Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-01-11
CARNEGIE ON STAND.

| washington Jan. l0.-AndFew Car
negie was an involuntary witness to-
day, before the House committee prob
| ing the affairs Of the United States
| Stel Corporation. Mr. Carnegie, who
was first requested To appear and up
| on declining that invitation, was per-
emptorily summoned to Washington,
was wanted to elucidate many OF the
details of organization and operation
of the steel Trust and its domino
| ton of an industry in which he was
| for so many years a predominant fig
ure.
| Mr.. Carnegie had once expressed a
Willingness to appear but recently de-
clined to testify on the ground that
| he was named as defendant in the
governments suit against the Steel
Corporation.
Mr. Carnegie was accompanied by
| j. H. Reed of Pittsburg, his counsel.
The committee room was crowded
with spectators including many wo-
men.
| He was sworn by Chairman Stanley
Mr.. Carnegie said he began his steel
| career in 1851 with the firm of Miller
& Small and that in 1862 he borrowed
$500 from the National Bank of Pitts
burg to engage in a partnership in the
keystone Bridge Company at Pitts
burg
Five or six Of u.s. he said, were
| engaged in this In 1859 we built an
other mill in Pittsburg and in 1864 I
was one OF the organizers of the SUI
perior ore mill and furnace. In 1856
: We built the locomotive works in Pitts
burg and in 1867 we united two other
mills in Pittsburg. That was the be-
ginning OF the Carnegie Steel Co.,
/ Ltd"
We had very little capital At diff
ferent times we would put in $4,000
or 100000"
What was the capital of your prop
critics in the 60's?"
! My dear sir. l have no more idea
than you have"
Il have an idea," replied Chairman
Stanley. Was it as much as $780,
000?"
"Oh, yes. the Superior mill alone
was worth that, but don't want to
guess. Give me time and I will give
youu all the figures. l have had so
much to think about for 40 years and
In the last II 'ars I have not engag-
ed IN the steel business and so much
has faded frcm my memory"
Mr.. Carnegie denounced the banking
system OF the United States as a
disgrace to civilization"
When panics come in this coun-
try" he said, they are due to the
fact that we have the worst banking
| system in the world. Panics spread
ruin and if the bill now before Con-
gress is passed it will have something
to prevent such panics''
Mr. Carnegie, in the written state
ment filed with the committee point
ed out that the Steel commuters task
had arisen from the fact that ths
law of competition in business has
seemed recently to be impaired in GER
tain fields, notably those of natural
| oil and steel and tobacco Even now
a gigantic railway system embracing
| nearly one-half of the worlds railway
| mileage has been effected and several
! retail companies have been tried and
| convicted under the Sherman law"
We are in a transition stage, :" said
| Mir. Carnegie, land naturally SUCCESS
| tons are numerous and divers for
effective compliance with the sherman
act as interpreted by the supreme
court. That a satisfactory measure
| viii finally be evolved is certai,l-oue
| which does not go further than ac-
tually necessary to prevent restraint
OF trade and monopoly. These two and
uncomfortable evils prevented. govern
| ment and courts may Well rest from
further action until experience die
tases any necessary notifications.
| There is no cause It present for either
| alarm or haste upon the part of the
courts, Congress or producers or con-
sumers, whose interests will become
mutual wherever freedom of trade
from monopoly is established. Nothing
revolutionary is required
Continuing the story of his life. MIR.
Carnegie said that during the Civil
| War he suffered a sunstroke and was
ordered to spend his summers in q
cooler climate. II went to my native
land, Scotland, and there l watched
the Bessemer process of making steel.
There, too, I met a Mr.. Dodds. who
had invented patent for hardening
the face of steel. / purchased the pa
tent and brought Mr.. Dodds TO Pitts
burg where he built a furnace and
made the first hard surface rails in
this country"
Mr.. Carnegie referred to that great
mechanical genius. Charlie Schwab."
as the greatest man 1 ever knew in
that line
Mr. Carnegie said he suggested to
Schwab that he test q process for