The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1911-11-24
ALFRED MERRITT GIVES
INTERESTING TESTIMONY
Tells Committee Investigating q
s. Steel How He Lost Mesaba
Holdings Through Trust
Reposed in Preacher
Secretary.

Alfred Merritt, one Of the orr
ginal owners of the Duluth, Mis-
sabe & Northern and of the mines
which formed the nucleus of the
United States Steel corporation
holdings, was a witness before the
congressional committee invest
igating the steel company on Tues
day and gave history of the
early days Of the range and of the
manner in which the valuable
holdings Of the Merritts were &C.
quired by Rockefeller interests
which will prove Of interest to
many readers who are not &C.
quainted with the earlier history
of the range and with the manner
in which the big trust obtained
it's first footing in the richest
mineral district on earth, and how
through a loan of less that 81, 900
there was lost property of pres
ent value Of $7OO,O00,000.
Merritt and his brother, Leoni-
das Merritt were among the
original mine owners in the Lake
Superior region and part owners
and builders of the Duluth, Mis-
abe & Northern railroad. The
elder Merritt declared that he
was induced through F. c. Gates,
Mr.. Rockefeller's secretary, "in
charge of his charitable work, "
to put up all his holdings as COL
lateral for loans from Mr.. Rookie
Teller in 1892 and 1893. One loan
was for $4,000. Others we're
for various sums. Gates, he said
was a Baptist preacher, in whom
he had confidence, and who as
sured him that by placing a call
loan he would not be pressed and
that he would be taken care of.
| The witness related how, two
months after he had put up his
collateral with Mr.. Rockefeller,
during the panic of 1898, Rookie
Teller called the loan giving him
"a hours to raise $4,000 and
that, being unable to raise the
money, he and his brother lost
their property.
He admitted that Mr.. Rookie.
Teller offered him an opportunity
to buy his property back within
a year, but declared that the old
king told fnanciers "to keep
hands off," and that he was un
able to raise money anywhere.
Dispute as to the nature OF the
transaction arose when D. A
Reid, counsel for the United
States Steel corporation stated
that the Merritts had made actual
sales of their stock holdings to
Rockefeller in order to raise
money and that they had never
taken advantage of the opportun.
ity to repurchase within a year
Another brother, Mr.. Reid de.
clared he had redeemed his sstock
and secured his pro-rata at $2O6
per share when it was taken over
at the time of the organization of
the United States Steel corpora
ton.
The introduction of Mr.. Rookie
feller's name in this manner al
most resulted in the issuance of a
subpoena duces tecum for him to
appear before the committee with
the contract made at the time of
the Merritt loans. Representative
Beall of Texas moved that this be
done. No objections were heard
when Chairman Stanley put the
motion, but the committee decid-
ed later in executive session not
to call Mr.. Rockefeller until Leon
idas Merritt had testified.
The Merritts were first parties
to a transaction with Mr.. Rookie
Teller and others in the formation
of the Lake Superior CONSOLIDATE
ed Iron Mines. In this the mines
of the region and the Duluth,
Missabe & Northern were consoli-
dated. Out of this, a suit by the
Merritts, against Rockefeller de
veloped on the ground of mis-
representation of the value of
mining properties turned in by
the Rockefeller interests. Sub
sequently, Rockefeller paid the
Merritts $525,O0O in settlement
for isis.
Before this settlement, and af-
ter he had lost his stock holdings
and ceased to be president Of the
railroad, Merritt testified that F.
D. Gates came to him and said
Mr.. Rockefeller wanted him to
continue as president of the road
or another year.
"Was that the Baptist preach
er, Gates, who came to youi''
asked Chairman Stanley.
eyes, Merritt replied. HE
said Mr.. Rockefeller had conf
dence in me and knew that I,
through my acquaintance with
the boys on the range, would be