Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1909-03-13
INDEPENDENTS PICK GATES TO
LEAD MOVEMENT AGAINST
BIG TRUST
MERGER OF INDEPENDENTS
is LATEST PROPOSITION
Cut in Tin Prices Made and Threat Of
Reduction on Steel Rails is Forth
comins-Tennessee Coal and Iron
Deal Factor in the contest-A Finish
Fight Predicted.

Gates, picturesque financier and for
mer Chicagoan, doomed up last night
as the biggest factor in bitter war
to the knife between the United States
Steel Corporation and the Independent
steel men. This war was pressed today
by the announcement of a drastic cut
| in the prices of tin plates by the COM
I,bine and by threats Of reductions IN
wire products and steel rails. Even
this move, however, sensational as it
was, lost interest in face Of the reports
that would make Gates the leader Of
the Independent forces in their fight
on the combine and the battle cry Of
that war Revenge"
Mr.. Gates, as owner Of the Republic
Steel and Iron Company. one of the
Independent steel companies, is already
on the battle line In the steel war, but
the reports that are being circulated
in Wall street, IL true, mean that as
yet he has only engaged in skirmish-
ing.
These reports are that the man who
organized the American Steel and Wire
Company and the Federal Steel Com
pany and then sold both to the United
States Steel Corporation, which he
helped to organize, has another combi-
nation in mind.
Gates Heavily Interested.
Mr.. Gates was heavily Interested In
this deal by which syndicate got con-
troll Of the company and put the price
of its stock up to $50 and then tried
to maintain 1t at that level. When the
banks which held the stock called the
loans which had been made upon II,
with the result that the stock finally
passed into the hands of j. p. Nor
gan and thru them to the United States
Steel Corporation, Mr. Gates got his"
He is credited with dropping In the
deal large part OF the profits he had
made when he helped form the United
States Steel Corporation.
But according to his friends, the loss
of the money did not affect him SO
much as the manner in which he lost
1t. One night he Is said to- have cried
out at the Plaza Hotel when the news
that Roosevelt had consented to the
elimination OF the deal reached him:
protective measure. Ell? FL. its
piracy"
Companies That May Unite.
This combination, 1t is said, would
lead to the mobilization Of the forces
that are now carrying on partisan war
against the combine. Gates own COM
Epany, the Republic Steel and Iron,
Jones & I1aughlin, the Lackawanna
Steel Company, the Pennsylvania Steel
Company and the Cambria Steel Com
pany are the concerns which it Is said
Mr.. Gates proposes to unite. They are
the principal independents, leaving
out Of consideration the Bethlehem
Steel Company, which Charles NJ.
Schwab and Andrew Carnegie control.
The gossip Of the street is that this
company will not enter the proposed
combination, us 1t owns patented
process for making structural steel, in
the manufacture of which 1t has no
competition. But even with the Bethle-
hem company out of it the new COM
bination, it is declared, the proposed
combination Of the independents would
lead to the creation of formidable
rival to the United States Steel Cor
poration.
Ills is WlittLa wall SCISCl Ad9 " say
of Gates plans. Now for his motive.
This is. seen in the result of the Ten.
nessee Coal and Iron Company deal.
All of which explains why, if Mr..
Gates does what he is credited with
having already having half done, Wall
street is looking for exciting times and
the steel war is likely to be marked
by many hard fought fields and ter
rible slaughter.
Cut on Tin Plate. !
AS to the price cut The charge for
tin plates, up to this time, had re-
NAMED unchanged, and it was thought
prices would be maintained.
The Independents became aggressive,
and the United States Steel corpora
ton has decided to fight them to a
finish. The result is a cut of % to 80
cents box on tin plates, with a threat
that rails may also be reduced. The
object of the big combination is said
to be to force the independents to
withdraw from the market altogether.
The new move in the war is said to
be in anticipation Of a reduction of %
per cent in pig iron in the new tariff
measure, and a removal altogether of
the duty on ore.
SOUTHERN BLACKS OUT.
Taft Will Not Appoint Negroes to Of
fees in the South.
Chioooo NIarnh 12-Tha pacsfner of