The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-15
SENSATION AT THE !. STEEL SUIT HEARING Corporation Attorneys Re-
 fuse to Produce Papers SOME ARE DESTROYED Two Contracts Between Tin Plate Company and Tin Can Company
 Withheld - Other Contracts
 Have Been Destroyed
SOME ARE DESTROYED

New York, May f4--The refusal of the attorneys of the United States Steel cor poration to produce certain papers wanted by the government and the discovery that other documents which the corporation was subpoenaed to produce had either been destroyed or could not be found, furnished the sensation of today's hearing of the gorenments suit to dissolve the corporation.
 The papers which the corporation at torneys refused to produce are two con tracts between the American Sheet and Tin Plate company. a subsidiary of the corporation, and the American Tin Can company whereby the Can company is alleged to have obtained it's supply of tin plate at preferential prices. D. G. Reid and Judge William Il. Moore, directors of the Steel corporation, also are diree- tors Of the Can company.
 Papers 4sesWithheId
 We decline to produce these contracts, announced R. V. Idndabury. chief counsel for the corporation. lon the ground that they disclose tho company's private bust ness affairs with one of it's customers. The refusal would stand. MT. Lindabury stated. until the right of the government to possession of the documents had been ruled upon by United States circuit court judges, to whom the testimony in the suit will be certified
 The documents destroyed or missing con- sisted Of contracts between the American Tin Plate company and manufacturers of tin plate machinery, whereby 1t is alleged the use of the machinery by competitors of the steel trusts subsidiary was pre- vented; of an alleged five year contract between the tin plate company and the sharon Steel company for taking the lat ters output and of similar contracts al- legged to have been made by the American Sheet Steel company.
 Wheeler Destroyed Contracts
 Carlo V. Wheeler, secretary and treas urer of the. American Sheet and Tin Plate company, who has been subpoenaed to produce the contracts. testified that he had himself destroyed the machinery con- tracts about 1904"
 By whose authority did you destroy them?''
 MY OWfl.
 you exercised your own judgment without authority from the board of di- rectors?"
 In this case, yes. There were a num- Der of obsolete papers which l destroyed and presume these contracts were among them as | have not seen them since.'
 The other contracts, Wheeler said, he had been unable to ind
 Did you make thorough search?
 well. I had a search made They tell me that they can't find them anywhere
 Well, l instruct you to make thor- ough search and if you cant find them, we will have those subpoenaed who had them directly in their custody declared Judge Dickinson who represents the gov ernment.
 Davis Testifies
 Howard M. Davis of Philadelphia, now an independent tin plate manufacturer. said that in 1907 he represented the Ameri- oan Sheet and Tin Plate company at meetings of manufacturers in Pittsburg at which he said Understandings" were reached as to prices. These underestimate ings were not always observed, but those who violated them were "inVestlgated and a promise obtained from them that they would abide by the understandings in the future, he asserted.
 John A. Topping. now chairman of the Republic Steel and Iron company, and William F. Refs testified briefly as to the organization of the National Steel and American Sheet Steel companies, two of the four Reid-Moore combinations. Refs said the national company was 8 competition ito a slight extent of the Federal and Carnegie Steel companies. both of which went into the corporation.
 Through Refs the government scored the point that, although one one of the Ma tionaf company's constituents had the ca pacity for making steel rails, 1t did not do so after the consolidation.