Bell Manufacturers' Association

[Robert Watrous]

Recently I acquired some N N Hill documents. Included was a surprise bit of information. There are many letters from the Association to N. N. Hill starting in January 1906 through June 1910 stating their percentage of association expenses based on their sales. Noble Jackson & Hubbard Counselors at Law 42 William St., New York with E. E. Jackson Jr. acted as Supervisor of the Association and the letters are sent from him to N. N. Hill.

There is also one faint carbon copy of meeting minutes on thin vellum.
The members present at this Feb 2 1909 meeting held at the Starr Bros. office were:

The Bevin Bros. Mfg. Co. Mr. C. G. Bevin
The Starr Bros. Bell Co. Messrs. John M. and Vine B. Starr
Ambrose M. Starr and J. P. Lamb
The Hardware & Woodenware Mfg. Co.
N.N. Hill Co. , Branch Messrs. N.N.Hill, J.L. Watrous
Gong Bell Mfg. Co. Branch Mr. A. H. Conklin
On account of Sickness, no member of the East Hampton Bell Co. was present X At the request of Mr. George W. Goff, A. H. Conklin acted for the firm.

A. H. Conklin was President and George W. Goff was the Secretary of the Association at the time of this meeting.

(It's interesting that the Watrous Mfg. Co. was not listed as a Branch of the Hardware and Woodenware Mfg. Association, and that J. L. Watrous was listed after N.N. Hill as representing the N.N. Hill Branch.)

Another meeting minutes, for an October 6th 1910 meeting held at the N.N. Hill offices, present were:

Bevin Brothers Mfg. Co. Mr. A. A. Bevin
Starr Brothers Bell Company, Mr. J. M. Starr
East Hampton Bell Company, Mr. A. H. Conklin, proxy
Gong Bell Mfg. Company, Mr. A. H. Conklin
N.N. Hill Brass Company Mr. N. N. Hill


There are two Watrous Mfg. Co. letterheads from 190_ at which time they were a Branch of the National Novelty Corporation. The ink for the National Novelty Corporation Branch is in red and obviously added to the letterhead of a prior date. On one of the letterheads accounting for the year 1908 is written by hand with the categories Bell Association/ Our Sales /and Expenses. The accounting is on the back. The figures correspond to those on monthly reports from the Association to N. N. Hill, so it is accounting for N.N. Hill simply done on a Watrous letterhead.

In 1908 Samuel J. Bailey, was Secretary, Pro tem

The Association was setting prices, and also listing Jobbers in different categories based on purchase totals and specialties. It looks like the Bell Manufacturers were trying not to undercut each other. They listed which companies could get discounts and how much of a discount. In 1906 Sears, Roebuck and Co. received a 10% discount. Other companies got rebates after purchasing sufficient quantities.

It looks like good old fashioned price fixing. At this point I'm not sure whether any non-East Hampton CT firms were involved.