The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-04-27
MIR. GATES AND HIS STEEL TRUST

thousands out of employment and AFFECT
ing seriously the interests OF tens OF
thousands Of consumers. simply TO make
a coup in Wall street. there can scarcely
be any further argument against legisla-
tive restrictions upon the unlimited powers
of the directors of great corporations II
hundreds of other corporations are en-
barrassed thereby they need not blame the
Populists. They can blame the trust man
agement which gave the Populists their
opportunity. In New York today 1t Is said
that Gates has gone into toncealment be-
cause he does not dare meet the inquiry
started by President Lambert and tina
good directors, and II Is also declared
that Henry Clay Prick will force out
Gates and take his place. Whatever may
be the outcome OF this Gates break, the
American Steel and Wire Company re-
mains discredited until the break Is
made good and the possibility OF its recur-
renee made impossible. -Chicago News.
II Mr.. Gates is guilty Of ''the scandal
Gus manipulation" charged against him,
or IL stockholders feel convinced that his
stock market interests are paramount 70
his interests in the company he controls.
the remedy Is to remove him from thai
control The American Steel and Wire
Company Is not a trust In the legal deiini-
ton OF that word. Every share or stock
has a voting power, and that power Is IN
vested in the owner of the stock, not IN
Mr. Gates or any board OF trustees.
majority in interest can ele<t new man
ager. and the exercise OF this power is the
onlv common-sense way of dealing with
such cases as that presented by the
American Steel and Wire Company Plus
burg ChronicleTelegraph.
II il a long time since the country has
heard of the cry Of overproduction- or at
any rate prosperity has so completely
checked the complaint and has been such
a stimulus to more satisfactory views or
industry that the period seems long. IL
does not much assure the country tnat
the cry denotes a reality because II comes
from a big combination. a so-caNed trust,
and one which has the reputation of doing
business in the most advanced style. But
when such a concern. the American Steel
and Wire Company. shuts down n dozen
or more of It's mills. thereby throwing
thousands OF men out OF employment, ana
when its Officers assert that the cause IS
overprodwtion, the two facts sink coid
and hard into the public mind.-Provi-
dence Journal
II f. not of the least use to blink the
fact that there has been persistent and
sttipendous lying about the business Of
this company. The statement OF its pres
ident, according to dispatches punished
yesterday, singularly unites In one the
two views which have seemed TO most
people irrecontilabe. In one sentence he
says: Our plants have been working
night and day on overdue contracts and
10 meet current demands" In the next
he says: '"rhe tremendous pace began to
pile up stocks largely in excess OF the de-
mand New York Tribune.
In the words OF James W. Dill. the noted
attorney, who has been prominent In trust
organization. mo one can safely disagree
with the proposition that IL the great in
dustrial enterprises of this country are 10
be put and kept in the hands OF promoters
and spectators for the purpose OF spec
ulation the inevitable result must be not
only a financial panic, but social and in
du.trial revolution The directors OF
great corporations win do well TO bear
this In mind hereafter--Chicago Post.
Even Wall street, which isn't over deli
cate in the matter of ethics. feels scan
dalized at the doings of John w. Gates
concern. and Is talking OF doing something
about It. The corporation has fallen into
disrepute and public confidence In It
has declined more RAPIDLY than its manip-
ulated shares IL the company's policy,
which has been reckless, but not wreck
less isn't promptly revised and reversed.
ana II the Influences which nave dominated
the corporation aren't Immediately
squelched, the cont ern Will be hopeiessly
involved The steel and Wire COMPANY
has had no regard for It's just RESPONSE
bilities, and II has done Its best, which IL
also it's worst, to accentuate popular oppo-
sltlon 20 capitalistie combinations For
tunately. few so-called trusts have been
guilty OF such abuse of power.-Hartford
Post.
So far from Increasing difficulty" on
the part OF the law makers. II looks to
us as II the difficulty was going to be all
on the side OF the managers of this par
tiCular trust. whoshaye done about all
they possibly could 10 smash their organ
ixation. and who may have gone TO work
deliberately TO smash II. for aught We
know The more speculative the man
agement OF the big trusts the quicker they
Will destroy themselves. and therefore the
less need for interference by the poll
,icians In congress with new laws.--Hart-
ford Times.
The sugar trust, the malt trust, the -four
milling trust, the cordage trust-ail are
conspicuous examples OF vast aggregations
OF capital that could no more defy the
tnfiexible rule than Canute could maze the
ocean stop at hts feet The Steel and
Wire trust Is having Its innings In the pill
lory now II IL getting Its tust deserts, or.
rather. the managers are. TX they have
not already woke mp 20 the fact that there
IL a moral sense ia business ethics higher
than any law OF man. they are likely to
do so before they get much further along.
New York Mail and Express.
T-ho@t who have been quickest % ac-
cssSe President Gates OF stock tobhing IN
closing the plants must perceive that even
n he has made "a mistake In carrying out
his plan ne may make millions by letting
the mills become active onte more Their
stocks ought 20 go up rapidly on news
that they win cease 10 he Providence
Journal.
John W Gates. the steel wire maGnate.
IL credited with having LETT his political
friends IN chicago in the larch- He Is said
20 have given them the point that the
stock Of the combine was 70 advance. and
Immediately took the step that sansod the
decline. He appears 20 D. an example
% the eva influence - trust methods on
the characters OF those who practice them.
Boise stafesmarn
Considering how enormous are the f~sz-
ent pErslss Of nearly every branch % steel
manufacture. this mwst b deemed one
OF the mpSt daring exploits IN the history
% trust operations No ressbeF ever robbed
with more caniia and brutal Indifference