The Washington herald., 1922-11-22
FINANCE
|RUSINESS
ny b o. FORBES
By B. c. F0RBEs.

Charles NJ. Schwab no longer has
control Of Bethlehem Steel in his
own hands. ..---sts~
He has. purposeiy realisnsd Beth
Sehem's financial structure so as to
give every class of stock voting
power % that. although Mr.. Schwab
retains and win continue to retain
all his vast holdings In the corpora
ton. he will not be in any sense a
majority stockholder or In one-man
control ss-s, =
No separate. newspaper item has
aroused quite % much interest as
Mr.. Schwab.s remark az Washing
ton. before the Federal Trade
= Commission. that he now had mo
definite occupation" and his ex-
PLANTATION 4 : am now nominally
chairman of the board of . the
Bethlehem Steel Corporations; prac-
tically. am a retired steel manu-
facturer."
As Mr.. Schwab did not throw
any further light on the matter.
there has been very widespread
conjecture as to just what his
statement really meant and as to
how far Mr.. Schwab has "re-
tired"
The facts are here given authori-
thtively- for the first time:
For two years, and particularly
during the present year, Mr.. Schwab
has been unburdening more and more
of his responsibilities upon Eugene
g. Grace. president Of Bethlehem
Steel. and the other principal ex-
ecutives. For example. Mr.. Schwab
has spent the entire summer at his
home and wonderful farm at Loretto,
Pa He gave attention to business
only two hours a day. from 10 to IL
and from 2 to. 3. Like John D.
Rockefeller, he had a wire direct
from his office in New York to an
office at his home so that he could
keep in direct touch with his as
Dociates.
Mr.. Schwab has not sold nor has
he any intention of selling any part
of his huge financial interest in
Bethlehem Steel.
Before the absorption of Lacka-
wanna Steel by Bethlehem, Mr..
Schwab decisively controlled his
company.
= He thus felt wholly responsible for
the administration Of Bethlehem
affairs.
BY realigning the financial struc-
ture and giving every class OF
stock voting power, Mr.. Schwab
lessened his feeling Of personal re-
sponsibility for the. conduct OF the
company's activities
nf II
regular duties to President Grace.
head of the executives. Mr.. Schwab
not only lightened his own mona
gerial burdens but placed increased
RESPONSIBILITIES upon the younger
men and activities in common.
Since these stockholders are now
IN control. these executives must
naturally have a feeling OF &C
counta blIitv TO them whereas Herefo-
fore Mr.. Schwab having sbeeh the
controlling stockholder, they could
not but think of him as being the
whole thing" so to speak.
Mr.. Schwab, as anyone who knows
him well, will realize, has no lnteu-'
tion Whatsoever of giving UP work
entireiy,.zHe,w will stil keep in close
touch with every phase OF Bethie-
hem's operations. and his guidance
fortified by rich experience, VIII al
ways be available.
Mr.. Schwab does not propose to
become a loafer. In addition to
Bethlehem. he has other business
interests which he will continue
to keep in touch with. He does
mean, however. now that he has
passed the sixty mark, to get from
under the major part Of the over
whelming responsibilities and bur-
dens which have pressed upon MIN
for more than thirty years.
Mr.. Schwab has an enormous
farm at Loretto. where he breeds
the finest of cows, pigs, chickens,
ducks, ETC., and where he conducts
numerous fertilizer and other ex-
periments with the object OF en-
abling the farmers in the country
TO get more out of the soil and.
therefore, more generous returns
on their labor. Mr.. Schwab him.
self Is practical as well as
scientific farmer and animal raiser.
Hsnceforth. his farm will compete
more keenly for a large share OF
his time and energy.
There you have the whole story.
/ rather think that hereafter more
OF our business giants will tighten
their loads as they near the al
lotted span Of three score years and
ten" and not keep up the gruelling
daily grind until they die with their
harness on.