The Alaska citizen., 1913-01-13
THE STEEL TRUST

York tinanciers decided TO buy ua
all the tube mills in the country
and combine them as monopoly
under the title of the National
Tube company. Mr. Julian Kennedy.
one OF the great eusineers of the
world. made extended and scientific
inH"stiea len. and reported that the
various properties we're worth $lg.-
900. U00.
The deal was turned over to the
house of Morgan. the tuhe mills were
acquired al Mir kcnnedy's figures.
and the new monopoly announced a
capitalization OF $Nnuo0.oou. As can
he clearly seen. SOL .ooe.ooo represent
ed water" The house Of Morgan.
Tor its services. drew down the tidy
little sum OF s2g.o0o.oGn
he National Tube company die
we'll. Able to charge what prices il
pleased its dividends aggregated a ~
per cent return on the sSo.0Qn,0up
capitalization Had the company been
capitalized for its true value S19-
tut. oon= the earnings would have
been $50 per cent.
Greed however. grows by what i;
feeds on In 2 brief space - per
cent began to look like mere pit
lance, and the National Tube com
pany looked around for new flesh
Iots. The rlw material for the tubes
was bought OF the Carnegie company
and it hurt the tube masters 20
see the canny old Scotchman rak
ing i'll those juicy profits Straight.
way came the decision to build blast
furnaces and rolling mills. and make
their own steel bilets
One Carnegie however. vas no
spring chicken in The Big Business
game He had proved his mettle
by making the rapacious Pennsyl-
sania railroad company come to his
terms. and his position was anything
but that OF defenseless victim
When the Tube company announced
that it meant o make its own steel
billets. Mr. Carnegie grinned joy
tally and remarked that he would
30 into the tube business. What was
more, he pointed out that he could
build new s,eel mill for $l2.Gnn. auG
that would make tubes s1a 1 ton
cheaper than the trust
Here was a pretty how-de-do, Not
only dill Carnegie threaten COMPE
Triton. but he also threatened @
shoH up the Trusts plants as
being old and out OF date One was
as bad as the other for not only
does competition lower prices 10 the
consumer but a new Carnegie plan,
would have forced the Trust into
confessing that its economy and
deficiency prtense vas lie de
signed to shield the retention OF
antiquated plants and outworn meth
ouo. AS q iIeit''i vi 'cui - \ a III toA'
was asked to name the price OF
his steel business
Now. mark YOU, Carnegie and
Frick had been in the courts just
before this Carnegie under oath.
had sworn that his properties were
worth less than $4,000, 600. and
Schwab and a host of others took
oath 10 the statement
But when H. {. Prick and the
Moores-Tube Trust gentlemen
went 10 buy the Carnegie company,
the price demanded was s2500G0, 900.
Back to the house of Morgan went
Frick and the Moores, and asked
that house to arrange the deal for
them even as it had formed the
original tube monopoly.
When j Pierpont Morgan looked
at the Carnegie figures and realized
that the difference between $4,000.
600 and $4,000, 600 spelled net profit
for the Scotchman. he grew purple
with Indignation. Never" he cried.
He can't gouse us like that
Very we'll" grinned Carnegie
when the answer was returned to
him. Competition suits me" Without
more ado he started in on the plans
for his tube mill. at which Morgan
came down off his high horse. But
when they offered Carnegie the
$3.50, 0G0 900, he informed them that
the price had gone up, and that
$500 900, 900 would now be necessary
to secure his s76,000,000 property.
Whew, But there was nothing
else to do The Trust with its junk
heap plants and its immense amount
OF water" knew that it could not
stand competition. And as for the
s4OG, 100000, they had small doubt
that the sum could be squeezed out
OF the consumer once complete
monopoly was established. So Car
Iegie got $500, 200, 900 for his s76.-
G00.0 property, and cenially with,
drew to private life with his plans
tor universal peace and sweeter
existence.
BY adding sl900G,O00 and $4,000
000-the physical valuation of the
two properties = we get $4,000, 00C
as the real value of the monopoly's