The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1904-01-28

defense of the action of the trustees:
The really noteworthy fact at present is
that the Steel corporation is meeting the
situation as it should be met The COM
panys real danger a year or two ago
lay in rash acceptance of a belief that the
mere fact of consolidation in the trade
had done away with the violent fluctua-
tons in consumers demand which have
always marked the history of the trade.
Such theory begins to do mischief when
it is used as an argument for a too large
paying out OF surplus in dividends and
for increase of bonded debt The COM
pany's action on it's common stock divi-
dend and it's peremptory stopping of con-
version of stock into mortgage bonds are
the best guarantee of a wiser policy in
the future.
The New York Journal of Commerce,
which warned the workingmen a year
ago against buying the Steel stocks, be
iieves that the manipulation of the Steel
common has been an unsettling factor
in the steel business and has contribut-
ed to the present distress in that in
dustry.
The New York Financier believes that
the Steel corporation lis a menace to
the real prosperity Of the United
States" and it urges that the corpora
ton be reorganized. 1t says:
Fresh evidence is afforded daily tha t
the United States Steel corporation as at
present constituted, is menace to the
real prosperity of the United States We
do not mean by this that the existence Of
the concern as a corporation necessarily
involves the future of the country, but
the affairs of the trust are in such shape
that reports of it's condition tend to ex-
aggerate in the minds of people the cur
rent impression that Industrial matters
are in bad way.
When the steel trust was organized tho
sane Judgment of financial experts was
that the corporation would go to pieces or
at least exhibit it's inherent weakness at
the first breath of adverse conditions, and
this is exactly what has happened. The
company is not bankrupt nor is it likely
to become SO, but it has already confessed
its helplessness in the matter of earning
promised returns on it's enormous CAPT.
talization. The load is too heavy
4 western view of the Steel corpora
tons transactions is given by the Kan
sas City Star, which says:
A large share Of the owners of Steel
stock have reason to feel that they were
induced to purchase because of misrepre-
sensations Of the condition of the corpora
ton Through such practices as these
have trust managers helped to inf1ame
public sentiment against them. If
the directors voted to pay dividends in or
der to bolster up bad securities until the
public could be persuaded to buy, they
were morally guilty of an attempt to
swindle.
The Philadelphia Inquirer and the
New York American note that the
trust has accumulated a surplus OF
$90,000000 in three years and suggest
that the directors might better have
used the small fraction necessary OF
this to continue the dividend rather
than to go back on their own prospec-
fuses and give the whole enterprise a
doubtful appearance, while the Phil
adelphia North American says that in
view Of the history Of the enterprise
and the passing of the dividend 'Steel
common seems very much like a com
mon steal'