The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-06


 House.
 The conference was brief MT. Roose- Welt explained, and later he wrote to MT. Bonaparte stating all the facts Of the conference.
 He read to the committee the letter afterward published in the Senate rec ords of the hearings on the Tennessee Coal and Iron case in 1909. The letter set forth that MT. Prick and MT. Gary had submitted the proposition for the sale or the Tennessee company and now he had expressed the opinion that he did not wish to stand in the way or averting a disastrous financial panic The firm that was in trouble, MT. Roosevelt said, had not been mentioned.
 Reads Statement Mir. Roosevelt then went on to read his statements, going into details about the serious financial conditions in New York, and told how he had taken the responsibility to permit the transfer of the steel company and did 1t on his own initiative.
 'It was a matter of general knowl- | edge" he said, referring to banks and trust companies in danger In New York, that they held securities of the Tennessee Coal and Iron company which had no market value.p
 "The proposition of Messrs. Gary and Prick was,' he continued, that the United States Steel corporation should take over the Tennessee Coal and Iron | company al once.
 Tt was necessary for me to act at | once" said the former President, be fore the stock exchange opened or the transaction might prove useless" He said he was satisfied that acquire ment by the Steel corporation of the Tennessee Coal and Iron company did not change the legal status of the cor poration.
 Furthermore I believed it would be for the public good, continued Mir. Roose- welt. "I answered MT Gary and Prick, that if matters were in such a state I did not want to stand In the way and the result proved that the act was good one because the panic was stopped.
 Mir. Roosevelt further said that he had learned the action was for great benefit to the people of the Birmingham dis trict.
 T should have proved an unworthy public officer if I had not done as I did. |" "If I had not acted at once,' he con- tinued, "in that extraordinary crisis, I should have been a mere title. In such crisis the temptation to indecsion to non- action, always exists. There is always ex- cuse for non-action. If a man Is worth his salt he will give people In trouble the benefit of the doubt, and act as the situation demands, If the law is not vo- lated"
 Every step I took was as open as the day"
 Chairman Stanley asked the former l president for more details as to the con- | ference at the White House and about 1 the trust companies in trouble in New I York at the time.
 T think they mentioned only one trust | company. l had previously been in | formed that there were two such com | panies and that the assets of a certain big stock company were threat tened. They | said they were fully convinced this com pany would fail if the Tennessee trans actions were not completed. The securi- | ties had no market value at the moment, they said and they stated they were will 1 ing to purchase that property for the Steel corporation: that the steel corpor- alton did not wish to do it for the sake of a transaction itself, because it had been their policy to keep up their pro- portion of the steel business at 60 per cent less. As a matter of fact their control was less. They said they were willing and anxious to take over the property because they felt it was the only way to save the situation: that It would put the power of the steel corpor- ation behind the companies on the firing line and in a position to prevent disas- ters"
 Ou SDOke or lnetT HltlltioiiiiS N uos companies ?" MT. Stanley asked. Did they mention any?"
 q think they mentioned none" Mir. Roosevelt replied, land did not ask them for the names.'
 Incidentally may mention." continued the former president, that when I was in Birmingham last spring every man met without exception, who mas com potent to testify, informed me volun- tarily that the results of the action taken had been of the utmost benefit to Bir mingham and the rest of Alabama, tho industry had profited to an extraordinary degree, not only from the standpoint of business, but from the standpoint of shs community at large and of the wage earners by the change in ownership.
 "The results of the action took were beneficial from every standpoint, and the action itself at the time when it was taken was vitally necessary to the welfare to ths people of the United States
 Mir Roosevelt declared neither MT. Gary nor MT Prick advised him that the stock of the Tennessee Coal and Iron company was preferred by them more than any other industrial stock before the panic, and they did not tell him of their efforts m New York through their transaction to help out certain stock broker.
 Did they describe the conditions in re- lation to this stock in Wall street how the Tennessee had been kicked about like football?"
 MT. Stanley" the former president ex- claimed. you must apply to someone other than myself if you wish an ex2crt opinion on Wall street" and then MT. Roosevelt laughted heartily.
 Didn't they advise the week before they had offered to make loan to certain jobber who was in trouble on the Ten nessee securities ?'
 They never mentioned such thing"
 Did they advise you that nine-tenths of this Tennessee stock was locked up Tn the strong boxes of multi-millionaires on account of it's value and that the stock value had purposely been destroyed In Wall street by begging and that only 60 per cent of this stock was involved in the loans that were in trouble?
 Nobody talked to me on those lines you suggest at all," said MT. Roosevelt
 Not Seen Smith Report
 Have you seen the report of Herbert Knox Smith of the bureau of corporations on the United States Steel corporation, said Mr Stanley, setting the corpora ton was worth about s700000, COOP"
 "No'
 Mr Stanley then made a long argument regarding the actual value of the Steel corporation. asking MT. Roosevet's opin- ion thereon.
 q do not want to answer hypothetical questions based on MT. Smiths or any ones conclusion MT. Roosevelt declared
 Did MT. Prick or Mr. Gary tell you that no bank in New York or no stock broker had ever told them the absorp. ton of the Tennessee Coal and Iron by the United States Steel was necessary for