Imperial Valley press., 1912-08-02
STEEL TRUST SCORED
BY the COMMITTEE
OF INVESTIGATION

CBY UNITED PRESS ASSoCIATIONSl
WASHINGTON, Aug. 2.-Fifteen
months investigation of the Steel trust
by the special committee OF the house,
were summarized in reports submit
ted to that body today-one set con-
demning the United States Steel cor
poration as gigantic monopoly in re-
straint of trade, the other. although
accusing it OF sharp parctices, holding
that it is not monopoly. All the
reports submit voluminous suggestions
for amendment and rehabilitation of
the antitrust laws, based on evidence
developed during the hearings.
The reports all refrain directly from
expressing the opinion that the United
States Steel corporation has violated
the Sherman law. An agreement to
omit reference to this phase of their
investigation was reached because OF
the present pendency of the govern
ments suit to dissolve the corpora
ton. The majority report, however,
briStleS with denunciation of the com
bine's methods of Sitting competi-
tion,' of ''exerting monopoly" and of
controlling prices through owner
ship OF railroads and practical monop-
oily of all the ore fields now available.
The so-called Cary dinners'-at
which the heads of all the steel cor
pOrations' subsidiaries met with the
chairman of the board of directors.
Judge E. H. Gary-are bitterly scored
in the main report.
I'VE think the conclusion is irresis-
ubte, the report says, that the Gary
dinners we're instituted as a means of
conveying to the entire steel and iron
Industry information as to the atti-
tude of the United States Steel cor
poratlon upon the question of output
and prices, and of impressing upon all
engaged in the industry that it was
the part of wisdom and prudence TO
govern themselves accordingly.
We further believe that by this
means prices We're maintained, output
restricted. territory divided competi-
tion stified and trade restrained, ius
as certainly, just as effectively and
Just as unlawfully as had been done
under the discarded pooling arrange
ments of former years"
Three bills, outlining trust curbs,
were presented with the report. One
provides for amendment OF the Shel.
man Law to place the burden of proof
Hpon defendant corporations charged
with restraint of trade Control OF 80
per cent of any business is made
prima facie evidence OF guilt. Another
provision gives each state and anv in
Jured individuals the right to bring III
junction suits against a trust.
A second bill is designed to prevent
'nterlocking directorates among
railroad and industrial corporations.
It is proposed to prohibit any officer
or employe OF an industrial corpora
zion in the coal industry or manufac-
ture of structural steel and rolling
stock from acting in Il similar ca
pacity for a railroad
Another bill seeks divorce of indus.
trial and common carriers BY prohjb
sitting mining or manufacturing com.
paEles from owning stock in any car
rier.
The committee also recommends
that the bureau of corporations report
TO congress in addition to the presi-
dent, providing publicity of corporate
combinations.
Chairman Stanley of Kentucky, Rep
resentative Bartlett Of Georgia. Rep
resentative McGillicuddy of Maine and
Representative Beall of Texas, all
Democrats, concur in all of these
recommendations. Representative Lit
tleton, Democrat, of New York. dis
sents only from the bill changing the
burden of proof
1hat }. p. Morgan & Co. received a
Zee OF $4,000 900 for underwriting the
steel syndicate is asserted.
The Steel corporations capitaliza-
ton Is $1,745, 5,724, ,2S449," the report
declares. but this sum, huge as it is,
in no dssree determines it's actual
power
Continuing the report cites where
the vast holdings of directors of the
trust i'll other corporations totals
up into staggering billions.
The Morgan n-Gary-Perkins plan fer
federal incorporation and price fixing.
the Democrats declare, is "semi-Social-
lStc,' and the present situation is best
remedied by publicity and strict en-
forcement of laws
Had the character of the Steel cor
poration been known at the time of
the absorption of the Tennessee Coal
q Iron company, it is highly impr0b-
able that the chief executive would in
~ minutes have given his consent to
merger fraught with infinite injury
TO the steel industry and the public
alike the report SAYS
Bitterly criticizing Roosevelt for
this merger, the report processes its
inability to understand how a panic
which resisted the utmost endeavors
OF Morgan and Rockefeller to quell.
should suddenly have passed away
with the absorption of a few paltry
millions at Roosevelt's permission.
The Steel trust was not watered.
the report says. 1T was deluged,"
Stanley epigrammically puts it. The
report purports to give the STORY Of
Steel from the first hearth furnace
down to the big mills of the present
day.
That the trust is inimical to labor
unions and its employees live under
conditions too revolving to detail' is
asserted.