The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-02-28
STEEL TRUST HAS BEEN OPP.
GRATED TO REPREss TRADE
CONTINUED from Page ~

715.577.5o. or two and six-tenths per
cent OF the total"
Relating to restraint OF trade there
are fourteen conclusions in the re-
port. one of which deals with percent
ages Of business done by the corpora
ton, and in which the ore and other
holdings are discussed.
Percentages OF the business done
by the United States Steel corpora
ton" the report WI ARE deceiving
and misleading unless segregated with
reference to particular products. For
example. Mr.. Roosevelt refers to an
corporation did not have above sixty
per cent of steel properties or steel
holdings and when he was asked If
Gary and Frick Cat the time Of the
purchase of the Tennessee Coal and
Iron company said anything about
the ore properties that they were buy
ing at that time. he answered they
did not 20 into details at ALL and
he also stated that he understood they
pany's plant"
IF this estimate of sixty per cent
refers to property and investment in
the steel business, It mya be noted,
in hiatt year (1907) that the total
property of the Bethlehem. Cambria,
Colorado, Lackawanna. Pennsylvania
and Tennessee companies added to the
capital stock of Jones & Laughlin
(because statement of property is not
these companies being the only i'm
portant concerns in the steel business
IN the United States. outside of the
United States Steel corporation. This
amount added to that of the United
States Steel corporation equals a grand
total Of $1,S11.606,339 of which the
property account of the United States
Steel corporation amounts to $1,445.-
s31,450 or about eighty per cent"
Conclusions in the report bearing
on restraint of trade are embodied in
fourteen sections some containing vo-
luminous quotations from the minutes
of meetings Of the corporation and of
the subsidiary companies. Summar-
lied the report concludes:
Competition between previously
competing concerns was terminated by
the concentration of the control Of
upwards of $50 corporations into one.
security-holding company known as
the United States Steel corporation.
The United States Steel corporation
Is merely a holding company engaging
in no business except the control
through stock ownership Of the sub
sidiary companies.
There we're acquired and brought
under single control. upwards of $50
in lines Of business allied
with the steel making business. in
Guiding ore owning and mining COM
panies which are now restrained
transportation companies. through
which every possibility Of competition
between these roads is prevented"
pig iron plants. coal and coke COM
panies, and many others.
Competition Eliminated.
There were required a large num-
per OF major concerns at much in
hated valuations, succeeding several
increases in the capitalization of pre-.
ceding interpretations, due in some
cases, to the greater combination val
ue or merger Of the consolidation. in
which of, course the units combined
were restrained Of any competitive
activity. Specific instances are given
under this head relating to three roc
esses Of combination as follows:
The original combination Of major
concerns to eliminate all possibility of
competition. Combinations admitted
~ or inferably having a direct effect
to remove competition or / nthe ac-
complishment of which the removal
OF competition was the declared or in
ferred object Of the consolidation.
"Other acquisitions in related lines
of business for which no explanation
has been offered and none appears
except the visible consequence, the
removal Of such concerns from the in
dependent field.
THE requirement of a large num-
Der, Of plants which never were OPP
Grated and some of them, dismantled,
being removed from the competitive
field"
The requirement of other plants,
such as the Clarion Steel company,
Tennessee Coal and Iron company
and others. of which the report says:
"~Isolatedly considered, the purpose in
acquiring Independent concerns may
be entirely colorless, but when con-
sidered in connection with the ac-
QUESTION Of other Independent plants
admittedly or internally to terminate
competition, the continued policy and
practice Of acquiring control Of COM
panies engaged in its own line Of bus
mess. may be corroboratory of the
conclusion that the intention was to
prevent competition Of the concerns
such intention"
In this connection after a lengthy
analysis Of the taking over of the
Tennessee Coal and Iron company in
1909, the report says:
1T may not be possible to state the
true intention in acquiring the Ten
nessee company in a way which would
be admitted by the men in control
OF the Steel corporation, inasmuch as
1t appears to many experienced men
who are also disinterested. that the
intention which impelled its acquisi-
ton was merely the desire to bring
under the control of the Steel d
alton the great possibilities for COM
petition possessed by the Tennessee
company. The consequence of the &C.
QUESTION should and must be held to
have been intended in legal contem.
plation. even II the result SO deduced
conflict with the intention declared
to be in the minds Of those responsi.
BILE"
FOrty.flve Plants.
The requirement Of forty-fve plants
listed in the report including many
small bridge, wire. nail, sheet steel
and other concerns. consolidated for
the restriction Of competition" and
when considered collectively with
many similar instances Of absorbing
and combining separate small plants.
lead to the conclusion that the OBJ.
ject in view was the restriction Of
competition"
The interlocking directors of the
Steel corporation and the purchase
Of stocks and bonds Of other compa-
MES and various outside transactions
Of enormous size. the report discusses
at length in support Of the claim Of