Mr. SPENCER. And most of these implement dealers are engaged in handling the International Harvester Co. implements?

Mr. LUKENS. Not all-a large part of them-because they are a large factor in the implement trade.

Mr. SPENCER. Is that the form in which you sent out these reprints; is that one of them [handing clipping to Mr. Lukens]? Mr. LUKENS. No; I never saw that that I know of.

Mr. SPENCER. You did not send that out?

Mr. LUKENS. This seems to be

Mr. SPENCER. Did you ever see that before?

Mr. LUKENS. Yes; I saw this statement in another implement paper. We never published it.

Mr. SPENCER. You did not send that out?

Mr. LUKENS. No, sir.

Mr. SPENCER. That appears to be a reprint from some other paper, you say?

Mr. LUKENS. No; I saw this yes, I saw this story, I think, in looking over very hastily another implement paper.

Mr. SPENCER. Did you receive one of those?

Mr. LUKENS. No.

Mr. SPENCER. You do not know where it came from?
Mr. LUKENS. No, sir.

Mr. SPENCER. Did you not write a great many special articles which you sent around to all newspapers and implement dealers in the United States, or a great many of them?

Mr. LUKENS. No. Some of the articles I have written we republished, and they have been sent out in page-proof form from our office.

Mr. SPENCER. How many people did you send them to?

Mr. LUKENS. Oh, I could not tell you that. We have had a great many requests from dealers for extra copies of the paper, and to fill those requests we had proofs taken, so as not to send the entire paper; in fact we could not; we did not have enough extra copies. Mr. SPENCER. How many of them did you send out? Mr. LUKENS. I could not tell you, only as a guess.

Mr. SPENCER. Did you send out a thousand of each article?
Mr. LUKENS. No, I would not say that.

Mr. SPENCER. Five hundred?

Mr. LUKENS. I should say not to exceed 200, and some of them none at all.

Mr. SPENCER. 'How many of these different articles did out in that way

?

you send

Mr. LUKENS. Probably two or three. The main story was told, you know, in the issue of December 9-first, in the issue of November 25 was the bare news, and then the main story, with our opinions of what the effect would be; and after that it was merely following up the news as it developed and reiterating our opinion, to warn the farmers and have them protest, so that the matter would be taken up by the Government.

Mr. SPENCER. And how long did you conduct that campaign?
Mr. LUKENS. From the time I speak of.

Mr. SPENCER. Down to the present date?

Mr. LUKENS. Yes, sir.

(At this point the committee recessed for five minutes.)

Senator GRONNA (presiding). Mr. Spencer, you may proceed. Mr. SPENCER. What is the largest number of these articles that you sent out in that way?

Mr. LUKENS. You mean as special?

Mr. SPENCER. Yes.

Mr. LUKENS. Well, I could not say as to that. If you wish to know the exact number, I can ascertain it for you, and be glad to give you the information.

Mr. SPENCER. I should like to know just exactly what articles you did send out, in proof form that way, to the newspapers, and the farmimplement dealers, and to other people, and how many of each? Mr. LUKENS. Mr. Baker is our general manager. He is here and he will give you the figures.

STATEMENT OF MR. E. J. BAKER, SECRETARY-TREASURER, FARM IMPLEMENT NEWS CO.

Mr. BAKER. If you wish, I could. I will have to look at these papers.

Senator GRONNA. Will you give the stenographer your full name? Mr. BAKER. E. J. Baker. I am the secretary-treasurer of the Farm Implement News Co.

We printed 500 copies of that first article and distributed the greater part of them to the various people, association men, about 100 copies to newspapers, and other copies to public men and other organizations-newspapers on application.

Mr. SPENCER. Did you send any of them to Washington here? Mr. BAKER. Possibly a half dozen copies.

Mr. SPENCER. To whom, do you remember?

Mr. BAKER. To the names of the gentlemen; that is, the Members of Congress in the Senate who were mentioned in connection with these resolutions or the investigation.

Mr. SPENCER. Was not this article of yours of November 25 sent out before any resolution was introduced in Congress at all?

Mr. BAKER. Yes; it was.

Mr. SPENCER. Who did you send it to?

Mr. FISHER. Wait; let him answer.

Mr. BAKER. What was the date of the resolution? That was January 6, was it not?

Mr. SPENCER. Yes.

Mr. BAKER. Oh, yes; this article was sent out immediately after it was published.

Mr. SPENCER. And to whom in Washington, do you recall, that you sent this?

Mr. BAKER. At that time?

Mr. SPENCER. Yes.

Mr. BAKER. A few prominent members of each House; I do not know just how many. There were not many. There were 500 extra copies printed, and a few were sent here.

Mr. SPENCER. What other special articles did you print and send out in the same way?

Mr. BAKER. There was 1,000 extra copies of that article printed [indicating].

Mr. SPENCER. What is the date of this?

Mr. BAKER. That is the issue of December 9.

Mr. SPENCER. One thousand copies of that. Who did you send it to?

Mr. BAKER. About the same list.

Mr. SPENCER. Only more of them?

Mr. BAKER. Well

Mr. LUKENS. They were not all sent out; he said there were 1,000 printed.

Mr. BAKER. Practically the extra supply of those were used. We did not send them to any more public men or any more newspapers; in fact, my memory is that they went out together. The first one was not printed until after the second article was published, and they went out immediately after December 9.

Mr. SPENCER. What other articles did you print and send out and distribute?

Mr. BAKER. This article [indicating].

Mr. SPENCER. What was the date of that?

Mr. BAKER. The date of that article is not based exactly on a certain issue, but the greater part of the matter appeared in one issue. but it is a slight abridgement of the matter, based mostly on one issue, but I don't remember the exact date; it was about December

23.

Mr. SPENCER. How many of these did you print?

Mr. BAKER. There were 10,000 of those printed.

Mr. SPENCER. And how many of those were distributed?

Mr. BAKER. Nearly all of them.

Mr. SPENCER. To whom were they distributed?

Mr. BAKER. Almost entirely to implement dealers in the United States.

Mr. SPENCER. Who paid for the printing of these?
Mr. BAKER. The Farm Implement News Co.

Mr. SPENCER. Did you receive any compensatoin for printing 10,000 and distributing 10,000?

Mr. BAKER. Not at all. We used it as a subscription campaign document for our own purpose.

Mr. SPENCER. Did you get any subscribers from the result of it? Mr. BAKER. We did.

Mr. SPENCER. From whom?

Mr. BAKER. From implement dealers.

Mr. SPENCER. Who is your largest advertiser?

Mr. BAKER. The largest single account?

Mr. SPENCER. Yes.

Mr. BAKER. The International Harvester Co., but only a very little larger than others.

Mr. SPENCER. What others are as large as the International Harvester Co. ?

Mr. BAKER. The account of the International Harvester Co. is about 5 per cent larger than the account of Deere & Co., of Moline, but the agency and subsidiary companies and selling agencies run a large amount of business independently, so that their total business is far larger than the International Harvester.

Mr. SPENCER. You mean, you take the International as a single body?

Mr. BAKER. Yes.

Mr. SPENCER. Advertisements directly and indirectly come to you from the International?

Mr. BAKER. There is no advetrising, except what comes directly from them, because the International sells practically nothing but its own goods.

Mr. SPENCER. Did you sell any of these articles to the International Harvester Co. ?

Mr. BAKER. Not any.

Mr. SPENCER. And of these circulars?

Mr. BAKER. None whatever.

Mr. SPENCER. Did they obtain a supply of these from you?

Mr. BAKER. Not one copy.

Mr. SPENCER. Special copies of your paper, extra copies?

Mr. BAKER. Not any more than the usual number.

Mr. SPENCER. Why did you go to all the trouble of printing and distributing 10,000 of these circulars?

Mr. BAKER. For the purpose of increasing our subscriptions. We often print articles in the same way, in order to get subscribers; other papers do the same thing.

Mr. SPENCER. You were not serving anybody but your own selves in doing that?

Mr. BAKER. Absolutely no; we did not have the remotest suggestion.

Mr. SPENCER. Did you ever do that in regard to any other industry? Did you ever attack the Harvester Company in the same way? Mr. BAKER. We have attacked the Harvester Company; yes.

Mr. SPENCER. Did you ever print 10,000 circulars and send them. out in regard to the Harvester Company?

Mr. BAKER. Not in regard to the Harvester Company, but we have in regard to many other matters. We have printed 20,000 and 25,000 at one time.

Mr. FISHER. At one time?

Mr. BAKER. Twenty-five thousand at one time; yes.

Mr. SPENCER. Did you at any time, previous to this year, ever attack anybody for having a monopoly of the sisal business?

Mr. BAKER. Why, Mr. Lukens can answer that better. That relates to the editorial department of the paper. I think we never have, because we have never believed anybody did have a monopoly. Mr. SPENCER. How much did it cost you to print and mail all of these circulars you send out?

Mr. BAKER. Our subscription returns from that 10,000 lot was used exclusively for subscription purposes. Those were not distributed to public men or newspapers or anything of the kind.

Mr. SPENCER. Those were sent to implement dealers all over the country?

Mr. BAKER. Yes; outside of those on which we received returns. and profit, the total expense was, perhaps, $10.

Mr. SPENCER. What profit did you get?

Mr. BAKER. The subscriptions.

Mr. SPENCER. How much did your subscriptions increase on account of that?

Mr. BAKER. Enough to more than pay the expense of getting them out. It is hardly possible to determine what we received subscription returns from.

Mr. SPENCER. How much did your circulation increase from the time that you sent those circulars out until, say, the present time? Mr. BAKER. Oh, I do not think there was any radical or material increase, but we received a number of new subscriptions that apparently came from that. It is impossible to trace the exact source.

Mr. SPENCER. Was it a very large number or small number?

Mr. BAKER. Oh, I do not think more than two or three hundred at the most.

Mr. SPENCER. As much as that?

Mr. BAKER. Possibly, but you can not trace, because we are constantly in the middle of the winter circularizing the dealers, because that is the time to get subscriptions.

Mr. SPENCER. Do you make returns of circulation to the Post Office Department?

Mr. BAKER. No, sir.

Mr. LUKENS. Trade papers are exempt.

Mr. MAYER. Trade papers and farmers generally.

Mr. BAKER. I am willing to tell you.

Mr. SPENCER. What is your circulation?

Mr. BAKER. The smallest circulation is 8,000 copies; not a very dangerous number.

Mr. SPENCER. Could you tell us what it was on, say, the 1st of January?

Mr. BAKER. Well, since these sisal articles were published? That is what you wish to learn?

Mr. SPENCER. Yes, sir.

Mr. BAKER. We have not printed any issue of less than 8,000 nor over 9,000. One issue was 9,500.

Mr. SPENCER. I am not talking about the number of papers you printed, but what your circulation was.

Mr. BAKER. You mean-we circulate the same number, except office copies.

Mr. FISHER. You mean paid subscriptions?

Mr. SPENCER. I mean paid subscriptions.

Mr. BAKER. Oh, the paid subscriptions were perhaps—well, it is something under 8,000-7,500 or 7,600.

Mr. SPENCER. Would you be willing to furnish us the statement of paid subscriptions on the 1st of January, and the paid subscriptions on the 15th of February?

Mr. BAKER. I could not do that, because we have no system of accounts that covers that.

Mr. SPENCER. Were these the only articles you circulated in this way-the ones you have given me?

Mr. FISHER. You mean on this subject?

Mr. SPENCER. Yes; on this subject.

Mr. BAKER. Yes.

Mr. MAYER. I want to ask some questions, but I would rather have Mr. Spencer finish with Mr. Lukens.

Mr. SPENCER. I notice that in your issue of December 16 you published a number of letters from different persons. Who is Mr. H. J. Hodge?.

Mr. LUKENS. He is secretary of the National Federation of Implement and Vehicle and Hardware Dealers' Associations.

Mr. SPENCER. What is his business?