Deals & Developments

Steel & Dumping. Bethlehem Steel Corp., which in good times makes less money than U. S. Steel Corp., last week reported a first quarter net loss of $3,685,000 against "Big Steel's" spectacular loss of $13,218,000. Bethlehem Steel surprised Wall Street by ordering the regular $1.75 quarterly dividend on the preferred ($1,645,000) but investors seemed to take an omission next time for granted. The preferred sold at $38 to yield 20%.

The announcement of U. S. Steel's earnings and omission of the common dividend was brief and formal. Chairman Myron Taylor did not even appear before expectant reporters.

Bethlehem's President Eugene Gifford Grace spoke at length, declared European steelmakers are dumping their products in the U. S. "I cannot understand the inactivity of our labor friends," he said, "who have not only failed to demand new laws protecting American manufacturers, but have not insisted upon the enforcement of existing laws." Asked for a statement on conditions he said, "at the moment business is no longer falling."

While President Grace flayed dumping, Big Steel's Chairman Taylor sailed off to Europe to study his company's foreign business. Probably he and Mrs. Taylor would also, as usual, stop in at their villa in Florence.

Matches. Another big voice to boom against dumping last week was that of William Armstrong Fairburn, Diamond Match's president. Cried he to stockholders: "Foreign matches, generally inferior, not handled by your company [or any other U. S. match manufacturer], continue to be sold in this country at ridiculously low, uneconomic and unwarranted prices in violation of the spirit of both the U. S. anti-dumping and tariff laws. . . . Book matches, due to destructive competition, uneconomic merchandising and overproducing power, dropped to a record low level for the year. ... All match prices in the U. S. are absurdly low."

No Consent. Twelve years ago the great meat-packing firms yielded to the Government after two decades of litigation. In one of the most famed of Government v. Business suits they were forbidden to deal in unrelated foodstuffs (of which they handled 114 other than meat) and ordered to get rid of their stockyards and terminal facilities, their market newspapers, their warehouse investments. Because the packers agreed to do this rather than face possible fines for criminal acts the case was called the "Consent Decree." Year ago Armour and Swift, backed by lesser packers, sought to have the decree modified. The Supreme Court of the District of Columbia agreed to their plea that distribution methods have changed, that they should be allowed to handle (wholesale only) groceries, fruits, vegetables, dairy products.

Last week the Supreme Court reviewed the case. A strong decision written by Justice Cardozo held that while it was legal to modify the original decree, economic conditions had not changed sufficiently to warrant it, that a modification would tend to suppress competition. The lower court was reversed, the packers ordered back to their beef, pork & mutton.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.