The New York herald., 1922-06-03

board nor any finance committee that
/ l thought was like our finance commit
| tee i'm respect to the management OF the
affairs of the corporation.
q. How often does 1t meet! a EVERY
week.
/ Q. One of your men is from Phiia-
delphia, you say? A. Yes.
|. q. Mr.. Roberts is a Philadelphia man
A. Mr.. Roberts is a Philadelphia man.
I Q. Are the finance committee MEM
| bers salaried men? A. No; they are not.
| Q. They get salaries in some other d.
rection, don't they? A. No.
c. In some capacity? A No. MIR. FIJI
bert
@. You are salaried, the Comptroller
| is salaried, Mr.. Lindabury is salaried!
| A. Four of us.
@. Four out of seven? A. Yes. all but
Mr.. Morgan, Mr.. Baker and Mr.. Rob-
erts.
G. understand. was asking You
about this question of structural steel
| What proportion of the structural steel
of the country does your company
make? A. cannot give you those
] figures. but / think about third.
@. Do you know who your competi-
! tors are in structural steel; all the
companies make it more or less? A.
More or less. I think others have testi-
| fled to that. ] don't know. 1t seems
to me 1 saw something of it in the
newspapers. For good many years
we have not known so very much Of
the business of independents.
| GentIemen's Agreements Up.
O. You mean since the gentlemen's
agreement dinners separated? A. That
| yhp1
the courts. you know
! Q. l say since those luneheons or din
ners ended you say you have not known
so much. Is that the period you refer
4 to? A. will say that if you referred
| to the dinners.
| Q. Since then you haven't substituted
luncheons or breakfasts? A. There has
been nothing substituted as far as l
know.
| in your favor Of s3 a ton these inde-
pendents are at your mercy, aren't
they? A. don't think so.
| O. Now, isn't II a fact--suppose in
stead OF this being kind of eleemosyn-
AIRY despotism. if you please, or con-
troll, 1t were a ruthless one, and sup
pose you chose to exterminate. your
competitors by foregoing this SO or s.
a ton differential, it would not take
I
think that is a practical question.
Q. You don't think ii is a proper ques-
ton? A. Practical question because
Q. But that is a logical question. III
you have So a ton or IS ton in costs
| over your competitors and you have
| the capacity to supply the market. why
then he is living by your grace and
favor, isn't he? A. No, 1 don't think
so.
~ til IL,
not.
Q. Then you do not believe in arith-
metic? A. think l do.
q. Take, for instance. the time when
YOU had only 45 per cent of your Ca
! pacity employed. in which you made. as
| the figures show, more money than
when you had double the capacity-if
/ you had chosen then to fill TO your
capacity. with your differential in your
favor. by underbidding and bidding for
the business. your competitors could not
have existed. could they? A. Why do
you think we did not do Il?
| q. Because / think you thought IL
was bad business to do II. A. DO you
think
Independents Not Frightened.
Q. mean by benevolent despotism.
mean reasonable and sensible ONE.
| A. remember in the Government case
1 under very severe cross-examination.
many of the independents testified that
whatever happened they could survive
and thrive in spite OF the United States
Steel Corporation.
@. You did not expect them to admit
they could not, did you? A. No. / ex-
pected them TO tell honestly what they
could do.
Q. But hope springs eternal in the
human heart. Now. about this struc-
tural steel in which we are primarily
interested. these mergers that you have
been hearing about. they will have the
effect of curtailing competition In struc-
i tural steel just to the extent to which
competition is eliminated between the
constituent members of the company.
won't they? A. don't know. That
would only be a
| @. They will restrict competition? :?
A. They might do that
q. But don't you see that II three COM
! pettors get together. who are now COM
petng for structural steel. that elimi-
mates competition to that extent
doesn't it? A. | do not think / can
answer that decidedly. yet.
q. Why not? A. Because there may he
! Just as much competition between the
different plants. 1t may not be the
same kind of competition.
/ ". 1Ou uO1l mean TO say. IuuEc trdFy,
that IL three competitors making struc-
tural steel combine into one company
| they are still going 10 compete with one
another for orders for structural steel?
| A. No, | don't think so.
@. How many of your concerns were
making structural steel before your
| combination A. Two of them. anyway
O. oh. there were more than that
! A. And another one to a small extent.
O. Don't you know that before the
combination. for instance. the American
| Bridge Company's. constituents made
structural steel? a. Yes, the Carnegies.
@. Don't you know also that the
American Bridge Company had at least
six structural steel manufacturers who
combined? a. You probably know,
don't remember IT,
| q. Now. the Carnegies made struc-
tural steel. didn't they? a. Yes.
q. Whom else? A. The Illinois Steel
had a very small plant. 1t was hardly
worth considering. IL was on the north
side in Chicago.
q. Now. since the United States steel
| Corporation. the making OF structural
steel has been allotted TO the American
Bridge Company. hasn't it? IL makes
| the structural steel?
Illinois Plant Kept Up.
A. Well, the Illinois steel has kept UP
its plant. always kept up its plant and
| enlarged II.
O. But the Carncgies went out of Il.
They are not making structural steel