The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-22
Department of Justice Seri- ously Considering Dis
 solution of Trust
LITTLE HEADWAY IS
 BEING MADE THOUGH
Quite Apart From Obstacles Which Beset Trust, Trade Conditions Are Adyersc-St0cks of
 Trust Are Attacked

New York, September 21.-It was re- ported today on excellent authority that the matter of dissolving and reorgsnizins the United States Steel corporation IS re- ceving the earnest attention of the de- partment of justice and legal representa- tives of the so called billion dollar trust.
 There is ground also for the position that the steel corporation is making a strenuous effort to meet the demands of the government but by reason of the complexity of the situation little headway has been made.
 Informal conferences of prominent steel officials were held during the day but no news of a definite character was obtain able from these sources. Chairman E. II. Gary declined to discuss the status of af- fairs and Frank Lynde Stetson, the cor porations general counsel, would neither affirm nor deny the report that nego- tiations looking to a voluntary dissolution are in contemplation.
 To those who have followed the oper- atons of the corporation since it's incep- tion, a decade ago, the work of disin- tegration and reorganizing the largest in dustrial combination ever organized -eprs- sents task of gigantic proportiops. Many of the subsidiaries which helped to make up the corporation have lost prac- tically all semblance of their original selves and in the opinion of dispassionate observers it would be well nigh impossible 10 restore original equities.
 It is matter of common knowledge tha, large part of the $500. .000,000 common stock originally represented little more than bonuses, or water On the other hand. it has been admitted by govern ment investigators that much of this n- Hated value has been replaced in recent years by moneys taken out of earnings Tn fact, the report of the department Of commerce and labor has practically fixed upon a value Of $50 for the common shares, because of the millions put int1 new construction. betterment, depreeia ton, etc. s
 Quite apart from the legal obstacles which are said to beset the path o the corporation 1t Is evident that trade conditions are distinctly adverse. Fol the last three months such new bus,- ness as the company has received has been at marked price concessions. This of course, is equally true of the many independent companies but the latter have had a distinct advantage in that their wage schedules were generally lower than those of the big corpora . tion. Intimations put out from various quarters during the week point clear 1y 10 a Liquidation of labor in steel and iron beginning perhaps with the Steel corporation. Officials of the lat ter company have issued no figures oeaiing with tho extent of operations at the more important plants but au- vices from Pittsburg. Chicago and Cleveland indicate business at those centers is smaller at this time than at any period since the first quarter of the year
 The common and preferred shares of the United States S,eci corporation were subjected to severe attack in today's stock market by reason of the various rumors affecting the corpora rion. On sales approXimating 575, 00C shares, or almost 50 per cent of the days total transactions. the common stock registered a net loss of more than 5 points, while the preferred stock with gales exceeding 50,000 declined almost as much. In both instances new low records for the year and even g longer period were established dealing in steel stocks and allied industria1s completely overshadowed the rest of the list which at first was only slight ly affected. Later, however. the entire list yielded under the pressure upon these stocks.