The Washington herald., 1911-12-16

New York, Dec. 15.-EIbert II. Gary.
executive head of the steel trust. hit
| back hard tonight at Louis D. Brandeis
directly, and indirectly at everybody else
! who has been hurting brickbats at him,
i or the great corporation whose energies
and destinies he directs.
Judge dary received a representative
OF The Herald in his apartment at the
| Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, a few hours after
Mr.. Brandeis the famous antitrust law
yer of Boston, had cE4ticized the steel
| trust before the Senate Committee on In
| terstate Commerce at Washington for the
treatment of its employees, and also re-
ferred pessimistically to the report that
Judge Gary had given Mrs. Gary a $780,
OO0 pearl necklace as a Christmas present
On the latter point Mr.. Brandeis was
I quoted as saying:
Just such things as this brought on
! the social unrest that led to the French
revolution"
No Necklace for Wife.
Judge Gary read the report Of Mr.
Brandies' statement very carefully before
he spoke. Then he said:
Il am loath to speak of the report of
my having given Mrs. Gary a pearl neck
lace for a Christmas present that cost
half million dollars, or any other
amount OF course it isn't true. l have
not bought a pearl for a long time, and
have no present intention of buying any.
Il speak of it reluctantly for two rea-
sons. The first is. that 1t is a subject
which touches very closely my most inti-
mate family affairs. Neither Mrs. Gary
nor myself like this sort of publicity.
The only reason I reply to it at all
is that Mr.. Brandeis has made such use
of the report. ! am sorry that he has
descended to this sort of attack. l had
respected him as a man of excellent in
tention. Heretofore he had pitched his
utterances on public questions in a higher
key. l am grieved that he has come
down to such cheap talk. / had hoped
that his efforts to help solve the indus
trial and economic problems of the coun-
try would be maintained on the high in
tellectual plane which / had thought he
occupied l feel that his exhibition at
Washington to-day will disappoint the
whole country
That is all Judge Gary cared to say
about Mr.. Brandeis or the pearl neck
lace story. He then took up the other
phases of the Boston lawyers criticisms
OF the steel trust
''All such attacks" he said. are per-
sonal TO myself because 1 direct the poll
cies of the steel corporation. l helped to
organize it I have been with the COM
pany from its inception. 1 know its ope-
rations and purse I have elaborateIy
set these forth without reservation be-
fore both the Stanley committee of the
House and the Interstate Commerce
Committee of the Senate. The record is
made up. Every intelligent citizen can
read 1t understandingly. ! have told the
complete story in the simplest language
and without withholding a single detail
that l either was asked to exploit or
ha Norl,N - -
Not for Stock Jobbers.
when 1 was asked recently by Sena-
tor Poemrene, of Ohio. the pointed ques-
ton If the steel corporation had not
been formed primarily to give the finan-
ciers another vehicle for their activities
my answer was No I told him and the
Senate committee that the company was
organized for business purposes strictly,
and without the least wish or purpose to
add a single share to the securities that
are dealt in on the exchanges. Had he
pressed his question further l would
have been glad to add anything to the
discussion of that phase of the subject
that may have been pertinent. But when
l gave him that answer I believed had
compassed the idea in his mind. And I
give him credit for believing that 1 had
done that"
Judge Gary then took up. point by
point. the criticism of Mr.. Brandeis and
others concerning the giant corporations
relations to its vast army of employees
and its general character and aim.
when we are running at full capacity"
he began, "our pay rolls number some
thing like 10000 men. At the present
time we are running at about so per cent
and the names of about 10000
persons are being carried on our pay
rllOs. We pay the highest wages in all
branches and departments of the iron
and steel industry. One of our cardinal
policies is the open shop. II there is the
least dissatisfaction among our employees,
I know nothing whatever of it.
I'VE are spending increasing millions
yearly for the betterment of their condi-
ton and are getting returns in the in
creased efficiency of their work. We
have established a pension fund out of
our own earnings of Ss000,0OO. With the
SIC, 900, 900 pension fund subscribed by An
drew Carnegie. our total pension fund is