THK WIXF.-MAKERs' CORPOKATTON. 523 



or two years of prosperous business, the Wine-makers' Corpora- 

 tion became engaged in a deadly conflict with the Wine Asso- 

 ciation, which was its principal, if not sole, customer. It is 

 not necessary to go into the occasions of this quarrel, or the 

 details of its progress. One cause, whether openly avowed or 

 not, was the desire, common to all Trusts, whether of farmers 

 or others, to obtain the highest possible ])rices for their 

 products. The Wine Association had undertaken to purchase 

 the entire output of the Wine-makers' Corporation at prices to 

 be agreed upon each year, after tlie size of the coming vintage 

 could be estimated. There came a time when the prices 

 demanded by the wine-makers were higher, in the opinion of 

 the Wine Association, than it could pay without loss. In the 

 opinion of these dealers, if they should take the wines at the 

 price demanded, the increase of importations and of adultera- 

 tion would be such that the association could not dispose of 

 the product so bought without loss. Apparently this feeling 

 led to a general disposition to quarrels, for wliich there are 

 always occasions when the disposition exists, and the result 

 was an outbreak resulting in protracted litigation, the engaging 

 by the corporation in marketing upon its own account, and a 

 contest for the control of the crop. While the wine-makers 

 were bound to their own corporation by five-year contracts, 

 they, of course, controlled no grapes except those of their own 

 vineyards. The Wine Association could easily start in busi- 

 ness wine-makers in their own interest, of whom there liad 

 always been some, and they did so, and the two opposing forces 

 engaged in a contest for the purchase of the grapes of the new 

 wine-making vineyardists. Success in this was vital to the 

 association, as the corporation controlled the majority of the 

 wine then in existence, without which the association in a 

 short time would be unable to supply its trade, which it would 

 therefore lose to the Wine-makers' Corporation. The latter 

 tliereupon sought by public meetings to create such a feeling 

 as would prevent grape-growers from selling to the wine- 

 makers of the association, which was able, by reason of its 

 larger cash capital, to offer a larger immediate cash payment 

 than the corporation could make. Had the capital of the 



