The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-04-06
GREAT GROWTH OF
 STEEL CORPORATION
Nv HOLLAND

New York, April 5.-(Special)
 Someone said at the time of the or ganization of the United States steer
 corporation, when it was spoken or a'
 a billion-dollar company, that the
 day was not distant when no ioheei
 would it be called a billon-uoii"' company. but instead a two-olliloh-
 dollar company That prediction IS now verified. The remarkable annual report of this corporation unprece-
 dented by the report of any other H. ldustrial organization in the world eA- lcept possibly that of the Krupps, sno"s
 that the net working capital at the oe- ginning of the present year was m
 round numbers s4SO,Ooo,oOo. all earheo' Prior to the time of the rIch man panic the accusation was frequently made that much of the capital or tils | corporation was water. NeVertheiesS' 1 the late Norman B. Ream was accus' ! toned to smile when he heard the aS cusation and then to refer to the ldc1 l that the corporation possessed iron mine properties and resources wHoso money value were in excess or the common stock of the corporation, all though not included in the assets. bu' l if any water was in it that was I -1r r1t I squeezed out out when the market value of the stock was Iittle unoer $10 a share.
 Today the total assets and liabilities | are little in excess of $25O0,ooo.ooo' | Before the supreme court at Wasnlhs- ton now lies an appeal by the depart ment of justice from the decision or l the United States circuit court that this l corporation Is not organized or operat- l ed in violation of the antitrust law. l The magnitude of the figures which | the corporation is now able to make | public has nothing to do with the ap- peal. In fact it is commonly believed that after still further procrastination l the government will withdraw it's appeal and then the last will be heard of federal prosecution of this corpora 1 tion for violating as alleged the anti- 1 trust laws.
 ! Some years ago Charles M. Schwab | was quoted as~ having said that the yearly net earnings of the steel cor poration would in the course or | few years, reach $200,000,000 and prob. ably considerably in excess of that sum. There was time when 1t seem- ed as though Mir. Schwab's prediction would be found to have been greatly | exaggerated. That was shortly after | the beginning of the European war, | Then the earnings had so greatly
  l for the mana cement to decide whether | it were the better part to reduce wages or to pass dividends upon the common stock Unanimous decision was at last made to permit the stockholders to bear the loss occasioned by the falling off in business so that the wages Of the employees should not be diminished Now. little over four years after | that period of depression, it is dis closed that MT. Schwab's pred lction was nearly equaled by the fact, and but for the very heavy expenses would l have been below the fact. The gross | revenues of the corporation in the year { of 1918 were within $1,00O ,00O,0D0 of l the amount of the first Liberty Loan. But there were to be subtracted va l rious charges, some of them very heavy, especially the exactions of the l federal tax law the increase in wages as well as interest. The government l took nearly $500 100000 and from no ! other single source did the government gain a revenue comparable with this l enormous amount: in fact. the govern | ment's taxes surpassed the capitallza- | tion of many of the large corporations of the United States
 Nevertheless. the net earnings were nearly s13s,000,000 not quite as much as the prediction made by MT. Schwab.
 THE INCREASE IN WAGES | Not at any time have the managers of the United States Steel corporation | regretted the heavy increase in wages
 which they have, especially S ce the 1 European war, adopted. Nearly all, if not all, of these increases were made voluntarily by the managers, there | having been no special or urgent ap- peal from the skilled artisans or those l employed as laborers for the increases.
 EXPECTED RESULT FOLLOWED And this result, in the opinion of 1 many, furnishes an object lesson for | those who are diligently studying tha | true relation of those who are employ l ed to those or to the corporation that | employ them. With successive increase l in wages, some of them bringing un- | paralleled weekly earnings to the en-
 ployes, there has followed an increase
 in efficiency, lowering in the cost of
 production and a spirit of contenthenr | and satisfaction accompanied by some sense of pride on the part of the em-
 ployes. because they feel that they
 constitute an important and we'll rec. ognized part in the affairs of the cor poration
 7S,OOO STOCKHOLDERS
 Tn 1903 George W. Perkins worked
 out. after long and patient study, 1 method by which the employees of the corporation would be able to gain some 1 share in the earnings of the corpprs-
 tion in addition to their wages or sal | aries. MT, Perkins did not call this l profit-sharing. He had little faith In | the customary methods that wore adopted by managers who permitted
 their employees to share in the profits. | He wanted to perfect a method by
 means of which the employees could ut- ilize some part of their earnings in purchasing an interest in the corpora | tion. For if they were able to do that then they would be relieved from the 1 sense of charity or of any of the obli-
 cations which the payment of bonuses | involved They would begin to Feel
 that they were, as owners, a part of the corporation. This was the funda-
 mental principle upon which the late
 Abram S. Hewitt. himself an iron and steel manufacturer, even when he was
 mayor of New York and during many
 years when he served as a member of
 Congress. based his belief of what the
 true relation of employees should be
 to those who paid wages. He was cpn-
 fident that if the men who aided in the production of the commodities of
 corporation were able to secure
 through the ownership of shares an in-
 terest in the corporation, then grad ually they would increase that interest
 and it might be that in due time tine
 employees would own a majority of the
 stock. That. Mayor Hewitt was con-
 fident. would put an end to labor trpu-
 bles
 GEORGE w. PERKINS PLAN
 Mir. Perkins did work out plan hAn -ert " n