The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-06-03
MAY BE FAMINE IN ORE, SAYS
 JUDGE GARY

l. New York, June 3.-Judge Ebert H. Gary, chairman of the United States Steel Corporations directorate, resumed the witness stand yesterday at the hearing on the Government suit to dissolve the corporation under the Sherman antitrust act. Richard ". Iindabury, chief counsel for the de- fence, conducted the examination. He is opposed by Former Secretary of War Jacob M. Dickinson, who has charge of the Governments case
 At the start of the session yester- day MT. Lindabury had Judge, Gary tell about the ore holdings of the Steel Corporation. The witness said that James Gay1ey, first vice-presfdent of the corporation, and others, who were practical ore men, advised the acqutsi- tion of 8 greater ore reserve than the corporation purchased. Concerning the comparative ore reserves of the corporation and its competitors, Judge Gary said:
 While cannot give the exact Ng- ures I know that the independents have larger ore supplies in proportion to their production than the Steel Cor poration has. I know of one compet- itor who has a hundred year supply on hand.
 Judge Gary declared that the rail roads owned by the corporation in the Lake Superior ore region serve the corporation and competitors alike. There is never any discrimination, he added.
 ''rhe corporation secured control of these Iines,'' continued Judge Gary,
 ''to be assured of first class transpof- tation facilities. At times we have
 been seriously handicapped by the
 lack of proper transportation even by the biggest railroads in the country.
 The lines owned by the corporation 1&1r-
 as well as for ourselves. So far as I know no independent has ever com
 p1ained that he was discriminated
 against by our lines. We knew that
 we could be certain of getting first class transportation facilities if we west ore region and not be liable to face the necessity of closing plants
 owing to poor facilities. These i'm proved facilities have been and are a benefit to competitors as well as to the United States Steel Corporation. The freight rates were lowered about two or three years ago. It was suggest ed before the Stanley committee that the rates were too high and believe one complaint was filed with the 1n- terstate Commerce Cocmission. This I believe, was withdrawn. however" The head of the Steel Corporation
 had this to say about the export trade
 
 general benefit to the United States: '"The export business of the Steel Corporation brings from foreign coun-
 tries large sums of money to this country As the different producers over here are in competition, however friendly and good natured that com petition may be, just the same the I different nations are in competition with each other and all are striving to push their business and to pro- ject their own business and to bring in all the money they can by honest and decent methods. regard the in crease in our export trade of the highest importance to this country for that reason alone. Besides, we | furnish employment to nultitudes of l workmen who desire and need steady
 employment at fair wages
 MT. Lindabury then. asked if the for | eign business of the big corporation
 aided domestic competitors by de- creasing the supply in home markets 'It does,'' replied Judge Gary, land | it Is a good thing, particularly in pe- riods of depression. to have a company l like ours ready and willing to push its export business and thereby to some extent at least. make it less diff hcIilt for our competitors in this coun- try to keep their mills running. l think in that respect the Steel Corpo- ration is a decided advantage to the country
 Returning to the subject of ores
 Judge Gary surprised his few hearers
 at the mornings session by declaring that the United States Steel Corpora ton has only forty years supply of ore on hand to-day.
 ''Just thtnlx,'' exclaimed the witness, '1the Pennsylvania Steel Company has o0,OOO.O0O or 500. 100000 tons in re- serve and the Bethlehem company has
 several hundred million tons, and oth- CT companies have supplies which will | last fifty or sixty. years. Unless we | discover nezY deposits which are un- | known to-day 1t will mean that we
 will be obliged to use a cheaper grade l of ore.''