The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-09-13

Steel Is either king or a pauper."
This familiar saying is said to be original
with Andrew Carnegie, and he ought to
know what he is talking about. The prof
its of the business of steel-making are at
one time enormous and at another time
nil. That is Mr.. Carnegie's meaning, and
he was mostly a steel king and certainly
made a great many steel paupers in his
career. The colossal success of Mr.. Gar
negie's operations in steel was not unlike
that of the Standard Oil corporation, and
it was based upon the same fundamental
principles-control of transportation. The
competitors of the Standard Oil Company
withered and shiveled before its meth
DDS. 1t got rebates from the railroads not
only on its own oil. but on all the oil
shipped by its competitors. 1t developed
new and overwhelming factor in bust
ness, to wit, the enjoyment of advantages
denied to others. When Mr.. Cassatt was
elected president of the Pennsylvania
railroad he did the most unexpected and
revolutionary thing that ever was done
by an American railroad president-he
abolished the rebate, the secret rebate,
the preferential rebate, and every other
kind of rebate. The steel industry was
aghast. 1t could not believe its ears Not
even Mr.. Roosevelt himself ever dealt
such a blow to intrenched and fortified
capital.
AS for Mr.. Carnegie, it turned him into
a Scotch Berserker.
With his enormous control of capital,
his powerful associations and his no.
tcrious methods Mr. Carnegie was
formidable figure to deal with. He both
stormtd and acted. He started in to
parallel the Pennsylvania to the At
lantic, to upset the whole railroad apple
cart from Chicago to the sea- He turned
the whole iron industry upside down
1t had got into very fair shape, and its
prospects were the most cheerful in its
history. One leading and separate feature
of it after another had been reorganized
and cleaned up, had acquired plenty of
working capital, and all around there was
an excellent understanding as to Give and
let live" This understanding necessarily
included the Carnegie industries 1t had
to. No understanding in the iron trade
at that time that did not include Mr.
thing. Mr.. Carnegie did not stay in
cluded. He was on the war-path, and
neither agreements nor understandings nor
conventions could include him any longer
He flung them all to the winds.
The country was full of his engineers
IN no time They were surveying new
railroads and the sites of new steel plants.
plants to be established in competition
with those that had just been reorganized
and with which Mr. Carnegie had the
most solemn agreements of non-interfer-
ence, tantamount, indeed in some in
stances, to guarantees of immunity from
competition on his part.
The whole iron trade of the country
was confronted with chaos and disaster.
Pane invaded it; prices went tumbling in
every directions, business confidence was
destroyed-all except Mr.. Carnegie's-and
the whole outlook was most discouraging
and unhappy. Two alternatives presented
themselves; one was to let Mr.. Carnegie
and nature take their course and have a
general smash-up from one end of the
country to the other; and the second was
to suppress Mr.. Carnegie. Mr.. Carnegie
had not in long time failed to make
He was always a reasonable and tractable
gentleman, and would subside-for con-
sideration. 1t was thought worth while
to assuage Mr.. Carnegie's feelings and
save the country from the danger that
threatened. The United States Steel Cor
poration was formed.
The corporation which superseded Mr..
Carnegie staggered the imagination 1t
was colossal. The conservative looked
upon its dimensions with alarm, and scru
tinized with distrust the prices that were
paid for the constituent properties. 1t
seemed an awful price to pay for getting
rid of Mr.. Carnegie, but if the general
sentiment of the steel trade could be
trusted, it was not too much. Besides,
the immediate benefit was great. The
enormous capital embarked in the gener-
al iron trade was once more secure. The
Pennsylvania ironmasters felt solid ground
under their feet. The industry in every
other part of the country breathed more
freely, and q season of stability, produc-
lively and profit was entered upon the
like of which had not been known before,
even when steel was king.
All the same, the SISdHtlc size Oh Cne
corporation and the vast volume of obi
cations upon which it proposed to pay
dividends with regularity continued to
create uneasiness, and this feeling did not
diminish. The old cry of king and pauper
would not down: and doubtless it will
not down until time and experience have
proved the ability of the great Steel Trust
to deal with the conditions that confront
it.
One thing that it has already accom-
pllshed in the iron regions is to give sta
blllty to all the collateral enterprises that
are based upon the iron industry and
TO rid the trade of the greatest curse
ana blight that ever fell upon any trade
the secret, corrupt and preferential re-
pate. Every man knows now where his
business stands. He no longer suspects
that his neighbor in trade has the power
secretly to undersell him and ruin his
business by virtue of the possession of
secret rebate. The railroad tariffs are
alike to all shippers, and trade has to
lace only natural conditions. This alone
is an inestimable boon. and is worth the
price of all else.