Henry Klous Company, Inc.

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IN THE MATTER OF HENRY KLOUS COMPANY, INC., ET AL.

CONSENT ORDER, ETC., IN REGARD TO THE ALLEGED VIOLATION OF THE FF:mmal Thane: COMMISSION AND THE WOOL PRODUCTS LABELING ACTS Docket 7.'171. Complaint, Jan. l.9S.9-Decision, lviay 1059 Consent order requiring a manufacturer in Lawrence, Mass., to cease violating' the Wool Products Labeling Act by labeling as "Wool " bales of wool stock which contained a substantial quantity of reprocessed wool, and by failing to label other wool products as required. Mr. Alvin D. Edelson for the Commission. Hespondents, for themselves.

INITIAL DECISION BY J. EARL Cox, HEARI!\G EXAMINER The complaint charges respondents with misbranding certain of their wool products, in violation of the Wool Products Labeling Act of 1939 and the Rules and Regulations promulgated thereunder, and of the Federal Trade Commission Act. After the issuance of the complaint, respondents Henry Kious Company, Inc. , a corporation, and Aylward W. Corcoran, individually and as an offcer of said corporation, and counsel supporting the complaint entered into an agreement containing consent order to cease and desist, which was approved hy the director and an assistant director of the Commission s Bureau of Litigation, and thereafter transmitted to the hearing examiner for consideration.

The agreement states that respondent Henry Klaus Company, Inc. , is a corporation organized, existing and doing business under and by virtue of the laws of the State of Massachusetts, with its principal place of business at 500 Merrimack Street, Lawrence, Mass., and that individual respondent Aylward W. Corcoran is president of the said corporate respondent and maintains a business address at the same address as the corporate respondent. The agreement disposes of all of this proceeding as to all parties save respondent G. Ernest Chiras, as to whom it is recommended therein that this proceeding be dismissed, for reasons set forth in an affdavit attached to the agreement. The agreement provides, among other things, that the respondents signatory thereto admit all the jurisdictional facts alleged Decision 55 F.

in the complaint, and agree that the record may be taken as if findings of jurisdictional facts had been duly made in accordance with such allegations; that the record on which the initial decision and the decision of the Commission shall be based shall consist solely of the complaint and this agreement; that the agreement shall not become a part of the offcial record unless and until it becomes a part of the decision of the Commission; that the complaint may be used in construing the terms of the order agreed upon, which may be altered, modified or set aside in the manner provided for other orders; that the agreement is for settlement purposes only and does not constitute an admission by respondents signatory thereto that they have violated the law as alleged in the complaint; and that the order set forth in the agreement and hereinafter included in this decision shall have the same force and effect as if entered after a full hearing. Respondents signatory to the agreement waive any further procedural steps before the hearing examiner and the Commission, the making of findings of fact 01' conclusions of law, and al! of the rights they may have to challenge or contest the validity of the order to cease and desist entered in accordance with the agTcemen t.

The order agreed upon fully disposes of all the issues raised in the complaint, and adequately prohibits the acts and practices charged therein as being in violation of the Wool Products Labeling Act of 1939 and thc Rules and Regulations promulgated thereunder, and of the Federal Trade Commission Act. Accordingly, the hearing examiner finds this woeeeding to be in the public interest, and accepts the ag-reement containing consent order to cease and desist as part of the record upon which this decision is based. Therefore It is ordered That respondents Henry Kious Company, Inc. , a corporation, and its offcers, and Aylward W. Corcoran, individually and as an offcer of ihe corporation, and respondents' representatives, agents and employees, directly or through any corpol' ate or other device, in connection with the introduction into commerce, or the offering for sale, sale, transportation or distribution in commerce, as "commerce" is defined in the Federal Trade Commi"ion Act and the Wool Products Labeling Act of 1939, of wool products, do forthwith cease and desist from misbranding such products by:

HENRY KLOUS CO. , INC., ET AL. 1871 1869 Decision 1. Falsely or deceptively stamping, tagging, labeling, or otherwise identifying such products as to the character or amount of the constituent fibers contained therein; 2. Failing to securely affx to or place on each such product a stamp, tag, label or other means of identification showing in a clear and conspicuous manner (a) the percentage of the total fiber weight of such wool p-product, exclusive of ornamentation not exceeding five percentum of said total fiber weight, of (1) wool (2) reprocessed wool, (3) reused wool, (4) each fiber other than wool where said percentage by weight of such fiber is five percentum or more, and (5) the aggregate of all other fibers; (b) the maximum percentage of the total weight of such wool products of any nonfibrous loading, filling or adulterating matter; (c) the name or the registered identification number of a manufacturer of such \'1001 product or of one or more purchasers engaged in introducing such \lvool products in commerce, or in the otTering for sale, sale, transportation, distribution or delivery for shipment thereof in commerce, as "commerce" is defined in the Wool Products Labeling Act of 1939.

It is further O''de,' That the complaint as to G. Ernest Chiras should be, and same hereby is, dismissed. DECISION OF THE COMMISSION AND ORDER TO FILE REPORT or' COMPLIANCE Pursuant to Section 3.21 of the Commission s Rules of Practice, the initial decision of the hearing examiner shall, on the 21st day of May 1909, become the decision of the Commission; and, accordingly:

It is Q?'dered That respondents Henry Klaus Company, Inc. a corporation, and Aylward Vl. Corcoran, individually and as an offcer of said corporation, shall, within sixty (60) days after service upon them of this order, tile with the Commission a report in writing, setting forth in detail the manner and form in which they have complied with the order to cease and desist. Decision 55 F.