Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1900-04-23
OUTCOME OF a cLosE.DolyN.

One of the best results ofthea Arleri-'
can Shetland Wire Company fu.ry has
been the reduction in the price OF nails
and other Wire products. This COM
pany manufacturers barbed wire. nails
and various other articles, in which Il
has a practical monopoly. In its ea-
gerness to reap wealth from the public
1T had boost ted the prices FOR these ar
ticles away above the cores ponding
prices for steel rails and structural
I iron: Men IN other steel companies say
that the American Steel and Wire
Company had put its prices so high
that a reduction was absolutely neces-
Jobbers We're chary about buy
ing a t these prices, and stocks We're ac-
cumulating sinsthe Americans factories.
This is the bad way, apparently
which John W. Gates discovered. The
public are willing to buy, but are not
willing to be tleecec. Gates found this
out, and while he knew that business
conditions We're sound, he closed down
twelve mills, threw 5000 men out, and
it is more than surllised, made it the
basis of a stock jobbing operation.
American steel stocks Went down a
Hitting on Wall street and it was a good
time to uy-and somebody did take all
the stock that was offered
However this may be, the price of
nails and other wire products has been
cut 90 or more per cent. It is aconfes-
sion and acknowledgment that they
had been forced up too high.
The cruellest and coolest blooded
thing about the whole affair was the
arbitrary act of Gates in shutting down
the mills and throwing men out OF
work on his own motion. In speaking
Of this ex-Adayor Abram s. Hewitt, 81
New York City, manufacturer, q
competitor Of the American Steel anc
Wire Company, says: AS far as
know there is no justification for Mr.
Gates statement. the demand tor pig
iron continues good, and, as 1 say, III
81 s + e
our business ne have discerned no in
& dications of the conditions suggested
by Mr.. Gates.
AS tostfle other aspect of the matter
that a great corporation should, with.
out notice, shut down twelve of ii.
mills and throw out of employment flf
teen thousand or twenty thousand men
is simply outrageous. Such an action Il
unprecedented in the trade. AIanufac
4 turers, when they see a falling off II
z demand. divide UP their work and iiln
production gradually. They even oper
ate their works at loss. Our glu.
business has been running seyenty-fiv,
years and has never been shut down.
8 have seen three years products pile
up because there was no demand for ii
b But the workmen We're employed anc
8 got their wages regularly. We ran gu
business for five years, from 1898 Il
1898, at a loss. That takes capital. o.
a course; it also requires conscience A.
for the American Steel and Wire Com
+ pany, / don't know what 1t was tina
Y led them to take such an action Per.
4 haps they Lacked capital; perhaps the,
lacked conscience.
1t is apparent that Gates and his
hackers lacked conscience. The polio,
which Mr. Hewitt pursues is the onl,
one for workingmen and the public.
Another aspect Of this close down il
referred to by the Iron Age" a trad,
paper, which comments on the actor
of the wire company's management a.
Il follows:
Those who have been working t,
secure lower prices for! iron and stee
haye been ably reinforced from an un
expected quarter during the week. 1t i
quite unusual for men representa-.
large producing interests to come GU
plainly and say that the trade lis SUI
81 3eTtng from overproduction and tina
ss redpct tons In prices are to be ex