The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-06
STEEL TRUST QUIET
BUT so CALLED INDEPENDENTS
 SPOKE.
They are "Embarrnssed" to Have to Ask for Raise of g. I'm Tariff
 Duties.

Washington. Dec. S-(SpeciaL) )-Thc gigantic corporation known as the Steel Trust, which controls more than one-half of the iron and steel product of this country, did not appear during the two days and evenings devoted to metals by the Congressional Tariff Committee. Honest and thorough cross examination Is looked upon by trust" a good deal as the devil re- gards holy water Three or four "in- dependents" were sent to represent the irSn and steel industries. These Independent" members of the iron and steel family come handy at such times as this. They are convenient at all times, for they relieve the trust" from the damning charge of being a com plete monopoly; they are its "com- petitors". But they are tractabIe enough to join in conferences" every little while in New York to see what prices will be considered fair to the trade. At these family conferences the voice of the big brother usually drowns out the voices of the young sters, if the latter, indeed. presume to be heard as well as seen; and the trust has the game without the name. at least without so bad a name as 1t would otherwise have.
 In every industry dominated by a monopoly ostensible competitors are
 
 Standard Oil, and a few real competi- tors are undoubtedly useful. When an industry .offers large profits, capital will be attracted: and it is not bad thing for the trust to allow a few little fellows to enjoy the crumbs. Thus there are iron and steel plants which are making little money through poor lo- cation or management, through not owning any ore or fuel supply of their own, or through being obliged to buy raw materials of the trust or submit to its dictation in the sale of their products. Such plant was commits stoned to represent the steel rail in- dustry before the Ways and Means 1 Committee.
 i E. c. Felten, President of the Penn | syIvania Steel Company, makers of | rails and other steel products, tried to | show that his company could not get | along without the present duty of $7.S4 per ton on rails, although Mir. Sehwab, | former president of the steel corpora tfon, said in 1899 that rails were pro- | duced for less than S12.o0 per ton in | this country as against $500 per ton | in Great Britian. But even this plant l was unable to make the desired show l ing. Questions brought out the fact that the company had exported rails to foreign countries every year but one for the last ten years, selling them
 
 below the home price, meeting the competition of the strongest foreign rail makers. and had made money on the ten years of rail business Of course a company which can compete with the Germans and British in the open markets of the world, would re- quire no protection" to enable it to compete in the markets of the United States. It appeared that seven years ago the stock of this company was watered by the issue of $1o, 50O, 900 of common stock for which no money was received, and that this stock is now worth. on the basis of the actural value of the plant. about $26,50O,000, al- though the witness sought to give the 1 impression that this stock was still without value because it had never paid dividends.
 When quizzed as to possible combin- ations of the rail manufacturers of diff ferent countries, Mir. Felton could an swer only for his own plant; he could not say that the Steel Trust or other independent companies were not part les to such an agreement. Yet he was the sole representative of the rail i'm