 
 
 Price control, difficulties of 24 
 
 Price cutting, among manufacturers — 7,37,56,81 
 
 retaU, efforts to stop 4,5,7,15,16, 17,207-243 
 
 Price lists, standard, relation of standard 
 
 specifications to 36 
 
 uniftom 23,36, 40,41,fiO,Ha08,209 
 
 Prices, associations' efforts to advance 21 
 
 ebaracteristics of farm machinery 14 
 
 commodity, advance in 21 
 
 cooperative stores, turners', influence 181 
 
 cost accounting, as basis for 32,218-243 
 
 dealers, inexperienced, hifluence on. . 218, 219, 220 
 
 decline hi, 1880 to 1890 15 
 
 dtoerimination by manulacturars 14 
 
 giain-drlll *7 
 
 barvesting-machhiery manutscturers, petl- 
 
 ticmedtofix -» 207 
 
 tntamation, exchange of, as to 23, 
 
 24,25,54-66,211-218 
 Jobbofs', advanced by wagon manufM- 
 
 tmers * 
 
 ltat> adk^ted by Nebraska dealers 209 
 
 ■dvBQtages of, in implement tradA 42-48 
 
 Paee. 
 
 Prloe8,liftfum wagons and parti of wagons. 11, 
 
 19,27,28,29,50 
 
 plows and tillage implements 41,42,206 
 
 threshing machinery 56 
 
 local clubs, dealers', influence on 211-218, 
 
 230,237,241,242 
 
 Su also Price lists. 
 
 lower, causes of. 1880 to 1890 U 
 
 materials, increased cost of, effect on 216 
 
 niinitnnm Su Pricc Usts; Prices, list; 
 
 Prices, net; Prices, uniformity in- 
 National Implement and Vehicle Associa- 
 tion, activities as to 4ft-66 
 
 National Wagon Manufacturers' Associa- 
 
 ticn, action rescinding resolutions on.. 82 
 net, adopted by National Association of 
 
 Thresher Manufacturers 6S 
 
 Northwestern Plow and Cultivator Asso- 
 ciation, influence on 12 
 
 patent licensees required to m a lntAtn uni- 
 form ^ 1" 
 
 plow, advanca !• 
 
 regulation of, relation of associations to — S3, 
 
 54,55,187,237 
 retail, cost educational movement, rela- 
 tion to 54-65,226,241-243 
 
 Hall In, 1880 to 1890 t 13-13 
 
 manufacturers' interest in 207 
 
 See also Price list; Prices, list; Prices, 
 uniformity in. 
 
 resala 207,208 
 
 specifications, standard, effect on 28,88 
 
 standardization of, for farm wagons 26 
 
 statistical treatment of farm machinery 13,14 
 
 sted, complaint of implement manufactur- 
 ers 88 
 
 threshing machinery, discounts on 81 
 
 tire, attempt to esublish 27 
 
 uniformity in, comparison of costs In rela* 
 
 tton to H» 
 
 concerted action among competitors to es- 
 tablish » 
 
 Dakota dealers faidorse 210 
 
 dIfBculties in securtag 208,209 
 
 manufacturers' recommendations to 
 
 dealers as to 209 
 
 Northwestern Plow Association 12 
 
 patented articles 126 
 
 standard specifications as a basis for 14,28 
 
 Western Retail Implement, Vehicle and 
 Hardware Association, report of har- 
 vester committee on 16 
 
 wind-stacker patents-license contracts 112, 
 
 113,117,118 
 See also Price lists, uniform. 
 
 variations in 13,14,23 
 
 wagon, advances 22, 
 
 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 , 32, 33, 35, 37, 38, 39, 49 
 
 eziaiange of information on 24,25 
 
 pro p osed consolidation of companies to 
 
 control W 
 
 wholesale, activities of manufacturers' 
 
 associations regarding 21-66 
 
 compilation 89 
 
 ooncessions 25 
 
 main tf"^"*^ ....•••••••••••••••••••••••• 28,49 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 365 
 
 o- 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^^ 
 
 I 
 
 ^t 
 
 
 I 
 
 Page. 
 I, wholesale, i>eriodio adjustment recom- 
 
 -- . . mended by wagon manufacturers 86 
 
 reductions 24,25 
 
 wlad-stacker {su also Wind-stacker patents- 
 
 ' license system) ^ 
 
 Prison-factory legislation 90, 105, 106,107-UO 
 
 Producers of materials, agreements as to grad- 
 ing and inspection rules with manufao- 
 
 . turers ®2,63 
 
 list of, issued by Natfonal Wagon Manufac- 
 turers' Association ^ 
 
 Production, limitation of, among wagon man- 
 ufacturers m 1908 86 
 
 provisfens of articles of association of deal- 
 ers' associations as to 187 
 
 Profits, manufacturers' interest ta dealers' ... 207 
 pooling of, provisions of articles of associa- 
 
 tton of dealers' organizations as to 187 
 
 Promissory note, uniform, discussed by 
 
 National Plow Association 80 
 
 Promissory notes, taxed to State of Arkansas. 95 
 
 Property statements, uniform 78, 88 
 
 Protection to dealers, defined 148 
 
 efforts to secure 128-206 
 
 importance of 184,185 
 
 Information Bureau formed 188 
 
 hiformation supplied by secretaries of deal- 
 ers' associations 191,192 
 
 methods hidorsed by dealers' associations 
 
 to secure 
 
 provisions of uniform articles of association 
 
 on 
 
 Protective activities of dealers' associations, 
 
 scope 183-185 
 
 statement of secretary of National Fed- 
 eration of Implement and Vehicle Deal- 
 ers' Associations as to 164,165, 
 
 166,167,168,173,174 
 Public opinion, opposition by associations to 
 parcel-post legislation through attempts 
 
 to hifluence 199,201 
 
 Poblications, implement trade. S«e Trade 
 papers; Implement Dealers' Bulletin; 
 Retailers' Sentmel, etc. 
 Pump manufocturers, conference of dealers' 
 
 federation with 138 
 
 Pumps, cooperation among manufacturers of. 8 
 Purchasing agents, proposed organization 
 
 among 60, 66, 67 
 
 Pure advertising law. See Advertishig, leg- 
 islation against misrepresentation to. 
 
 148 
 
 163 
 
 Question box at meettogs of dealers' associap 
 tions 
 
 197 
 
 ^ 
 
 Baiboad classifications. Su Freight classi- 
 fications. 
 
 Railroad rates. See Transportation charges. 
 
 Railroads, negotiations of implement manu- 
 facturers with 67-73 
 
 Rate-advance cases, decided by Interstate 
 
 Commerce Commission 68 
 
 Reciprocal Underwriters 75-76n 
 
 Reciprocity with Canada 99,100 
 
 Reduction of costs. 8e* Costs, efforts to re- 
 duce. 
 
 Fafla. 
 
 Regular dealer defined I* 
 
 Reorganization committee of Nationa IWagon 
 
 Manufactiu-ers' Association 28,29 
 
 Repair parts, threshing machinery 147 
 
 wagon {see also Common parts). . . 32, 33, 40, 41, 50 
 
 "Reputable" manufacturers 148, 150 
 
 Resale price maintenance (.see also Retail price 
 
 mamtenance) 12,16,17,207-208,240 
 
 Restriction of retail trade to retail dealers. 128-206 
 Retail Implement Dealers' Association of 
 South Dakota, southwestern Minne- 
 sota, and northwestern Iowa 10, 11 
 
 Retail Implement Dealers' Association of the 
 
 West and Northwest 9,11,13 
 
 Retail Implement Dealers' Mutual Fire In- 
 surance Co. of Minnesota 76n 
 
 Retail Merchants, National Federation of. 192,200, 
 
 201,208,206 
 Retail price maintenance (see also Resale 
 
 price mamtensjice) 207-243 
 
 Retail prices. See Prices, retail. 
 Retail system of distribution {see also Distri- 
 bution) 129 
 
 Retail trade, dealers' claim to 128,129 
 
 restriction to retail dealers 128-206 
 
 Retailers' Sentmel, oflacial organ of Iowa Im- 
 plement Dealers' Association 155, 157 
 
 Royalties, patent. SwWmd-stacker patents- 
 license system. 
 
 Rumely, M., Co 122n 
 
 Russia, abrogation of treaty with, effect on 
 
 implement trade 100,101 
 
 Sale contracts. See Contracts, sale. 
 Sales, direct. See Direct sales, 
 irregular. See Irregular sales. 
 
 security for 79-80 
 
 Sales managers' department, National Imple- 
 ment and Vehicle Association 2, 78, 82, 
 
 83,233,235,236 
 Sattley Stacker Co., control by Indiana Man- 
 
 u&M^uring Co 113,125n 
 
 Scale manu^turers, dealers criticize distrib- 
 uting methods of 150 
 
 Schuttler, Peter, Co 29 
 
 Seats, sprmg, wholesale prices 30 
 
 Secretaries' Association of the National Fed- 
 eration of Implement and Vehicle Deal- 
 ers' Associations 5,193 
 
 Security for sales 79-80 
 
 Seedtog machmery, cooperation among manu- 
 
 facturersof 8,20 
 
 distribution 8 
 
 Selltog expenses. See Costs. 
 
 Selling organizations 84 
 
 Service, dealers' clahn as to 128,129,171 
 
 excessive demands for, as an item to cost of 
 
 distribution 87 
 
 Shippers, railroad, conference of 68 
 
 Sizes, elimination of unnecessary 47, 52, 86, 88 
 
 Slat stackers. See Sattley Stacker Co. 
 South America, manufacturers tovestigate 
 
 trade conditions to 98 
 
 South Dakota, decision of Supreme Court of 
 State <rf, appealed to United States Su- 
 preme Court 91 
 
i 
 
 366 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Fftge. 
 
 Booth Dakota Retail MeKHaBts* and Haid- 
 van Dcalos' AaoeialiaD, salt of Mont- 
 
 iomery Ward A Co., agaiDtt 105 
 
 Booth Platte AaBodatJOD 208 
 
 aontheastem depaitmeiit of NaliOBal Wacon 
 
 Maaufaotarers' Aasoeiatloo 20,38,40^70 
 
 SontlienidaadfloatkHi committee 70^72,18 
 
 Soathwestem Lombennen's Association, 
 National Federation of Implement and 
 Vdiide Dealers' Associations discuss 
 
 oonsUtution and by-laws of 1S6 
 
 Boothwestcm JLomher Dealers' Aaocia- 
 
 tioD 200,202 
 
 Special cost committee 230,234,227,228 
 
 Specificati(His, standard, activitiea of mano- 
 
 lactuiers' associations 29,41,47,63,64 
 
 •drantages 62,64 
 
 QOil S3rstem recommended by National 
 Implement and Vehidd Association, re- 
 lation to * 
 
 dUBcoltiesaffixinK 28 
 
 importance of, in cost accounting 46,51 
 
 materials 58-07 
 
 plows and tillage implements 53,53 
 
 progress of movement for 30,31 
 
 uniform price list, relation ». 28,36 
 
 wagons ,.,„..•..... 37,28 
 
 See alto Standardization. 
 
 Spoke manofiactnrers' association 50,60 
 
 Spokes, grading and inspection rules 60 
 
 Standard dimensions 60,61 
 
 Standardisation, cooperation between mana> 
 
 faetorers and dealers to promote 80 
 
 costs, selUng, reduced by 80 
 
 difficulties. M 
 
 equipment. SM Equipment, standard. 
 
 lire risks - '^ 
 
 products 1^ 
 
 rehition to prices '-- 1* 
 
 secretaries of Iterated dealers' associations 
 
 oonierwithmanufoctorerson.f. 88 
 
 •sedinK machinery 47,52,63 
 
 See alw Specifications, standard. 
 State and interstate associatims of dealers. . 5,9-11 
 
 articles Qiaaiociation 5,141,186,187 
 
 ooopoatiaB with Jobbers' dubs 5,90,217 
 
 eoecntihre sessions 1*8 
 
 methods of adjosting complafaits 147-152,154 
 
 object 187 
 
 relatioas with dealera' local clubs 217 
 
 nport of eommittee of manufocturers' aaso- 
 
 dations as to work 137 
 
 State Department, reciprocity treaties negoti- 
 ated « 
 
 State legfelation. See Legislation. 
 
 State taxation of foreign corpwations.... 98,98-96 
 
 ^States' committee" 88 
 
 Btatirties, fire insurance, oolleeted by Imi^ 
 
 ment mannfbctureis 74 
 
 labor, committee of National Wagon Manu- 
 
 fltcturers' Association on 28 
 
 price, in the farm-madilnery trade 21 
 
 Steel, advance in price of 58,50 
 
 priees at delivered points 03 
 
 StMl, eort €f, dlwnsaed by plow mannfMV 
 
 ...., 48,48 
 
 Fagt. 
 St el manutectnreis, ciMiwimlnnii to price to 
 
 implement mamfeotorers by 18 
 
 Steel producers, listed in pamphlet issued by 
 National Wagon Manufecturers' Asso- 
 ciation. 00 
 
 Steet. report of committee of National 
 Association of Agrkniltural Implement 
 and Vehide Manufiscturers as to tariff 
 
 on 08 
 
 Stevens bill aD8,240n 
 
 Studebaker Bros. Ifanufacturing Co 28,33,30 
 
 Studebaker Corporation OOn 
 
 Supply houses 183 
 
 Supreme Court of the United States 94,95,96 
 
 suit of TnHfrm Manufacturing Co. against 
 J, L Oaae Threshing Machine Co. ap- 
 pealed to 118,121 
 
 Syndkiate catalogues 80 
 
 Turn Boaxd 99,101 
 
 Tariff laws of foreign countrkis, bulletins of 
 Ni^ional Implement and Vehicle 
 
 Aaodattonon 100 
 
 Tariff legislatkm, interest of associations in . . 13, 
 
 90,96,97-103 
 Tariff, steel, attitude of implement manu- 
 
 tactTirers as to 98,100 
 
 Tax, Federal corporatfcxi 06-87 
 
 Taxation of oorporatkms, interest of associar 
 
 tionsin. 90,9»-87 
 
 Taxpayers, movement to investigate cost of 
 
 prison manufactxiring ftv benefit of — UO 
 Terms, eflorts of Nattonal Association of 
 Agricolttiral Implement and Vehicle 
 
 Manufacturers to shorten 44 
 
 efforts of National Plow Association to 
 
 shorten 44-45 
 
 efforts of Natk>nal Wagon ManufocturerS* 
 
 Association to shorten 30,35 
 
 kng, advantages to large companies 37,84 
 
 Iong,asanltemof cost of distribution 86 
 
 recommendatk>ns of National Associatun of 
 
 Thresher Manufacturers 81 
 
 Territorial lines in agency contracts 17 
 
 Texas, branch retail stores in 138 
 
 suit to test fbreign corporatwn law of 94,95 
 
 Texas Hardware and Implement Associa- 
 tion 11,13S 
 
 Thresher manufacturers, direct sales 7 
 
 National Associatton of 2,8,56,56,81,147 
 
 negotktions to sell shares in Indiana Manu- 
 facturing Co. to committee of 118 
 
 price cutting among 81 
 
 prices, oniform, for wind stackers ia3-124n 
 
 relations with dealers' associatk>ns 146-147 
 
 Threshing machinery, cooperation among 
 
 early manufacturers S 
 
 distributfcjn 6,146,147 
 
 Thresher trade, credits 80-81 
 
 patent-holding company in Ill 
 
 Set also Wind-staeker patents-lksense sys- 
 
 Tires, standardisation 29,50.60 
 
 uniform price list 23,37,39,33,34,60 
 
 Title danae hi contracts 80 
 
 Torrey bankruptcy bUL. ....•...•••••••— •• 79 
 
 n^DEX. 
 
 V 
 
 ikf 
 
 -4 
 
 A 
 
 Arf |. 
 
 '•4»' 
 
 Page. 
 
 Trade departments, National Implement and 
 
 Vehicle Association. See National 
 
 Implement and Vehide Association, 
 
 trade departments. 
 
 Trade ethics (see aUo Retail trade, dealers' 
 
 claim to) 186 
 
 Trade-marked goods 7,88,240 
 
 Trade papers, advertisements of mail-order 
 
 houses h) 203 
 
 attitude toward branch retail stores 138 
 
 attitude toward cooperative stores 193 
 
 establishment of catal(%-house committee 
 
 suggested by 104 
 
 influence in caustog formation of associa- 
 
 tlOTis 129,179,181 
 
 Transportation charges, activities of asso- 
 ciations 57,67-73, 74n 
 
 changes in 69 
 
 cooperation between implement manufac- 
 turers' and dealers' associations 71,72,73 
 
 early activities of associations 13 
 
 See aleo Rate-advance cases. 
 Traveling salesmen, dissemination oi in- 
 formation by 103 
 
 functions in cost educational movement — 82 
 Tri-State Vehicle and Implement Dealers' 
 
 Association 10,135,153,154,241 
 
 Troy Wagon Works Co 28 
 
 Twin City Implement, Vehicle and Hard- 
 ware Club (eee also Jobbers, Minne- 
 
 apdis) 150,176,177,234 
 
 Twine, binder, cooperation among manufoc- 
 
 turers of 8 
 
 Tjrpes, farm-machinery 86 
 
 Unfair lists (see also Direct sales, disseminat- 
 
 tag notice oO 115,157,193 
 
 United States circuit court, district of South 
 
 Dakota 194,195 
 
 United States House of Representatives 
 Committee on Post Offices and Post 
 Roads 199,200,201 
 
 United States Supreme Court, decision 
 
 against Mississippi lumbermen 159,160 
 
 Vehicle Woodstock Co. , conference with farm- 
 wagon manufacturers 69 
 
 Virginia and North Carolina Retail Imple- 
 ment, Machinery and Vehicle Dealers' 
 Association 11,178,179 
 
 Vocational training •.•....•••• 58 
 
 Wagon makers' committee 29 
 
 Wagon manufacturers, conference of southern 13 
 
 distributing arrangements 6 
 
 meetings 17,18 
 
 See aieo National Wagon Manufacturers' 
 
 Association; National Implement and 
 
 Vehicle Association, trade departments; 
 
 Wagons, farm. 
 
 Wagon trade, relation of cost educational 
 
 movement to 224,225 
 
 Wagons, form, advance in cost of materials 
 for. See Materials, cost of. 
 
 classification 23 
 
 cooperation amcmg early manufacturers of. 8 
 Intarnatk>nal Harvester Co., trade in 23 
 
 367 
 
 Page. 
 
 Wagons, whdesaleprices of. 21,22-41, 47,49,50,51,52 
 
 specifications, standard 27,28,52 
 
 uniform price list 23,36 
 
 Warranty, abuse of 13 
 
 exx>ense 86 
 
 legislation 86,87 
 
 Ways and Means Committee, United States 
 
 House of Representatives 98,99 
 
 Weber Wagon Co 29 
 
 Western classification committee, negotiations 
 
 of implement manufacturers with.. 67,72,73 
 Western classification No. 51, activities of im- 
 plement manufocturers' and dealers' 
 
 associations 71, 72, 73 
 
 Western rate-advance case, decided by Inter- 
 state Commerce Commission 68 
 
 Western Retail Implement Dealers' Associa- 
 tion. See Western Retail Implement, 
 Vehicle and Hardware Association. 
 Western Retail Implement and Vehicle Deal- 
 ers' Association. See Western Retail 
 Implement, Vehicle and Hardware 
 Association. 
 West«-n Retail Implement, Vehwle, and 
 Hardware Association, by-laws . 
 
 amended 132 
 
 cooperation with other associations 83, 
 
 110, 133, 134, 136, 146, 150, 194 
 
 cost educational activities 83 
 
 direct selling, opposed by 12:, 
 
 130, 146, 148, 149, 162, 173, 178, 189, 190 
 
 directory of dealers published by 134, 135 
 
 dissemination of notice of direct selling 185. 
 
 189,190 
 
 early activities 13 
 
 executive sessions 131,148,149 
 
 fire insurance. Reciprocal Underwriters or- 
 ganized 75n 
 
 formation 9 
 
 freight auditing bureau established 73-74n 
 
 Kansas City Retail Hardware Dealers' 
 
 Club, affiliation with 183,184 
 
 legal advice as to disseminating information 185 
 
 local clubs organized 214,215,216,239 
 
 mail-order houses opposed by 193, 
 
 194,195,197-198 
 
 membership 10 
 
 method of handling members' complaints. 129, 
 
 130,132,172,173,174,175 
 
 pledges Of members 193,206 
 
 price activities 16,19,211 
 
 prison manufacturing opposed by 110 
 
 proceedings at meetings 129,130,131 
 
 summary of accomplishments 149 
 
 Wheel heights, reduction in number 29, 30, 49 
 
 Wilson tariff biU 98 
 
 Windmill manufacturers, conference with 
 
 dealers' federation 138 
 
 dealers criticize distributing methods of. . . 150 
 Wind-stacker patents-license system, acquisi- 
 tion of patents by Indiana Manufoctur- 
 
 ingCo 113,115n 
 
 decision of courts on validity 117, 118, 122 
 
 license contract, changes in form 115, 116 
 
 manufACtorers,alleged agreement among. 123n- 
 
 124n,126 
 
368 
 
 IKBBX. 
 
 Wind-stacker pst«ntt-llc«ns« systmt, 
 
 origiii 111-113 
 
 plan to proloog dmfttiOD 11& 
 
 prices, aslUng, fixed by U2 
 
 public interest in 125,127 
 
 significance 125-127 
 
 suits against licensees 117, 
 
 122, 122n, 123, 123n, 134, IMn, 125 
 Wind staeken, cost and profits of mano&o- 
 
 torers 112n 
 
 selllngprioe 66,112 
 
 Winona Wagon Co 29 
 
 Winoosia Maonhctureis' Association 97 
 
 prisoo-lMtorylegiBlatkm la 106, 
 
 106,10»,110 
 WImmhIb BetaO Implement and Vehfeto 
 
 Deakn' Association 11 
 
 kieal clubs in territory of 239 
 
 Wood stock, wagon, arrangements to bclll> 
 
 tate production 09 
 
 standard dimensions for ••>• 56(03 
 
 Workmen's indemnity compensation. 8tt 
 Industrial indemnity legtilationi 
 
 Yellow Fine Manulacturers' Associatira. 
 
 I 
 
 ::| 
 
 
 Jt 
 
 T 
 
 t ■ V 
 
 ^^ 
 
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