THE HARVESTER TRUST.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIV, Issue 13886, 21 October 1905, Page 14

THE HARVESTER TRUST .

v TO jTHE EDITOR. ' | r __3lr J. D. Bywator’s letter, I 'appeared in your iesue of October | does not, either as a matter of i courtesy or one of diplomacy, for a reply from a manufacturer’s of‘view, but. it possibly calls for a explanation. Bywater’s principal concern to -be anent a statement, reporthave been made by me. to the, on September 6 last; I mineon my return from ■ Wellington 'received the following characteristic the International Harvester of America, signed by J. D. j : —_ to the Premier, in your interview the 6th inst., wo find that some of 'statements which you made to him this company axe abeoluteAs wo consider those will, to a certain extent, our business, would ask you - call on - the writer, and satisfactory explanation, before BTjj. on Friday, the Bth inst. Fail- . shall place the matter in hahds of ‘ our solicitors, to take . action as wo deem necessary.” curtly 1 worded, as a matcourtesy I called on By water, and during our explained that I r had , been reported quite correctly, to that extent would he quite willto put the papers right on the matBut this was not sufficient for Mr Bywater, of the International Company, of America. Gen- ■ tl<F autocrat that he is, he wanted a Hmtmopoly on this deal also, and he asked me the next day to sign the followlCTo all ‘whom it may concern. — With reference to the statement made ■ by me to the Premier on the 6th inst., ■ .bout the International Harvester ComH sany, of America, manufacturing twine ■ America from New Zealand fibre, ■%od selling same in this country at cut ■’bribes, I hud that this is not correct. ■<The' International Harvester Company, H'«£ America, have never imported a ■'pound of twine into Now Zealand, but ■• that last season alone they purchased ■ New Zealand fibre to the value of over ■'£so,ooo, which was afterwards made ■ up in Australia and America, and used ■ ; in' these places, .1 also find that the' ■ twine which they are now offering is ■ 'manufactured in New Zealand from ■ftp This mild impertinence I, of course, ■ . From the letters quoted, it will be I seen that Air Bywater threatened I prompt legal proceedings. I regarded ■ the 'threat- as the purest bluff on Mr i I Bjrwater’s part, and as merely, a sug- ] I gestive example of the methods cl doll sing business adopted by his trust. Air I Bywater states that the firm I am oonnected with has not handled twine for several years. Probably it will be news ; to him to know that we handled twine , for the first time last season. Mr By- j ■ water makes a great parade about the | ( fibre his company purchase in New Zea- | v Und, -and would have the people believe that he is the representative of a ’great philanthropic institution, the .eole object of whose existence is to take a fatherly interest in the New Zealand • farmer. One can almost see him wink lub other eye. _ . I . -At this juncture it will he well to re- ■ member- ivt-r By water’s, statement that hie company “are not here for their " health.” Putting on one side all sentiment, and all this silly parade of phil-. ■ anthropy, it is patent that the Inter- ■ national Harvester Company-will buy .'fibre from us as long as we can produce - itbe article at a price, and as long as it ■“suits them to buy it. Just so long, and not a moment longer. In June, 1903, while in Chicago, I called on Air Daniells, who was at that time in charge of the International Harvester Company’s fibre buying department. He made me an offer of 6| * cents per pound for 5000 tons of New ; Zealand flax fibre, delivered in Chicago ■’ on or before December, 1903. He also • informed me that the company could . ! take as much fibre as we could supply • ■ at .that price, but when it got above that figure their own fibre was cheaper. 1 At the present time this great and philanthropic Trust is arranging to ‘grow its own hemp, and claims that in ' ten years it will be independent of - foreign fields and outside markets. This surely puts a- some what different complexion , upon the presence of the ■ company on the New Zealand fibre market. J. t». Bywater twits me with being ! imaginative and he obviously fails to /appreciate tho distinction between fore- • sight and imagination. “Present ■ fears,” says Alacbeth, “are less-than • '-horrible imaginings,” and in this case . we are concerned only with very legiti- • mate “ present fears.” I rather fancy, ' too, that the Trust’s rosy confidence in ' its “imagination” as +o trade proipects in New Zealand accounts for Air ,'ivwafer’s presence here in its interest. • "just let me give him an illustration ‘ cf how his great concern works. The i Harvester Company found that half! •' measures were of no avail, that their great Trust would not be complete unless they controlled the “ raw ma- . it; terial,” the “railroad lines,” the rights,” the “steam boat Hne's,” the “ steel roller mills ” and ?; ether accessories, thereby stifling all competition. Interrogated as to .how much they were saving on steel, one bf the firm replied, “While we do not know the exact profit in dollars and cents, we do know it has been a profit.” From this it might be assumed that ' the margin of profit was >so large that Jt was safe “ to imagine ” a profit without having recourse to figures. What ,>bout this for “imagination?” Mr J. D. Bywater, if he does succeed in i taking our trade away from us, might | at least leave us our imagination. _ | There has been a great deal said j ! about the methods of the Trust in other j ■' countries, and naturally our farmer j •’ friends and also the International Har- ; i voster Company are asking for infer-I I motion concerning some of their ' methods'in New Zealand. I will content myself with referring to one significant fact. In the course of an Interview, Air Bywater told a reporter that the Trust, although having a monopoly, would not- raise prices. In >iew of this statement, and the fact • hat the Trust have th 0 control of all he raw 'material they use, railroad hies, etc., it is 'only natural to .suppose ijat they could and would give the i : armer the benefit of at least a portion -’wf r the saving in the cost of mamifaefcure. But that is not a Trust’s ‘ method, unless they have an object in view. The company practically hold a monopoly of 90 .per cent of the binders imported into New Zealand. Remember Air By water is reported to have stated I that the real reason of the amalgamation wae a desire to reduce cost of management. It is natural to assume that their imagination did not play them false in this respect, and that j they have reduced costs and selling ex- j : ponses. But is the farmer benefiting by this? No 1 The reduced expense | Las not been followed by a correspond- | ing reduction in the prices of their out- | < put. The Trust holds a monopoly on ■ ! binders with tho following result:— j : Deering binders, sold in open coni- ' petition at £36 not cash. Under trio I roof of the International Harvester Company they are listed at £4O net I ; cash. Osborne binders sold in open competition at £3O net cash. Under the roof of the Trust they are listed at £36 net cash- This is one method 1 adopted ia New Zealand. 1 may add

that I have learned recently Deering binders have been reduced by £2 for some reason unknown to ms. In conclusion I might state that I could cite a number of other cases, but do .not wish to encroach too much upon your snace.—l am, etc., ‘ G. AI. HALL. Christchurch, October 19, 1905. TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —A great deal has been written and said on the above subject, and still inhere is more left unsaid. ’ A letter signed “ AI.A.C.” in Thursday’s issue seems to - me to require soiSe comment. The writer is evidently impressed with .the hopeless ignorance of the farmers, and no wonder, for they certainly are a dunder-headed lot. lam very much afraid that it will take a great many literary efforts like the on© mentioned to bring the thick-headed clodhopper to a sense of his peril. I quite agreo with -“ AI.A.C.” and all the rest of your correspondents that the Harvester Trust is a thing not to be desired. But I maintain that the farmer is the wrong one to ask to make a sacrifice, and he is going to take a lot of educating to make him think differently. “AI.A.C.” says that the reason the local men get more wages than their American brothers is because they are -better workmen. The farmers think differently. Besides, they have Mr Hall’s word for it that the colonial artisan or mechanic could not compete on equal terms with the American worker who, he says, is put on piecework and does more work for less money than the colonial article.. Surely Air Hall should know something about it. But it has long been patent to those who, although farmers, still have a little commonsense, "that the city workers axe well able to take care of themselves. They have demonstrated that , fact more than once in a no uncertain manner. “AI.A.C.” says Gcd help the farmer, and I say God . help the worker. He is going to see trouble first, not the farmer. With him it is only a matter of paying a trifle more for what implements he requires, which he pan do and still live; but the workers are in a worse plight than that. They have their living at stake, and should therefore look to themselves, not to the farmers.—l am. etc., * IGNORAMUS. TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —I should like to- offer a few' comments on Air G. AI. Hall’s ideas. Ho says, “we are not asking for a duty on -implements suck as harvesters.” Now, what are wo agitating about? If this is going to bo the case, we may as well' let the matter drop. I think. Air Hall is only talking to- screen the Americans, as anyone only wants to pay a visit to Air Hall’s own establishment to see “Yankee” painted everywhere. Drills, ploughs, windmills, harrows; in fact,'all are Yankee. Local manufacturers may fight in unity with these people, but it is not fair. Another little item is, what is to prevent our manufacturers from taking copies of the implements, as Air Hall says. We can make anything in the colonies. The Americans take copies of come of our best made articles, and send them away to America to get made, and. then send them hack to the colonie’s ready for use.—l am, etc.', FAIRNESS AAIONG YOURSELVES.