The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-09-01

NAoIllNGl ON, Aug. lO.-Angered
by the charge that the panic of 1907
was a bankers conspiracy, George W..
Perkins, director of the United States
Steel Corporation, created a stir be.
fore the House steel investigation com.
mittee today when he jumped to his
feet and pounding the table with his
fist branded it as false.
The denial came when Representa-
tive Bartlett asked the New York
financier whether such was not the
case. 1t was The following method Of
examination by Judge Bartlett that
drew Mr.. Perkins fire.
, O. What do you say about the
statements made will express no
( belief-that the panic was started in
4 order 10 get certain bankers who we're
not desirable in the business out of
= the way, and that after it started you
could not control it? A. | say there
never was a more infamous lie started
and persistently followed up anywhere
than that has been
Q. But it has been stated, hasn't it?
A. There is not a scintilla of truth in
it from A to u
O. Then the panic that you call
| big panic was not brought on by the
bankers? A. You might just as well
say that certain grour of gentlemen
made q contract with Mrs. OLeary to
kick over the lamp tnat set Chicago
on fire.
Q. Somebody set it on fire and It
was hard to stop. A, Yes, it was Mrs.
O'Leary's COW.
Q. In this case, what was it that
set the panic going? A. l think
have testified, Judge. Conditions had
been drifting TOWARD an unstable fnan-
cial situation for several months. Ger
tainly you yourself must have real
lied that in your community. People
became rather disturbed. There was
unrest. The trust company situation,
as | have testified, had been a burn
ing question for some time in the
country. These trust companies were
not in any way affiliated. ! have tes-
titled that when the presidents were
brought together in Mr.. MOrgan's Of
flee on Wednesday,, October %, they
were so far apart, in any cooperative
sense, that they did not even know
each other by sight, and l had to in
troduce those gentlemen one to an
other.
Q. But New York is such a big
Llace, and everybody tends to his own
business. A. My dear Judge, but the
bankers did not know each other. II
do not want to get into an argument
against cooperation.
Q. There was no cooperation
among the banks in New York to stop
it? A. My dear Judge, that is just
what did stop it, 1t was the cooper
alton between the banks and private
bankers and the United States gov
eminent. The cooperation of the
trust companies had to be in order to
stop it, and have said in my judg-
ment, that it was the getting of them
together. 1t was the lack of co-oper-
alton, and then the getting of them
together.
The Needed Reforms.
Mr.. Perkins went over a wide range
of subjects. He touched on needed re.
form in the laws, discussed the exist
ing conditions of corporations and
pointed out changes that could be
made by Congress in the financial sys-
tenn of the country. Some of his OBJ
serVations follow:
THAT great corr orations, grown up
under demands of existing conditions,
could no longer successfully exist UNI
der the Sherman antitrust law as now
rigidly enforced.
THAT the governments dissolution
of the Standard Oil Company served
as waving of q red flag of warning
to every corporation in the United
States.
That something of constructive
nature must be done by the govern
ment with reference to the control of
corporations, and rather than for pres
ent conditions to continue, it would be
better to go to the limit of permitting
government regulations of prices
That the very reason subsidiary
companies of great corporation can
violate the law without knowledge OIL
the officers of the holding company is
the law which prevents such a cor
poration from operating and ruling the
subsidiary concerns instead of merely
advising them.
That one great stride toward avert
ing financial Lanics in New York could
ba ,oada ~ he ,,,e,,1I -