The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-07-20
REPUBLIC SPECIAL

came reminiscent to-day. After some per-
suasion he told mo Of his business career
from tho time that he first commenced 10
Guild M the manufacture and sale Of steel
wire products
Tho record Of his success reads like a
nance. His obligations were always net
promptly. and I'm many Instance discounted
away ahead Of time. And from the enor-
nous profits derived from each venture. he
must have been kept pretty busy declaring
profits. II is interesting 10 note that Of
the men associated with him in his carly
ventures many OF them are now million
aires. Several occupy important official 20
Fitions in the United States Steel Corpora
lion.
Mr.. Gates,s first Identification with the
steel industry found him employed .S a
trayelrv salesman In his own words.
the history OF his career from that time
until the present Is told. il shows his COM
prehensive grasp OF every question relating
TO each branch Of the steel and iron husl-
First Manufacturing Experience.
FIRST. I started travelling for Mr.. Isaac
L Ellwood. I erected the Er~t corral III
the State Of Texas. hirsrE men TO hsiH me
put il up to show the rangers Wntl Use
could be MADE of baruei wire- 1 hal not
Travelled very long when / came TO the con-
clusiou that there WAS more money In Inc
manufacture % baIbeu wire than there was
in selling Il at q salary Of S-y per MONTH
! had a friend in -. Louis NAS ANi.S
IN Chicago at the timely the name Il Al
fred CIiuord. Nr. CIhuru ana 4 started IN
TO manufacture barbed wire IN Il very small
way.
chimes. Our total investment Tas less t-an
1900 10 start with. The business proven
very profitable. and We SnuTUy increased IL,
not in the same factory, but IA al iLlE-
pendent factory Ne starter an ""iA-o.
porated concern uuueT The name - = W.
Gates x Co. INTO which eight u as put
each gee. making a total o. s-hryt- Al 81
those gentlemen are sill ai.Ne- Ne &c
cIare9 dividends OF about 80 u,r cent fyf
week. I would JrayeI ana Se.4 I- "-S'
come back. invoice II, biz II. PAM H. -.-".-
keU Il and collect the mouyS-
The man sales in those Gays MrLr "l7
the Missouri I.Iver, Al Kansas Slis
worth. AtchlsJu. 81 Joseph. CpIAtA
ana Omaha. ua'taes l"E ABOUT -.
Cur profits Tor tAe hEsi y'4i Nrse 49,
Al yle emf of the year J suggested 'N'l
either buy uut or sell vuL ~ a inner a.
III southern Hotel . taIi my partners that
} felt as ! WB- doing alt the WlIA ANA IN
money Wis divided into eight parts, a
saalIf have a larger interest, Walcn / We
AIlI:ug To ray igr. / suggested that they
name a price which they would give Tor ny
interest or sell theirs. This proposition was
addressed 10 six. Mr.. Cl1ord not beihG IN
Bought Out HIS Partners.
The s,Ius-d 10 name a price AZ which
tn property could be bought gr sOio. out
asked nae To 90 50 ! made them an oIer Of
EHrghI~a Ju cash bass They accepted ,ny
uuar and soIl. leaving no one with ME but
CLIFFORD. Ir.a. in 1850. We incorporated ths
Southern Wire Company. with a capitol
stock r1 slaHIJ. ui Vl-rh I MS the owner
O. IS uer l--L 1Ir. Clifford IS per cent and a
1ir- Rowe per cent. Profits Ior The next
.rpue 90 the parties Of the big ciaht. Nr.
Elsuho-u went INTO opposition 10 US. At
the end Of three years OCr plant W. % ally
a@StEtltu hF uFe -ns morning E.--r the
loss OF our plant called Nr. ES-lbprn W
and suggested that he meet me Al the Luz
-GH-S-Elcr WIRE t-Hr asyS. whore Mr..
Clifford vas secretary. and see if We could
born's works and ours.
u pointed out the profits to he made. and
within ufteeE minutes We had reached an
agreement. 30 that We erected the new
located That VS. really the second con-
soidat!oa-l was interested IN. the first be-
. ing with the three machines C..mOrd ana /
eight.
The we concluded to build q mill near
PlttSburS and selected as a site Rankin. In
1sS4 We began the erection Of what is now
known as the BraddOck Mil and which 5
now owned by the United States Steel Cor
poration. being part Of the American Steel
ana Wire Company. We began opDrarigns
IN the mill early in l:sf. and Went abroad
Tor the purpose Of buying steel, il Icing I'M
~obtainable in the United StateS-I mean
steel blllets. I purchased about 5g.GDl tons
OF steel in Great Britain for shipment via
5Iluniore u" lhe !tGlEin mill. ] had great
aiticulty in obtaining bankers credit 10 sat
isty the European makers.
Finally I called upon Mr.. MORGAN AVID
he very chcerfully gave us credit for .fa0a
whlch was more money than We were
Made 100000 on One Deal.
Owing to our exceedingly large pur-basa
IN europe. the price Of steel advanced >
70 80 "A ton. which meant a profit to US of
from $4,000 to $4,000. l sold lOG1 tons IF
the steel TO the Carnegie company without
icuchinE II, simply delivering the shiuring
documents to them. and thereby mad sIa5S
V9 net profit. The balance of The steel We
worked M, into rods and wire. In 1881. we
Increased the capital stock Of the Braddock
MTs company from its original amount OF
10000 TO SJtJ.0o0, and paid a cash diTi5and
OF SWo.V9-making 4 800 per cent dividend rs
I IHS result OF work during 1884, 1855. 1886 and
loo1, or an average dividend for the four
years OF 10 per cent annually.
IN my, l managed the Missouri Repub-
mean campaign My entrance into notifies
At that time was owing TO the fact nal
some OF the Democratic members of Con /
gress had violated their agreements wjtb |
meant, II It passed and became a law. the
absolute paralyzation Of the wire business
generally in the United States. We elected
I'VE Republican members of Congress- in
IILalsSSSoOuT1 three OF whom were from ST.
by a majority Of two or three votes. The
house had been Democratic by about
During all these years we were in very
bltter litigation with the Wsashbura & Mozn
AahuIacJurinE Company and I. L. Ellwood
On account OF barbed wire patents. our
customers all over the United States ana in
IoIelsn countries, where we were trying 10
-- ? "a NAHN1N NfAG AAAdE@EQ 10 Elrh an
extent that between the years 1850 ami rSqO
We paid out on account of patent Vtiga-ion
more than S1.0G0.O0l.
In 1890 l persuaded Mr.. Ellvood md Tho
Washburn & Moen Company that thew b-d
better sell their patents 70 a new courn-ny
which / would organize. that would own m
the patents on barb wire and barb wire
machinery. They consented. and sold ms
their patents. All the wire manufacturer 4
put in their patents, 50 that we had rrac-
Jically an absolute monopoly on wire fen \
clEg and wire fencing machinery. The nat
ents all went into what was known as the
Columbia Patent Company, OF which / was 4
president.
Paid 100 Per Cent Per Month.
This company operated until the expira-
ton OF the patents, and for many months
PAID olVldendS OF 100 per cent per month. /
Its capital was 100000. In 1892 we took IN 1
the Lambert * Bishop Wire Fence Com
pany OF Joliet, Ill. and We purchased the
Baker Wire Company Of Lockport. III, |
giving our unsecured notes at one and two
a year
In 1895, I was elected president Ct the
!nlnois Steel Company. I had acquired an !,
interest Of about 27.Oo0 shares. which /
DougEt at around $50 per share. In 1895 the
eueraI steel Company was formed. and il
acquired the property of the Illinois Steel
company, the Minnesota Iron Company and |!
the Lorraine Steel Company. Capital stock
was issued To the amount of s.. 900 90 ure-
ferred and SS.00O.000 Of common. There were
about S2S.GO.OG0 of bonds.
During all the years that I was president
of the Illinois Steel Company was a a.
rector and member Of the Executive Com
mittee OF the Consolidated Steel and Wi-a
Company and retained my interest therein.