g I therein said, not only as to what occurred, but
also as to my belief in the wisdom and propriety of my action--indeed,
the action not merely was wise and proper, but it would have been a
calamity from every standpoint had I failed to take it. On page 137 of
the printed report of the testimony before the Committee will be found
Judge Gary's account of the meeting between himself and Mr. Frick and
Mr. Root and myself. This account states the facts accurately. It has
been alleged that the purchase by the Steel Corporation of the property
of the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company gave the Steel Corporation
practically a monopoly of the Southern iron ores--that is, of the iron
ores south of the Potomac and the Ohio. My information, which I
have every reason to believe is accurate and not successfully to be
challenged, is that, of these Southern iron ores the Steel Corporation
has, including the property gained from the Tennessee Coal and Iron
Company, less than 20 per cent--perhaps not over 16 per cent. This is
a very much smaller percentage than the percentage it holds of the Lake
Superior ores, which even after the surrender of the Hill lease will
be slightly over 50 per cent. According to my view, therefore,
and unless--which I do not believe possible--these figures can be
successfully challenged, the acquisition of the Tennessee Coal and Iron
Company's ores in no way changed the situation as regards making the
Steel Corporation a monopoly.[*] The showing as to the percentage of
production of all kinds of steel ingots and steel castings in the
United States by the Steel Corporation and by all other manufacturers
respectively makes an even stronger case. It makes the case even
stronger than I put it in my testimony before the Investigating
Committee, for I was scrupulously careful to make statements that erred,
if at all, against my own position. It appears from the figures of
production that in 1901 the Steel Corporation had to its credit nearly
66 per cent of the total production as against a little over 34 per cent
by all other steel manufacturers. The percentage then shrank steadily,
until in 1906, the year before the acquisition of the Tennessee Coal and
Iron properties, the percentage was a little under 58 per cent. In spite
of the acquisition of these properties, the following year, 1907, the
total percentage shrank slightly, and this shrinking has continued until
in 1910 the total percentage of the Steel Corporation