Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1922-05-19
SENATE ORDERS
BIG STEEL QUIZ
Proposed Merger of Independ-
ents Attacked by La Toilette
as Conspiracy.
DEMANDS IMMEDIATE ACTION
His Resolution Directing the Attorney
General and Federal Trade Com
mission to Get Busy Is
Adopted Unanimously,

Washington, May 15.-Immediate
action by the government to stop the
merger of steel companies under the
lead Of the Bethlehem and Lacka-
wanna concerns was demanded by the
senate In adopting the La Toilette
resolution, directing the attorney gem
eral and federal trade commission to
act.
The resolution was passed by unani-
nous vote after Senator La Toilette
had explained the nature of the pro-
posed merger and related the steps
taken by the steel companies to COM
bine. He quoted numerous financial
papers to prove that formation of the
combine already is under way.
The resolution directs:
THAT the attorney general and the
federal trade commission be requested
to inform the senate as soon as pos
sible what steps they have taken or
propose to take to ascertain the pur-
poses and probable effects of the pro-
posed merger; what have been the re-
suits of an investigation which they
may have conducted, and what actions
they have instituted to protect the
public interests
"That the attorney general be
further requested to inform the senate
whether or not it is advisable, in his
opinion, to proceed under the appro-
pirate provisions of the Sherman law
and the Clayton law to prevent and re-
strain this impending combination"
Senator La Toilette declared that if
the merger is formed the entire steel
industry will be in the hands of two
large concerns, the United States Steel
corporation and the new combine.
These two concerns, he said, would be
able to fix prices on every product of
the steel mills. The time to prevent
the merger, he said, was now before
it became really effective. He assert
ed that unless the attorney general
moves quickly it will be too late, add
ing:
"This is the age of steel. Iron and
steel lie at the base of every human
activity. Without steel our farms can
snot be cultivated, or railroads would
cease to operate, our industries would
be Frustrated and our homes could not
be built.
"The men who control this basic
commodity control the nation. A little
more than twenty years ago they Sc
cured complete control of one-half the
steel industry by the formation Of
hof 70
the nation. They could control the
other half of the industry only by
agreements and understandings with
the so-called independent companies.
"These agreements arrived at
through the medium of Gary dinners,
worked well during the periods of
prosperity, but they were inconvenient
and, like all gentlemen's agreements,
were apt to be broken when in periods
of depression there was a scramble for
business.
To-day they are proposing to bring
the other half of the industry under
one consolidated control, so that in fu-
ture instead of one rating through the
medium Of understandings to which
there were a dozen or more parties
they will be able to make firm and
binding contracts through the two
great corporations which will dominate
the industry.
"Gary dinners will no longer be nee
essary. Instead, the heads of the two
great corporations will be able to sit
down at a lunch table and without
fear Of detection, fix the price of
every pound of steel sold in the United
States"
Senator La Toilette quoted newspa-
per reports to show that Kuhn, Loeb &
Co. are the fiscal agents in the pro-
posed merger.