Inquiry has been made by some of our stockholders as to why, in view of the great demand, the cost of production, and the prices received by other manufacturers, we hold the selling prices of our commodities down to those which were fixed by agreement between the Industrial Board and steel manufacturers at Washington, March 21, 1919.
It seems to us the problem of high cost of living is of convincing importance. When the increasing tendency is to insist upon payment of unreasonable sums for every commodity and for every service, so that the vicious whirl of advancement seems to be unending, we think there is a moral obligation on the part of everyone to use all reasonable efforts to check this carnival of greed and imposition, even at some sacrifice.... It should be the effort of all to establish and maintain a reasonable basis of prices; certainly to prevent further advances.
By this policy it has built up in a single year good will of incalculable value which will show on future earnings.
And even though good will may be eliminated in discussing the investment value of steel, if for no other reason than that it is too immense to permit of computation, the steel stockholder knows that it is behind his investment all the time.
CHAPTER XIV
THE GREAT STEEL STRIKE
During the World War, there began to gather on the industrial horizon a cloud no bigger at first than a man’s hand, but one that grew fast in size until it broke in a storm the effects of which made themselves felt in every corner of the globe.
This was a general feeling of unrest and dissatisfaction, by no means confined to one country or one class of people, but having its most virulent manifestations among the laboring classes, the proletariat. This unrest was fostered and seized upon by radical leaders everywhere to further their own ambitions, their object being the overthrow of capital, the nationalization of industry, and their own aggrandizement.
Nor were they without considerable success in some countries. Russia, of course, provided the most notable example, and England to-day is suffering by reason of the same forces; but the United States, notwithstanding its aloofness from the centre of disturbance, its prosperity, and the general high average of common sense among its inhabitants, did not entirely escape.
Here the radical manifestations took the form of industrial strikes which broke out sporadically in all quarters. It was natural that the steel industry should not be immune. In fact, it was inevitable that steel, more than any other industry, should be selected for especial attention by those who hoped to do away with private ownership and to establish mob rule.