Bisbee daily review., 1919-04-16
STEEL WORKERS BUY
 COMPANY STOCKS; ID
 ASK REPRESENTATION
Labor Interests to Be Cement ed Into High Corporation
 By Directorate
By RICHARD sPILLANE.


 Noted American Economist who writes on finance and business for the Review.
 More than 10 per cent of the stock of the United States Steel corporation is owned today by the employees of the great company
 It is not improbable these holdings will be increased within the next five or ten years to Is or 20 per cent.
 No wonder there is suggestion of electing two directors from among the workers to represent the interests of the employees.
 Up to the close of the year 1918 there had been 361 ,234 shares of com mon and 351, ,114 shares of preferred stock sold to employees undar the spec ial arrangement whereby premiums are received for five years after the purchase.
 In January, 1919, there was a stock offering to employees at 92. Accord ing to the best reports obtainable 6741 employees subscribed at that time for total of 156,6SO shares.
 Of the 5,OS3,O ,O25 shares of common of a par value of S5OS,3O2, 900 and a market value of approximately the same the employees holdings are 517,- 914 shares with a market value of $51, ,791 400.
 Dividends Paid for Workers
 What the workers paid in actual cash for stock is difficult to ascer- tain. The custom of the corporation has been to offer stock to the en- ployes at points below what in the best judgment of the directors, is about the low price of the year. r. the employe holds his stock as an in- vestment he gets special premiums. What is more the dividends, especi- ally in the last three years, have been fat Not a few subscribers are un- derstood to have been able to pay for their stock with their dividends so that practically it cost them nothing.
 Of the 3,602,S11 shares of prefer red of a par value of $36O, O,2S1, 100 and a market value of $417, ,926,076, the workers have 351,000 with a market value of $4O,716000.
 Broadly speaking, therefore, the United States Steel employes-that is the approximately 55,0OO who are shareholders-haye a S92, ,000, ,000 stake in the corporation.
 
 to the number of employees of the corporation at the present time. In the rush days of 1916-17 there was a high mark of 26S,05S names on the payroll. That was the biggest total in the history of the company. Since then there has been a gradual decline. A fair estimate of the March roster would be 225, ,00O. Necessarily the number of employees changes with con ditions in the steel trade.
 Docs Enormous Business
 Few persons appreciate the magni- tude and scope of this giant. corpora tion. Its volume of business in one year has been S1,6S3, ,962,552-that is in excess of S5,5OO,O00 a day for every work day-and it's profits in one year have been as much as $347, ,370, 400.
 For employees, representative of the labor element in the corporation, to be elected to the directorate of this greatest and most successful of in- dustrial concerns, would have a pro found effect in shaping opinion re- garding the future relationship of capital and labor.
 This is appreciated fully by leaders in finance and labor leaders Many  men of large influence in the Steel corporation are bitterly opposed to do, ing anything more toward "coddling" labor than has been done. Some i'm portant persons in the ranks of labor also oppose the idea. They do not want to see capital and labor agree on anything. They contend that labor never has gained anything from capi- tai except through force and the two elements cannot mix with benefit to labor
 But these men represent the reac- tionaries i- the two camps. The dO- minant spirits in the corporation are committed to cementing the labor in terests into the organization as strongly as the financial interests are bound to it, and it is their purpose to make hte large stock ownership of the employees effective by member ship in the directorate. They are cer- tain to have their way. Whether it will be this year or not remains to be seen.