Nut & Bolt Cycle

The fact that all U. S. bolts, nuts & rivets are now made in standard sizes is one of the triumphs of Herbert Clark Hoover's career. One of his great doctrines as Secretary of Commerce was that U. S. manufacturers should get together, form trade associations and eliminate industrial waste by agreeing to make their products conform to a common gauge of pattern and quality. In 1925 the bolt, nut & rivet industry showed a disheartening loss of $3,000,000. Having organized itself as Mr. Hoover suggested, it last year made $7,000,000. So well had it learned to standardize that last week, in Manhattan, Federal Judge Frank J. Coleman found the Bolt, Nut & Rivet Manufacturers Association an organization in restraint of trade, ordered it dissolved under the anti-trust law.

The Government charged that after standardizing their products the combined bolt & nut men, controlling 95% of the business, had carried the Hoover doctrine a step too far, had fixed prices by means of discounts, allowances and "a system of freight equalization for preferred customers." Among the associated companies, which did an annual business of $75,000,000, were: Bethlehem Steel Co., Automatic Screw Machine Products Co., Erie Bolt & Nut Co.. Pacific Coast Steel Corp., Wrought Iron Co. of America. Defending counsel included James Francis Burke, counsel for the Republican National Committee, and onetime Governor Nathan L. Miller of New York. Consenting to the decree which put it out of business, the Association explained: "By this disposition of the matter the industry avoids the expense and annoyance of a long litigation. Immediate steps will be taken to organize a new association which will so operate as to be free from any criticism. . . ."