"Heejus Monsthers"

The trusts . . . are heejus monsthers built up by the inlightened entherprise iv the men that done so much to advance progress in our beloved country. On won hand I wud stomp thim undther fut; on th'other hand, not so fast.

Many a Congressman has had the same mixed feelings about the steel companies as Mr. Dooley had about the trusts. In Washington last week, some Senators seemed about to do a bit of stomping on the steelmen. But from the wings there were cries of "Not so fast."

The Joint Committee on the Economic Report, headed by Wyoming's Democratic Senator Joseph C. O'Mahoney, was ready with its findings on the latest rise in the price of steel (TIME, Dec. 26), made by the steel companies primarily to compensate for their employees' strike-won pensions. Reportedly, the findings included a blast at the "unwarranted" and "untimely" price rise, and recommendations that Congress i) require the steel companies to give 30 days advance notice of price boosts, 2) hold public hearings to determine whether the increases are justified, and 3) make a study to find ways of increasing competition in the industry, and determine whether the steel industry is a public utility, and hence subject to Government regulation.

Prices & Power. To Ohio's Senator Robert A. Taft, the minority leader of the economic committee, O'Mahoney's report was a smear on the steel industry, looking "in the direction of price fixing" and a "planned and controlled economy." The evidence, said Taft in the weekly column which he sends free to 180 Ohio newspapers, "clearly shows that there is no collusion between the [steel] companies and that competition is reasonably active . . ."

Nevertheless, even Taft wondered if "the present price of steel may not be too high. Perhaps it was too high before the last increase." Nor did Taft ignore the question of "whether the U.S. Steel Corp. is so predominant that it has power to fix prices and at least modify the usual effects of competition." If that were found to be the case, Taft suggested a solution that outdid even O'Mahoney's proposals. "We should consider," he said, "whether we should place a limit on the proportion of any industry which can be controlled by one company."

A Quaint Idea. This radical proposal was promptly slapped down by the Wall Street Journal, which observed that "preserving competition by creating a Government-dictated cartel is ... a quaint idea." Big Steel's Chairman Irving S. Olds offered another kind of comment. In his annual report last week, he disclosed that profits in 1949 were the highest since 1929 and totaled $165,908,829 (v. $129,627,845 in 1948). But Olds carefully pointed out that U.S. Steel's slice of the nation's steelmaking capacity has declined steadily from 44.2% in 1902 to 32.2% today.

In any case, the O'Mahoney Committee's majority report--and Bob Taft's proposals--are sure to supply plenty of ammunition for Brooklyn Democrat Emanuel Celler, a self-styled trustbuster. Next month, Celler's House judiciary subcommittee will hold still another hearing to see just how heejus the steel monsthers really are.

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