Evening star., 1922-06-02
GARY DENESF|RM
RULED BY MORGAN
untermyer Tries to SheM
Banker Names Steel
Directors.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press. Fa
NEW YORK, June 2-Elbert H
Gary, chairman of the United States
Steel Corporation. testifying before
the Lockwood legislative committee
today, thwarted efforts OF Samuel In
termyer, committee counsel. to draw
from him admissions that ]. p. Nor
gan dominated the corporation.
Is IL not a fact that j. p. Morgan
names the ~directors?" Mr.. Untermyer
asked.
Certainly not" retorted Mr.. Gary.
1Who does name them"
The stockholders"
Mr.. Untermyer smiled. and Mr.. Gary
smiled back at him.
Who really names them? Mr. In
termyer persisted
Gives Self the Credit.
TN have TO admit and claim" said
Mr.. Gary, that / do, more than any
one else, and always have"
Mr.. Cntermyer then tried TO get
Mr.. Gary to admit that he and Mr..
Morgan together controlled the cor
poration, and that the other five mem
bers OF the finance committee, which
he had testified selected the directors
were mere rubber stamps"
That is not a fact" said Mr.. Gary.
The other members aid in their 80
lection"
He then recounted how. last year. he
and President Farrell had selected
three directors VINO were electd
against Mr.. Morgans Judgment, but
not against his wishes
The belief that the firm of Morgan
controlled United States Steel, Mr..
Gary continued. probably rose from
the fact that the banking house '-in
sense organized" the corporation
Fixed Relative Values.
1t was left to the late J. p Morgan.
he said, TO fix the relative values OF
the companies entering the merger.
The elder Morgan, MIR. Gary admitted.
in response 10 a question, named tbs
He named you?" said Mr.. Untsr-
myer.
Partly"
wholly" Mr.. Untermyer insisted.
Reyerting to the Junior ). p. Nor
gan. Mr.. Gary testified he had never
corporation and that he served mere
ly as one of seven members of the
finance committee. The other mem
bers, he said, are Mr.. Gary, President
Farrell, George F. Baker. Percival
Roberts; r., Of Philadelphia; Con,
Counsel Richard Y. Lindabury.
If you would forego the So or IS
profit that you earn over the inde-
pendents. is it not a fact that you
could quickly exterminate them?" Mr..
Untermyer asked.
That is not a practical question"
Judge Gary retorted. adding that a
ruthless driving out of competition"
would result in dissolution of the cor
poration under the Sherman act.
Forced to Behave.
Then you have to behave your
Yes, for two reasons: First. be-
cause il is right TO do SO. and, sec
ond, because we have to do So
To a question whether the cor
poration belonged to any of the Sc
called trade associations. Mr.. Gary
replied:
no, we haven't known so much
about the independents business for
several years"
''Since the abolition of the gen
tlemen's agreement dinner" Mr.. Cn-
termyer suggested
Yes"
You haven't substituted breakfast
Nothing has been substituted. SO
far as 1 know"
Costs Lower Than Rivals.
Judge Gary testified yesterday that
his corporation was able to deliver its
products at So a ton less than its indie
pendent competitors.
He conceded the difference in costs
was largely accounted for by the fact
that United States Steel owned more
than 1.5o0 miles of railroad connecting
its plants with ore centers.
Insisting upon the corporations
justification in owning and operating
its own lines. Mr.. Gary was asked by
Samuel Untermyer. counsel for the
committee. how he reconciled such
joint ownership with the court ruling
in the Reading case: where 1T is held
that Joint ownership of railroads and
coal mines was illegal
Mr., Gary said the United states
Steel would object strongly to being
divorced from its railroads. asserting
he did not believe ownership o. the
lines gave the corporation an unfair
advantage over its competitors, such
as was held to exist in the Reading
case.
Mr, Gary asserted the steel corpora
tion's rail lines gave Independent
steel companies as good service as II
got itself and declared he had never
heard a complaint as to discrlmina-
tion.-
VIII Recall Topping.
Before he began examination OF Mr..
Gary, Mr.. Untermyer announced ne
planned to recall to the witness stand
Mr.. Topping and, A. c. Dinkley, presi-
dent of the Midvale Steel and ord
nance COMPANY. Completion of
merger of the companies over which
these two men preside with the In
land Steel Company was announced
a few hours after Mr.. Topping and
Mr.. Dinkley had testified the pro-
~
ating stage.
.They were, to say the least, not
very frank in their testimony" Mr..
Untermyer said. Il could character
ize their Testimony more strongly
If / were disposed.
"This committee is not to be trihed
with. They will be required to ex-
plain their testimony.
NrrN nAnTlAl fMCuDAAfE