The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1906-07-13
A Trust on It's Knees.

L ~ Ea r 3
The nrmorplatc trust hns at last been cen
bro tight I'd It's knees. Tile Nlidvale steer steer
lSCompnny, OF philadelphia. has dlsco Y
cred d process Of making nrinorplat'te.
cheaper and lins underbid tho trust Tor
1850 tons Of such plate for the new On y;
gtlcshi,3s Michigan aud South Carolina.
SnIror nearly Decade" says the Philta-
delphin Ledger. ''tlle German fnce.liar-i
3denetl armor plato was the standa "a re-
u1lred by the nnvles OF the -wor d FOR Ne
nrotcctivc covering Of st their lighting
ahips. ard the output otEthe III PIP works
81 OF the works operating under license
from them has commanded the market
at tho price set for 1t BY the NAL ers. inc
very superiority Of the 81 upp process ,sss
land the suspicious familiarity Of the bids
Of tile two companies making armor plate
under tho Krtpp PIT tents In this country,
Inns beer, the occasion9 OF gren unrest and
Edissn tlsfacton, forcing the government
almost to the point Of undertaking the
Brnunufuct,ire of artnor for Itself
Happily for the country he enter Ter
prise and skill Of Philadelphians have
made thssunnecessary. 81 After an uphill
light, III WhicliS the Nfidvale steel Com
Arnny has liad I'd overcome the sntrenched
strength of on q OF the most Formidable
Industrial combinations the world has
ever known, as we'll as the prejlclcesS
and tifiiidity..df officials. 1t has perfected
an armor plate process OF its Q YIN, and
has forced the acceptance OF Its output
upon a. somewhat unwilling i nd do upt-l
ting Department. Bit the Midvale Com
}pany has done more than this. It has
sbrotlghtFdown$ the price Of nrnlor to a
point far below what was deemed pos
ssible d few years ago, md It has i ap-s
parentlyEbrokeniup the combination which
had previously divided the contracts at
their own convenience and fat their own
4 prices.'' IN III XII 81 III
4 n The officers Of the Bethlehem Steel
Company and the Carnegie Company are
in great distress. Az They recently called
upon Admiral Mason, chief Of the Bu--3
reau 81 sor {, andii n1pde pathetic.
plea for q part Of the contract. It was
represented that ~ giving the entire con-
tract to the N1idvale Company would \
sendanger5tle existence Of the Bethlehem
and Carnegie plants. II they had no work
to- do they. might 5havo Ito be dismantled
and their large force Of highly skilled
worknen scat tered. SO that 1t would be
Impossible to reassemble them again in
case 1t became necessary for those plants
to Il at short tee: More
over, 1t was intimated that the purpose
of the Midvale company in 81 dtdAing so
low was Ito put the Bethlehem and Car
negie Companies out Of business, so that
1T would have a monopoly Of arrnor man =.
5ufacture in this country, and could then
exact! what price It pleased, having tho
government ut its mercy. Tho $Be thlehem
people expressed Willingness to take
part Of the contract lat 4 the price price
Of s345 ton bid by the ~ Mid Md 4
vale co,npaitiy:S Although that would
mean an Iactuat q loss, it, would DO
better for them to operate at q loss than thar
to shut down entirely, as would be the
case II the entire contract should so to
the Midvnle Company
1T is an interesting situation. It shows
how liable pride Is to have @ f lail II
shows that competition is the sureest
remedy for oxorbltant prices.