The Ely miner., 1904-01-15
u, S. COMMON.
No Dividend on Common Stock
of Steel Corporation.

The expected has happened-Steel
common has become con-dividend
paying stock. immediately, this is
the result of a resolution adopted at
the quarterly meeting of the board of
directors held last Tuesday. Instrin-
slcally it is the result of weakness in
herent from the start in the ambitious
plan upon which the steel industry
of the United States was recognized
less than thirty years ago. The Uni
ted States Steel corporation was the
great eXampler of the newest form
of so-called trusts. Itrepresented the
greatest aggregation of capital and
manufacturing capacity ever collected
under one control. 1t has sagged un-
der its own weight. There are limits
beyond which size is not an advantage.
This is one of the deductions from the
fate which has overtaken the Steel
trust. Another deduction is that
water, like murder, Twill out" Great
prestige and credit may support in
flated shares for time; the only thing
which will hold up prices through
thick and thin is the knowledge on
the part of the investing public that
d stock possesses actual value equal to
i Is cost. 1t was estimated at the out
set that Steel would demonstrate its
value by its earning power, bu, the
corporation was not able to keep up
its scale Of earnings. The wage re-
ductiOn with which it has begun
the new year is one of the economies
forced upon it by falling market for
product and decreased orders. The
cutting down of the dividend on COM
mon three months ago, and its entire
extinction now, are evidence Of ra-
dcal new policy to strengthen the
treasury and prepare for emergencies.
The consolidation fever was hot
while it lasted. During the period
of five years beginning with 1889 the
capitalization of new Industrial con-
solicitations aggregated $4,000, 900, 900.
OF the 81, ,SO5, ,475,O0O represented the
consultations of 1901, and 81, l22, ,205,-
200. those of 1902; while those of last
year aggregated only 1926, 5,S76,O 900. The
New York Journal Of Commerce says:
"The period of centralizing appears
to be followed by a movement OF de-
n a Mt n u iui N n n6 in6nnnn6nnt Orrani-
ZatiOn, and the effort Of mOnOpOlizing
seems to be succeeded by revival of
the spirit of competition. This is a
hopeful sign and exposes the fallacy
of the assumption that the springs
and motives of human action can be
changed by the scheming OF tinan-
ciers. however powerful. The prin-
ciple of individual initiative, of in
dependence from centralized control.
Of resistance to monopoly and the
insistence upon competition, is as
Serting itself again in promising
way"
What is taking place is verifying
the prophecy uttered by Senator
Chauncey M. Depew when the craze
for trust organization and the frenzy
of antitrust agitation were at their
height. He pointed out that COM
petition would continue to rule the
economic world, in spite of trusts.
He showed that while special econo-
mics are possible to concerns operated
upon large scale, there are wastes
to which such concerns are peculiarly
susceptible, while numerous ecOnom-
les are achievable by men working
for themselves, but rarely or ever
practiced by salaried employees of
corporation. Human nature and
natural laws, Senator Depew thought
would regulate trusts more effectively
than hastily devised statutory re-
strictionS 1t was a level-headed
forecast, viewed in the the light of
what has since taken place. Mil
waukee Evening Wisconsin.