Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-12-04

1 Corn--Spot, steady; American mixed
5s cd. Futures--Steady; January. 4!
sd; rich, As 21ad.
ARGENTINE WHEAT.
A Sum of 100000 to Be Sent on t.
Move IL.
| New York, Dec. 4.--The sum of $780,.
| 600 in gold will be shipped to Soutl
| America today. Several banks are in
| terested in the shipment which is saic
| to be for the Argentine wheat move
ment.
How the So-cal'ed Steel Trust Began
Henry Loomis Nelson contributes to
the December Century a paper in the
trust series, which bears its authorita-
tiveness on It's face. OF the origin OF
1.-The United States Steel Corporation
Mr.. Nelson gives this account:
Mr.. Carnegie was the master OF tCe
of the most perfect human organize
tions ever constructed. So complete
and efficient was 1t that he is reported
to have said: Take away all our fac
tories, our trade, our avenues of trans
portation. our money; leave me our or
ganization, and in four years I will
have re-established myself"
This splendid and powerful organi-
cation gave him liberty of action, the
privilege to be absent from his mills
and from the country, and at the same
time gave him also almost absolute
power over the business of iron and
steel making. He could and did change
prices when he deemed it for his inter-
est to do so. He constructed mills for
making articles which he had not pre-
viously manufactured, in order that he
might bring unruly customers or COM
petitors to terms. He had constructed
a railway from Pittsburg to Lake Erie,
and was known to be able to liure> and
perhaps to ruin, not only manufactur-
ing competitors, but the corporations
engaged in the business of carrying his
wares to market. The iron and steel
trade feared him. and regarded him as
the most threatening trust" in the
country--if ! may be permitted for the
moment to employ the word trust"
after the vague and incorrect manner
OF the politician. It saw in him the en-
bodiment of all the evils of competition
because he had the power to destroy ri
walls. Indeed, it was the contemplated
exercise of this power that led to the
taking of the first step toward the for
nation of the United States Steel Cor
Toration.
Thee National Tube Company was
very large and prosperous organization.
Its capital stock was sSo,000O00. IT
owned five blast-furnaces. 1t owned
and operated nine rolling mills and
steel-works and fourteen pipe-and-
tube works. Mr.. j. Pierpont Morgan
was one of its proprietors. Mr.. Schwab
who was then president of the Carne
gle Company, planned to build a tube
mill for his company. a tube-mill so
perfect in design, equipped with such
excellent machinery, while it was to be
operated with such great economy, that
he expected to add one more domin-
ating factory to the already long list
of such factories in Mr.. Carnegie's
kingdom Mr.. Carnegie was dissatis-
fed with the rates of freight charged
by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company
for carrying his iron and steel goods
from Pittsburgh to the seaboard, and
he threatened to build a line of his
own, for which surveys We're actual,
made. The imaginations of large cap
italists became alarmed. This emperor
of the steel business was an uncomfort-
able neighbor. The rulers of the other
and smaller Kingdoms and principali-
ties thought that they would breathe
more freely If a way might be found
for their overshadowfng rival to alb
dicate at cost not inconsiderable
At this juncture Mr.. j. Edward Sim
mons, the president of the Fourth Ma
tional Bank of New York, gave din
ner in honor of Mr.. Charles M. Schwab.
and Mr.. Morgan was one of the guests
In a speech which he made after din
ner Mr.. Schwab outlined his views on
combinations - views apparently SO
large, so wise and so interesting that
Mr. Morgan was strongly impressed by
the speech and the speaker Then there
began series of interviews which
eventually led to the founding of the
United States Steel Corporation, to the
of Mr.. Carnegie's desire to
retire from the control of the business
and to the elimination of Z strong one
man power, approaching absolutisn.
The new combination was a federal
republic composed of former rival pow
ers, chief among which was the old
Carnegie kingdom. 1t is an interesting
and important fact that while the ne
sotiations were in progress Mr.. Carne-
gle declined to enter the combination
unless Mr.. Morgan would become its
head. He insisted on this as a guaran-
ty of strong and wise management.
Mr. James Neill an dthe competent
CRIED complete.