Norwich bulletin., 1912-05-14
Reid Had Very
 Poor Memory
"HIS MIND A PERFECT BLANK
 HE DECLARED.
THE "TIN PLATE KING
Proves a HaI<y Witness at Hearing in Dissolution suit-Admits Advance in Prices After Concerns Combined.

New York, May 13.-Daniel G. Reid, the railroad fin2ncier and former tn plate king" a director and member or the finance committee Of the Umted States Steel corporation, was called on the stand today at the hearing of the government suit to dissolve the corporations to testify how the Amer1- can Tin Plate company was organized.
 Proves a Poor Witness.
 First of the many prominent de- fendants in the suit to appear on the stand. MT. Reid proved a poor witness for the government and time and again his answer to pertinent ques- tions in regard to the financial phases of the tin plate company formation was q do not remember or T do not recollect." His weak memory appeared to exasperate Judge Jacob M. Dickin- son. chief counsel for the government, and prompted him to remark;
 You can bring horse to water, but you can't make him drink. You can subpoena a witness, but it seems that you can't make him remember"
 Merger of 35 Concerns.
 The government contends that the American Tin Plate company, which became a part of the United States Steel corporation, was in itself com bination in restraint of trade and that its stock was watered MT Reid said that in 1898 he and Judge William H. Moore welded the company together out of about 35 tin plate concerns rep resented at that time some g per cent. of the industry, but upon the question as to what the properties were worth MT. Reid s'recollection was hay, He admitted that s10,0O0.00o in stock went to the underwriting syndicate which financed the company over and above $3S,0o0,00o preferred and common stock issued in exchange for stock of the various plants taken over. He was unable to recall, however, how much of this ten million he received himself as 8 member of the syndicate or whether cash was paid for any of the plants instead of stock.
 "My Mind Perfect Blank" Says Wit
 ness.
 All Judge Dickinson's efforts to re- fresh the witness memory on the sub ject by reading extracts from testi- mony Mir. Reid gave before the indus trial commission in 1899 proved futile Judge Dickinson pressed the witness with equal lack of success for infor- nation concerning alleged contracts by which the American Tin Plate com pany is said to have prevented ma chinery for teh manufacture of tin plate being used by competitors.
 My mind is perfect blank on that subject" declared the witness.
 "Competitfon Fair and Opsn."
 Mir. Reid admitted that there was competition among the various con- stituent plants before he and Judge Moore brought them together, but ht denied that there was any intention to monopolize the industry or that there were any efforts to suppress competition.
 Competition was fair and open" ht asserted.
 At the present, MT. Reid said. read. ing from statistics which were com piled, he explained, in the office of tht steel corporation, competition haC grown to such an extent that the an. nual capacity of the corporations til plate plants was only 53.7 per cent O the country's total compared with al | independent capacity of 46.3 per cent We figured that by combination WI | could buy supplies cheaper, reduc' | overhead charges, and make the busi ness more profitable" the witness said | but persistent questioning by Judg Dickinson elicited the admission tha he might have had the regulation o prices in mind"
 Advance in Prices Followed Merger.
 Prices of tin plate advanced afte the organization of the company, bu this was due. he said, to advances il l the price of crude steel and pig tir over which the tin plate company ha no control. Moreover, he said. price of tin plate were much higher in tn years previous to 1898 than after Judge Dickinson got the witness to sa 1 that the National Steel company, man ufacturers of crude steel, was con trolled by practically the same inter ests" which controlled the tin plat company. This company, the Ameri can Sheet Steel company snd tn American Steel Hoop company wer < organized as customers of the Ma tlonal Steel company, Mir. Reid saiC and Judge Moore, chief organizer c all four, negotiated their sale to tn United States Steel corporatIo through J. P. Morgan & company. Tn steel corporation wanted only the ti plate company, he said, but 1t was "a or none"
 MT. Reid fiatly refused to tell tn amount of the steel corporation stoc he received for his holdings in tn American Tin Plate company.
 An Independent Testifies.
 Jacob Meurer. an independent ii plate manufacturer. who was the oul other witness today, testifled to hi inability to buy black plate from con stituent companies of the America Tin Plate company after it was or ganized. As a result he was obIige to import his black plate from abroai he said. and the high tariff caused hil serious losses.
 Naugatucks Socialist Regime. i