Warmup

Getting ready for his scheduled appearance before Congressman Emanuel Celler's monopoly investigating committee, U.S. Steel Corp.'s stocky Benjamin F. Fairless last week got in some advance licks. "Up to now . . ." said Fairless with unaccustomed dryness, "I've spent most of my time in O'Mahoney's doghouse, but next week I move to Emanuel's cellar."

Not content with one pun, Fairless took an amiable sideswipe at congressional investigators in general. "I have been through so many congressional inquisitions," he said, "that no self-respecting skeleton would hide in my closet on a bet . . . And yet to this day, most of our inquisitors remain blissfully ignorant of the most important fact of all--how steel is made."

Congressmen should study the steel industry, said Fairless, to see how many new businesses it has created. Said he: "Today [compared to 33 years ago] fewer companies make the steel, but 12,000 more establishments are able to fabricate it. For every steelmaking company that has disappeared, 60 new metal-fabricating plants have been successfully established. And for every wage earner who had a job in the industry thirty-three years ago, three are employed today.

"Now, is that bad? Is that 'monopoly'?"

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