The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-07-16

NEWARK, N. j., July 15.-The an
swer of the United States Steel cor
poration to the suit brought by j. AS
pinwan Hodge, William H. Curtiss and
Bernard Smith, who asked for an in
junction to prevent the company from
carrying out it's bond conversion plan,
was filed today before Vice Chancellor
Emery. When the case came up be-
fore the vice chancellor, it was put
over until July 23. The answer is
sworn to by, Charles NJ. Schwab as
president. For the first time since the
organization of the steel corporation a
detailed statement of the assets of the
properties and subsidiary property is
named.
These assets, it is stated, include 400
producing mills of the value of $780,
100000; IS blast furnaces of the value
of $4SG00, 900; iron and Bessemer ore
properties of the value of 100000, 900 :;
coal and coke properties of the, value
of $l00,000,000; natural gas fields of the
value Of $2O,O0OOOO; cash in bank to
the amount of $66, 100000, and over $780,
100000 of materials in process of man
ufacture. The total value of the COM
pany's property, including cash and
cash assets, is placed at $1,40O, 900, 900
by Mr.. Schwab in an affidavit which is
part of the corporations reply.
Earnings Are $14o,ooo,ooo.
The company's earnings are stated
to be ut the rate of more than $140,-
100000 a year. A saving of $4,000, 900
year is credited to the ore proper
ties, and it is estimated that the own
ership of transportation facilities
saves the company 100000 900 annu-
ally. The earnings of the coal and coke
properties are stated to be more than
$1,00O,000 each month.
These statements as to values and
earnings were presented to diSprove a
charge by the plaintiffs that Mr..
SchWab, the president, and Mr. Trim
bic, the secretary, made a false certifi-
cate when they certified that in their
judgment the properties were worth at
least the par value of the preferred
stock after deducting all Indebtedness.
The corporation declares it has no
knowledge that Hodge is the owner of
100 shares of it's preferred stock but
admits that in August, 1901, 100 shares
of preferred stock were transferred to
his name on the company'S books. 1t
is denied that William H. Curtiss is
the owner of any of the company S
stock, and it is declared that Bernard
Smith is the holder of 200 shares of
preferred stock, which was transfer
red to him on June 26, 1902.
Morgan Was Paid 100000 900.
The conversion plan was agreed up
on at a stockholders meeting on May
10. The answer admits that the con-
version plan includes a payment of
$10,000,000 to j. P. Morgan & Co. 1t
denies that any of the acts contem-
plated will work fraud or injury to the
cOmplainants, but says that, on the
contrary, such acts, when conSumma-
ted, will be greatly to the benefit of the
corporation and of every stockholdrer.
The answer says that some of the di-
rectOrs are members of the syndicate
frmed by ]. P. Morgan & Co. to
float bonds, and that the fact was COM
municated to the stockholders in cir
cular dated April II, 1902.
1t was further declared that the di-
rectOrs so interested constitute a mi
nority of the board of directors; that
they were individually at the time of
the formation of such syndicate, and
now are owners and holders of large
amounts of the stock of the defendant
corporation, and that they became par
ties to said syndicate and assumed
their proportion of the liability thereof,
in order to assure the success of the
plan of purchasing and retiring the
preferred stock, as they believed such
plan to be of great value to the defend
ant corporation and it's stockholders,