The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1911-08-11
JUsTIFIEs QUICK ACTION TAKEN
WHEN STEEL MERGER WAS
PROPOSED.
Colonel, as Voluntary Witness Be-
fore Steel Committee, Says He
Approved Measure for Country's
Observation-Disclosures Much Closer
Supervision Of Monopolistic Cor
porations.

New YORK, Aug. 0.-IncOQOFe
Roosevelt talked boldly before the
House Of Representatives committee
of inquiry into the United States
Steel Corporation here today and
voluntarily told how shis action In
consenting to the absorption of the
Tennessee Coal & Iron Company by
the Steel Corporation in 1907 avert
ed q disastrous panic.
The ex-President' action in SUBJ
hitting to a Congressional review OF
his own administration was almost
unprecedented in the history OF the
United States, and was thoroughly
Rooseveltian. He arrived unherald-
ed at the City Hall, vigorously shook
hands with members of the commit
tee, declared himself delighted to see
everybody, and got down to business.
All Blame Assumed.
First he placed upon' himself re-
sponsibility for approving the alb
sorption to avert financial distress
in Wall street, and condemned any
man who would be so weak as not
to act as he did in that crisis. Not
to have done so, he said, would have
been criminal.
Probably nothing in the vigorous
life history of Theodore Roosevelt
was more dramatic than his public
appearance today at the crisis of the
investigation of the transaction
which has been recorded in hum
dreds of pages of congressional in
quiry.
The chapter he contributed not
only dealt with his part in the events
of that threatening time, but he gave
the committee some interesting
opinions on the trust question that
doomed up in their Importance even
more than his recital of facts in the
Tennessee Coal & Iron transaction.
Critical Situation Saved.
After declaring that his object In
approving the sale of the Tennessee
company was to restore confidence
the ex-President, in response to In
quiries by Representative Littleton.
relating to the case as presented TO
him by Judge Gary and H. c. Prick
at the White House conference in
November, 1907, said:
"The situation was so critical that
it was liable to break at any moment
until the action was taken, and the
instant it was taken an enormous
Improvement occurred.
Then Mr.. Roosevelt launched into
a discussion with Chairman Stanley
of the general trust question, saying
that the United States had something
to learn from Germany.
ION another occasion I shall have
been very glad to have spoken with
you on trust remedies. am sure
YOU will not achieve your purpose
by splitting up the big corporations.
as l have stated again and again In
messages to congress.
Germany Cited rs Model.
'tWhile something can be done
along that line In addition, and, to
my mind, mainly the work must be
done by our national government
acting, as the government Of Ger
many has, think, in the potash mat
ter-by actually, in the interest OF
all the people, interfering and exer-
cising a degree of control over big
corporation which 1t would be wholly
Unnecessary to exercise over cor
poration that has no monopolistic
taint.'
II wish to say" Mr.. Stanley re-
piled, ''that am not of the opinion
that the dissolution of the United
States Steel Corporation into its con-.
stituent parts is an adequate REM
edy."
4You are quite right said Nj.
Roosevelt.
II believe the chairman con-
tinued, that we must divorce alb
solutely the United States Steel Cor
poration from every common carrier
on the continent, and by law force
the common carriers to charge the
Steel Corporation just what they
charge other people. We must de-
stroy rebate which is against the
spirit Of the law a. well as rebate
which IL In violation of the letter
Of the law
Comment Arouses Laughter.
Judge Lands tried to do that
and failed" interrupted Mr.. Roose-
velt. his comment causing loud