The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-12-12
HENRY C. FRICK---
THE KING OF STEEL
lcontlnued ION Page one.l

! tingencies which only few years ago
I seemed extremely remote to the aver
/ age manufacturer. The steel manufac-
I turing assets of the new concern Will
consist OF the great Mesabi deposits
/ Of iron ore on the Superior ranges, the
{ finely organized system Of lake car
Tiers, which will ship the ore to the
r1ther port, an unlimited and uncon-
ditionaI supply Of coke. which Mr.
Frick is able to furnish by reason OF
4 his ownership Of the H. c. Prick Coke
company. and hundreds Of millions in
cash, the Joint funds of Rockefeller,
Prick and the MELONS. As the base OF
It's operation, the syndicate under the
name or the Union Steel company has
selected the MonOngahela valley. about
/ 30 miles from Pittsburg. Beginning al
That distance they have optioned and
bought M immense tracts Of land
Whlch are said 10 be as fine as anything
IN the world for that purpose. 1t is in
the neart of a great thick vein coal
Delt ard the natural gas supply. Lime
/ stone such as is desirable for blast fur
naces, is also at hand in large duanti-
Ties. AS Tor ore transportation, the
/ spot IS not much fui Their removed than
the Carnegie furnaces, and It NAV be
/ brought nearer by the building of a
0 from
me cox. region to Wheeling, and from
wheeling to the lakes. Whether the
Flick combination is behind the build
/ ing OF this road is not known.
appears from credible authority
that ne great improvements which
nave been made b. the Carnegie Steel
company in the last few years were
primarily inspired by 5ir. Prick, among
9tneE things being the building Of the
Pitl3bGrS, Bessener and Lake Erie
rallrcad, which has been heraIded as
/ the carnegie ore road. Mr.. Frick had
| the Iurther plan of building shin wards
ct Con1eaut and maintaining an inda-
pendent line of ore toats on Lake Erie.
70 give the Carnegie company independ-
eece m this respect. But Mr.. Carnegie
surnmarily disposed OF this nroiect
and In addition other matters turned
up which did not improve the state of
IeellnS in the concern. During the past
su'G!ner Mr.. Frick decided to buv out
ms partner or leave the firm, as he felt
s.ldt circumstances were tending to
10rce MN out Of fis true position. Mr..
frlck desired the leadership of his CON
Germ, and it seems to have baan tbat
| or nothing, as the gentleman is credit
e1 with having taken the attitude that
ne should not be haTpered in the car
ry!hS out of his projects. When Mr..
rick entered the Carnegie partnership
so'ee years ago, it became a combina-
| tlon OF the steel interests and the Prick
! coke interest. Now it becomes known.
/ as already stated in the Press. that
Flick has never relInqUShed control of
| Inc coke interests. i s far as his in
terest in the Carnegie Steel company
| IS concerned. Mr.. Frick will not be a
1 partner after the first of this year. His
interest win revert to the company.
under the irorciad partnership agree
nleht. by which 1t VIII be appraised on
| Inc average book value of the entire
| concern for the past five years. It ap-
pears further that When Mr.. Prick re-
turned this fall from mis- visit to Andrew
| Carnegie, in Scotland, he already knew
that there would be a change. as Mr.
carnegie had shown an unwillingness
tn follow up the proposition to sell out
entirely and leave Frick and his friends
] IN control One reason for this unwill-
/ ingness is said 10 have been the fact
that 1t had been intended to change the
name of the concern. and this Mr.. Car
negle would not listen to, as he wants
Ills name perpetUated by means Of the
5t9Sl company, in addition to his H.
oraries. It was n case Of the ambitions
of two Dig men cIashing.
! 1t develops that it was really Mr.
/ fFlck ana ms private associates who
| checked Rockefeller from going into
the steel business . few years ago, with
an eye to tinplate as a side issuse.
The Standard Oil company uses large
quantities Of tinplete for the manufac-
Iture Of packages. Why Mr.. Rockefeller
did not go into the steel business al
that time makes an interesting story
by itself. 1t is said that Prick advised
against it, and instead of investing
money in steel, Rockefeller purchased
some large oil interests, In which bott
Prick and the Mellcns were interested
This was about four years ago. The
oil interests in question were the W. L
Mellon pipe lines and the Crescent Oh
company, in which Frick had heavy
holdings.
That Prick should go into an enter
prise with the MELONS is but natural
for they have been his lifelong friends
and helpers. When Mr.. Frick got his
first footing in the coke business and
was poor young man, he came to
Pittsburg and interested the MELONS
who We're then, as now, bankers here
They had faith in his ideas and backed
him with money in a liberal manner
1t is assumed by friends of Mr. FricB
that had he been permitted to carry out
his plans for the extension of the Car
negie Steel company he would have
made that concern the greatest of its
kind in the world. AS matters have
turned out, he is still in the prime OF
life, although his has been life spent
in the performance of onerous duties
imposed upon him by the direction OF
magnificent business affairs.