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HENRY CLAY FRICK 
 
Henry Clay Frick 
 
 THE MAN 
 
 BY 
 
 GEORGE HARVEY 
 
 Ct 
 
 New York & London 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS 
 1928 
 
a 
 a 
 
Contents 
 
 - ANCESTRY . 
 
 - BOYHOOD 
 
 BEGINNING BUSINESS IN COKE 
 
 . A TRIUMPH OF FAITH AND COURAGE 
 
 INTERLUDE ; ; : ° 
 ENTER THE CARNEGIES 
 
 . “THE MAN’? IN STEEL . 
 
 - HOMESTEAD 
 
 - THE STATE INTERVENES 
 
 . ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION 
 
 . POLITICS ° ° : 
 
 “‘THE LAIRD” AND ‘*THE MAN’”’ 
 
 . VICTORY’S COST AND GAIN 
 - OLIVER AND FRICK 
 
 - NEGOTIATIONS 
 
 . MR. FRICK RECEIVES HIS RESIGNATION 
 
 . THE FINAL DRAMATIC BREAK 
 
 . MR. FRICK WINS HIS FIGHT 
 
 . THE UNITED STATES STEEL CORPORATION 
 
 . A CAPITALIST 
 
 PUBLIC AFFAIRS 
 
 THE PATRIOT 
 
 AN ART COLLECTOR 
 BENEFACTIONS AND BEQUESTS 
 
 PERSONALITY . 
 
 LY i | 
 
 . 200 
 EIS 
 Rp loi, 
 one se 
 . 258 
 . 269 
 . 289 
 6336 
 ae ee 
 ft 549 
 
 356 
 
Ulustrations 
 
 Me PRICK 2g tw gl se vontispiece 
 
 Wood engraving by Timothy Cole Si Ae Sp 
 DemeteeePniCe——Grandiaiher = =. wl lk kl 4 
 DMMP ERMOLT RESIDENCE .-.  . °°.) whe!hCUOG 
 ABRAHAM OVERHOLT—Grandfathr . . . . . 8 
 BIRTHPLACE—THE LITTLE SPRING HOUSE . ... I0 
 PrrmrertAm OVERHOLT—Umle. . . . . s , 22 
 
 ACCOUNT RENDERED—Written and initialed by Mr. Frick . 26 
 
 A LETTER OF CONDOLENCE—W*ritten and initialed 
 
 2 
 oe ee Re OVERHOLT—Drother-in-law . . . . « 30 
 NS I a a Y > 
 Meee ERICK Mother . . . . . . . 46 
 SS 6 cr © 
 MRS. ABRAHAM OVERHOLIT—Grandmothr . . . . §8 
 MeeAMe OA TINSIMAN—Cowsin . .  . . . «. 60 
 
 HENRY CLAY FRICK—— 
 
 Meee FG 
 RS 2 
 Meme aie, lw ww lw tw C8 
 Meeeaefurtuenty-one. 26. lw lw lt lk el lle CD 
 TT Te a ee 7.72 
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 PICTURE GALLERY : P : . : , : : - I92 
 
 MR. AND MRS. FRICK—MR. AND MRS. KNOX— 
 BRR AE i a es 2D 
 
~ 
 
 x 
 
 HENRY CLAY FRICK—At¢ the age of forty-five 
 “CLAYTON’’—PITTSBURGH . as | 
 DRIVING OPES) 0 or pclae 
 ‘“‘AT THE 16TH HOLE’’—MYOPIA 
 IN LATER YEARS—Mr. Frick at “Eagle Rotk; 
 
 i it 
 ths 
 
 country place at Pride's 2 Once. Mesrecbai 2 
 
 NUMBER ONE BEAST SEVENTIETH 
 
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 na BOL MAREE O Fn 
 
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 _ 
 ‘ 
 
 INRY CLAY FRICK 
 ‘THE MAN 
 
MONARY: CLAY F RICK 
 THE MAN 
 
 I 
 Ancestry 
 
 HE American progenitors of Henry Clay Frick 
 were JOHANN NicHotas Frick and Martin 
 Overnott who followed William Penn from 
 the continent of Europe in search of religious 
 freedom and personal opportunity. Frick came from Swit- 
 zerland and Overholt from the Palatinate on the Rhine. 
 Both sailed from Rotterdam and landed in Philadelphia 
 but they were only nominally contemporaneous. Martin 
 arrived about 1732. and died in 1744. Johann came in 1767 
 and lived till 1786. Henry Clay was of the fourth gener- 
 ation succeeding his two great-great-grandfathers. 
 
 The Swiss family Frick, of Celtic-Burgundian origin, 
 is very old; that is to say, it sprang into prominence and 
 gave name to a village in the Sisseln-Thal nearly four 
 hundred years before Columbus discovered America and 
 it holds authenticated records of unbroken lineage from 
 1113 to the present day. 
 
 Among the adventurous members of the family who 
 immigrated to America, following Conrad who led the 
 vanl in 1732, was JOHANN Nicuotas, who proceeded forth- 
 with to Germantown, the rallying point of colonists from 
 Switzerland and the Palatinate, where he found descend- 
 
 I 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 ants of Conrad, and of nine others of the name who had 
 atrived between the years 1732 and 1755. 
 
 The pioneering spirit naturally dominated newcomers 
 from the old world bent upon acquisition of fertile lands 
 in fresh territory and the trend necessarily was to the 
 West. Already John, the eldest son of Conrad, had pushed 
 on as far as the Susquehanna valley and established a 
 prolific branch of the family in Lancaster. Others were — 
 gazing longingly toward the Alleghenies and avid for 
 information concerning the vast country beyond when 
 the patriots of Philadelphia and all the country round 
 were thrilled by the sound of the big bell proclaiming 
 the Declaration of Independence. 
 
 One of the first orders issued by the Continental Con- 
 gress was addressed to the Scotch and Irish settlers of 
 Western Pennsylvania to prepare immediately to protect 
 the region from attacks anticipated by way of Lake Erie 
 from the British and the Iroquois. The frontiersmen of 
 the Youghiogheny and Monongahela valleys were not 
 _ only willing but ready. They had been fighting Indians 
 and Virginians all their lives and ‘every cabin contained 
 a Bible, a rifle and a whiskey jug.”’ 
 
 The famous Eighth Pennsylvania regiment, compris- 
 ing seven companies from Old Westmoreland and one 
 from Bedford County, was the first organized, with 
 Colonel Aeneas Mackay in command, and was encamped 
 at Kittanning arranging, under orders from Headquarters, 
 to proceed up the Allegheny and build forts at Leboeuf 
 and Erie, when a cry for help came from the East. The 
 British were chasing General Washington across New 
 
 2 
 
Ancestry 
 
 Jersey, Philadelphia was imperilled, the American cause 
 seemed to be doomed and urgent calls for aid were issued 
 to all the colonies. Of the commands summoned the 
 Eighth Pennsylvania was the most distant and con- 
 fronted by the greatest obstacles. Neither officers nor 
 men had tents or uniforms or heavy clothing of any kind, 
 flour alone was available for food, and cooking utensils 
 comprised only pots and pans from farmhouses. 
 
 But there was no hesitation on the part of the men of 
 Westmoreland and Bedford. Leaving their families vir- 
 tually unprotected from impending attacks by savages 
 and facing three hundred miles of mountain roads and 
 trails, of which more than one-third were hidden by 
 deep snows, they set forth upon a march unequalled in 
 severity, except possibly by that of Benedict Arnold 
 through the Maine woods, in the seven years of warfare. 
 
 At the end of nearly two months of toil and sufferings, 
 worn to their very bones, footsore and starving, the 
 survivors limped intoa wretched camp near Philadelphia, 
 only to learn that the battles of Trenton and Princeton 
 had been fought and won and that they must hasten 
 forward to join General Wayne’s division in New Jersey. 
 
 One-third of the entire command, of whom fifty died 
 in a few days, were so ill that they were left behind in 
 Philadelphia and Germantown, and it was from these 
 sttange visitors that the sympathetic colonists from 
 Switzerland and the Palatinate heard glowing descrip- 
 tions of the fertile Youghiogheny valley. 
 
 Among the first to seek the promising land was JoHaNN 
 NicHoxas Frick who crossed the mountains with his 
 
 3 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 family in a covered wagon as soon as peace was assured 
 by the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown and settled 
 at Port Royal, Westmoreland County, where he died in 
 1786. He was succeeded by his son GzorGz who remained 
 on the farm until 1804, when he took a boatload of flour 
 and whiskey down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to 
 New Orleans where he died of malarial fever. Of the nine 
 children whom he left behind Danret was born in 1796, 
 lived successively on farms near Port Royal, Adamsburg 
 and Irwin, moving finally in 1849 to Van Buren, Ohio, 
 where he died in 1855 and was buried first in Van Buren, 
 then in Wooster, nearby. He married Catherine Miller, 
 a smart, redhaired Irish girl, in 1818 and, following her 
 death in 1838, Matilda J. Martin, each of whom pre- 
 sented him with nine children. 
 
 Joun W. Frick, Daniel’s eldest son, born in Adams- 
 burg in 1822, married Er1zaperu, daughter of Abraham 
 Overholt of West Overton, Westmoreland County, in 
 1847, resided in that vicinity till 1880, when he moved 
 to Wooster, where he died eight years later. 
 
 MarTINn OvERHOLT, born in the Rhenish Palatinate in 
 1709, was one of the thousands who were compelled by 
 religious persecutions and the virulence of Franco-German 
 warfare to forsake their native land in the early part of 
 the 18th century. The exact date of his arrival is not 
 known but it must have occurred soon after he attained 
 his majority, in 1730. That he accompanied his fellow 
 refugees to the recognized meeting place at Germantown 
 may safely be assumed, but presently he passed on to 
 Bucks County on the Delaware, acquired a farm appar- 
 
 4 
 
DANIEL FRICK 
 (Grandfather) 
 
Ancestry 
 
 ently by lease in Bedminster township, married in 1736, 
 died in 1744 in his thirty-sixth year and was buried in 
 the Mennonite graveyard, leaving a son, Henry, born 
 in 1739. 
 
 Subsequently Martin’s widow was induced to become 
 the third and last wife of William Nash, a pioneer, who 
 made a will on November 18th, 1760, bequeathing to 
 her “‘the stone end of my dwelling house for her to live 
 in, as also 2 cows, and a young horse, with a sufficiency 
 of hay yearly to fodder said creatures, with four sheep 
 and sufficiency of hay yearly to fodder said sheep, as also 
 my Sd wife’s saddle she is to possess and enjoy.”’ 
 
 The pioneer died the very next month and the cows 
 gave so much milk and the sheep furnished so much 
 wool, and both increased so greatly in numbers that 
 only two years later ‘‘Augnis,’’ as her second husband 
 designated her in his will, was able to acquire the entire 
 farm of 175 acres and 4 perches adjoining the graveyard 
 for conveyance to her son, before she died in 1786, in 
 consideration of ‘‘ £357, 17 shillings and 2 pense.”’ 
 
 Meanwhile, i.e., in 1765, Henry brought to the fine 
 “Overholt Homestead’’ as his bride ANNA BerTLER, who 
 kept the cradle rocking till 1789, when Susanna, the 
 twelfth and last occupant, was born. 
 
 The Mennonites, like the Quakers, were pacifists by 
 religion but patriots by nature, and were untroubled by 
 conscientious scruples when it became necessary to fight 
 for the freedom which they had crossed the ocean to 
 win. Immediately upon the outbreak of the Revolution 
 they organized the Bucks County militia and Henry 
 
 5 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 Overholt was one of the first to join. He served through- 
 out the war and, like his friends in Germantown, listened 
 eagerly to the tales of the gallant soldiers from the West 
 as they paused for rest and refreshment in Bedminster on 
 their way to and from New Jersey. That he was no less 
 keen than Johann Nicholas Frick to seek the wide spaces 
 beyond the mountains upon the cessation of hostilities 
 may well be believed, in the light of his subsequent 
 adventure, but in 1783 his mother was too old and his 
 eight children were too young to justify so hazardous 
 an enterprise. 
 
 When the new century dawned Henry Overholt and his 
 good wife Anna, aged respectively sixty-one and fifty- 
 five, were rich in spirit and in health, in lands and in 
 buildings, in cattle and in sheep and most joyously in 
 sons and daughters, of whom six were already mated and 
 four were single, including Henry, aged 21; Abraham, 16; 
 Christian, 14; and little Susanna, 11. Only one, Sarah, 
 who died in infancy, was missing. 
 
 Then it was that Henry Overholt, yielding to the in- 
 creasing urge of the time and his long repressed inclina- 
 tion, sold the famous ‘‘homestead” for the handsome sum 
 of ‘£1500, gold and silver money’”’ and, loading his en- 
 tire family, comprising his wife, five sons, six daughters, 
 five sons-in-law, two daughters-in-law and thirteen 
 grandchildren, thirty-three in all, along with a great 
 quantity of goods and chattels, upon a string of covered 
 wagons, set forth upon his long journey. The roads were 
 uniformly bad, the mountains high and steep, the fords 
 
 deep from swollen streams, the oxen slow and the dis- 
 6 
 
tht 
 tH 
 baltll 
 
 fs 
 
 * 
 
 THE OVERHOLT RESIDENCE 
 
Ancestry 
 
 tance quite three hundred miles, but the days were so 
 sunny and the nights so cool that the hardy party 
 reached its destination, ‘‘all safe and sound,’’ in the 
 Summer of 1800. 
 
 They found a rolling country surpassing their most 
 hopeful expectations, well wooded and watered, suitably 
 apportioned between rich meadows and green pastures 
 and, best ofall, sosparsely populated that desirable tracts 
 of land could be acquired for small sums. The father of 
 the flock bought several hundred acres in East Hunting- 
 don township and built upon a hill in what afterwards 
 became the village of West Overton a second ‘‘Overholt 
 Homestead,’’ even larger and more imposing than that 
 which he had left. The married sons and daughters 
 ““colonized’’ roundaboutly on farms of their own. 
 
 ABRAHAM, then in his seventeenth year, was one of the 
 three sons who remained at home. He had learned the 
 weavers’ craft in Bedminster and, while his brothers 
 were clearing the land, he worked at the loom fabri- 
 cating cloth for the clan until 1809. He then married 
 Marta, daughter of the Rev. Abraham Stauffer and grand- 
 daughter of the Rev. John Stauffer, both of whom had 
 served in the Revolutionary War as members of the Lan- 
 caster militia, and purchased in partnership with his 
 brother Christian, who had married his wife’s sister 
 Elizabeth, an interest in the homestead farm. 
 
 When the pioneer Henry Overholt died in 1813, Abra- 
 ham came into possession of the entire farm and his 
 mother continued her residence in the big house until 
 her death in 1835. 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 The portion of the farm which Abraham bought from 
 Christian, one hundred and fifty acres at fifty dollars an 
 acre, then considered a high price, included, in common 
 with nearly all similar properties in the region, a small 
 log distillery, which became the basis of the largest for- 
 tune in that section of the country. Promptly increasing 
 the capacity of the still from three bushels to fifty 
 bushels of grain a day, the new proprietor developed 
 and expanded the business until, in 1859, the daily grain 
 capacity of a big new factory, one hundred by sixty- 
 - three feet and six stories in height, reached two hundred 
 
 bushels and the daily output of flour exceeded fifty 
 barrels. The ‘‘Overholt’’ brand of whiskey became fa- 
 mous for its strength and purity and it is said that for 
 yeats before he died, leaving a fortune of half a million 
 dollars, the chief business pride of its originator, second 
 only to the quality of his product, lay in the fact that 
 the supply never equalled the demand. 
 
 But Abraham Overholt did not submerge himself in 
 manufacturing. He discovered the coal whose subse- 
 quent mining and baking by his grandson produced di- 
 rectly one, and indirectly through application to steel 
 fabrication many, of the greatest fortunes of America. 
 His distinguishing traits in business were absolute in- 
 tegrity, straightforwardness, fairness, liberality, order, 
 punctuality and consideration for the welfare of his em- 
 ployés. He never held public office but he took a deep 
 interest in affairs and rendered signal service in helping 
 to establish a common school system of the best type. 
 
 Originally a strong supporter of Jackson in national 
 
 8 
 
ABRAHAM OVERHOLT 
 (Grandfather) 
 
Ancestry 
 
 politics, he balked at Van Buren and acted with the 
 Whigs until the Republican party was organized, when 
 he became an ardent supporter of Lincoln. Although 
 nearly eighty years old during the Civil War, he strove 
 incessantly to encourage enlistments and frequently vis- 
 ited the soldiers from Westmoreland County in the field. 
 
 A staunch Mennonite in religion, he attended church 
 regularly on horseback with his devout wife and fre- 
 quently permitted divine services to be held in his house, 
 although he was prevented by diffidence and reticence 
 from performing his allotted task as lay preacher, and it 
 is recorded that he risked the penalty of excommunica- 
 tion by flatly refusing to observe the feet-washing regu- 
 lation of the sect. 
 
 His personal appearance wasimpressive. Tall, straight, 
 courtly and benign, clad invariably except when at work 
 in broadcloth and a black tie relieved by a pearl stud, 
 with a glossy wide-brimmed silk hat on his head and a 
 gold-headed cane in his hand, he must have looked a 
 somewhat austere figure, and yet his true nature was so 
 well understood that, greatly to his own satisfaction, 
 he was addressed by men, women and children alike as 
 ‘“Grandpap Overholt,’’ truly an authentic type of the 
 democratic lords to the manner born of his day and 
 generation in the United States. 
 
 Abraham was well mated. All contemporaries agree 
 that Maria STAuFFER OVERHOLT was an admirable rep- 
 resentative of the fine womanhood of her time, natur- 
 ally intelligent, well educated, kindly but firm in her 
 domestic relations, a helpful neighbor, a faithful friend 
 
 9 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 and ‘‘the best housekeeper in the world.’’ Her costumes 
 befitted her position and, like her husband's, conformed 
 strictly to the fashions of the time, black or “‘ashes of 
 the rose’ cashmere with white lace at the neck, caps of 
 exquisite bobbinet lace tied with white linen strings, 
 and for church a black debage bonnet and a silk cape 
 trimmed with velvet. 
 
 The bearing of each to the other was invariably most 
 respectful and if ever a disagreement marked the entire 
 sixty years of their married life, no indication of the 
 circumstance reached the attention of any one of their 
 eight children. 
 
 Euizasetu, the fifth child, was born in 1819 and re- 
 mained at home until she was twenty-eight years old, 
 when she accepted a proposal of marriage from Joun W. 
 Frick. It was a common surmise in the community at the 
 time that Elizabeth’s parents would have preferred a 
 more sedate and better established suitor than the im- 
 petuous, red-headed scion of the Celts and Burgundians, 
 _ but as there was no withstanding her calm inflexibility, 
 the wedding took place at the homestead on October 
 gth, 1847, and presently the little Spring House at the 
 foot of the lawn, denuded of its pans of milk, jars of but- 
 ter and preserves, crates of cheese, apples and plums, 
 was assigned to the couple for temporary occupancy. 
 
 It was a unique abode, solidly built of stone, compris- 
 ing three snug rooms; protected from gales in Winter by 
 walls eighteen inches thick, and warmed by a huge fire- 
 place containing serviceable ovens; cooled in Summer by 
 pipes of running water, and furnished with bright red 
 
 10 
 
THE SPRING HOUSE 
 (Birthplace) 
 
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Ancestry 
 
 carpets for the floors, blue china and steel knives and 
 forks for the table; a small book case for the living 
 room, a grandfather’s clock, with works of wood, from 
 Connecticut, and other paraphernalia of the period. 
 
 Here, following a girl baby born in the big house and 
 called Maria for her Grandmother Overholt, a son was 
 born on December 19th, 1849, and named, for the leader 
 of the Whig Party to which all the Fricks and all the 
 Overholts then adhered, Henry Cray Frick. 
 
 II 
 
II 
 Boyhood 
 
 LAY Frick, as he was called by his schoolmates 
 and the neighbors, was an attractive lad. 
 Slight and frail from his birth, his physical 
 growth in childhood was slow and intermit- 
 
 — tently painful. While during this period there seems to 
 have been no doubt in the minds of his parents and grand- 
 parents that he would attain manhood, they realized 
 that his first few years would require most tender care, 
 and he was seldom out of the sight of his watchful 
 mother or grandmother while toddling back and forth 
 between the tiny Spring House and the mansion tower- 
 ing above it across the lawn. 
 
 They regarded him as‘‘delicate’’ rather than‘‘sickly’’ 
 and, although occasional manifestations of suffering im- 
 pelled his mother to cover his stomach with foolscap 
 paper, they felt no real apprehension until his father 
 took him, at thé age of six, on his first long journey to 
 see his Grandfather Frick in Van Buren, Ohio, where he 
 succumbed to the hardships of travel and developed a 
 fever which compelled his retention for more than two 
 months. 
 
 From the organic ailment, then first clearly revealed 
 and subsequently diagnosed as “‘chronic indigestion”’ or 
 as ‘‘inflammatory rheumatism,’’ he was never thereafter 
 
 12 
 
Boyhood 
 
 wholly free. During the period of his most strenuous 
 activities it was not unusual for him, upon returning 
 home from his office, to drop upon a sofa and suffer griev- 
 ously until the prescribed restoratives, always at hand 
 to be administered promptly, could bring relief. It was 
 such an attack of exceptional virulence, involving deadly 
 pressure upon a weakened heart, that immediately pre- 
 ceded his fatal illness. 
 
 Clay passed perceptibly from childhood into boyhood 
 at the age of eight when, having régained his normal 
 strength, he began to do chores on his father’s farm and 
 to attend the Independent School near West Overton dur- 
 ing the winter months, when only he could be spared. 
 
 It was a memorable day in the records of the Frick 
 family when the eager-eyed lad set forth from the Bixler 
 farm, owned by his grandfather and then occupied by 
 his parents, to seek an education. No more than ac- 
 quaintance with the custom of the time is required to 
 visualize accurately the pretty picture, typical of Ameri- 
 can pastoral life, when, scrubbed and brushed, in a brand 
 new suit of store clothes and brass knobbed shoes, hold- 
 ing fast to his mother’s hand, he awaited impatiently in 
 the doorway the arrival of his cousin Isaac Overholt to 
 escort him to school. And no less clearly can the mind’s 
 eye dwell with smiling sympathy upon the fair counte- 
 nance of the proud daughter of Abraham Overholt as 
 with hands folded, following a final pat upon his head, 
 she watched her man-child march primly forward to take 
 his place in the busy world. 
 
 Schoolmaster Voight greeted the little chap with a 
 
 +3 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 low bow and, taking him by the hand, led him upon the 
 stage and announced impressively to the boys and girls: 
 
 ‘‘T present to you Mr. Henry Clay Frick.”’ 
 
 The abashed recipient of this unusual honor, manfully 
 overcoming an inclination to burst into tears, finally con- 
 trived tomakea bow so like the schoolmaster’s own that 
 his quick movement to a bench was made to the music 
 of loud cheers and gales of friendly laughter. 
 
 Recalling the episode years afterward, Mr. Voight said 
 that he could account for his own unpremeditated and 
 unprecedented act only as purely intuitive recognition 
 of one who was to become his most illustrious pupil. 
 
 The school room was typical of the period, bare and 
 cheerless but fairly well lighted and usually overheated 
 from a woodburning stove. The pupils sat at desks upon 
 benches without backs and the teacher watched them 
 from a platform, surmounted in the rear by a blackboard 
 whose glossy surface was relieved by an ominous orna- 
 ment in the shape of a hickory stick showing signs of 
 frequent usage. The curriculum comprised the familiar 
 three R’s, slightly amplified, the books allotted being 
 McGuffey’s reader, Pinneo’s grammar, Mitchell’s geog- 
 raphy and Ray’s arithmetic. 
 
 Clay attended the Independent School two terms, in 
 1857 and 1858; the Alverton, originally a Mennonite, 
 School one term in 1859; the West Overton School “‘on 
 the hill’’ two terms in 1860 and 1861; the “‘Western 
 Pennsylvania Classical and Scientific Institute,’’ West- 
 moreland College for short, in Mt. Pleasant, two terms 
 in the Winter of 1864 and the Spring of 1865 ; and Otter- 
 
 14 
 
Boyhood 
 
 bein College in Westerville, Ohio, ten weeks in the 
 Autumn of 1866; thus acquiring his entire stock of edu- 
 cational training from five terms in primary schools and 
 less than three terms in those of higher grades; com- 
 prising altogether approximately thirty months of tu- 
 ition; and ending, happily for his ambitious and impa- 
 tient spirit at the age of seventeen, in 1866. 
 
 The vividness with which his schoolmates, now well 
 past the period of human existence allotted by the Scrip- 
 tures, and generally maintained as a basis of calculation 
 until recently extended by Science, recall circumstances 
 and trivial episodes of sixty years ago clearly evidences 
 that there was nothing commonplace in the youth’s 
 composition. Distinctive individual traits, whose sub- 
 sequent development through his own endeavors marked 
 his career, found early expression. 
 
 Chief among these was a veritable passion for concen- 
 tration in the attainment of a specific purpose. 
 
 Apparently he was not averse to acquirement of the 
 “general education’’ which those primitive schools were 
 designed to provide; but his interest seems to have been 
 only sufficient to avoid black marks for enforced exhi- 
 bition at home, his attention was correspondingly cas- 
 ual, and he is remembered as no more than ‘‘an average 
 scholar, ‘except in one respect: He was “‘splendid in arith- 
 metic, ’ he ‘‘excelled us all, older or younger, in mathe- 
 matics,’ he was determined to get ‘‘a good business 
 training;’’ and time for diversion from that definite aim 
 could not be spared. 
 
 That this rigid exclusion was attributable to the rea- 
 
 15 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 soning of a lad not yet in his teens is hardly imaginable; 
 inherited instinct may have exerted some influence, but 
 environment undoubtedly played the controlling part. 
 Born and reared in the long shadow of his distinguished 
 grandfather, he could see but one glowing example 
 worthy of emulation, and while very young he confided 
 to his mates a determination to achieve success even 
 greater than that won by the notable progenitor whose 
 blood coursed through his own veins. If a fortune of 
 half a million could be acquired by an Overholt of the 
 preceding generation, there was “‘no reason”’ why, with 
 wider opportunities, one of a million should not be gained 
 by that Overholt’s grandson, ‘‘and I propose to be worth 
 that before I die,’’ not only bespoke his own full faith 
 in his ability to realize his ambition but was so convinc- 
 ing to the minds of his boy companions that half a cen- 
 tury later they separately recalled his very words. 
 
 It is not surprising that the impressions still retained 
 by the hair-braided pupils who, conformably to custom, 
 sat on the other side of the aisle, are equally distinct, as 
 he was a familiar figure in the village streets while still 
 the brown curls nestled about his head or glistened in 
 the breezes incited by the rapid movement of his grand- 
 father’s light-stepping span and glossy buggy. 
 
 “They made a very pretty pair when they came to 
 town, the one so fresh and young, the other old and gray 
 and very dignified, with little Clay always driving the 
 team of one bay and one gray, except just after he had 
 typhoid fever when of course he wasn’t strong enough 
 to guide them.”’ 
 
 16 
 
Boyhood 
 
 One can readily believe that when, even at the rela- 
 tively advanced age of eight, the boy first faced a battery 
 of girlish glances, following his teacher’s overpowering 
 introduction, and later broke down completely when he 
 made a desperate effort to recite ‘“Twinkle, twinkle, 
 little star,’’ the hot blood flew to his face. But it is not 
 recorded that the girls laughed derisively even when the 
 little star abruptly rejected the beseeching appeal. Here 
 was the scion of Quality and Family, the pride of their 
 own recognized magnate, prospective heir to wealth and 
 position, born to the manner, bred by gentlewomen, and 
 himself “‘the most perfect little gentleman I ever met,”’ 
 surely one not to be ignored or held unkindly by girl- 
 ish fancies. 
 
 Nor was the lad’s attractiveness merely superficial. 
 Upon acquaintance he was found to be “pure in thought 
 as well as in speech, never uttering a coarse word, never 
 guilty of a rude act and always as polite to little girls 
 as to older people,’’ chivalrous, too, and notably pro- 
 tective of his own.‘‘I remember that one time his distant 
 cousin Susan was not getting along very well in her stud- 
 ies. The teacher was provoked at her, and he warned her 
 that if she didn’t do better he would have to give hera 
 dose of ‘hickory oil,’ as a whipping was called in those 
 days. When Clay heard this he was angry clear through. 
 He was hardly more than a boy, but he served notice on 
 the teacher that if he whipped his cousin Susan he 
 would whip the teacher. And Susan didn’t get whipped.” 
 
 It is not surprising that so thrilling an episode should 
 have stamped an indelible impression upon the sensitive 
 
 17 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 mind of the narrator. Nor is there occasion to question 
 the accuracy of her recollection. One’s imagination can 
 readily portray the impetuous young descendant of the 
 fiery Fricks and the stern Overholts, with eyes flashing 
 and fists clenched, hurling defiance and menace at the 
 most burly of pedagogues in a crisis such as that depicted. 
 Nevertheless, without minimizing in the slightest degree 
 the fearlessness and gallantry of the young knight, it is 
 highly improbable that the teacher was really deterred 
 by his threatened reprisal. Hints at terrifying possibili- 
 ties may have been permissible, but even in those days 
 of salutary physical penalties there is no tradition of a 
 custom justifying the actual whipping of girls by school- 
 masters; so it is a fair assumption that Susan’s danger 
 was more apparent to the pupils than real to the mind of 
 the teacher, who alone in this instance seems to have 
 been humiliated. 
 
 Young Clay was less fortunate. Solomon's famous ad- 
 monition was held to apply to boys in school even more 
 rigorously than at home, where maternal intervention 
 was feasible and not uncommon. ‘‘The teachers, who 
 were always men, were very strict and would stand no 
 monkey business. Most of us got lickings occasionally 
 and, as I remember, Clay had his share, though I cannot 
 recall the reasons, probably just mischief or maybe be- 
 cause he wouldn’t study what he didn’t like, though I 
 never knew a fellow so eager to get on, and when he set 
 out to do a thing he always did it, which I think was 
 the secret of his success all through life.’’ 
 
 Finally, we are told, he was ‘‘full of antics but never 
 
 18 
 
Boyhood 
 
 a rowdy, though his quick temper got him into many a 
 fight and he would tackle anybody who he thought 
 wasn't playing fair with him.”’ 
 
 Very early in life he began to demand for himself ‘‘the 
 best there is,’ and would be satisfied with nothing less. 
 Frankly disdaining the part-shoddy and ill-fitting gar- 
 ments commonly allotted to farmers’ sons, he declared 
 at the age of fifteen that thereafter he would clothe him- 
 self, and he kept his word despite the difficulty of earning 
 enough money to buy “‘the best.’’ Appearing one morn- 
 ing “ina pair of black boots, with yellow stitching, that 
 had cost sixteen dollars,’’ his extravagance was duly 
 noted, but he smiled contentedly and ‘‘every morning 
 they shone like new and at the end of six months the 
 yellow stitching was as bright and spotless as when 
 new.’ Years afterwards he confided with a twinkle that 
 “by going barefooted during the summers’’ he ‘‘made 
 them last three winters in the pink of condition.”’ 
 
 Clay remained on his father’s farm during the long in- 
 tervals between school terms until 1863 when he secured 
 a place in his Uncle Christian’s store in West Overton 
 and worked for his board and the privilege of sleeping 
 on the counter. Thus for two years he obtained his keep 
 and seems to have earned it since, at the expiration of 
 that period, his Uncle Christian took him to Mt. Pleas- 
 ant and recommended him so highly to his Uncle Martin 
 that the latter hired him with money to clerk in his 
 “general emporium.”’ 
 
 Tradition has it that his wage was no less than three 
 dollars a week but the evidence on this point is not con- 
 
 a) 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 clusive. In any case, his step upon the lowest rung of the 
 financial ladder inspired the confidence which then evoked 
 the avowal of his determination to ‘‘make a million.”’ 
 He was an ardent salesman, “‘more aggressive’ “— 
 meaning probably more ingratiating—according to their 
 own testimony, than the older clerks, and winner of the 
 only severe competitive test recalled extending through 
 an entire year. His chief interest, however, was in book- 
 keeping and his assiduity in perfecting the somewhat 
 ornate, though strikingly legible, chirography then in 
 vogue for ‘‘accounts rendered’ no less than for auto- 
 graph albums, was limitless. Primarily, no doubt, the 
 appeal most enticing to his nature in this painstaking 
 endeavor was his inherent love of artistry, but hardly 
 less impelling, one may reasonably surmise, was the de- 
 velopment of rare workmanship which would open the 
 way from the counter to the counting-room; but, whether 
 foreseen or not, this did prove to be the effect, greatly to 
 his advantage, in the attainment of his first partnership. 
 Clay’s social life began in Mt. Pleasant at the age of six- 
 teen under favorable conditions. Making friends readily 
 among the hundred or more students at the Classical and 
 Scientific Institute, he was welcomed to membership in 
 the various college associations and quickly assumed, by 
 common assent, responsibilities befitting his vocation as 
 a potential man of business and trustworthy financier. 
 The most distinguished and exclusive Literary Society, 
 comprising barely twenty members, was the Philo Union, 
 of which he became Business Manager immediately fol- 
 lowing his initiation. His chief official tasks consisted 
 20 
 
Boyhood 
 
 of keeping the accounts, safeguarding the treasury, see- 
 ing to it that the cost of entertainments should never 
 exceed the proceeds, ‘counting the money and paying 
 the band.”’ 
 
 It is not recorded that he participated in the Literary 
 Exercises presented for parental and public approbation, 
 but it is recalled distinctly that he inaugurated a move- 
 ment to expand the meager library and trudged faithfully 
 from house to house in search of segregated books, 
 which invariably he bore in his own arms to add to the 
 common hoard. He was “‘a great reader’’ himself and, 
 though his selective privileges were necessarily limited, 
 his tastes were notably catholic. His prime favorite 
 naturally and irresistibly, as of his generation and years, 
 was John S. C. Abbott’s enthusiastical Life of Napoleon 
 Bonaparte; second only to that were Walter Scott’s tales 
 and poems, most particularly the Lay of the Last Min- 
 strel, ‘“Breathes there a man with soul so dead,’’ which 
 he stood ready always to declaim; and third, Thomas 
 Jefferson’s Life and Morals of Jesus Christ, of which in 
 later years he presented many copies to friends, with 
 never a word in explanation of his enigmatical choice. 
 
 The Independent Order of Good Templars of Mt. Pleas- 
 ant was organized in the Methodist meeting-house on 
 May ist, 1866, under the guidance of the pastor, the Rev. 
 J. C. High, by whose invitation Clay became a charter 
 member and, although only seventeen, he was appointed 
 promptly on the important Committee on Admissions 
 and soon thereafter on the Committee on Care of the 
 
 Sick, Worthy Scribe, one of the editors of the Lodge pub- 
 21 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 lication called the “‘Eastern Star’’ and, seemingly as a 
 matter of course, on the Committee on Finance and, at 
 the expiration of a year, treasurer of the association. [he 
 minutes contain no record of attendance but his steady 
 official advancement leaves no room for doubt of the 
 youth’s diligence and exactness in performance of allot- 
 ted tasks or of the subsequent value to himself of his first 
 perception of the effectiveness of organized endeavor. 
 That even at that early age, according to the recollec- 
 tions of his associates, his manifest pride was of achieve- 
 ment rather than of distinction may well be believed. 
 
 Round ball, a simple precursor of the intricate base- 
 ball of the present, was the most important of outdoor 
 sports in those days, but a contest required so much time 
 that play was restricted to Saturday afternoons and holi- 
 days and Clay, lacking strength and endurance to “‘bat 
 and run,’’ participated merely as umpire or scorer. The 
 game most constantly employed for relaxation was that 
 crude successor of the ancient exercise of throwing the 
 discus called quoits but played with horse shoes and re- 
 quiring skill and accuracy rather than physical strength. 
 In this pastime the keen-eyed and painstaking young 
 clerk excelled and ‘‘could make more ringers than any 
 other boy in town.”’ 
 
 The decorous and educational game of Authors afforded 
 the chief evening diversion, ‘‘cards’’ being so universally 
 condemned as an enticement of the Devil that “‘nobody 
 ever saw a deck in town.’’ But there was an occasional 
 dance, to the music of a single fiddle, and the accommo- 
 dating performer records sympathetic recollection of the 
 
 22 
 
CHRISTIAN OVERHOLT 
 (Uncle) 
 
Boyhood 
 
 occasions when he “‘used to carry notes back and forth 
 between the boys and girls when dates were being ar- 
 ranged for a walk.”’ 
 
 The pleasurable and mildly adventurous experience of 
 sleeping on a counter came to an end for Clay at West 
 Overton. At Mt. Pleasant he boarded with his Uncle 
 Christian and Aunt Katherine and, after working a few 
 months for his Uncle Martin, was transferred, greatly 
 to his satisfaction, to the new corner store of the “‘Mt. 
 Pleasant Partnership,’’ comprising his favorite Uncle 
 Christian and Mr. Lloyd (Barney, Schallenberger. With 
 the exception of three months’ leave, which he obtained 
 for the purpose of finishing his education at Otterbein 
 College, whose records reveal that he scored eight out 
 of nine attainable points in both Essays and Orations, 
 he continued his clerkship in the Mt. Pleasant store for 
 three full years. 
 
 This period, which he always remembered as one of 
 the happiest in his life, reached an abrupt ending in 1868, 
 
 when he was eighteen years old. On a very hot day in 
 - August, while sedulously mopping his brow and water- 
 ing his horse at the trough opposite Peter Sherrick’s 
 house, John Frick was amazed to perceive his son trudg- 
 ing up the road from Mt. Pleasant. Waiting patiently 
 until the young man had laved his perspiring face and 
 head under the spout, he inquired somewhat caustically: 
 
 ‘What do you mean by walking three miles on a day 
 like this? What’s the matter?”’ 
 
 “Barney [Schallenberger] discharged me,’’ was the la- 
 conic response. 
 
 23 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 ‘Does Grandmother Overholt know about it?”’ 
 
 VINO 
 
 ‘Well, you had better go and tell her right away.”’ 
 
 Aside from an amusing illustration of the taciturnity 
 common in those days between father and son, this 
 trifling episode affords convincing corroboration of con- 
 temporary testimony that Clay ‘was brought up mostly” 
 by his maternal grandparents—a circumstance, in con- 
 sideration of their exceptional characteristics, of no 
 slight significance. | 
 
 What occasioned the rupture at the store that morning 
 further than ‘‘a difference of opinion’’ or what happened 
 in the big house that evening is not recorded even by 
 tradition. All that is known is that on the following 
 day a very serious grandmother, standing in the door- 
 way, watched a very solemn grandfather escort a very 
 sober grandson on horseback to the Overholt distillery 
 at Broadford for engagement in manual labor. 
 
 But it quickly proved to be, as doubtless it had been 
 expected by his grandparents to become, a mere avoca- 
 tion, after all. Even though a reconciliation might be 
 effected, Clay had no wish to return to Mt. Pleasant; 
 his wings were beginning to spread; so after a few weeks 
 he persuaded his devoted Uncle Christian to take him 
 to Pittsburgh, fifty miles away, to recommend him for 
 a position, which he readily obtained, and to lend him 
 the fifty dollars required for the purchase of a ‘‘best’’ 
 suit of clothes. 
 
 The situation procured for him by his uncle in Eaton’s 
 store yielded six dollars a week and seems to have been 
 
 24 
 
Boyhood 
 
 agreeable and satisfying in all respects but one; it did not 
 afford the wider opportunities which he desired; con- 
 sequently, after prudently studying the mercantile con- 
 ditions for a few weeks, he struck out for himself for 
 the first time, boldly applied, with no recommendation 
 other than his own statement and his pleasing appear- 
 ance, fora position in the big store of Macrum and Car- 
 lisle, and was engaged forthwith at a salary of eight, 
 presently increased to twelve, dollars a week. 
 
 Twenty clerks were employed and the firm strongly 
 encouraged competition. Although not designated as 
 Chief Clerk, William G. Blair had for long been recog- 
 nized as the leading salesman and claimed the privilege 
 of serving the best customers. This prerogative was con- 
 ceded by all of the other clerks, but the latest recruit 
 promptly challenged it as a violation of the principle of 
 fair rivalry openly espoused by the proprietors and de- 
 structive of its intent. 
 
 “All young Frick asked,’’ notes the only salesman 
 who dared uphold him, ‘‘in the interest of the firm no 
 less than of himself, was fair play, but that he would 
 have and, without making any fuss about it, he calmly 
 ignored all protestations and made himself so popular, 
 especially with the ladies, that it wasn’t long before his 
 name began to appear at the head of the Sales List almost 
 as often as Blair’s.”’ 
 
 Naturally the management perceived no cause for com- 
 plaint or reason for interference and, although ‘‘it was 
 gall and wormwood to Blair’’ and “‘general unpleasant- 
 ness’’ ensued for a time, ‘“‘Clay was so considerate of 
 
 2s 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 Blair’s feelings and so tactful and goodnatured that after 
 a while he won them all over and made them like him 
 in spite of themselves.”’ 
 
 That his previous experience, supplemented by his 
 indefatigability and buoyancy, stood him in good stead, 
 is clearly evidenced by his receipt of an offer from the 
 firm of twenty dollars a week if he would return to their 
 employ, less than a year later, when his feet had found 
 at Broadford another round of the ladder to that avowed 
 goal of no less than ‘‘a million dollars.”’ 
 
 Convinced by quick observation that “‘H. Clay’’ savored 
 of boyish affectation and seemed likely to be regarded as 
 unbusinesslike, and detrimental to his progress, he saw 
 to it that his name should appear in the Pittsburgh Di- 
 rectory as ‘‘Fricx, Henry C., clerk, Anderson St., Alle- 
 gheny’’ and ever thereafter, except when at home, where 
 he could not lose the “‘H. Clay,’’ he signed his name 
 simply ‘‘H. C. Frick.”’ 
 
 He wasted no time. Rising and dressing for breakfast 
 at seven o'clock on every week-day—there were no half- 
 holidays then—he crossed the river and walked to the 
 store, atriving promptly at eight and remaining till six, 
 returned to his boarding-house for supper, recrossed the 
 river to a business college, where he applied his mind 
 sedulously to study of accountancy and methods of bank- 
 ing till nine-thirty; then finally ‘‘home’’ to his hall bed- 
 room and sleep. His acquaintances were few and his 
 only associate seems to have been the clerk who had 
 ‘backed him up’’ in the store, with whom every Sunday 
 morning he went to hear the eloquent young pastor, 
 
 26 
 
MILE OF ACCOUNT RENDERED 
 /ritten and initialed by Mr. Frick) 
 
Boyhood 
 
 Rev. Dr. Pearson, preach in the Fourth Avenue Baptist 
 Church. Occasional attendance with his congenial com- 
 rade at a lecture, a concert or a play constituted his sole 
 diversion. 
 
 Five months of this arduous routine, supplemented 
 doubtless by imperfect sanitation and dubious drinking 
 water, incited a severe attack of typhoid fever, and it 
 was a greatly emaciated and very ill boy that was brought 
 back to the big red house on the hill in West Overton. 
 But the nursing of his devoted grandmother and sister 
 Maria finally triumphed and, when September brought 
 the cool, fresh breezes, again, old Abraham Overholt, 
 this time in a buggy behind the span, took his favorite 
 grandson to the enlarged distillery at Broadford and 
 proudly installed him in the place he had fairly earned 
 as chief bookkeeper at one thousand dollars a year. 
 
 The firm’s name was “‘A. Overholt & Co., Manufac- 
 turers of Flour and Youghiogheny Whiskey,’’ the ‘‘Co.”’ 
 comprising the founder’s eldest son, Henry S. Overholt, 
 and his grandson, Abraham O. Tinstman, one of his 
 daughter Anna’s nine children. Henry exercised a general 
 supervision of the business and the sturdy patriarch Abra- 
 ham, then in his eighty-sixth year, ‘‘drove over once in 
 a while to see that everything was going all right,”’ but 
 the active manager was Mr. Tinstman, an alert and ex- 
 ceptionally capable man of thirty-six. Thus at last brought 
 into close businessrelationship, upon a satisfactory basis, 
 with his venerated grandfather, his uncle and his cousin, 
 Clay found his association not only most congenial but 
 highly favorable to furtherance of his own ambition. 
 
 27 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 He needed no spur. Despite the continuing effects of 
 his enfeebling illness, within a month, in addition to 
 keeping the books and making out the bills with abso- 
 lute precision and Spencerian flourish, he was measur- 
 ing lumber, weighing grain and selling flour. Often, “‘as 
 early as two or three o’clock in the morning,’’ somewhat 
 to the annoyance of others who wished to sleep, “‘he 
 would get out the mules and hitch them up and drive all 
 over the country,’’ but that was later when he was pros- 
 pecting for coal in lands whose hidden wealth was 
 undiscovered. 
 
 On January 15th, 1870, Grandfather Abraham died 
 suddenly from a stroke of apoplexy at the age of eighty- 
 six and was laid to rest in the presence of a great gather- 
 ing of the clans and neighbors and friends assembled from 
 all the country round, to pay final tribute to the strong, 
 kind man whom for so many years they had tacitly recog- 
 nized as Squire of Westmoreland County. 
 
 28 
 
A OVERHOLT sy, 
 
 AL) TENST MEAN 
 
 A. OVERHOLT & co. 
 
 MANUFACTURERS OF 
 
 Flour, and Youghiogheny Whiskey, 
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 FACSIMILE OF A LETTER OF CONDOLENCE 
 (Written and initialed by Mr. Frick) 
 
* 
 
 a 
 
 » 
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 ta Ban 
 
 ~ 
 
 b 
 
III 
 Beginning Business in Coke 
 
 HE Chief topic of conversation between the two 
 
 cousins, Abraham Tinstman and Clay Frick, 
 
 following the death of their grandfather, was 
 
 the potentiality of coke manufacture from coal 
 obtainable in the vicinity of Broadford. Often a discus- 
 sion of some phase of the subject, begun at the ending of 
 the evening game of chess, would run far into the night. 
 Their views never clashed for the simple reason that they 
 approached the general proposition from quite different 
 angles. The elder spoke from experience; the younger 
 possessed the vision. 
 
 So early as 1859, Mr. Tinstman, in partnership with 
 Joseph Rist, had bought six hundred acres of coal lands 
 and in 1868 had joined Colonel A.S.M. Morgan in open- 
 ing the so-called Morgan mines for the manufacture ex- 
 clusively of coke. Demand for the product, however, was 
 slight and the prospect was far from alluring to a sense 
 of mere realities. Back in 1842, loaded barges had been 
 floated down the Ohio River in a vain attempt to find a 
 market for the despised ‘‘cinders’’; in 1860 the total num- 
 ber of coking plants in the country had increased to 
 twenty-one from four in 1850; but in 1870 only four more 
 had been added. As an industry, “mining and coking”’ 
 seemed not merely doomed but already to have perished. 
 
 29 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 But Mr. Tinstman had so much money invested that 
 he could not afford to abandon hope and young Frick’s 
 odd compound of prudence and daring succumbed to 
 two considerations: one, of his judgment convinced by 
 thorough investigation that coke was the cheapest, if 
 not indeed an essential, fuel for furnaces; the other, of 
 his imagination which had been fired by contemplation 
 of the huge requirements of the steel factories whose 
 quick and tremendous expansion in Pittsburgh he had 
 foreseen while not wholly engrossed in selling ribbons 
 and trimmings. 
 
 The outcome of the deliberations of the cousins was 
 a decision to take the plunge if two or three satisfactory 
 partners could be obtained. Mr. Tinstman proposed Mr. 
 Joseph Rist, his associate in previous purchases, and 
 young Frick suggested his distant cousin, Mr. John S.R. 
 Overholt, who was then courting and a year later mar- 
 tied his sister, Miss Maria Overholt Frick. Both accepted 
 and the interests were divided into fifths, Mr. Rist tak- 
 ing two-fifths and the others one each. 
 
 The first purchase was of one hundred and twenty- 
 three acres of land at Broadford, carefully selected, from 
 Mr. John Rist for the sum of $52,995. Just how Clay 
 financed his first business undertaking, involving $z0,- 
 599, is not known. His salary in Pittsburgh, averaging 
 seven dollars a week, could hardly have exceeded his 
 high cost of living, and his saving from compensation at 
 Broadford at $1,000 year for only a year and five months 
 could have been no more than a few hundreds at most. 
 Clearly, his initial venture was made on borrowed money, 
 
 30 
 
veri 
 
 iy 
 
 3 
 bes 
 
 JOHN S. R. OVERHOLT 
 
 (Brother-in-law) 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 Overholt, his two uncles, and Jacob O. Tinstman, his 
 cousin, loaned trust funds to the young man upon his 
 promissory notes and when, in 1874, they received from 
 the executors $37,000, they loaned him the entire amount, 
 payable three years after date. Before his note fell due, 
 however, the trustees became involved in the panic and, 
 at their own instigation, the Court discharged them and 
 paid eloquent testimony to Clay Frick’s reputation for in- 
 tegrity by appointing him, the only debtor of the estate, 
 its sole trustee. 
 
 While exhausting the available resources of the mater- 
 nal side, moreover, Clay did not overlook parental po- 
 tentialities. John W. Frick was only a struggling farmer, 
 but with the aid of his capable and thrifty Overholt wife 
 he ‘‘managed,’’ in the proud phrase uttered frequently 
 in after years by his highly successful son, “‘to bring up 
 six children without running into debt’ —a circumstance 
 of utmost importance, as it subsequently developed, to 
 the young man himself in his time of need. 
 
 Although father and son, owing partly to their natural 
 reticence and partly to the overshadowing Overholt as- 
 sociation, were never on terms of close intimacy, their 
 relationship was always friendly and their spirits were 
 akin in dash and daring. One may readily believe that 
 the relatively unlettered farmer contemplated with ad- 
 miration approaching awe the recognized proficiency of 
 the youthful accountant while yet in his teens and the 
 readiness with which older men of experience not only 
 took him into full partnership but constituted him head 
 of the firm when he was barely twenty-one. That the 
 
 32 
 
JOHN wW. FRICK 
 
 (Father) 
 
* 
 j 
 o 
 % 
 2 
 f a 
 
Beginning Business in Coke 
 
 explicit confidence of the entire Overholt clan in the 
 promise of the young man was shared by his father, no 
 less than by his mother, is certain; else he would hardly 
 have consented to the placing of his wife’s entire inherit- 
 ance at the boy’s disposal. 
 
 But John Frick went further. He did unhesitatingly for 
 Clay what he had steadfastly refrained from doing for 
 himself; he pledged his credit without stint, risking 
 bankruptcy and the loss of his eight-thousand-dollar farm 
 by endorsing notes, which the budding financier peddled 
 to all the farmers around, “‘often hitching up at dawn 
 and driving all over the country and coming back at 
 night with pockets full of greenbacks.’’ The sums thus 
 gathered, though small as units, were considerable in the 
 aggregate at a time when fright was inducing the hoard- 
 ing at home of moneys which ordinarily would have 
 reached the banks. 
 
 Occasionally, too, the amounts involved were far from 
 negligible, and renewals, even in part, were far from cer- 
 tain. One instance indicating the peril of the time and 
 the hazard of the undertaking is distinctly recalled. On 
 a critical evening in 1873 Clay returned from his quest 
 throughout the country with unexpectedly meager pick- 
 ings. On the following day a note for $10,000 was pay- 
 able to Joseph Myers, a framer by trade, a portion of the 
 anticipated proceeds being needed in his business and the 
 total constituting his entire savings—facts of which the 
 debtor was only too painfully aware. 
 
 Disappointed beyond measure, and wearied to the verge 
 of exhaustion, the young man could not fail to realize 
 
 33 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 that for the first time even his extraordinary fertility of 
 resource had failed utterly; sleep would not come; he 
 must have it out. One o’clock in the morning found him 
 pounding the door of his creditor, whom he knew but 
 slightly and who had been magnified by his imagination 
 to the figure of an ogre. Mr. Myers raised the window of 
 his bedroom. 
 
 ‘“Who’s there? What do you want?”’ 
 
 “Clay Frick. My note is due tomorrow and I can’t 
 pay it.”’ 
 
 ‘Well, it’s endorsed.”’ 
 
 ‘I know, but B. F. O. (Benjamin Overholt) is busted 
 and A. O. T. (Abraham O. Tinstman) is busted and I 
 don’t want you to close me out.”’ 
 
 Silence—and then: 
 
 ‘John Frick is still on the back of that note and he 
 ain't busted; he’ll pay some time. I won't close you out.” 
 
 Slam! | 
 
 Presently Clay was able to pay enough to relieve his 
 creditor of embarrassment in carrying on his business and 
 when, two years later, he took the last instalment to 
 Mr. Myers, he said simply: 
 
 ‘That was the best investment I ever made’’—and he 
 added quietly: 
 
 ‘‘It may prove to be the same for you.”’ | 
 
 Not only on this occasion but much earlier, in the 
 course of his family financing, Clay had utilized his father’s 
 credit to even greater subsequent advantage in catrying 
 through his ambitious projects. On December rst, 1871, 
 only nine months after he bought one-fifth interest in 
 
 34 
 
Beginning Business in Coke 
 
 the firm “‘on a shoestring,’’ John Frick joined him in the 
 purchase from the executors of Abraham Overholt’s estate 
 the Alexander Miller farm, comprising 189 acres and 34 
 perches, in East Huntingdon township. 
 
 This transaction called for skilful manoeuvering. The 
 executors were willing to accept joint notes of father 
 and son for two-thirds of the purchase price of $37,- 
 842.50, payable respectively one and two years there- 
 after, but they demanded $12,514.16 in cash, and neither 
 Frick pére nor Frick fils had any money. Nevertheless 
 the requirement was met on the date fixed from the pro- 
 ceeds of the following note: 
 $12514 16100 Mt. Pleasant, Penna. 
 
 One day after date we promise to pay M. S. Overholt, C. S. Over- 
 holt and J. O. Tinstman, Trustees of Elizabeth Frick’s portion of 
 A. Overholt’s decd estate, or order, Twelve thousand five hundred 
 
 and fourteen dollars and sixteen cents, without defalcation, value 
 received with interest from December rst, 1871. 
 
 Joun W. Frick 
 H. Cray Frick 
 
 That is to say, the farm was acquired from the execu- 
 tors of Abraham Overholt’s estate with money provided 
 in part by the trustees of Elizabeth Overholt Frick’s 
 share in that estate. Three years later Clay completed the 
 Operation on his own account by purchasing his father’s 
 undivided interest at an advance of several thousand 
 dollars and, his estimate of the value of the land for 
 mining purposes having then been verified, he was enabled 
 to obtain his first mortgage loan from T. Mellon & Sons, 
 the foremost bankers of Pittsburgh, upon the farm as 
 sole security, and thus not only escaped the bankruptcy 
 og 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 which engulfed his partners but paved the way for the 
 purchase of many other properties at panic prices. 
 
 This, however, was not his first financial transaction 
 with the bankers. The selection of a name for the firm 
 confronted the partners at the outset and called for seri- 
 ous deliberation. Mr. Tinstman and Mr. Rist were men 
 of affairs and standing in the community but their identi- 
 fication with other enterprises of like nature seemed 
 likely to prove confusing if heralded in connection with 
 a new concern whose complete independence, it was 
 thought, would constitute an asset. Overholt was, of 
 course, a name to conjure with, but John S. R. did not 
 wish to assume the responsibility. The process of elim- 
 ination clearly pointed to the most youthful partner, and 
 the appearance of “‘Frick & Co,’’ as miners of coal and 
 manufacturers of coke was thus signalized to the indus- 
 trial world. 
 
 The designation was both fitting and shrewd, afford- 
 ing the recognition which the elders considered the just 
 due of the initiator of the enterprise and also assuring 
 unremitting application of the zeal and resourcefulness 
 which he had already displayed. Young Frick neither 
 sought nor shirked the responsibility, conditioning only 
 that he should have full authority under the nominal 
 direction, for a time at least, of an Overholt, namely his 
 Cousin John, as the head of the firm, and that in lieu of 
 drawing a salary as manager, he himself should be free 
 to continue his bookkeeping for A. Overholt & Co. for 
 the twenty dollars a week which he needed for his liv- 
 ing expenses and was loath, in any case, to forego. Natu- 
 
 36 
 
Beginning Business in Coke 
 
 rally Mr. Tinstman and Mr. Rist found this arrangement 
 wholly to their liking and Mr. Overholt accepted his 
 assignment for one year, at the expiration of which he 
 withdrew from the business entirely, chiefly as a conse- 
 quence of apprehensiveness caused by an excavation which 
 neatly resulted in the burial alive of thirty miners. 
 
 The young manager adopted a bold policy at the out- 
 set. Determined that the firm should profit to the full 
 extent of its means in whatever enhancement of values 
 might result from its operations, he invested its entire 
 capital in low-priced land. This left no money whatever 
 for development but the purchases had been so shrewdly 
 made that additional funds were readily obtainable upon 
 the original basis and, though not regarding the meth- 
 od as altogether prudent, his partners raised no objec- 
 tions. Indeed it is quite conceivable that they would have 
 been willing to increase their own contributions. 
 
 But there was nothing further from the manager’s con- 
 templation than an enlargement of partnership which 
 would reduce automatically his own percentage of inter- 
 est in the business. Why not finance the firm, as he had 
 financed his own fifth, on credit? True, the firm, unlike 
 himself in the first instance, had no family resources to 
 draw upon, but it had a considerable acreage of promis- 
 ing coal lands which he had insisted upon keeping free 
 and clear of purchase-mortgages with this very purpose 
 in view. The difficulty lay in inducing local investors to 
 make straight loans without participation in ownership 
 or future profits. Clearly, his first step was to establish 
 the credit of the firm by demonstrating its ability to bor- 
 
 a7 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 row money elsewhere and, if possible, from the most 
 cautious and conservative of lenders. He decided to make 
 the attempt and, while about it, to fly high. 
 
 Among the Scotch-Irish settlers in Westmoreland 
 county was Andrew Mellon, who followed his father 
 from the county Tyrone in 1818 and brought with him 
 his son Thomas, aged five. He acquired a farm in Frank- 
 lin Township and remained there until 1833, when he 
 moved to Allegheny County, where ultimately he died. 
 One of the first to make his acquaintance was Abraham 
 Overholt, who was of the same age, thirty-four, and of 
 like disposition and tastes. The two became excellent 
 friends and young Thomas was a frequent caller, with 
 his father, at the big brick house in which Elizabeth 
 Overholt was born six years later than himself and be- 
 came a big girl of fourteen before he went away with 
 his father, at the age of twenty, fully cognizant of the 
 intrinsic worth and high standing of Mr. Overholt. 
 
 To doubt that this interesting bit of local history 
 ~ loomed large in the mind’s eye of Elizabeth Overholt’s 
 son while he was groping for financial succor would be 
 to question the activities of resourceful intelligence. Dut- 
 ing the thirty-eight years that had elapsed Thomas Mel- 
 lon had never missed a step on the high road to success. 
 Endowed with a remarkable blend of Scotch and Irish 
 traits, studious, thoughtful, philosophical, indefatiga- 
 ble, prudent and thrifty, he easily acquired a substantial 
 fortune, chiefly from sagacious speculations in real estate, 
 while simultaneously gaining such pre-eminence at the 
 Pittsburgh bar that the leaders of the Republican party 
 
 38 
 
Beginning Business in Coke 
 
 virtually demanded that he become a candidate for as- 
 sistant Judge of the Common Pleas. 
 
 Professional pride having triumphed over the satis- 
 faction of making money and the requirement of a per- 
 sonal outlay of $150 for campaign expenditures, he was 
 duly elected and served with marked distinction for ten 
 years when he declined a renomination in order that he 
 might “‘engage in plans and projects for Thomas and 
 James while watching over the development of my younger 
 boys, Andrew, Dick and George,’’ aged respectively four- 
 teen, eleven and nine. 
 
 Not caring to resume the practice of law, “having now 
 too many pecuniary and other interests of my own to 
 make it profitable to attend to the affairs of other people,”’ 
 Judge Mellon “began to cast about for a new vocation” 
 and finally “concluded to open a banking house.”’ His 
 two elder sons having already founded a prosperous joint 
 stock savings bank at East Liberty, the father estab- 
 lished an institution of his own for the prospective use 
 of the “boys” and opened the doors of a building on 
 Smithfield Street on January 1st, 1870. The venture proved 
 successful from the start. General business was flourish- 
 ing, speculation was rife, money was abundant, rates of 
 interest to borrowers were high and satisfactory deposits 
 were obtained without solicitation. Within a year the 
 ‘Mellon bank,”’ operating in conjunction with the sav- 
 ings institution at East Liberty, was recognized as one 
 of the most important in Western Pennsylvania. 
 
 This was the situation when, one morning, late in 
 1871, H. Clay Frick, aged twenty-one, without announc- 
 
 39 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 ing his purpose to anybody, quietly boarded a train at 
 the village station for Pittsburgh to negotiate a loan de- 
 signed to serve for the time being as working capital for 
 the budding firm of Frick & Co. Proceeding straightway 
 to the new building then in process of construction for 
 the use of the bank, he announced that he had come from 
 Broadford ‘‘to see Judge Mellon on a matter of business’ ’ 
 and was admitted promptly. 
 
 What actually happened at this momentous meeting, 
 the eventual fruits of which garnered by each comprised 
 many millions, has never been revealed but can readily 
 be imagined. A more courtly old gentleman never re- 
 ceived a politer young one. One can almost see him, in 
 his long frock coat, gleaming shirt front and black bow, 
 rising with judicial dignity, and motioning his boyish- 
 looking, brown-haired visitor, equally handsome as of a 
 later generation and no less immaculately attired, to a 
 chair. And nobody who ever met the latter can fail to 
 picture with assured accuracy the wholly deferential, 
 _ though anything but obsequious, manner in which he 
 introduced himself as the grandson of Abraham Over- 
 holt, the son of John W. Frick and Elizabeth Overholt 
 and the partner of John S. R. Overholt, Abraham O. 
 Tinstman and Joseph Rist and set forth in precise terms 
 the purpose of his mission, to wit: } 
 
 Frick & Co. wished to borrow $10,000 for six months 
 at 10 per cent, with which to build fifty coke ovens, 
 upon security consisting of undeveloped but unmortgaged 
 coal lands and of his strong conviction, based upon re- 
 sults of personal investigation which he outlined in 
 
 40 
 
Beginning Business in Coke 
 
 painstaking detail, that the coking process was an es- 
 sential factor in the fabrication of steel. 
 
 It is more than doubtful that any other banker in 
 Pittsburgh would have entertained the proposal for a 
 moment, but Judge Mellon, the most cautious and con- 
 servative of them all, made the loan at once, without re- 
 quiring endorsements, authorization or corroboration of 
 the young man’s statements from his partners. 
 
 “He just got it on his nerve,’’ was the common inter- 
 pretation when he returned to Broadford on the first 
 train with the money in his pocket. 
 
 But did he? Judge Mellon was not impulsive; he was 
 notably cautious. That he was favorably impressed by 
 the terse representations, direct methods and engaging 
 manners of his confident young customer may well be 
 believed, but his trust reposed in Overholt integrity and, 
 though wholly devoid of sentimentality, there lay deep 
 in his nature a grain of fine sentiment that might have 
 been touched by recollection of his father’s friend of his 
 own boyhood days. But the interesting circumstance can- 
 not be ignored that, while arranging to go on the bench, he 
 had invested all of his “loose means” in coal lands which 
 might be enhanced in value immensely if some zealous 
 and intelligent young man should devise at his own ex- 
 pense ‘‘a coking process’’ that should prove indispensable 
 to the steel industry. One might almost suspect that 
 Clay had not failed, before attempting to plough the 
 hardest ground in sight, to acquaint himself with the 
 peculiarities of the soil and to select with care the seed 
 best adapted to its tillage. 
 
 41 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 But Frick & Co. were both active and impatient. Be- 
 fore the first fifty ovens were finished, while the con- 
 struction force was still intact, the manager sought an 
 additional loan of $10,000 for the building of fifty more. 
 This time Judge Mellon’s prudence asserted itself and a 
 representative of the bank was sent to Broadford to in- 
 vestigate and report. The representations respecting both 
 the property and the construction were found correct in 
 every detail, but the attendant features were far from 
 satisfactory. | 
 
 It was, to begin with, a very small enterprise and evi- 
 dences of prosperity were not visible. Not only was the 
 sole responsible director hardly more than a boy, but he 
 was giving part of his time to keeping books for a big 
 store and another portion to ‘prints and sketches, ‘some 
 made by himself, and all quite out of place in his “‘half- 
 office and half-living room in a clapboard shack.’’ The 
 application should be denied. 
 
 But the wise Judge was unconvinced. In point of fact, 
 nothing could have appealed more strongly to his own 
 thrifty soul than the information that the young man 
 was saving the firm’s money by working overtime out- 
 side to earn his own frugal living. More interested than 
 ever, he sent his mining partner, Mr. James B. Corey, to 
 make an independent examination. The report of that 
 experienced observer was terse and decisive: 
 
 “Lands good, ovens well built; manager on job all 
 day, keeps books evenings, may be a little too enthusi- 
 astic about pictures but not enough to hurt; knows his 
 business down to the ground; advise making the loan.”’ 
 
 42 
 
Beginning Business in Coke 
 
 Judge Mellon accepted Mr. Corey’s recommendation; 
 the additional fifty ovens were built and put into opera- 
 tion; business was good from the start; the Mellon loans 
 were paid from earnings; steadily increasing profits were 
 invested in more lands and more ovens and, within two 
 yeats after the partnership was formed, Frick & Co. 
 were close upon the heels of A.S. M. Morgan & Co., who 
 were supposed to be making large profits. 
 
 Then out of a clear sky came the financial collapse and 
 industrial crash of a nation which brought to Henry 
 Clay Frick, in his twenty-fourth year, the supreme ordeal, 
 with one exception, of his remarkable career. 
 
 43 
 
IV 
 A Triumph of Faith and Courage 
 
 HE panic of 1873 was not foreseen. Beginning 
 with the completion of the Union Pacific rail- 
 way in 1869, the opening up of the Middle 
 West, long delayed by the Civil War, gained tre- 
 mendous momentum. During the preceding three years 
 less than six thousand miles of additional track had 
 been laid but in the four years following new construc- 
 tion leaped to twenty-four thousand. Demand for rails 
 so far exceeded the domestic supply that recourse was 
 had to England to make up the deficiency and “‘the vil- 
 est trash that could be dignified by the name of iron” 
 was gteedily accepted by the eager promoters. Prices 
 responded inevitably, profits increased accordingly, ex- 
 pansion of mills was limited only by possibilities of 
 construction, employment at high wages awaited every 
 laborer, settlers rushed by lake and land to the fresh 
 fields, immigration increased rapidly and prosperity was 
 universal. | 
 Although specie payments had not been resumed, pub- 
 lic credit endangered by the greenback movement was 
 restored and the confidence of the world was regained 
 immediately following the second inauguration of Presi- 
 dent Grant by the Act of March 18, 1869, pledging pay- 
 ment in coin of all obligations not specifically redeemable 
 44 
 
A Triumph of Faith and Courage 
 
 otherwise and promising redemption of the legal tenders 
 in coin as soon as practicable. 
 
 Money, though hardly plentiful, became easy forth- 
 with and the bourses of Europe vied with one another 
 in bidding for American securities. Railway bonds in 
 particular sold abroad like hot cakes and the New York 
 and Philadelphia bankers were not backward in supply- 
 ing the markets and raking off big commissions from 
 enterprises of doubtful merit. So great a bull movement 
 in foreign securities had never been known on the Euro- 
 pean exchanges and speculation in all kinds of schemes 
 was correspondingly rife at home. All lessons from ex- 
 perience were forgotten, all precedents were ignored; a 
 new efa initiated by a new country seemed to have been 
 ushered into the old world. 
 
 The certainty, which should have been patent, if not 
 glaring, that there must be a bottom even of Europe’s 
 well of opulence was manifested clearly enough in the 
 autumn of 1872, when the demand began to slacken and 
 the New York bankers found themselves obliged to strain 
 their own credit to carry their latest undertakings, but 
 nothing beyond a general tightening of money really 
 happened until a panic on the Vienna bourse in May, 
 1873, sent shivers of apprehension down the spines of 
 Continental investors and virtually closed the doors upon 
 new offerings from the States. | 
 
 But, even so, American bankers and brokers, uncon- 
 sciously perhaps screening the thought with the wish, 
 and yet with sincerity unquestioned by history, scoffed 
 at the obvious warning as a false alarm and proved their 
 
 4§ 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 faith by continuing and increasing their commitments. 
 A few failures early in September caused “‘an unsettled 
 feeling’’ but were not considered seriously significant and 
 when, on September 18th, announcement was made that 
 the great and goodly House of Jay Cooke and Co., finan- 
 ciers not only of the Northern Pacific railway but also, 
 throughout the war, of the Government itself, and cus- 
 todians of the funds of millions of the most pious folk in 
 the land, had failed, ‘‘it was received with almost deri- 
 sive incredulity on the part of the mercantile public.”’ 
 
 The panic that followed confirmation of the report was 
 instantaneous and unprecedented in manifestations of 
 frenzy and terror. Stocks on the Exchange, following 
 New York Central and Western Union, the two least 
 vulnerable, fell to inconceivable levels in a few hours; 
 within the next few days a score of firms wete avowedly 
 unable to keep their contracts; bids were not forthcom- 
 ing for shares at any prices and the Exchange was closed; 
 the old Union Trust Company suspended; the National 
 Bank of the Commonwealth failed; Fisk & Hatch, Howes 
 and Macy, Henry Clews & Co., and many lesser banking 
 houses put up their shutters; deposits were withdrawn 
 from national banks; runs began on savings banks; money 
 was unobtainable; Clearing-House certificates were is- 
 sued for the first time; President Grant and the Secretary 
 of the Treasury went to New York and pledged all aid 
 the Government could give under the laws. 
 
 And yet itis not surprising that the far-reaching and de- 
 moralizing effects bound to ensue from such a shock to the 
 financial center of the country found slight comprehension 
 
 46 
 
MRS. JOHN W. FRICK 
 
 (Mother) 
 
A Triumph of Faith and Courage 
 
 beyond the Alleghenies. A mere “Wall Street panic,’’ 
 presumably involving only gamblers in money, stocks 
 and bonds, was no concern of those actively engaged in 
 legitimate industry and wholly engrossed in their own 
 affairs. They had no interest in the cut-throat games of 
 kid-gloved and silk-stockinged parasites who, produc- 
 ing nothing themselves, fought over the fruits of the 
 toilsome enterprises of honest men and were regarded as 
 natural enemies. What mattered it if ruin should over- 
 take the rascals? Good enough for them! Theupset might 
 teach them a lesson. It would be all over in a month any- 
 way. The United States had struck its gait at last and 
 was too big to be stopped or retarded. On with the work! 
 Full steam ahead ! 
 
 Even Judge Mellon, who recalled distinctly the pre- 
 cisely analogous panic of 1819, following the war of 1812, 
 and the widespread adversity that ensued for ten years, 
 imposing a most desperate struggle for very existence 
 upon his own parents, perceived no serious significance 
 for Pittsburgh in the failure of Jay Cooke & Co. 
 
 “While I was seated at my desk on the afternoon of 
 September 18th,’’ he wrote long afterward, ‘‘our notary 
 public, Mr. Whitney, looked in and asked if I had heard 
 of it. I replied no. He said it had caused a good deal of 
 excitement in New York and Philadelphia. The news did 
 not disturb me, indeed it scarce attracted my attention, 
 as we had no relations with Cooke or his railroad pro- 
 jects; and I supposed the flurry caused by it would blow 
 over without any serious effect, as it had done after sim- 
 ilar failures of others.’’ 
 
 47 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 This pleasurable anticipation naturally was not realized. 
 Not only did the strain become more severe daily in the 
 large money centers; it spread rapidly over the country 
 and reached Pittsburgh within a week. T. Mellon & Sons 
 had substantial balances in New York and Philadelphia 
 but ‘‘unfortunately our depositories in both these cities 
 failed before we could secure our funds” and the Judge 
 awoke to the disagreeable fact that they had in their 
 two banks barely sixty thousand dollars with which to 
 meet deposits of ten times that amount, ‘‘Our customers, 
 however, were not aware of our predicament and no one 
 entertained the slightest apprehension of our solvency 
 as I was always looked on as impregnable.”’ 
 
 But the consternation caused throughout the entire 
 region by several bank failures can readily be imagined, 
 and nowhere within the Pittsburgh orbit was it felt 
 more deeply than in the humming little village of Broad- 
 ford and by the members of the firm of Frick & Co. Mr. 
 Tinstman and Mr. Rist required all of their resources to 
 safeguard their other investments and could not be re- 
 lied upon to render any assistance whatever to their 
 latest speculation. More definitely and comprehensively 
 than ever, the entire burden devolved upon the manager. 
 Having taken over unhesitatingly—on credit, as usual— 
 his cousin’s share, he now held a two-fifths interest, and 
 was giving his undivided attention to the conduct of the 
 business for the same modest remuneration that he had 
 received for keeping the books of Overholt & Co. He 
 still owed money right and left but having always paid 
 full interest promptly, and never defaulted, renewals 
 
 48 
 
A Triumph of Faith and Courage 
 
 were obtained easily and profitable expansion upon a 
 large scale seemed to be well within the range of finan- 
 cial possibilities in the near future. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Wall Street panic had run its course, 
 the stock exchange had reopened and the machinery of 
 finance had begun to function as smoothly as ever. Upon 
 the whole, the prospect, though far from reassuring, was 
 less dismal than it had appeared at first and Manager 
 Frick returned from a hurried visit to Pittsburgh fairly 
 well convinced that he had only to postpone his more 
 ambitious projects for a time in order to keep his head 
 above water and weather the storm. In any case, grit- 
 ting his teeth, he would not let go of anything he had 
 and would continue unwaveringly to assume any kind 
 or form of obligation required to obtain whatever in ad- 
 dition might seem worth having. 
 
 It was more than double or quits; it was a hundred- 
 fold or less than nothing; either a tremendous success or 
 an overwhelming collapse even of hope. 
 
 This grim determination was not unnatural to a re- 
 doubtable spirit, uplifted by the buoyancy of youth, 
 which thus far had overcome all obstacles, but it is 
 incredible that Clay Frick, at twenty-four, foresaw either 
 the severity or the duration of his undertaking. What 
 he, in common with all experienced observers and learned 
 economists, failed to perceive was that the real disaster 
 did not end, but only began, in Wall Street and that the 
 money panic was but a prelude and a bagatelle to the 
 industrial crisis that was bound to follow. 
 
 Revelation of the bitter truth came quickly and no- 
 
 49 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 where more poignantly than to western Pennsylvania. 
 As early as November ist several railway companies of 
 high repute defaulted in payment of interest on their 
 bonds; soon thereafter the Pennsylvania Railroad paid its 
 dividend in scrip; the paper of a construction company 
 bearing the endorsements of Vice-President Thomas A. 
 Scott and his associates went to protest; new construc- 
 tion practically ceased and even ordinary maintenance 
 contracts were cancelled; iron mills were shut down and 
 ‘‘reduced to the value of a scrap heap’’; coal mines were 
 abandoned; laborers began to walk the streets in vain 
 seatch of employment; strikes and lockouts presaged the 
 great railway riots to come; ‘‘a veritable paralysis,’’ in 
 the words of Rhodes, possessed Pittsburgh. 
 
 Inevitably the demand for coke began to dwindle and 
 as early as the Spring of 1874 seemed likely to disappear 
 altogether. Theretofore marketing of the superior prod- 
 ucts of the Connellsville mines had been a simple matter; 
 commission merchants in Pittsburgh had eagerly accepted 
 and readily disposed of all that was offered; the manu- 
 facturers had only to load the cars and await remit- 
 tances at fixed rates. A few orders continued to trickle 
 through but at prices which did not equal the bare cost 
 of production and diminished so greatly in volume that 
 many dealers could no longer afford to maintain their 
 offices and abandoned business entirely. Disposal of their 
 coke upon any terms soon became a problem for the 
 manufacturers even more serious than producing it at a 
 loss and, gradually, one after another, the mines were 
 shut down. | 
 
 50° 
 
A Triumph of Faith and Courage 
 
 “It was,’’ said Mr. Frick nearly half a century later, 
 ‘an awful time.”’ 
 
 Frick & Co., practically alone, stubbornly persisted. 
 Calculating with his usual precision that deteriora- 
 tion from disuse of a new plant would far exceed the 
 difference between cost and revenue, at even as low as 
 ninety cents a ton, and that readiness to meet demands 
 promptly upon resumption of a profitable basis would 
 give the firm an enormous advantage Over its competi- 
 tors, the manager decided to become his own sales agent 
 and, going to Pittsburgh, hired an office, on his promise 
 to pay. 
 
 Thereafter, through the Spring and torrid Summer, he 
 ‘got up at six, looked over the ovens and set things go- 
 ing, took the train for Pittsburgh at seven, reached his 
 office at ten, ‘legged it’ from factory to factory soliciting 
 orders till three, reached home at about six, and at- 
 tended to the details of mining till bedtime.’’ 
 
 But his training behind the counter stood him in good 
 stead and whatever market there was for Connellsville 
 coke he soon obtained for Frick & Co., and although it 
 was said that he always held his customers, changes 
 were frequent as mills opened or closed, and unremitting 
 attention was essential to the disposal of his product. 
 Occasionally he was obliged to remain at home to scurry 
 around among the farmers for savings, which then had 
 become most meager, with which to make up the deficit 
 from operation. The $37,000 which he borrowed from 
 the trustees of his mother’s portion constituted an excel- 
 lent backlog but was waning rapidly in partial payments 
 
 51 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 for additional lands when his fertile mind evolved a 
 truly dashing stroke. 
 
 A year or two before, the community had furnished 
 money for the building of a ten-mile railroad from Broad- 
 ford to Mt. Pleasant to connect with the Baltimore and 
 Ohio and facilitate the marketing of coke. The invest- 
 ment brought satisfactory returns while business was 
 good, but dividends had ceased and bankruptcy was 
 threatening when the traffic was reduced practically to 
 the Frick shipments. The stockholders, moreover, were 
 in desperate straits and eager to sell their shares, not 
 merely to avert complete loss, but to save their mort- 
 gaged homes. Conditions were approaching a crisis and 
 stoppage of the little railway’s operation, which might 
 in turn enforce closing of the mines, seemed imminent. 
 What to do, what could be done, to avert this peril, was 
 the question perplexing the manager on his way home 
 from Pittsburgh one afternoon when suddenly, after hav- 
 ing discarded every conceivable solution, he hit upon an 
 outside chance and decided to take it while there was 
 yet time for successful negotiation. 
 
 During the evening he obtained a list of the stock- 
 holders, who were widely scattered, and prepared op- 
 tions for the signatures; then very early in the morning, 
 he borrowed Captain Markle’s fast gray single-footer, 
 which subsequently he purchased, and set forth, return- 
 ing late at night worn and weary but hopefully happy, 
 with the options in his pockets. 
 
 On the next day but one, the management of the Balti- 
 more and Ohio railroad were notified that there was a 
 
 §2 
 
A Triumph of Faith and Courage 
 
 young man outside who was ina position to sell them a 
 railroad which he thought they would want to acquire 
 promptly upon terms, for the moment, most favorable. 
 The very audacity of such a proposal, at a time when 
 even the biggest railroads were not buying even the littlest 
 ones, probably won an audience. Whereupon Mr. H. 
 Clay Frick, of Broadford, Penn., accomplished sales- 
 man, calmly exhibited his goods in the form of options 
 upon a property of marked strategic importance, frankly 
 conceded its present undesirability from the standpoint 
 of earning capacity but expatiated at length upon vast 
 development plans of the coking industry which could 
 not fail to enhance its value enormously, both intrin- 
 sically and as a feeder, which might otherwise be di- 
 verted to another trunk line, dwelt briefly upon the ex- 
 traordinarily low price at which, owing to temporarily 
 distressful conditions, it could be obtained, and confi- 
 dently awaited their acceptance at actual cost plus a 
 commission for himself as negotiator and intermediary 
 of fifty thousand dollars. 
 
 No alternative proposition could be entertained and he 
 should consider himself free to withdraw the offer at the 
 expiration of forty-eight hours. His address was H. C. 
 Frick of Frick & Co., Broadford, Pennsylvania, the only 
 firm in the Connellsville region then producing coke in 
 quantity. If they should wish for anything in his line in 
 the near future, he should be happy to meet their agents 
 with a guaranty of full supply at satisfactory prices. 
 
 The transaction was consummated within the specified 
 time; the stockholders were duly compensated greatly 
 
 53 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 to their relief; the feeder surpassed all expectations in 
 earning capacity for the purchasing company within 
 three years; Frick & Co. were assured adequate transpor- 
 tation; and Clay received a check for $50,000, a large 
 part of which he promptly invested in more lands and 
 more ovens while holding the remainder in reserve for 
 possible contingencies. | 
 
 Not least among the helpful effects of this successful 
 negotiation was the strengthening of the favorable opinion 
 already held by Judge Mellon of the capabilities of his 
 youthful customer. That it helped to facilitate the mak- 
 ing of his first mortgage loan, from the proceeds of which 
 he was enabled not only to purchase freight cars, costing 
 fifteen thousand dollars, for coke shipments over the 
 railroad which he had just sold, but also to obtain “a 
 line of discount not exceeding twenty-five thousand 
 dollars for said Frick or Frick & Co.” appears from the 
 recital of his bond. 
 
 Although this was probably the only mortgage pur- 
 chased by T. Mellon & Sons during 1874, when the firm 
 was striving energetically to sell a portion of its own 
 holdings, the circumstance is less noteworthy than it 
 would appear, owing to the fact that real estate still 
 commanded a market at fair prices. The slump came later. 
 
 “Our sales books,’’ the Judge records, ‘‘show this 
 with great exactness. In the first year after the collapse 
 we sold more real estate, and at higher prices, than we 
 did in the second; more in the second than in the third; 
 and so on until 1877, when real estate was unsalable at 
 any price, and business of all kinds was equally depressed.’’ 
 
 54 
 
A Triumph of Faith and Courage 
 
 Nevertheless, as late as December 4th, 1876, Clay 
 Frick induced the bankers to accept a fresh mortgage as 
 security for $76,000 advanced and an agreement to dis- 
 count business paper not exceeding $24,000, thus fixing 
 the sum total of Mellon credits during the bad years at 
 $100,000, resting upon 471 acres of land, coal underly- 
 ing 143 acres and two town lots in Broadford. 
 
 How much additional acreage he acquired from other 
 sources during this period of enforced liquidation can- 
 not be ascertained definitely but it must have been con- 
 siderable, as he was the sole purchaser in a community 
 which had become convinced that the coke industry was 
 dead, if not for all time, at least for many years. But his 
 Own appetite was insatiable and his supply of promissory 
 notes was inexhaustible. Partial payments in cash, how- 
 ever, were often required and he quickly perceived that 
 the expansion which he craved must soon come to an 
 end unless he could devise some method of providing for 
 cutrent operating costs. While credit might and did fur- 
 nish materials in large part, it could not be utilized by 
 workmen to procure the necessaries of life for themselves 
 and their families. 
 
 To meet this requirement young Frick literally made 
 his own money. 
 
 Soon after beginning business, following the custom 
 of the times, he opened a store, for the convenience chiefly 
 of the employés of the firm, and utilized his experience 
 to make modest profits in competition with others. Hav- 
 ing practically no capital available for the enterprise, he 
 bought goods from wholesale merchants in Pittsburgh 
 
 55 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 and, selling for cash, had no difficulty in making pay- 
 ments at stated intervals. Consequently, when themoney 
 became scarce in1874, and the supply houses were obliged 
 to meet the changed conditions in order to keep their 
 concerns going, his reputation for prudence and trust- 
 worthiness was so well established that continuance of 
 his custom upon any reasonable terms was not only wel- 
 comed but sought. 
 
 This gratifying situation gave rise to an opportunity 
 of which he promptly, ingeniously and somewhat au- 
 daciously availed himself by constituting his store a vir- 
 tual clearing house and issuing his firm’s certificates in 
 substitution for the United States currency which had 
 practically disappeared from circulation. His shrewdly 
 designed bills were baldly imitative of those which the 
 Federal Government had made familiar during and fol- 
 lowing the Civil War, of the same size, shape and color, 
 and so like, even typographically, that the difference in 
 labels, though necessarily distinguishable, was not glar- 
 ingly noticeable. The wording was simple, to wit: 
 
 NO. FRICK & CO’S MINES 3 
 DUE BEARER IN MERCHANDISE _ 
 AT OUR STORE AT 
 
 ONE DOLLAR 
 BROADFORD, PA. 1874 
 
 At the left side of the face of the due bill appeared an 
 emblematical figure of an attractive female gleaner in 
 the fields and in the center a picture of husky laborers 
 wielding pickaxes in a mine, both admirably engraved in 
 
 56 
 
A FRICK DOLLAR BILL 
 
A Triumph of Faith and Courage 
 
 the style affected by the Bureau of the Treasury Depart- 
 ment. The reverse side was a plain greenback of the light 
 official shade. 
 
 These bills were used primarily in payment of wages; 
 then by the workmen, at first in purchases at home, but 
 soon elsewhere for other purposes, until presently they 
 constituted the common currency of the entire com- 
 munity; with the result that business increased materially 
 at the store, greatly to the satisfaction of the whole- 
 salers, and Frick & Co. had the use of all of the pro- 
 ceeds received in legal tender from sale of their products, 
 barring only the small portion required from time to 
 time to extend or to expand their credits in Pittsburgh, 
 and the mere cost of printing the good-looking bills. 
 
 A bitter blow fell toward the end of the trying year. 
 From the day when he first saw light in the little Spring 
 House, beginning with the anxious periods of childhood 
 and boyhood and continuing through his aspiring young 
 manhood, there can be no doubt that Grandmother Over- 
 holt served as his chief guide and sympathizer and when 
 his grandfather passed away in the critical year of his 
 majority, she succeeded naturally to a position of main 
 reliance in his daring adventure. She was in her eighty- 
 fourth year when his cousin and partner, Abraham Over- 
 holt Tinstman, made these entries in his diary: 
 
 Oct. 11.—Clay and I went to Overton on horseback. Took din- 
 ner with Uncle Jacob. Spent part of afternoon with Aunt Abbie. 
 Grandmother was very poorly. Fear she cannot live very long. 
 
 Oct. 19.—Came from Uniontown on train. Clay and I went to 
 Overton to see Grandma. 
 
 Wi) 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 Oct. 25.—Clay and I went to see Grandmother. Found her very 
 sick with little prospect of living many days. 
 
 Nov. 1.—At Mill Grove, then West Newton. Rode from Con- 
 nellsville on horseback. Went to church. Grandma died at 5 p.m. 
 
 Noy. 4.—Was all night at Aunt Abbie’s. Attended Grandmoth- 
 er’sfuneral. It was very large. Thus ended the life of a great and 
 good woman. 
 
 Clay took his loss grievously. ‘‘He wasn’t the brood- 
 ing kind and never showed much of what he felt but he 
 couldn’t seem to smile and his eyes were very sad.’’ He 
 was ill equipped at the time to bear the blow. Torn men- 
 tally by anxiety over his affairs, strained to utmost ca- 
 pacity by constant need of finding expedients, physically 
 wearied by five hours daily on trains and incessant trudg- 
 ing of the streets of Pittsburgh, and worn to a shadow, 
 his power of resisting the malady of his youth waned 
 with the passing of his mainstay, and further ominous 
 entries began to appear in Mr. Tinstman’s diary. 
 
 Jan. 25, 1875.—Clay came home from Williamsport, sick. 
 
 Jan. 26.—Clay is very sick with Inflammatory Rheumatism. Dr. 
 Phillips called to see him. 
 
 Jan. 27.—Clay still very sick. 
 
 Jan. 28.—Clay no better. Uncle C. S. Oreshelt here again. 
 
 Jan. 29.—Clay is a little better, but very sick and restless. 
 
 Jan. 30.—Clay not so well today as yesterday. He is very sick. 
 
 Feb. 2.—I wrote Dr. Phillips (Connellsville) to get Dr. Fuller 
 Cof Uniontown). He did. They had a consultation. They say Clay 
 is in a critical condition. 
 
 Feb. 3.—Clay no better. Was with him most of the day. 
 
 Feb. 4.—Clay not any better. Think he is not as well as he was. 
 I telegraphed for Dr. Dixon, Fuller and Phillips again this after- 
 noon. Dixon came in the evening. Frank came in the evening. 
 Clay is very low. They don’t think he can get well. 
 
 58 
 
MRS. ABRAHAM OVERHOLT 
 (Grandmother) 
 
A Triumph of Faith and Courage 
 
 Feb. 5.—Dixon, Fuller and Phillips were all here in the morn- 
 ing. They all agreed that he was some better, think he may get 
 well. I was home all day and up with Clay last night. 
 
 Feb. 6.—Clay still improving slowly. 
 
 Feb. 7.—Was with Clay all night; is still improving but very 
 weak. 
 
 Feb. 8.—Clay better but not able to sit up yet. 
 
 Feb. 9.—Clay not doing very well. Is getting a little trouble- 
 some, wants to eat. 
 
 Feb. 14.—Washed and dressed Clay and left him feeling better. 
 
 Feb. 17.—Came over from Philadelphia last night. Arrived 
 Pittsburgh 8 A.M. Spent day there. Home in evening—found Clay 
 better. 
 
 Feb. 19.—Clay still improving. 
 
 March 9.—Clay was at the office for the first time in six weeks. 
 
 March 10.—Clay and I walked up to Morgan’s mines. 
 
 March 12.—Clay and I went to Pittsburgh. C. S. O. was with 
 us. This was Clay’s first trip for seven weeks. We talked of con- 
 solidating Frick and Company and Morgan and Company. 
 
 March 14.—Clay came to Connellsville on horseback, and I 
 walked home with him (he on horseback). 
 
 _ March 21.—Clay did not get up until after 11 A.M. He got quite 
 sick and had to stay in his chair all day. 
 
 Match 25.—Clay and I went to Pittsburgh on accommodation 
 train. Met Cassius C. Markle with Morgan and Company offer 
 to organize stock company. 
 
 The proposed consolidation of the Morgan and Frick 
 companies did not take place. Clay discovered quickly 
 that while, during his seven weeks of illness, his own 
 small organization had functioned satisfactorily, the 
 friendly rival concern had become so widely extended 
 and so deeply involved that he could not see his way 
 clear to shoulder the additional burden without gravely 
 imperilling the property which he had built up and now 
 deemed fairly secure. 
 
 59 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 Doubtless his enfeebled condition was a factor in con- 
 sideration but in any case the decision soon proved to 
 have been a wise one. Morgan & Co. went steadily from 
 bad to worse and the partners were soon driven to last 
 resorts. Clay helped to the extent of his ability by pur- 
 chasing the interests of Mr. Tinstman and Mr. Rist in 
 Frick & Co. and paying all he could raise in cash, but 
 Colonel Morgan was unable to produce his larger share 
 and the utter collapse that followed showed unmistakably 
 that, if Clay had made the combination, his resources 
 would have been wholly inadequate and Frick & Co. 
 also would have been engulfed in bankruptcy. 
 
 But Mr. Tinstman, a true Overholt, was so far from 
 being dismayed by even the loss of all he had in the 
 world that he recorded sententiously in his diary: 
 
 July 1.—Married Cornelia Markle. 
 Sept. 27.—Went to West Overton. Party at Clay’s house. 
 
 The two cousins remained firm friends and continued 
 to be mutually helpful through the lean years following, 
 with the result that early in the eighties Mr. Tinstman, 
 operating in other fields and profiting from his knowl- 
 edge and prescience, not only retrieved his losses but 
 acquired a handsome fortune from the very industry 
 which seemed to have dragged him to irretrievable ruin. 
 
 It was four years almost to a day, after he began busi- 
 ness for himself, when Clay Frick emerged from his sick- 
 room and feebly made his way to the familiar office of 
 Frick & Co. Somewhat possibly to his surprise and much 
 surely to his gratification, he quickly discovered that he 
 had builded better than he had imagined. “Bills and 
 
 60 
 
ABRAHAM O. TINSTMAN 
 (Cousin) 
 
A Triumph of Faith and Courage 
 
 Accounts Payable’ had not diminished, but neither had 
 they increased materially; creditors had considerately 
 refrained from pressing demands and had granted renew- 
 als willingly; business was proceeding peaceably and, 
 of course, unprofitably, as usual; and everybody was un- 
 feignedly glad to see him out and about again. 
 
 Congratulatory messages from Pittsburgh in particu- 
 lar were most reassuring. Not only was his chief and 
 practically sole asset, credit, unimpaired, but apparently 
 stronger than ever. He could not help feeling that he had 
 won valuable confidence, which in turn promptly be- 
 got confidence in himself. While, of course, he had not 
 fully established himself as a man of affairs, he was 
 clearly on his way; after all, he was only twenty-five 
 and—well, ‘‘he went home after a while a little tired, 
 but looking pretty happy;”’ and the next day he ‘‘walked 
 up to the Morgan mines.”’ 
 
 But the illness which had proved so nearly fatal had 
 conveyed a useful warning. Disdainful as he was then, 
 and continued through life to be, of restrictions imposed 
 by physicians, he recognized the necessity of giving Na- 
 ture a chance to aid in restoration of his health. It was 
 a favorable time, in any case, to abridge his activities. 
 General trade conditions were still very bad and showed 
 no signs of early improvement, national finances were 
 chaotic as a consequence of continuing inflation, railway 
 companies were either bankrupt or destitute of funds and 
 iron and steel concerns, deprived of markets, had no use 
 for coke. 
 
 Obviously Frick & Co. must bide their time and could 
 
 61 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 well afford to do so while competitors were going to 
 rack and ruin and coal lands were decreasing steadily in 
 value. If conditions should remain static or grow worse, 
 the firm’s preservation would be easier without addi- 
 tional commitments and charges; and if they should take 
 a quick turn for the better, the manager was not likely to 
 forfeit opportunities through inattentiveness. In either 
 event, the firm had only to retain the advantages already 
 gained to control the situation. Already, “Connellsville 
 coke,’’ asa term for the best variety, had been supplanted 
 by ‘‘Frick coke,’’ a trade mark of distinct commercial 
 value which still, at the end of half a century, holds its 
 supremacy. Presently, moreover, as doubtless he foresaw 
 to be inevitable, Clay was to reap in part the rewards 
 of four years of incessant toil and desperate struggle, by 
 becoming the sole owner of the one really “going” con- 
 cern in the district which, unaided, he had created out 
 of relatively nothing and held fully prepared to meet in- 
 stantaneously the call for tremendous expansion which 
 he never doubted was bound to come. 
 
 Content, in these circumstances, to seek physical re- 
 cuperation and mental relaxation, Clay spent most of his 
 daytime during the Summer of 1875 on the back of the 
 horse which he had purchased from Captain Markle for 
 twenty-five dollars, following his successful sortie for 
 tailway stock options, which had yielded his first ten- 
 strike commission of fifty thousand dollars. If he made 
 incidental observations of promising coal lands while he 
 jogged over the hills, nobody else became the wiser, and 
 he made no purchases or offers. After supper he “‘used 
 
 62 
 
A Triumph of Faith and Courage 
 
 to go over to the office and take a look at the day’s ac- 
 counts and then generally dropped into the Tinstmans'’ 
 to play a game of chess with A.O. and tease Cornelia,’ 
 and then went home to read till time to go to bed. 
 The enforced respite proved highly beneficial. Before 
 the year ended his health was fully restored, his weight 
 had increased fifteen pounds and open-air exercise had 
 contributed to his countenance the ruddy hue which 
 never afterward, even while he was recovering from the 
 shock of attempted assassination, wholly forsook it. 
 The beginning of 1876, signalizing his twenty-seventh 
 year, brought a return of normal restiveness; he had 
 “‘loafed’’ long enough; so presently, after somewhat pro- 
 longed negotiations, he opened a brand new ‘‘Store Day 
 Book and Journal—H. Clay Frick’’ and made this initial 
 ead Monday, March 20, 1876. 
 ~ Commenced store business here this day. Bought out stock, fix- 
 tures, etc., from E. H. Reid at invoice price and 10% added. 
 Amount in all, $5,418.95. Gave my personal note for same. 
 Although the store was conducted chiefly for the ac- 
 commodation of the neighborhood and the handling of 
 pay-rolls and petty accounts for the firm, the balance 
 sheet at the end of the year showed holdings of more 
 than three hundred thousand dollars in real estate and 
 mortgages, representing apparently the proprietor’s per- 
 sonal acquisitions in addition to those of the firm. En- 
 tries covering renewals, reductions and transfers of 
 various promissory notes appear, but none of significance 
 until December 14, 1877, when ‘“‘the proceeds of a note 
 
 for $8,400 made by me’’ were advanced to Daniel David- 
 63 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 son and Alfred ‘Patterson, “‘in order to start their business 
 properly at Morgan mines.’’ This apparently served to 
 hold the property and to put the plant into working 
 condition pending resumption of a policy of expansion. 
 The plan was simple yet ingenious, namely, to keep in a 
 position to complete the purchase and start the only com- 
 peting ovens in the district, instantly upon a revival of 
 business which would produce profits. 
 
 It seems altogether probable that he could have carried 
 through this transaction, as usual, on credit but, partly 
 no doubt as a second lesson from his protracted illness, 
 he decided to enlist capital instead of borrowing money, 
 hoping thereby to obtain the advantage of a useful and 
 resourceful partnership. : 
 
 With this purpose in view, he offered and sold an in- 
 terest in the business to Mr. E. M. Ferguson, a Pitts- 
 burgh capitalist of high standing, completed the ‘“Mor- 
 gan investment’’ with the proceeds, supplemented by 
 $5,000 on his own account, and on March goth, 1878, re- 
 christened the firm ‘‘H. C. Frick & Co.’’ He was now, 
 in his twenty-ninth year, fully equipped in experience, 
 in physical vigor, in manufacturing capacity and in 
 financial backing, to meet all comers in his chosen field 
 at the very moment which, with accurate prevision, his 
 judgment had foreseen as most propitious. 
 
 He had not long to wait. Financial conditions through- 
 out the country had been improving steadily for some 
 time and already manufacturers and business men were 
 discounting the stabilizing effects of resumption of specie 
 payments on the first of the year. New England was 
 
 64 
 
AT THE AGE OF FOURTEEN 
 
roe AR 
 
 + 
 
A Triumph of Faith and Courage 
 
 peopling the Middle West, whose restive resident set- 
 tlers, in turn, were filling up the vast grain territories 
 beyond the Mississippi. Renewal upon a large scale of 
 immigration which had been severely checked in 1873 
 reflected the resuscitation of common faith abroad in the 
 future of the States. Austro-Hungary, Bohemia, Italy 
 and Poland were sending the vanguard of the great army 
 of laborers soon to fill the manufacturing plants. Pitts- 
 burgh and Cleveland were pushing Buffalo from tenth to 
 thirteenth place in population. 
 
 Nearly five hundred railroads sold under foreclosure 
 of mortgages during the preceding three years had been 
 reorganized under plans which provided funds for recon- 
 struction. Replacement of streaks of rust with new and 
 heavy rails suddenly became an absolute necessity of the 
 big combinations effected under the lead of the Pennsy]l- 
 vania and Vanderbilt systems. 
 
 Iron and steel factories could not resume operations 
 rapidly enough to meet the demands. Furnaces yawned 
 for fuel. Pittsburgh cried out to Connellsville for coke, 
 coke, coke, only to find a single firm producing eighty 
 per cent of the entire output and the only one capable of 
 quick and tremendous expansion. Ironmasters, no less 
 than purchasing agents, flocked in eager competition to 
 little Broadford where, at a plain desk in his modest 
 office, calmly sat a sturdy, alert, keen-eyed, soft-spoken 
 young man of few words but of amazing activities, no 
 less surely than unpretentiously conscious of his com- 
 plete mastery of the situation. 
 
 He disclosed the condition and expectations of the 
 65 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 firm with entire frankness to one and all alike. The pre- 
 vious week's output had been so many tons; the next 
 week’s would be so many more from additional ovens; 
 further increases would follow steadily from rapid con- 
 struction already under way; more than two thousand 
 acres of land had been acquired; the plant would com- 
 prise nearly one thousand ovens within a year; there was 
 no stock on hand for sale at the moment; he would make 
 no discrimination between purchasers and no contracts for 
 future delivery; he would sell all coke as produced “at the 
 market.’ That was all. Clearly, the salesman, no less 
 than the manufacturer, as reported five years previously 
 by Mr. Corey to Judge Mellon, ‘‘knew his business.”’ 
 
 Already the price had advanced materially from the 
 unprofitable ninety cents a ton; it now leaped suddenly 
 to two dollars; then to three, again somewhat hesitat- 
 ingly to four; and finally to five dollars a ton, of which 
 three-fifths was net profit. 
 
 Both production and construction were ruashael to the 
 very top notch of capacity; employés numbered nearly a 
 thousand and car-loads shipped daily nearly a hundred 
 before the year 1879 was ended. 
 
 On the evening of December roth, his thirtieth birth- 
 day, Clay Frick dropped into the store on his way home 
 from a prolonged game of chess following supper with 
 his cousins, took a look at the books preliminary to the 
 annual accounting, bought a fresh five-cent Havana cigar 
 on credit, lighted it thoughtfully, strolled placidly around 
 the corner to the Washabaugh House and went to bed. 
 
 He had made his million. 
 
 66 
 
% 
 Interlude 
 
 HE yeat 1880 opened auspiciously for H. C. 
 
 Prick & Co. Orders were plentiful and business 
 
 was brisk; wages were satisfactory to the 
 
 miners and profits were equally gratifying to 
 the firm; the little village of Broadford resounded from 
 daylight to dusk with the clanking of freight cars fetch- 
 ing building materials and carrying to market every ton 
 of precious coke that could be produced ; the whole coun- 
 try round, so recently sleepy and despondent, was stirred 
 by unceasing activities of farmers and tradesmen; and, 
 best of all, not a cloud could be discerned upon the sky 
 of widening prosperity. 
 
 Free now for the first time from financial exigencies 
 and strengthened in both resources and confidence by 
 his partnership, the head of the firm concentrated his 
 energies upon the art of organization whose mastery was 
 destined to constitute the basis of his subsequent achieve- 
 ments. He had little to go upon. The potency of this 
 mighty force, except in military undertakings and to a 
 limited extent in railway operation, had never been rec- 
 ognized in commercial affairs although for centuries it 
 had been fully appreciated by the Church of Rome. Great 
 industries had flourished abroad, notably in England, 
 
 but rather as segregated units profiting from arduous 
 67 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 endeavors than as aggregations skillfully blended into 
 integral agencies designed primarily to attain highest 
 efficiency through eliminations of waste. 
 
 That the eye of this young man’s mind should have been 
 among the first, if not indeed the very first, to perceive the 
 full efficacy of the methodic process whose development 
 has given to America its present world supremacy must 
 be attributed probably to sheer instinct. Observation 
 surely contributed little and experience, at that early day, 
 of course, nothing at all. We can only conclude that this 
 was one of those rare instances of a correct theory being 
 educed contrarily from experimental practice. 
 
 In any case, when Springtime came, the various factors 
 of mining, manufacture, transportation and selling had 
 been welded into a smoothly-working machine, whose 
 essential attributes required only expansion to assure 
 the ultimate success of the gigantic steel corporation, 
 and the originator of the marvelous system saw his way 
 clear to take his first holiday. He had become well ac- 
 quainted with Baltimore and Philadelphia and had made 
 fleeting excursions as far north as New York and south 
 to Washington. The West possessing no lure for a divert- 
 ing jaunt of pleasure, he determined to go to Europe if 
 a congenial traveling companion could be found. Of 
 those available within range of his acquaintance but one 
 seemed to meet all requirements. 
 
 And so it came about that one morning early in May 
 Clay Frick appeared at the Mellon banking house upon 
 a quest quite different from that which had first drawn 
 him to that financial haven. He was not now calling 
 
 68 
 
Interlude 
 
 upon a stranger to solicit aid which he feared might be 
 denied but upon a friend to proffer a suggestion which 
 he hoped would be accepted. Judge Mellon had with- 
 drawn from business in 1878 and had installed as his suc- 
 cessor in the bank his son Andrew, who, even before at- 
 taining his majority, had evinced exceptional aptitude 
 for financial management. Clay was twenty-six and An- 
 drew twenty-two at the time of their first meeting in 1876. 
 When the former had accomplished the purpose of his 
 visit and had left for return to Broadford, the Judge 
 turned to his son and said: 
 
 “That young man has great promise. He is very care- 
 ful in making statements, always exact and wholly re- 
 liable. He is also able, energetic, industrious, resource- 
 ful, self-confident, somewhat impetuous and inclined to 
 be daring on his own account, but so cautious in his 
 dealings with others disposed to take chances that I 
 doubt if he would make a successful banker. If he con- 
 tinues along his own line as he has begun, he will go far 
 unless he over-reaches. That is his only danger.”’ 
 
 Acquaintanceship, enhanced by mutual attraction of 
 two somewhat similar, though more distinctively sup- 
 plementary, personalities, ripened rapidly into a friend- 
 ship and virtual partnership which continued, without 
 break or rift, to mutual advantage of amazing proportions, 
 for more than forty years. The four years’ difference in 
 age and experience received tacit recognition from the 
 beginning, partly as the consequence of a slight incident 
 which tended to fix the respective personal attitudes of 
 
 each to the other. 
 69 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 Very soon after the two young men had scrutinized 
 each other inquiringly, Andrew accepted an invitation to 
 “spend Saturday and Sunday’’—the English term ““week- 
 end’’ being then unknown in Pittsburgh—at Mt. Pleasant 
 and, arriving at his lodgings early in the afternoon, was 
 surprised to find his host engrossed in study; surprised 
 and somewhat dismayed for the excellent reason that 
 ‘heavy reading’ had not been comprised in his joys of 
 anticipation. Some weeks previously the philosophic 
 Judge had become deeply interested in the publication 
 of Herbert Spencer’s novel reflections and, owing to fail- 
 ing eye-sight, had drawn so heavily during the long eve- 
 nings upon the dutiful patience and modulated voice of 
 his son that Andrew had gleefully welcomeda respite. 
 
 What, then, must have been his emotions upon dis- 
 covering his prospective playfellow confronting a table 
 full of books, of which Addison’s Essays and Macaulay's 
 History of England were the most conspicuous, while 
 closely perusing Chesterfield’s Letters to his Son, may 
 readily be imagined. Slightly awestruck by the spectacle 
 and overwhelmingly appalled by the prospect, he gulp- 
 ingly wished himself back to what had become largely 
 a mechanical rendition of Spencerian ontology, but for 
 a moment only. The admonitions of the master of man- 
 nerliness had not been absorbed in vain; instantly, the 
 really charming courtesy, derived from instinct and per- 
 fected by cultivation, that became noteworthy in Henry 
 Clay Frick, asserted its predominance, and Andrew Mel- 
 lon breathed forthwith the atmosphere of frank friend- 
 liness untouched by affectation. 
 
 70 
 
Interlude 
 
 It is nevertheless an interesting circumstance that, 
 during the full two-score years of intimate relationship 
 which ensued, the most distinguished financier of his 
 time invariably addressed his comrade as ‘‘Mr. Frick,”’ 
 whilethe latter, with unfailing affectionate note, referred 
 to his closest friend and his brother Richard, regardless 
 of their years, as ‘‘the Mellon boys.”’ 
 
 Naturally, after three years of close and continuous 
 application at his desk, the young banker eagerly wel- 
 comed the suggestion of a trip abroad and, having his 
 affairs in perfect order as usual, he readily arranged for 
 an absence of four months. Presently Clay proposed to 
 increase the party by inviting two acquaintances to join 
 them. One of those suggested was a popular young man 
 who wrote poetry, sang gleefully and told amusing stor- 
 ies. Andrew readily assented to this thoughtful provi- 
 sion of entertainment enhanced by the desirability of 
 having “‘some one along to do the talking.’’ The other 
 was an older man, no more loquacious than themselves 
 and commonly considered a dull companion. He could 
 perceive no advantage from this addition and only ac- 
 quiesced doubtfully upon a vague assurance that there 
 was a ‘‘special reason’’ for the inclusion. 
 
 So the party of four sailed joyously in June and, land- 
 ing at Queenstown in excellent form, reached the Blarney 
 Stone on the Fourth of July, when the leader delighted 
 his companions by producing an American flag from 
 some hiding place and waving it over their heads while 
 they performed the customary rite. Thence they jaunted, 
 as boys on a lark, to Dublin, Belfast, Glasgow, Edin- 
 
 71 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 burgh, London, seeing all the sights, and presently 
 crossed to Paris for a brief sojourn, followed by ‘‘a dash 
 across the continent’’ to Venice, their objective point. 
 Meanwhile, incited by growing wanderlust, the older 
 companion conceived the idea of extending his tour 
 around the world, and the leader of the expedition gra- 
 ciously facilitated the execution of the bold project by 
 purchasing his coal lands in the Connellsville region, 
 greatly to the advantage of H. C. Frick & Co., and the 
 amusement of the young banker who then comprehended 
 the mysterious ‘‘special reason’’ for fetching the owner 
 of the property along. 
 
 Clay and Andrew returned home in Qesiheis not only 
 invigorated mentally and physically but so pleased with 
 their experience and cemented attachment that they toured 
 Europe together many times. One effect of the initial trip 
 was arousal of the former’s interest in the other sex as a 
 consequence of his admiration of the attractive daughter 
 of an American banker in Paris, resulting in an under- 
 standing which proved, however, upon his return, to have 
 been only tentative and was soon tacitly ignored by mu- 
 tual assent. But the inclination persisted; moreover, he 
 was approaching thirty and the question of future do- 
 mesticity called for grave attention, as his young friend 
 was soon to learn. 
 
 The season of 1880-81 was noteworthy for social activ- 
 ities in the Iron City and the popularity of Andrew Mel- 
 lon and the growing fame of Clay Frick brought invita- 
 tions to many functions, of which the very first of impor- 
 tance proved to be a landmark in personal history. This 
 
 72 
 
Interlude 
 
 was a reception attended by all of the elite and among the 
 first to arrive, somewhat conscious but quite undismayed 
 in their finest raiment, were the two friends who lost no 
 time, after making their obeisances after the manner pre- 
 scribed by the great Lord Chesterfield himself, in ensconc- 
 ing themselves in an embrasure from which they could 
 scan the brilliant assemblage. Presently the observant 
 younger became conscious that his companion’s penetrat- 
 ing eyes were fixed upon a most charming young woman, 
 barely out of her teens, in the center of an animated group 
 and, waiting patiently, he soon heard a whisper: 
 
 “There is the handsomest girl in the room. Do you 
 know who she 1s?’ 
 
 Hedid. She was Miss Adelaide Howard Childs. 
 
 “Daughter of Asa P.2’’ 
 
 She was,—the youngest. 
 
 ‘‘T want you to introduce me.”’ 
 
 Andrew demurred; his acquaintanceship was slight; 
 besides, an older person, better known, would be more 
 impressive; he would try to find such a one and succeeded, 
 with the result that in a few moments Clay, belying 
 his reputation for reticence, found himself in an eager 
 conversation which ended with a request for permis- 
 sion, which was graciously granted, to call on the fol- 
 lowing Sunday afternoon. The proverbial ‘‘first sight’’ had 
 sufficed. 
 
 It was not quite clear that the permittance comprised 
 another but, yielding finally to his friend’s insistence 
 and his own pardonable curiosity, Andrew consented to 
 ‘‘stand by’’ and, at the appointed hour, the two young 
 
 73 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 men, crossing the lawn of the Childs residence, perceived 
 Miss Adelaide conversing placidly with her elder sister, 
 with whom presently the youthful banker found him- 
 self chatting while the two most concerned strolled 
 about the place. When the hour struck for departure Clay 
 Frick realized that the delicate task confronting him 
 was more difficult than any he had ever essayed, but 
 this very fact enhanced his determination, and after three 
 long months of patient and persistent wooing, he was 
 rewarded by acceptance of an engagement ring, and three 
 months later, on December 15th, 1881, a very pretty wed- 
 ding took place. It was universally recognized as a highly 
 suitable match of the most successful industrialist of his 
 yeats in the community with the beautiful and accom- 
 plished daughter of a distinguished New England family, 
 and all relatives on both sides were pleased. 
 
 Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Boston 
 wete duly visited in leisurely fashion,—and finally New 
 York, where the happy couple occupied an elegant suite 
 in the famous Fifth Avenue Hotel, and were entertained 
 at midday dinner at the exclusive Windsor Hotel by Mr. 
 Andrew Carnegie and his revered mother, each of whom 
 they met for the first time. It was a noteworthy occasion. 
 The two gentlemen, one voluble and hilarious, the other 
 reticent and courteous, eyed each other thoughtfully dur- 
 ing the repast, at the end of which the host sprang a sur- 
 prise upon the ladies by adding to an exuberant toast the 
 announcement that Mr. Frick and himself had entered 
 into partnership. | 
 
 A moment of silence ensued and then the old Scots- 
 
 74 
 
Interlude 
 
 woman, recovering from her amazement, remarked 
 drily: 
 
 “Surely, Andrew, that will be a fine thing for Mr. 
 Frick, but what will be the gain to us?”’ 
 
 Gaily her son reassured her while the guests quietly 
 prepared for departure,—and thus casually and oddly 
 was heralded the opening of a new chapter in their own 
 and many other lives. 
 
 75 
 
VI 
 Enter the Carnegies 
 
 HILE Henry Clay Frick was lifting his 
 
 coke company to a pre-eminent position, 
 
 Thomas Morrison Carnegie was achiey- 
 
 ing like triumphs in the steel industry. 
 
 Although his elder brother Andrew, his senior by eight 
 years, still retained stock control of the Carnegie con- 
 cerns, his directive interest became incidental to other 
 activities when he moved from Pittsburgh to New York 
 in 1867 and, opening an office downtown, engaged in con- 
 struction work and the marketing of bonds, chiefly for 
 the Pennsylvania Railroad, and Thomas conducted the 
 iron manufacturing throughout the critical panic period. 
 But for the overshadowing effects of the elder’s extra- 
 ordinary fameand his own untimely decease, the younger 
 would surely have shared the credit for placing the name 
 Carnegie at the head of steel manufacture; indeed, but 
 for his energy, resourcefulness, skill, tact, and popular- 
 ity, there can be no doubt that the value of the Carnegie 
 properties would have suffered severely from the finan- 
 cial stress of the time. In any case, with the aid of his 
 sagacious partner, Henry Phipps, Jr., who had been his 
 playmateasa schoolboy, henot only weathered thestorm 
 but, when only twenty-seven years old, disregarded the 
 opposition of his brother and on his own account joined 
 
 76 
 
Enter the Carnegies 
 
 with his father-in-law, William Coleman, in a specula- 
 tive undertaking, out of which in 1874 sprang into being 
 the big Edgar Thomson works, which soon surpassed 
 those of the Carnegies in valuation and earning capacity 
 and, by shrewd manipulation, were incorporated in 1881 
 in the new firm of Carnegie Brothers & Co., Limited, 
 with $5,000,000 capital, of which, it transpired, when 
 the deal had been consummated, Andrew Carnegie per- 
 sonally owned a clear majority. 
 
 Meanwhile, Mr. Thomas Carnegie and Mr. Frick, as 
 buyer and seller respectively of coke, had formed an ac- 
 quaintanceship affording mutual commercial advantage 
 and personal gratification. The two had attained success 
 along similar lines while still in the early thirties and 
 each admired, respected and trusted the other. Although 
 Mr. Carnegie was the older by four years, in experience 
 their ages were approximately the same and they had 
 many attributes, as well as aspirations, in common. It 
 can scarcely be doubted that, in his remarkable history 
 of the steel company, James Howard Bridge reflected the 
 mature judgment of Mr. Frick in the following striking 
 tribute to one who, for reasons already noted, was de- 
 prived of just recognition: 
 
 Mr. T. M. Carnegie’s abilities were too numerous and complex 
 to be summed up in a sentence. He was a man of sterling integrity; 
 and it was a common saying in Pittsburgh that his word was better 
 than some men’s bond. He had remarkable judgment; and his opin- 
 ion on commercial questions was valued above that of much older 
 and more experienced men. Quick and keen in his perceptions, 
 cautious but progressive in his ideas, faithful to his engagements, 
 and just in all his dealings, he gave to his company that which 
 corporations are habitually lacking, a conscience. His death in 
 
 77 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 1886, at the early age of forty-three, was a loss not only to his as- 
 sociates, but to the whole business world in Pittsburgh. To this 
 day all who knew him, great and small, rich and poor, workman 
 and master, revere his memory. 
 
 That young Carnegie’s estimate of the younger Frick 
 would have corresponded to this appraisal of himself 
 there can be no doubt. It was but natural, therefore, that 
 the two, as a consequence of harmonious cooperation in 
 their business dealings, should have conceived the idea 
 of a closer relationship. The amalgamation of the steel 
 companies, resulting instantly in Carnegie Brothers & 
 Co. becoming by far the largest purchaser of fuel simulta- 
 neously with the increasing need of additional capital for 
 further expansion of coke-producing facilities, brought 
 this project to a head and the terms of the “‘partnership”’ 
 announced by Mr. Andrew Carnegie at the luncheon in 
 the Windsor Hotel were finally agreed upon while Mr. 
 Frick was on his wedding journey. 
 
 The “‘H. C. Frick Coke Company’’ was formed to take 
 over the firm’s assests and liabilities and to provide fresh 
 capital through the sale of stock, of which $2,000,000 
 was issued in 40,000 shares of $50 par value to original 
 holders, as recorded on May 5th, 1882, as follows: 
 
 Andrew Carnegie 1,000 shares 
 Thomas M. Carnegie 500 
 Henry Phipps, Jr. 500 
 H. C. Frick 680 
 E. M. Ferguson 660 
 Walton Ferguson 660 
 Carnegie Bros. & Co., Ltd. 2,500 
 H. C. Frick & Co. 33,500 
 
 40,000 shares 
 
 78 
 
Enter the Carnegies 
 
 After the 33,500 shares allotted to the old firm had 
 been divided in thirds between the two Fergusons and 
 Mr. Frick, the actual ownership of shares stood: Fergu- 
 sons, 23,654; Frick, 11,846; Carnegie group, 4,500. Thus 
 Mr. Frick had reduced his percentage of interest in the 
 property from 331% to29!4 per cent, but this he was will- 
 ing to do in consideration of the $325,000 cash provided, 
 assumption of the old firm’s indebtedness by the stronger 
 corporation, greatly enhanced credit for purposes of expan- 
 sion, and association with his largest customer, which 
 could not fail to assure a market and stabilize the business. 
 
 The wisdom of his course was demonstrated promptly. 
 In the first fourteen months of operation, ending on Feb- 
 ruary 28th, 1883, no less than 946,065 tons of coke were 
 sold, the net profits exceeded $400,000, the equivalent 
 of 20 per cent on the entire capital, liens assumed amount- 
 ing to $214,000 were paid and $44,000 was invested in 
 new properties. The month of March showed a further 
 reduction of $44,000 liens and $20,000 applied to new 
 purchases, leaving only $54,000 of indebtedness to be 
 met during the succeeding ten months. In these circum- 
 stances Mr. Frick urged enlistment of additional capital 
 to provide immediate expansion, and Thomas Carnegie, 
 on the ground, approved, but Andrew, in New York, 
 demurred. Whereupon Mr. Frick, in his first letter to the 
 senior written by his own hand, set forth the situation 
 succinctly and frankly in these words: 
 
 ' Aug. 13th 1883. 
 My dear Mr. Carnegie: 
 By the end of this season there will be 10,100 ovens in the Con- 
 
 nellsville region proper, of which as we now stand, we shall have 
 
 79 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 but one-tenth, so that to keep our position we must do something 
 towards securing new properties. Our trade is large and steadily 
 growing. We do not have coke for our orders, neither can it be 
 bought at present and handled at a profit—I do not think we will 
 ever see the time when coke properties can be bought cheaper. 
 There is no industry today wherein the demand so nearly equals 
 the supply and the demand in new channels is increasing rapidly. 
 
 The C. G. C. Co. & Hutchinson properties are the best outside of 
 what we have. They were not built to sell; are good in every re- 
 spect—good coal—good improvements and, what is of no small 
 importance, well located. 
 
 Together their producing capacity is equal to ours—not quite so 
 many ovens, but larger, and owned and operated in common with 
 ours about as cheaply operated.—So in fine, together equal to ours 
 in production and with 1400 acres of more coal for $500,000 less 
 than ours is capitalized at. Fourteen hundred acres of such coal 
 cannot be bought for less than $250 per acre, or $350. In that view, 
 you have a plant with as large producing capacity as ours costing 
 $850,000 less money. 
 
 Taking it for granted that it is desirable to acquire these proper- 
 ties at the prices at which we have them optional, is it not wise to 
 have a good strong party join us in increasing our capital to such 
 an extent as will leave us comparatively free of debt? If we increase 
 to $3,000,000, that will give us money sufficient to pay for C. G. C. 
 Co. entire and about all we need pay on Hutchinson for five years. 
 
 Our office expense will be about the same in conducting the busi- 
 ness as it now is, which is no inconsiderable item, and I do not see 
 why we should not handle as large a proportion of outside coke. 
 
 I am free to say, I do not like the tone of your letter. Outside of 
 my desire to follow and accept your views as the largest stock- 
 holder in our Company—lI have great admiration for your acknowl- 
 edged abilities and your general good judgment, and would much 
 prefer to defer to your views—in the matter of the values of the prop- 
 erties in question and the propriety of increasing our stock I shall 
 have to differ with you and I think the future will bear me out. 
 
 Everything that has been done so far, has been with the consent 
 of your brother, and with his approval. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 H. C, Frick. 
 
 80 
 
Enter the Carnegies 
 
 Whatever annoyance Mr. Carnegie may have felt at 
 the discovery that his new partner held tenaciously to 
 his convictions seems to have been offset by the tribute 
 to his own sagacity, and he finally assented to the in- 
 crease in stock. But Mr. Frick’s appetite for expansion 
 and consolidation was insatiable and before the year 
 ended he proposed that the company purchase the hold- 
 ings of himself and associates in properties which had 
 not been included in the original transaction. 
 
 “What I think you should do,” he wrote on November 
 13th, “is to agree that the Frick Coke Company purchase 
 our interests in those properties for $600,000,—thus ena- 
 bling us to pay up that million of Frick & Co. increase— 
 and buy from us $500,000 of Frick Coke Co. stock, giv- 
 ing us your paper at three, four and five years for the same. 
 You will then be the owner of one-half of Frick Coke Co. 
 which will have over eight thousand acres of coal and 
 about three thousand ovens. It does seem to me that we 
 should have all of our coke interests consolidated.” 
 
 This was a shrewd appeal to Mr. Carnegie’s avidity 
 for actual stock control of every company in which he 
 was interested. It seems strange, at first glance, that Mr. 
 Frick should have made it, but Mr. Carnegie had already 
 become the largest stockholder through purchase of 
 shares from the Fergusons and could readily obtain more 
 at a price whenever he should see fit to do so. To this Mr. 
 Frick had no objection. Obviously the Carnegies could 
 be more helpful as partners than outsiders if their good 
 faith could be safely assumed and, upon this point, his 
 transactions with the younger brother were convincing. 
 
 SI 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 The general advantage bound to accruefrom such enor- 
 mous expansion as he had now begun to visualize would 
 benefit his unchanged percentage of interest proportion- 
 ately in any case. What he most desired at the moment 
 was immediate enlargement and consolidation of all his 
 holdings in order to enable him to apply that complete 
 concentration of energies which he had come to regard 
 as the key of great success. 
 
 Mr. Carnegie, for his part, could imagine nothing 
 more favorable to his concerns than the acquisition of 
 two vital essentials—a virtual no and an ex- 
 i man. 
 
 ‘““We found,’’ he wrote many years sees with the 
 slight inaccuracies peculiar toage and impaired memory, 
 ‘that we could not get on without a supply of the fuel 
 essential to the smelting of pig iron; and a very thorough 
 investigation of the question led us to the conclusion 
 that the Frick Coke Company had not only the best coal 
 and coke property, but that it had in Mr. Frick himself 
 a man with a positive genius for its management. He 
 had proved his ability by starting as a poor railway clerk 
 (2) and succeeding. In 1882 (@) we purchased one half of 
 the stock of this company, and by subsequent purchases 
 from other holders we became owners of the great bulk 
 of the shares.”’ 
 
 So the arrangement was madealong thelines suggested 
 and the company, under Mr. Frick’s unquestioned con- 
 trol, both prospered and grew until 1887, when the num- 
 ber of ovens had increased five-fold from 1,000 to 5,000 
 and the output had leaped to six thousand tons per day. 
 
 82 
 
AT THE AGE OF SIXTEEN 
 
Enter the Carnegies 
 
 Then came the trouble, not merely between owners and 
 workers, but among both proprietors and wage-earners 
 separately, which afforded the preliminary test of Henry 
 Clay Frick's quality as a fighting champion of property 
 rights. 
 
 Early in 1887 the coke operators of the entire Connells- 
 ville district proposed for the ensuing year a wage scale 
 which the miners refused to accept and by agreement the 
 whole matter was referred by the labor unions and the 
 Operators, acting in unison, to a Board of Arbitration 
 which pronounced the workmen’s demands excessive 
 and upheld the owners. The labor unions, duly author- 
 ized, accepted the decision, but the local lodges refused 
 to abide by the decision and called a strike which the 
 officers of the Knights of Labor promptly proclaimed 
 illegal. Nevertheless the men went out and the struggle 
 began, with the operators standing their ground firmly 
 and unanimously behind a small committee of which 
 Mr. Frick was the leading spirit, and with the miners 
 and their sympathizers brutally assaulting non-union 
 men who wanted to work, destroying machinery and 
 blowing up the works with dynamite. 
 
 Suddenly, to the dismay of the owners and the amaze- 
 ment of Mr. Frick, at the very moment when the men 
 were in convention and showing signs of yielding, the 
 directors of the Frick Company ordered complete sur- 
 render to the strikers and resumption of operation upon 
 the terms demanded. Unfortunately for the management, 
 Thomas Carnegie, whose sympathy at least would have 
 been with his friend, had died in 1886, and Mr. Frick 
 
 83 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 and the two Fergusons, constituting a small minority 
 of the Board, were helpless. 
 
 The chief factors in control of the Board were Mr. Henry 
 Phipps, Jr., and Mr. John Walker, chairmen of the two 
 Carnegie companies. Whether, as commonly believed, they 
 acted in pursuance of a peremptory order cabled by Mr. 
 Carnegie, who was in Scotland at the time on his honey- 
 moon, is immaterial. That the latter acquiesced in revers- 
 ing the policy of Mr. Frick is certain, but the fact that 
 both Mr. Phipps and Mr. Walker, who were men unaccus- 
 tomed to yield their own convictions, personally favored 
 the action taken cannot be ignored. 
 
 Their reasons were plain. Prolongation of the strike 
 would be disastrous to the two steel companies, which 
 had already banked seven blast furnaces and were men- 
 aced with complete stoppage of iron production from 
 lack of fuel. They naturally held their obligation to their 
 own companies of primary consideration and as out- 
 weighing their responsibility, as directors, to the coke 
 company. Technically, they were within their rights in 
 overriding their President and, morally, they did not 
 feel bound by his engagements with other operators. 
 
 That Mr. Frick felt deeply humiliated by such repudi- 
 ation and regretted for the moment that he had ever 
 joined with or trusted the Carnegies, may safely be as- 
 sumed. Even more distressing than the personal mortifi- 
 cation, such as he had never before experienced, was his 
 apprehension that surrender would serve only to invite 
 vastly greater labor difficulties in the near future; but, 
 having failed to convince his partners of the correctness 
 
 84 
 
Enter the Carnegies 
 
 of his judgment, on May 13th he warned them, and 
 through them Mr. Carnegie, of his personal determina- 
 tion, in a letter written by his own hand to the follow- 
 ing effect: May 13th, 1887. 
 Messrs. Henry Phipps, Jr., John Walker, and others. 
 
 Gentlemen: 
 
 I cannot honorably carry out your policy in regard to this com- 
 pany, and beg to tender my resignation as President. 
 
 Having temporized with our employés and made concession after 
 concession to satisfy them and largely in your interest, and against 
 the interest and judgment of all other coke producers, and finally 
 prevailing on them to agree to arbitration and decision having been 
 rendered in our favor, I think that, cost what it may, we should 
 abide by it, and not start our works until our employés resume 
 work at the old wages, but inasmuch as you have large interests 
 depending on our works being operated I do not feel like standing 
 in the way of you managing the property as your judgment and 
 
 interests dictate. 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 H. C. Frick. 
 
 Both parties to the controversy then rested upon their 
 oars, each earnestly hoping that the other would capit- 
 ulate, until June 7th when, as in honor bound, after hav- 
 ing outlined the situation to the other owners, to enable 
 them to safeguard their interests as they might deem 
 best, and having notified them of his own intention, Mr. 
 Frick called a meeting of the Board and resigned peremp- 
 torily and simultaneously submitted the following com- 
 munication addressed to Messrs. Phipps and Walker: 
 
 Messrs. Henry Phipps, Jr., John Walker, et al. June 7th, 1887. 
 Gentlemen: 
 
 As you hold a majority of the stock and are entitled to control in 
 the Frick Coke Company, and in view of what has passed between 
 us on the subject, I feel compelled to vacate my position as its Presi- 
 dent. I therefore enclose, herewith, my resignation. 
 
 85 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 But I accompany it with this my serious protest against the 
 course you propose to take regarding the pending strike. lam satis- 
 fied that it must occasion heavy loss to the Coke Company. Besides 
 the loss occasioned by granting the men’s present unreasonable de- 
 mands, it will only lead to still more unreasonable demands in the 
 near future. The loss to the Coke Company may be far more than 
 made up, so far as you are concerned, by gains in your steel inter- 
 ests, but I object to so manifest a prostitution of the CokeCompany’s 
 interests in order to promoteyour steel interests. 
 
 Whilst a majority of the stock entitles you to control, I deny 
 that it confers the right to manage so as to benefit your interests in 
 other concerns at the loss and injury of the Coke Company in 
 
 which I am interested. 
 Very respectfully yours 
 
 ek C. Frick. 
 
 ‘Matters,’ he wrote to Mr. Ferguson, “came to a 
 crisis today. Things have been pointing that way for 
 several days. I felt quite sure that the men, at their con- 
 vention on Monday, would decide to resume work at 
 the old wages, but they did not do so. The conventions, 
 however, at this writing, are still in session and they 
 may do so yet. The Carnegies, however, got restless and 
 made up their minds that they would do anything to get 
 the works started, so I insisted that they accept my resig- 
 nation at once. This they did this afternoon, and elected 
 Mr. Phipps as President in my place. I handed in the res- 
 ignations of yourself and brother, which were accepted, 
 and Mr. John Walker was elected to fill one of the vacan- 
 cies; the other, they said would be filled in a day or two. 
 
 ‘Everything passed off pleasantly and I told the Car- 
 negie crowd that I would do everything I could to clean 
 the business up and put it in proper shape. I made them 
 
 the enclosed proposition.”’ 
 86 
 
Enter the Carnegies 
 
 (ENCLOSURE) 
 
 Messrs. Carnegie Brothers & Co., Limited, gone fee een - 
 
 Gentlemen: 
 
 Regarding my interest in the Frick Coke Company and its kin- 
 dred Companies, I will sell you the same at the same valuation we 
 paid the Messrs. Ferguson, with interest from same date, as paid 
 to them, payable as follows: Fifty thousand dollars ($50,000.00) 
 cash, and fifty thousand dollars ($50,000.00) every six (6) months 
 until paid, with interest payable semi-annually, and to be secured 
 by the stocks hereby agreed to be sold. Or I will take such a pro- 
 portion of the Frick Coke Company property as we may agree upon, 
 with its share of the debt; for instance, the Standard Mines prop- 
 erty, and its interest in the United Coal & Coke Company, and the 
 Mount Pleasant Water Company. 
 
 If we cannot agree on valuations, I will leave it to three disinter- 
 ested persons chosen in the usual way; and if that property is allot- 
 ted to me I should like an assignment to me of the North Chicago 
 Rolling Mill Company contract. 
 
 The propositions are open for your acceptance until June 15th 
 next, and, if either is accepted, to be fully closed by July 1st, next. 
 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 H. C. Frick. 
 
 Thus, with characteristic thoroughness and fairness, 
 though surely not without a heartache, Henry Clay 
 Frick did all within his power to make complete his 
 severance from the splendid property, to the building of 
 which he had given seventeen of his best creative years. 
 The differences of opinion which resulted in a change of 
 management fortunately produced no serious animosi- 
 ties. Dignity and restraint characterized the conduct of 
 both parties throughout the controversy and no running 
 sores were left to be healed. 
 
 But Mr. Frick’s offer to sell his interest upon obviously 
 low and easy terms was not accepted. Probably Mr. Car- 
 
 87 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 negie had not expected the young man to burn all of his 
 bridges; possibly he did not fancy the best equipped man 
 in the business as a potential rival of the company which 
 he had created; in any event, the dullest, not to mention 
 one of the shrewdest, of minds could hardly have failed 
 to perceive the merits of a Fabian policy. And when pres- 
 ently the other operators had won their battle, despite 
 the Carnegie defection, and the Carnegiecompanies found 
 themselves burdened with 1214 per cent higher wages 
 than their competitors, thus wholly confirming Mr. 
 Frick’s anticipation, one can readily understand why Mr. 
 Carnegie’s attitude became distinctly propitiatory. 
 
 On July 22nd, Mr. Frick, accompanied by his wife, 
 their two young children, and Mrs. and Miss Childs, 
 the mother and sister of Mrs. Frick, sailed for Europe 
 and, upon reaching London, found this cordial note 
 awaiting him: 
 
 Welcome to Britain’s Isle, August 2, 1887. 
 
 Of course you will all come and spend a woe with us. 
 
 It’s supertb—Come and see what one gets in Scotland these sum- 
 mer days. 
 
 Just off this morning, ten in all, for three days coaching tour. 
 Blaine the happiest man you ever saw. Let me hear your move- 
 ments. Can take you all in any time. 
 
 Yours always 
 ANDREW CARNEGIE. 
 P.S.—Kind regards to Mrs. Frick and sister in which Louise [Mrs. 
 Carnegie] heartily joins. AC. 
 
 Arrangements having been made, however, for im- 
 mediate continuance of their journey, acceptance was 
 
 not feasible and the party proceeded forthwith to the 
 88 
 
eee ee ee 
 
 AT THE AGE OF NINETEEN 
 
Enter the Carnegies 
 
 continent. A second request of like tenor was made in 
 September to the following effect: 
 
 September 9th, 1887. 
 My dear Mr. Frick: 
 
 H. P. [Mr Phipps] tells me you can spare a few days about roth 
 to visitors. 
 
 Come ahead. Shall be so glad to have Mrs. Frick and her sister 
 and yourself and any othets of your party. 
 
 We hope you will find Scotland in fine trim but we can’t expect 
 July weather in September so don’t expect it to be always dry. 
 Wire day and train. 
 
 We sail Fulda 9th Oct. Can’t you come with us? Splendid ship 
 
 and captain. 
 Yours always 
 
 A. Cy 
 Regards to Mrs.Frick in which Louise joins, also sends same to you. 
 
 Mr. Carnegie seems to have been misinformed by Mr. 
 Phipps respecting the movements of the travellers and it 
 was forwarded from London reaching Mr. Frick in Ham- 
 burg. The inconvenience of changing plans made neces- 
 sary another declination for the time, but the visit was 
 finally paid before the families returned to America. 
 
 The way having been thus opened, overtures from 
 Messrs. Phipps and Walker, authorized by Mr. Carnegie, 
 found a ready response and early in January, 1888, Mr. 
 Frick was duly re-elected President of the H. C. Frick 
 Coke Co., to the great relief and gratification of all con- 
 cerned, not excluding the competing operators who now 
 felt confident that they would not suffer again from what 
 they had regarded as a breach of faith. 
 
 Mr. Carnegie no longer questioned the wisdom of the 
 Frick policy of expansion on a large scale and made the 
 completeness of his conversion plain on February 18th, 
 
 89 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 1889, when upon receipt of news of a fresh acquisition 
 he cabled from Christiania: | 
 
 Frick hearty congratulations splendid must get options other 
 properties promptly or too late, don't be afraid, want all. 
 
 An active correspondence quickly developed between 
 the two men, Mr. Frick constantly making reports and 
 outlining fresh projects, often by his own hand, and Mr. 
 Carnegie responding with words of encouragement usu- 
 ally scribbled in pencil upon scraps of paper and the backs 
 of envelopes. Nearly every communication closed with 
 jottings like these: 
 
 You can’t justly estimate what a tremendously big man you are. 
 
 Perhaps some day you will realize that you are a much bigger 
 man than Prest of P.R.R. 
 
 Take supreme care of that head of yours. It is wanted again. Ex- 
 pressing my thankfulness that I have found Taz Man, J am always 
 Yours, A.C. ' | 
 
 ‘‘Fis a marvel let’s get all Fs.”’ 
 
 Mr. Frick’s prediction that the Carnegie settlement 
 of the strike in 1887, made against his protest, would 
 serve only to fetch fresh demands, was fulfilled unex- 
 pectedly early in August, 1889, when all of the Connells- 
 ville men stopped work. The miners not only allowed 
 nothing for the 1214 per cent higher wages paid by the 
 Frick Company but cleverly made that schedule the basis 
 for further advances along the line gauged to put all 
 workmen on the same plane. Frankly confessing that 
 the strike came as a complete surprise and “‘led one to 
 lose almost all faith’’ in the company’s unappreciative 
 employés, Mr. Frick, in his report to Mr. Carnegie, then 
 abroad, could not resist the impulse to add significantly: 
 
 9° 
 
Enter the Carnegies 
 
 The men seemed to have made up their minds not to return to 
 work under any circumstances nor at any wages until all of the 
 men in the region returned to work at the same wages. They had 
 before them the experience of the Frick Coke Company men get- 
 ting an advance in 1887, the men of other operators having been 
 kept out and having had to return at the old wages, thus creating 
 a demoralization in their ranks and resulting in almost every oper- 
 ator paying different wages. 
 
 But the union had chosen shrewdly a time when stop- 
 page of all furnaces for even so much asa fortnight would 
 be disastrous; so there was nothing for it but to consent 
 promptly to a 12 per cent increase continuing to February 
 1st, 1890, when a new general scale was to be agreed upon 
 for a year. 
 
 Mr. Frick was not caught napping a second time, as 
 the miners quickly discovered upon repeating their tac- 
 tics pending a renewal of this contract. The coke bins 
 were well filled and the steel business was so dull that 
 the Carnegie companies had only to raise prices slightly 
 to reduce orders to suit their convenience. The Frick 
 Company was fully prepared for a siege and, accepting 
 the issue forced upon it, calmly proceeded to fetch non- 
 union workers into service. The enraged strikers and 
 their sympathizers adopted a policy of terrorism and 
 “the whole region was given over to rioting, arson and 
 murder,’’—but to no avail. 
 
 There was no interference with the President this time 
 and no effective pressure could be brought to bear upon 
 him. Gradually, under the compelling force of public 
 opinion, the County authorities intervened sternly on 
 behalf of law and order, shooting to kill and actually 
 
 gi 
 
We 
 
 atdinently satisfaceory to HE miner er 
 
 ae 
 
 as iy : ¥ Ries, 
 
 7 be ree ¥ ee Fi ‘ Te + 
 ede al fas Meee AER ho Ril tee) a te} z ees 
 
Vil 
 
 “The Man” in Steel 
 
 ONVINCED by the happenings in 1887 and 
 
 1888 of the ‘‘genius for management”’ of Mr. 
 
 Frick, Mr. Carnegie concluded that he was 
 
 “THE Man’’ whom he had been seeking in 
 
 vain to effect a sadly needed reorganization of the steel 
 
 forces, and offered him a partnership, with the result that 
 
 in January, 1889, the ‘‘coke king’’ acquired, with money 
 
 loaned to him by Mr. Carnegie personally, a two per 
 
 cent interest in Carnegie Brothers & Co., and became 
 
 Chairman of the firm. This interest was increased by the 
 
 same process at various times during the next three years, 
 
 at the expiration of which it amounted to 11 per cent, 
 
 equalling the holdings of Mr. Phipps and second only 
 to Mr. Carnegie’s majority of 552% per cent. 
 
 The new Chairman made haste slowly but surely. He 
 had never anticipated engaging in steel manufacture and 
 was ignorant of its details. What and practically all he 
 did realize, as a consequence of casual observation, was 
 that the business had outgrown the management to such 
 an extent that conditions had become chaotic. Obviously 
 the pressing necessity was, first, consolidation of the 
 many segregated units into an effective, harmonious 
 whole and, secondly, immense enlargement along safe 
 lines upon a sound basis. 
 
 93 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 No other kind of work could have appealed so strongly 
 to his imaginative ambition. But the task was so great 
 and the ramifications so many that painstaking acquire- 
 ment of accurate knowledge of all phases was absolutely 
 essential and, profiting from his invaluable experience, 
 he began an intensive study of the entire problem as a 
 requisite preliminary to any single move toward de- 
 velopment. 
 
 The financial condition of the properties revealed by 
 the balance sheet was not encouraging. An unsuspected 
 slump in net profits from $2,900,000 in 1886 and $3,441,- 
 000 in 1887 to $1,900,000 in 1888 was most disquieting 
 to the chief partners. Foreseeing this outcome, Mr. Phipps 
 had quietly sold nearly one-half of his holdings during 
 the year and Mr. Carnegie would probably have done 
 likewise but for the necessity of retaining an actual ma- 
 jority for controlling and trading purposes. Both felt 
 that the extreme limit of earning capacity might have 
 been reached in 1887 and that the appalling break in 1888 
 only presaged a steady and irresistible shrinkage. All de- 
 pended upon two factors,—higher prices from increased 
 demand and lower costs from efficient management. 
 
 Fortunately these essentials came into play simultane- 
 ously and before the middle of the year 1889 had been 
 reached profits were showing a marked advance. The 
 time seemed propitious for sale of the properties and Mr. 
 Carnegie, convinced that the rally was only temporary, 
 determined to take advantage of it. Mr. Phipps acqui- 
 esced somewhat reluctantly and the elder partner sailed 
 for England on a selling mission but for some reason, 
 
 94 
 
“The Man” in Steel 
 
 possibly because his price seemed too high or because 
 investors recalled that fifteen years before he had sold to 
 them $6,000,000 of railroad bonds which subsequently 
 proved to be worthless, or both, bankers manifested no 
 interest and the project failed, greatly to his own dis- 
 appointment and to the relief of Mr. Phipps, who wrote 
 to him from Dresden on November rst, 1889: 
 
 With Mr. Frick at the head, I have no fear as to receiving a good 
 - return upon our capital. Being interested in manufacturing keeps 
 us within touch of the world and its affairs instead of being on the 
 shelf. Of course I am anxious that you should not be worried by 
 the business—only pleasantly interested. 
 
 If a sale had been made for a sum reasonably based 
 upon earnings and prospects, Mr. Carnegie could hardly 
 have obtained for his share more than one-tenth of the 
 amount which he received twelve years later from the 
 Morgan syndicate. 
 
 Meanwhile the opening of new and delicate relations 
 between Chief Stockholder and Chairman was not aus- 
 picious. Mr. Carnegie early in February evinced a desire 
 to revive an old dispute over a matter of no great im- 
 portance with the Pennsylvania Railroad, despite his 
 Own certainty that ‘‘the narrow legal minds that led it 
 into a mess at first will no doubt assure Mr. Roberts that 
 there is no legal liability,’’"—an anticipated opinion in 
 which he did not concur. 
 
 But Mr. Frick demurred at asking the firm’s lawyers 
 to interpose if certain conditions should arise in Mr. 
 
 95 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 Carnegie’s absence, and won from him an admission that 
 “our interests lie in future with the P.R.R.”’ 
 
 But the concession, even though addressed to “‘My 
 Dear Pard,’’ was made with obvious reluctance and Mr. 
 Carnegie became distinctly querulous as soon as he 
 reached Europe in May. 
 
 ‘I very much fear,’’ he wrote on June 1st from Paris, 
 “that your coke matter will be allowed to fall through. 
 It will be a sad ending to all, this fight. I believe you 
 will fail and am disposed to be like the Frenchman this 
 morning: ‘Just filled with one grand disgust’ at the whole 
 affair.’’ And then, somewhat incongruously: 
 
 Busy visiting the various republics (Southern) but shall return 
 to London by 13th to give that dinner to Mr. & Mrs. Lincoln 
 Gladstone, etc.—All well. Take care of yourself—dont work too 
 hard and dont grieve as I do over that $50,000 per annum—gone on 
 ore rate—I just hate compromises after we have won a victory. They 
 are so gratuitously needless. Now lets see if we can do the coke 
 tate, straight cut, clear and once for all, 40¢ Pgh 30 E. T. 
 
 ‘‘Costs,’’ he wrote from Christiania, ‘‘are the most 
 alarming change I have known in our history. Jones 
 must have made some radical change for sake of product. 
 Now one or two thousand tons more per month is noth- 
 ing if we are to be fleeced so in cost. Am awfully sorry 
 you failed in your coke matter—wish now I had persisted 
 and fired another gun at the monopoly,’’—etc. 
 
 This letter arrived while the Chairman was wrestling 
 with the coke strike and evoked the following response, 
 written on the morning after the settlement at midnight 
 of August 8th: 
 
 96 
 
“The Man” in Steel 
 
 August 9th, 1889. 
 My dear Mr. Carnegie: 
 
 I have read with interest yours from Christiania. 
 
 It is very much pleasanter to agree than differ with you and in 
 most things I would and will always defer to your judgment be- 
 cause there is no one whose attitude I hold in as high esteem, but 
 I always hold to the opinion that your attack on P. R. R. was 
 wrong and I should deprecate its renewal—You cannot expect me 
 to succeed in carrying everything through that is wished for or 
 undertaken. 
 
 I could not and would not remain the official head of any con- 
 cern that was not well managed. If a concern is to be mismanaged, 
 the official head’s policy must have due consideration. 
 
 I cannot stand fault-finding and I must feel that I have the entire 
 confidence of the power that put me where I am, in a place I did 
 not seek. 
 
 With all that, I know I can manage both C. B. & Co., and Frick 
 
 Coke Co., successfully. 
 Sincerely yours 
 
 H. C. Frick. 
 
 Apparently this letter did not reach Mr. Carnegie be- 
 fore he sailed for home and was forwarded to Bar Har- 
 bor, where he had gone for a visit to James G. Blaine. 
 In lieu of a specific reply, on September 2nd he addressed 
 a long communication to ‘‘My Dear Mr. Frick and Boys 
 in general,’’in the course of which he admonished “Our 
 Chairman’”’ to “‘remember that no buyer comes to him 
 except because he can do better with him than with oth- 
 ers’’ and closed with these words: 
 
 I will give you all my views freely. It is evident a new leaf must 
 be turned over in C. P. & Co., perhaps you will find me at fault 
 about the remedy and can devise a better policy. So be it. It rests 
 with you—only don’t give me any more surprises. Let us all know 
 month after month, promptly, where we are going. I can stand 
 
 losses with you but object to be deluded. 
 Yours A.C. 
 
 97 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 But on the following day he wrote to ‘“My Dear Mr. 
 Frick”’ saying: 
 
 Let me express the relief I feel in knowing that the important 
 departments of our extended business are in the hands of a com- 
 petent manager. Phipps and I exchanged congratulations upon 
 this point. Now I only want to know how your hands can be 
 strengthened. I am most anxious to carry out the work I told you 
 about but you can well understand that neither Phipps nor I feel 
 sure that C. P. & Co. is fairly off our hands. 
 
 Having succinctly defined his own attitude, Mr. Frick 
 continued about his business, duly reported progress, 
 was duly congratulated and closed the year’s correspond- 
 ence with an invitation to Mr. Carnegie to pay him a 
 visit and inspect the recent acquisitions in the coke re- 
 gion constituting “‘a great property.’ 
 
 The first year of the new manager's direction of the 
 chief Carnegie concern showed for the combined proper- 
 ties an increase in steel ingots produced from 332,111 to 
 536,838 gross tons and a net profit of $3,540,000, as 
 against $1,991,555 for 1888. | 
 
 This highly gratifying result served to modify the few 
 irritations that had begun somewhat ominously to tinc- 
 ture the correspondence of two naturally, controlling 
 spirits. Letters passed with increasing frequency to and 
 from ‘‘My dear Mr. Carnegie’’ and ‘‘My dear Pard,”’ to 
 distinct mutual advantage; fault-finding ceased entirely, 
 giving way to helpful and welcome suggestions, which 
 might or might not be heeded without inciting resent- 
 ment; opinions were exchanged with complete frankness 
 from what seemed to be perfect understanding and a true 
 cooperative spirit; and the way was cleared for full exer- 
 
 98 
 
AT THE AGE OF TWENTY-ONE 
 
“The Man” in Steel 
 
 cise of the talents and energy of THz Man, without let or 
 hindrance, for more than two years. 
 
 Great progress was made. The various segregated 
 plants, until then operated by dissociated and independ- 
 ent managements, jealous of and actually competing with 
 one another, were assembled in masterly fashion; con- 
 necting railways were built; possession of yards which 
 had been secured by the railroad companies was regained ; 
 waste was reduced to a minimum; and young, active and 
 ambitious men headed by Schwab and Morrison were 
 installed in authority and, while encouraged in every 
 conceivable way, were held to strict accounting. 
 
 None was expected to work harder or longer than the 
 Chairman himself, who rose methodically at 6 a.m., 
 walked two miles to his office to keep fit, was at his desk 
 invariably at eight o'clock ready for business, conferred 
 at luncheon with one or more of his lieutenants, re- 
 turned home when he had finished the day’s work, 
 joked with his seven-year-old son, played with his two 
 little daughters, dined almost always alone with his wife 
 quietly and quickly, studied business problems till early 
 bed-time, and slept soundly till the whistle blew for 
 the beginning of another identical day. 
 
 There can be little doubt that 1890 was the happiest 
 year in the life of Henry Clay Frick. He revelled in doing 
 and gloried in achieving big things. No project conceived 
 by his own growing imagination or suggested by an- 
 other’s mind fazed him for a moment, provided only 
 that it tended to concentration of effort and expansion 
 of business. And he not only kept close hold of all the 
 
 99 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 reins of operation, but he did practicallyall of the financ- 
 ing of all the companies for whose direction he was re- 
 sponsible. 
 
 The most striking instance of his application of inge- 
 nuity and patience was afforded by his acquisition of the 
 Carnegie group’s only rival. The Duquesne Steel Com- 
 pany was incorporated in 1886 by William G. and D. E. 
 Park, and E. L. Clark, competent and successful manu- 
 facturers, and its plant, three years in building, was the 
 best equipped in the country, with new and improved 
 machinery adapted to superior methods which could not 
 fail to produce first-quality rails at a far lower cost than 
 could be attained by Carnegie machinery. 
 
 Mr. Frick was awake to the menace and made a tenta- 
 tive offer of $600,000 for the works in 1889 before they 
 had been put into full operation, but the price was not 
 satisfactory and he bided his time. At the end of a year 
 Mr. Park, harassed by strikes and handicapped by refusal 
 of his partners to furnish additional capital to meet the 
 cost of expensive construction, evinced a desire to sell 
 and Mr. Frick promptly raised his offer to $1,000,000 in 
 bonds of Carnegie Brothers & Co., which had then be- 
 come, as a consequence of the first year’s showing under 
 his management, gilt-edged. He probably could have ob- 
 tained the property for less money, as the company was 
 on the verge of bankruptcy, but, having thoughtfully 
 procured a market for the next year’s product in the event 
 of being able to supply it, he perceived no possibility of 
 loss or occasion for haggling, and his offer was accepted. 
 
 On October 30th, 1890, his thoroughly trained organi- 
 
 100 
 
“The Man” in Steel 
 
 zation took over the splendid plant, with young Thomas 
 Morrison, a relative of Mr. Carnegie, already cocked 
 and primed to take full charge and with arrangements 
 made in advance for connecting up by rail with the Car- 
 negie plants in record time. Results were amazing. The 
 net profits for the first year exceeded the purchase price 
 of $1,000,000; when the bonds fell due, the plant had 
 paid for itself six times over; and surplus earnings were 
 “ploughed back’’ into the property to so vast an extent 
 that ten years later the plant had attained the enormous 
 Capacity per year of 750,000 tons of pig-iron and 600,- 
 ooo tons of raw steel, with adequate facilities within its 
 own area for turning the entire huge quantity of raw 
 material into finished products. 
 
 Few, if any, achievements surpassing this in magni- 
 tude and celerity combined are recorded in industrial 
 history. 
 
 But further consolidation was required to perfect the 
 organization. [he firm of Carnegie, Phipps & Co., which 
 had been formed in 1886 to take over the plant at Home- 
 stead, was still a separate concern. Its ownership was 
 identical with that of Carnegie Brothers & Co., and Mr. 
 Frick was elected a manager in 1889 but took no part in 
 administration. There was no antagonism between the 
 two companies but the fact was evident that actual con- 
 solidation was highly desirable for economy’s sake. The 
 real obstacle was financial. Working capital had been ob- 
 tained by discounting notes given by one company to 
 another, as buyer and seller respectively, thus providing 
 the ‘‘two-name paper’’ required by banks and inciden- 
 
 IOI 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 tally funds for whichever concern stood in need. In these 
 circumstances, it seemed hazardous to extinguish Car- 
 negie, Phipps & Co., but happily the H. C. Frick Coke 
 Company’s credit was responding so strongly to steadily 
 increasing earnings that Mr. Frick felt justified in writ- 
 ing to Mr. Carnegie: 
 (OWN HAND) 
 
 My dear Mr. Carnegie: February roth., 1890. 
 
 Referring to the condition of our finances, and looking towards 
 consolidating C. B. & C. P. & Co., I find there is outstanding 
 $1,185,000.00 of paper made by Carnegie Phipps & Co., to the 
 order of Carnegie Bros. & Co., $860,000.00 of paper made by Car- 
 negie Bros. & Co., to the order of Frick Coke Co., the proceeds of 
 which was paid to Carnegie Bros & Co., $590,000.00 of paper made 
 by Carnegie Bros. & Co., to the order of Frick Coke Co., for the 
 accommodation of the Frick Coke Co. 
 
 So you see a few months of such earnings as we are now having 
 will enable us to get along without the necessity of taking paper 
 from C. P. & Co. If anything of the kind is needed, the Frick Coke 
 Co. can be used. Had a talk with Abbott who favors making one 
 
 COP TEOY: Yours very truly 
 
 H.C, Frick. 
 
 Upon these confident expectations which were abun- 
 dantly realized during the period allotted by Mr. Frick, 
 the merger was agreed to by all of the twenty-two part- 
 ners, to go into effect on July 1st, 1892, through the sale 
 of the physical properties to a new company called The 
 Carnegie Steel Company, Limited, capitalized at $25,- 
 000,000. It was duly stipulated in the Articles of Asso- 
 ciation that the entire amount should be ‘*paid in cash”’ 
 by the subscribers, i.e., the partners in proportion to their 
 holdings, and so indeed it was,—from the treasuries of 
 the absorbed companies and the proceeds of the sale of 
 
 102 
 
“The Man” in Steel 
 
 the properties at valuations made to match. No new 
 money was contributed. The transaction, in effect, was 
 a mere increase in capital from the original $5,000,000 
 to $25,000,000 through what amounted to a 4oo per cent 
 share dividend. 
 
 And it was a modest capitalization at that, for the 
 simple reason that the second year of Frick management, 
 1890, showed net profits of $5,350,000, an increase of 
 $1,810,000 and more than 20 per cent upon the entire 
 $2.5 ,000,000. | 
 
 The “‘subscribers,’’ as of July 1st, 1892, were: 
 
 CAPITAL 
 NAMB ORIGINAL INCREASE TOTAL 
 Andrew Carnegie $2,766,666.67 $11,066,666.66  $13,833,333.33 
 Henry Phipps, Jr. 550,000.00 2.,2.00,000.00 2.,750,000.00 
 Henry Clay Frick $50,000.00 2,200,000.00 2.,5750,000.00 
 George Lauder 200,000.00 800,000.00 1,000,000.00 
 William H. Singer 100,000.00 400,000.00 $00,000.00 
 Henry M. Curry 100,000.00 400,000.00 500,000.00 
 Henry W. Borntraeger 100,000.00 400,000.00 500,000.00 
 John G. A. Leishman 100,000.00 400,000.00 500,000.00 
 William L. Abbott $0,000.00 2.00,000.00 250,000.00 
 Otis H. Childs 50,000.00 200,000.00 250,000.00 
 John W. Vandevort 40,000.00 160,000.00 2.00,000.00 
 Charles L. Strobel 33,333-33 133,333-34 166,666.67 
 Francis T. F. Lovejoy 33,333-33 133,333-34 166,666.67 
 Patrick R. Dillon 25,000.00 100,000.00 125 ,000.00 
 William W. Blackburn 16,666.67 66,666.66 83,,333-33 
 William P. Palmer 16,666.67 66,666.66 83,333.33 
 Lawrence C. Phipps 16,666.67 66,666.66 83 333-33 
 Alexander R. Peacock 16,666.67 66,666.66 83,333.33 
 J. Ogden Hoffman 16,666.67 66,666.66 83,333.33 
 John C. Fleming 16,666.67 66,666.66 83,333.33 
 James H. Simpson 12,500.00 50,000.00 62,500.00 
 Henry B. Bope 53555-55 33,224.25 27;777-78 
 F, T. F. Lovejoy, Trustee 183,611.10 734,444.47 918,055.57 
 
 Total 
 
 $5 ,000,000.00 
 
 $20,000.000.00 
 
 $25 ,000,000.00 
 
 Only Messrs. Carnegie, Phipps and Frick were really 
 independent shareholders. The others were ‘‘debtor part- 
 
 103 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 nets,’ owing the Company for the holdings allotted to 
 them, which were expected to be and, in fact, were even- 
 tually paid for out of earnings and other revenues. 
 
 Mr. Frick’s interest had been increased from his origi- 
 nal 2 per cent to 11 per cent, partly through purchase of 
 a deceased partner’s share and partly at the instance and 
 with the cooperation of Mr. Carnegie, who obviously 
 wanted to hold fast to THz Man who was coining money 
 for him. 
 
 “T wish we could get H. P. (Mr. Phipps) satisfied,’’ 
 he wrote in February, 1890—"‘Never had a difference be- 
 fore with him—He has sold and is sorry. I’m quite sure 
 he feels that your interest is too small just as I do, but it 
 was you who said ‘decide (or ‘divide’) even’, and I did 
 so. Should you like to merge or do something to get more 
 (?) for really it is to be wonderfully profitable. I don’t 
 understand why you owe (me) so little—You must have 
 been paying up from outside fortune. Think over all this 
 and suggest best plan—any plan that’s good and fair 
 will suit me.”’ : 
 
 But a full year elapsed before Mr. Frick, with his an- 
 noying experiences of 1889 still fresh in mind, became 
 convinced that he could go along with Mr. Carnegie 
 and signified his willingness to incur further obligations, 
 evoking the following cheery response: 
 
 Sunday, March 29th, 1891. 
 My dear Mr. Frick: 
 
 I am delighted to think you can now go in and increase your in- 
 terest—You ought to—for theres no business in this world that I 
 know of which will make more money or give your talents greater 
 scope. 
 
 104. 
 
“The Man” in Steel 
 
 The ‘‘margin’’ idea is satisfactory—highly approved for I do 
 not wish you to be anxious about the future. 
 
 My hope is you will then “‘concentrate’’ upon the business and 
 make it the greatest ever seen—even Chicago would rank second— 
 
 I'll fix it all with you next week when I go to Pittsburgh. 
 
 Yours A.C. 
 
 The arrangement was soon made along the lines pro- 
 posed, to the satisfaction of all interested in the future 
 welfare of the company, and Mr. Frick, as Chairman of 
 Carnegie Brothers & Co., assumed full charge of plans 
 preliminary to the fateful negotiations with the Labor 
 Union spokesmen of nearly four thousand workmen at 
 Homestead. Simultaneously, following the formal re- 
 tirement of Messrs. Carnegie and Phipps, officers of the 
 new Carnegie Steel Company, Limited, scheduled to be- 
 gin operation on July 1st, were unanimously agreed upon 
 as follows: 
 
 Cuatrman, Henry Clay Frick; Treasurer, Henry M. Curry; 
 Secretary, Francis T. F. Lovejoy; Manacers, Henry Clay Frick, 
 George Lauder, William H. Singer, Henry M. Curry, John G. A. 
 Leishman, Lawrence C. Phipps, Francis T. F. Lovejoy. 
 
 The reorganization was complete and absolute control 
 of the greatest steel company, including the largest coke 
 company, in the world, employing thirty thousand men, 
 was vested for one year in Henry Clay Frick at the prom- 
 ising age of forty-one. 
 
 105 
 
Vill 
 
 Homestead 
 
 HE seeds of the most famous of all strikes, at 
 
 Homestead in 1892, were planted in the wage 
 
 settlement imposed upon Carnegie, Phipps & 
 
 Co. by the Amalgamated Association of Iron 
 & Steel Workers in 1889. Prior to that time there had been 
 no standards of compensation, and no provision had been 
 made for readjustment to conform to the increase in the 
 output of individual workmen arising from new methods 
 and improved machinery applicable particularly to the 
 fabrication of Bessemer and open-hearth steel. As a con- 
 sequence, earnings based upon tonnage had not only ad- 
 vanced to grossly excessive figures but were distributed 
 most inequitably, unskilled laborers in many instances 
 getting from five to ten times as much as highly trained 
 mechanics. 
 
 To rectify these inequalities, Chairman Abbott pro- 
 posed, with the approval of Mr. Carnegie, a general re- 
 duction in wages of about 25 per cent and automatic regu- 
 lation of future compensation by a scale which should 
 follow, from month to month, the prices received by the 
 firm for steel sold. This so-called “‘sliding-scale’’ basis 
 had already been adopted at Braddock and Duquesne and 
 had proved so satisfactory to all concerned that the union 
 felt constrained to accept it. But the leaders flatly rejected 
 
 106 
 
Homestead 
 
 the other proposals and imposed so many operating con- 
 ditions, including participation in determining selling 
 prices, thata strike ora lock-out seemed inevitable when, 
 after adjuring the Chairman to stand firm, Mr. Carnegie 
 sailed for Scotland. 
 
 Mr. Abbott, left to interpret his instructions, private 
 as well as public, as best he might, refused to accept the 
 stringent terms prescribed by the union and, reluctantly 
 deciding to continue operations, called upon the county 
 authorities for protection of property and new employés. 
 The Sheriff assured him that he need have no apprehen- 
 sion on this score and promptly steamed up the river with 
 a posse of a hundred men to fulfil his pledge. A great 
 preponderance of workmeh, fully equipped for battle, 
 awaited them at the dock and dared them to try to land. 
 Retreat obviously was the better part of valor and the 
 Sheriff escorted his henchmen back to their firesides. 
 
 Intimidated by threats of violence and destruction 
 of property, Mr. Abbott accepted a summons to parley 
 with the officers of the union and signed an agreement 
 for three years which in effect constituted a complete 
 surrender. 
 
 Results were disastrous. The price of rails declined 
 steadily from $36 at the close of 1889 to $25.75 in 1890, 
 and so on to $22.50 in May, 1892, when the firm was los- 
 ing money on its chief products and was heading straight, 
 in Mr. Frick’s opinion expressed convincingly to the 
 Congressional Committee, to ‘‘eventual bankruptcy.”’ 
 
 Obviously when the time approached for renewing or 
 revising the agreement the financial prospect was bad 
 
 107 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 enough, but theactual situation was worse. Of thethirty- 
 eight hundred men employed at Homestead only about 
 eleven hundred were native-born, more than eight hun- 
 dred could not speak English and the remaining two 
 thousand were incapable of perceiving the futility of 
 requiring a strangled goose to continue to lay golden 
 eggs. A more fallow field for ambitious labor agitators 
 could not be imagined. The Amalgamated Association, 
 moreover, had demonstrated its power three years before 
 and in consequence had strengthened its position, with 
 the widespread Knights of Labor in sympathetic accord 
 in a Presidential year. 
 
 Mr. Carnegie had promulgated his famous dictum to 
 individual laborers,‘“Thou shalt not seek thy neighbor's 
 job’’ and was still controlling owner of the property. 
 That he would uphold his own adage and repudiate any 
 manager who should propose to fill the places of striking 
 workmen was considered a certainty. The fact that he 
 had once, in precisely similar circumstances, in the coke 
 strike, overridden and forced the resignation of Mr. Frick 
 seemed conclusive; and yet— 
 
 Why had Mr. Abbott been supplanted? What did the 
 accession of Mr. Frick portend? 
 
 Here, of all managers, was THz Man who had never 
 truckled, never yielded, and who seemed impervious to 
 either threats or danger of assaults. He appeared to the 
 officials of both the miners’ union and of the potentially 
 forceful Knights as the most formidable lion in their 
 path to industrial control. Never could they hope for a 
 more favorable opportunity to break his rapidly growing 
 
 108 
 
Homestead 
 
 authoritativeness among employers. Then, if ever, was 
 the time to subject him, single handed and alone, to the 
 ordeal of battle for supremacy. 
 
 Mr. Frick did not welcome the test; he stood ready to 
 concede much for a peace that would enable the other 
 plants to forge ahead at the unprecedented pace they had 
 struck; ‘‘the magnitude of our business,’’ he wrote to 
 the chief stockholder, ‘‘is such that there are plenty of 
 important matters to take up without being troubled 
 _ with strikes.”’ 
 
 It was to avoid being caught in the meshes of unpre- 
 
 paredness which had placed the firm at the mercy of the 
 union that Mr. Frick invited the Amalgamated Associa- 
 tion to take up the matter in January, but to no purpose. 
 The union leaders neither accepted nor rejected the sug- 
 gestion; they simply ignored it; and two months passed 
 before unceasing insistence evoked a response in the form 
 of a proposed new scale providing a general advance in 
 wages all along the line. 
 _ As the most that had been expected was maintenance 
 of the old rates, this demand was gravely disconcerting, 
 but conferences ensued in good temper until the last of 
 May, when the firm submitted a counter scale reducing 
 the wages of 325 of the most highly paid employés from 
 15 to 18 per cent and continuing the compensation of 2,475 
 lower paid men at the old rates. 
 
 ‘The scales,’’ wrote Mr. Frick to Superintendent Pot- 
 ter under date of May 30th, 1892, “have had most careful 
 consideration, with a desire to act toward our employés 
 in the most liberal manner. A number of rates have been 
 
 109 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 advanced upon your recommendation, and the wages 
 which will be earned thereunder are considerably in ad- 
 vance of those received by the employés of any of our 
 competitors in the same lines. You can say to the com- 
 mittee that these scales are in all respects the most liberal 
 that can be offered. We do not care whether a man be- 
 longs to a union or not, nor do we wish to interfere. He 
 may belong to as many unions or organizations as he 
 chooses, but we think our employés at Homestead Steel 
 Works would fare much better working under the system 
 in vogue at Edgar Thomson and Duquesne.”’ 
 
 The schedules were submitted immediately to the Joint 
 Committee, accompanied by this communication and by 
 a request from the Chairman for a response not later than 
 June 24th, pending the expiration of the existing agree- 
 ment on June 30th. 
 
 On June 23rd the union leaders sought a conference 
 and Chairman Frick and Superintendent Pottermet them. 
 Three questions were raised : 
 
 1. Should the minimum selling price of steel determin- 
 ing the wage-scale remain at $25 per ton as required by 
 the men or be reduced to $22 as asked by the firm? After 
 full discussion the union offered to reduce the amount to 
 $24 and the firm conceded an increase to $23. 
 
 2. Should the date of operation of the scale be changed 
 from June 30th to December 31st, as desired by the firm 
 to facilitate the making of annual contracts with con- 
 sumers, or be retained, by wish of the union, to avert any 
 disadvantage from negotiating during the slack period 
 of manufacturing? 
 
 110 
 
Homestead 
 
 3. Shoulda reduction in tonnage rates be made in three 
 departments to compensate in part for the large sums 
 expended for improvements and new machinery which 
 greatly increased the output of every workman with- 
 out requiring additional exertion? 
 
 These differences were not vital; the first indeed was 
 trivial and the other twocould have been adjusted readily 
 but for extrinsic considerations of prestige bearing upon 
 general rolling-mill scales then under discussion through- 
 - out the country. So no further concession was offered by 
 either side and the issue of dominance, if not of actual 
 control, between capital and labor, personified by owners 
 and unions, was squarely joined and Mr. Frick, relying 
 upon theinviolability of “‘property,’’ noless than of ‘life 
 and liberty,’’ guaranteed by the Constitution, decided to 
 close the mills on July 1st and to reopen them, unless pre- 
 vented by force, on July 6th. 
 
 There ensued a week of mildly ominous calm as viewed 
 by the public and the Press, but under the surface active 
 preparations were being made for the struggle which had 
 then become imminent and unavoidable. The workmen 
 quietly elected an Advisory Committee of five members 
 from each of their eight lodges, with Mr. Hugh O’Don- 
 nell, one of the skilled employés earning $144 per month 
 on an eight-hour shift, as Chairman, and vested it with 
 full authority. 
 
 Action was prompt and decisive. On July 1st, the day 
 following cessation of operations, the Committee adopted 
 resolutions whose tenor was indicated by the following 
 announcement by the Chairman: 
 
 III 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 The Committee has, after mature deliberation, decided to organ- 
 ize their forces on a truly military basis. The force of four thousand 
 men has been divided into three divisions or watches, each of these 
 divisions is to devote eight hours of the twenty-four to the task of 
 watching the plant. The Commanders of these divisions are to have 
 as assistants eight captains composed of one trusted man from each 
 of the eight local lodges. These Captains will report to the division 
 Commanders, who in turn will receive the orders from the Ad- 
 visory Committee. During their hours of duty these Captains will 
 have personal charge of the most important posts, i.e., the river 
 front, the water gates and pumps, the railway stations, and the 
 main gates of the plant. The girdle of pickets will file reports to the 
 main headquarters every half-hour, and so complete and detailed 
 is the plan of campaign that in ten minutes’ time the Committee 
 can communicate with the men at any given point within a radius 
 of five miles. In addition to all this, there will be held in reserve a 
 force of 800 Slavs and Hungarians. The brigade of foreigners will 
 be under the command of two Hungarians and two interpreters. 
 
 So audacious a manifesto as this had never before and, 
 to our knowledge, has never since been put forth. It her- 
 alded much more than a renewal of the policy of terror- 
 ism which had proved successful three years previous. 
 It was an avowal of a right to possession of property be- 
 longing undeniably to others and of determination to re- 
 tain occupancy by ‘‘forces organized on a truly military 
 basis’’ to repel invasion from whatever soutce. 
 
 The plan was put into effect forthwith. First the fore- 
 men representing the owners were “‘stopped and intimi- 
 dated”’ at the gate, prevented from entering the mill and 
 “turned back.’’ Then the Sheriff, acting for the County, 
 visited the scene and ‘‘tried to make an arrangement’’ 
 with Chairman O’Donnell and other members of the Ad- 
 visory Committee, ‘‘to allow me to put watchmen in for 
 the protection of the works.”’ 
 
 112 
 
Homestead 
 
 “What did they say to that2’’ asked Chairman Oates 
 of the Congressional Committee, later on. 
 
 “They said there was no necessity for watchmen 
 there,’ the Sheriff replied, ‘‘that it was not required, 
 that there was no danger of that property being de- 
 stroyed. I explained to them that I was not the judge 
 of that and that this firm had notified me to that effect 
 and that under the law I was compelled to protect their 
 property.”’ 
 
 ‘So you came away. What did you do next?”’ 
 
 ‘Then I came back to town.”’ 
 
 “What did you do next?”’ 
 
 ‘‘T sent up twelve deputies from my office force. They 
 were not permitted to enter the works. They were driven 
 away. 
 
 When they reached the station, the Deputy Sheriff in 
 charge of the posse testified, “‘Some of the men came 
 up to us and the spokesman said “What are you fellows 
 doing here?’ I said ‘I am a special officer representing 
 the Sheriff of Allegheny County to put deputies in the 
 mill to act asa guard and to protect the property for the 
 Company.’ Hesaid, ‘No deputy will ever go inthere alive.’ 
 There was one gentleman, the doctor up there, who had 
 been suggested as a possible deputy and who knew nearly 
 every man connected with the lockout, and he said, ‘I 
 would not go there because I know they would kill me 
 as quickly as anybody else; I should be afraid for my life 
 to go near that mill.’ I returned to the city and reported 
 to the Sheriff.”’ 
 
 Meanwhile, Mr. Frick, having anticipated these very 
 
 113 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 happenings, was making his own arrangements for the 
 recovery of the firm's property. On June 25th, the day 
 following the breakdown of negotiations, havingalready 
 been assured by the Pinkerton agency that an adequate 
 number of men could be supplied for protective service 
 at short notice, he sent the following letter: 
 
 The Carnegie Steel Company, Limited, 
 Pittsburgh, Pa., June 25th, 1892. 
 
 Dear sir: I am in receipt of your favor of the 22nd. 
 
 We will want 300 guards for service at our Homestead mills as a 
 measure of precaution against interference with our plan to start 
 operation of the works on July 6th, 1892. 
 
 The only trouble we anticipate is that an attempt will be made 
 to prevent such of our men with whom we will by that time have 
 made satisfactory arrangements from going to work, and possibly 
 some demonstration of violence upon the part of those whose 
 places have been filled, or most likely by an element which usually 
 is attracted to such scenes for the purpose of stirring up trouble. 
 
 We are not desirous that the men you send shalt be armed unless 
 the occasion properly calls for such a measure later on for the pro- 
 tection of our employés or property. We shall wish these guards 
 to be placed upon our property and there to remain unless called 
 into other service by the civil authorities to meet an emergency 
 that is not likely to arise. 
 
 These guards should be assembled at Ashtabula, Ohio, not later 
 than the morning of July 5th, when they may be taken by train to 
 McKee’s Rocks, or some other point upon the Ohio River below 
 Pittsburgh, where they can be transferred to boats and landed 
 within the inclosures of our premises at Homestead. We think 
 absolute secrecy essential in the movement of these men so that 
 no demonstration can be made while they are en route. 
 
 Specific arrangements for movement of trains and connection 
 with boats will be made as soon as we hear from you as to the cer- 
 tainty of having the men at Ashtabula at the time indicated. 
 
 As soon as your men are upon the premises we will notify the 
 
 114 
 
Homestead 
 
 Sheriff and ask that they be deputized either at once or immediately 
 upon an outbreak of such a character as to render such a step 
 desirable. 
 Yours very truly 
 H. C. Frick, 
 Robert A. Pinkerton, Esq. Chairman. 
 New York City, N.Y. 
 
 “Why,’’ Mr. Frick was asked later in connection with 
 the Congressional inquiry, ‘“‘did the company call upon 
 the Pinkertons for watchmen to protect their property?”’ 
 
 ‘“Because,’’-he replied, ‘“we did not see how else we 
 could get protection. We only wanted them for watch- 
 men to protect our property and see that workmen we 
 would take to Homestead—and we had had applications 
 from many men to go there to work—were not interfered 
 with.”’ 
 
 “Did you doubt the ability of the Sheriff to enforce 
 order at Homestead and protect your property?”’ 
 
 “Yes, sit; with local deputies.”’ 
 
 “Why?” 
 
 ‘For the reason that three years ago our concern had 
 an experience similar to this. We felt the necessity of a 
 change at the works; thata scale should be adopted based 
 on the sliding price of billets, and we asked the county 
 authorities for protection. The workmen began tactics 
 similar to those employed in the present troubles. Under 
 that stress, in fear of the Amalgamated Association, an 
 agreement was made and work was resumed. We did not 
 propose this time to be placed in that position.”’ 
 
 ‘The Pinkerton men, as generally understood, had been 
 summoned and all arrangements made with them to be 
 
 1s 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 on hand in case of failure by the Sheriff to afford pro- 
 tection. Is that a fact or not?”’ 
 
 “The facts concerning the engagement of the Pinkerton 
 men are these: From past experience, not only with the 
 present Sheriff but with all others, we have found that 
 he has been unable to furnish us with a sufficient number 
 of deputies to guard our property and protect the men who 
 were anxious to work on our terms. As the Amalgamated 
 men from the 1st of July had surrounded our works, placed 
 guards at all the entrances, and at all avenues or roads 
 leading to our establishment and for miles distant there- 
 from, we felt that for the safety of our property, and in 
 order to protect our workmen, it was necessary for us to 
 secure our own watchmen to assist the Sheriff, and we 
 knew of no other source from which to obtain them than 
 from Pinkerton agencies, and to them we applied. 
 
 ‘‘We brought the watchmen hereas quietly as possible; 
 and had them taken to Homestead at an hour of the night 
 when we hoped to have them enter our works without 
 any interference whatever and without meeting anybody. 
 We proposed to land them on our own property, and all 
 our efforts were to prevent the possibilities of a collision 
 between our former workmen and our watchmen.”’ 
 
 The plans were carefully laid and shrewdly executed. 
 On the morning of July 5th the Pinkerton guards num- 
 bering three hundred wereassembled at Ashtabula, Ohio, 
 conveyed by train to Bellevue, transferred to two barges 
 and towed by tugboats up the river after dark to Pitts- 
 burgh, where boxes containing arms had already been 
 placed upon the barges. | 
 
 116 
 
Homestead 
 
 Scrupulous care was taken to comply with all provi- 
 sions of law. Superintendent Potter, by suggestion of the 
 firm's counsel, Messrs. Knox and Reed, was warned by 
 Chairman Frick that ‘‘no matter what indignities he may 
 be subjected to, neither he nor any of the Company's em- 
 ployés should do any act of aggression nor under any 
 circumstances resort to the use of arms unless for the pro- 
 tection of their lives,’ and Captains Heinde and Kline, 
 in charge of the watchmen, were ordered by the Pinker- 
 tons not to open the boxes until they were placed in the 
 mills and even then to do nothing until regularly sworn 
 in as deputies by the Sheriff and compelled by their oaths 
 to obey his orders. 
 
 All promised well when, shrouded in darkness, the tug- 
 boat Lrrrzz Birt set forth towing the two barges toward 
 Homestead. Aboard the boat were Captain Rodgers and 
 crew, Superintendent Potter and several of his superin- 
 tendents, Captains Heinde and Kline and finally ex-Sher- 
 iff Joseph H. Gray, who had been deputized by Sheriff 
 McCleary to act as his representative and was supposed 
 by the others to be in command of the expedition by vir- 
 tue of the following communication which he presented 
 to Superintendent Potter at the dock: 
 
 June sth, 1892. 
 John A. Potter: 
 Dear Sir: This will introduce Col. Joseph H. Gray, deputy sheriff. 
 Yours truly, 
 Knox & REED. 
 
 You will understand that Col. Gray, as the representative of the 
 sheriff, is to have control of all action in case of trouble. 
 Knox & REED. 
 
 117 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 Although subsequently the Sheriff admitted that this 
 authorization was added to the line of introduction by 
 his own ‘‘direction and sanction,’’ he testified further 
 that Deputy Gray was not actually empowered to take 
 control in case of trouble but was merely “sent along to 
 preserve the peace’’ and “‘if there was liable to be a col- 
 lision’’ over landing, to instruct the guards to ‘back out 
 and leave’’; but the Deputy did not reveal the limitations 
 of his personal authority and the little fleet set forth 
 under a nominal commander bereft of powers either to 
 act himself or to deputize others to act for him. 
 
 The military organization created by the Advisory Com- 
 mittee to prevent either the owners or the State authori- 
 ties from regaining possession of the six-million-dollar 
 plant proved farmoreefficient thananybody had supposed 
 it to be. No sooner had the Lrrrrz Bix got under way, 
 with the two barges in tow, about midnight, than word 
 of its departure was flashed by an alert spy to Chairman 
 O'Donnell in Homestead, and the moment the report was 
 confirmed from Lock No. 1, three miles below the town, 
 the steam whistles shrieked the alarm and the entire pop- 
 ulation scrambled out of their beds into the streets and 
 rushed to the river banks. 
 
 Rifle fire was opened on the tugboat and barges about 
 a mile below Homestead and was continued eagerly but 
 wildly, scoring many hits but finding no human targets, 
 while the Lrrrrz Bix puffed doggedly along past the 
 town to the landing place on the firm’s property and the 
 crew threw out a stage plank. The mob of a thousand or 
 mote at this point were clambering down the bank when 
 
 118 
 
Homestead 
 
 a young man leaped forward and threw himself flat upon 
 the stage and, as Captain Heinde stepped forward to push 
 him off, he fired the first bullet that reached its mark and 
 brought the Captain to the deck witha bullet in his thigh. 
 
 Instantly the crowds along the river and on the bank 
 pelted the boat and barges with bullets and rushed for- 
 ward to board them, but the Pinkerton men, firing then 
 for the first time, repelled the assault and drove the as- 
 sailants back to their intrenchments protected by pig iron 
 and iron plates. Firing then practically ceased for a time 
 while both sides attended to their wounded. 
 
 The lack of a responsible commander then became even 
 mote serious than at any previous time. Twice Captain 
 Heinde had urged Deputy Sheriff Gray to deputize the 
 watchmen and twice the Sheriff's representative had re- 
 fused, saying that it would be time enough to do that 
 when they had obtained possession of the mills. This im- 
 posed upon him the necessity of disregarding his own 
 orders or abandoning his men to certain death. He finally 
 authorized distribution of twelve rifles to men whom he 
 sent below in the hope that others armed only with night 
 sticks would suffice to resist invasion successfully. This 
 project naturally failed when he fell unconscious at the 
 first fire and the use of guns was required to ep the 
 boarding crowd. 
 
 While this fighting was taking place at the landing 
 several watchmen on the first barge were wounded and 
 Superintendent Potter, discovering that their comrades 
 were retaliating and beginning to unpack the boxes, or- 
 dered them to stop, and was obeyed. 
 
 119 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 This was the anomalous condition of affairs when, fol- 
 lowing the tacit armistice, a consultation participated 
 in by Deputy Sheriff Gray, Superintendent Potter, Cap- 
 tain Nordrum, in place of Captain Heinde, and Captain 
 Rodgers, shipmaster, was held on the boat. 
 
 “It was a question,’’ testified Mr. Potter, “‘whether 
 we could get into the works by force or whether we 
 should let the thing take its course. Mr. Gray did not 
 feel like taking the responsibility upon himself, and I 
 would not. He refused to take any action and I felt that 
 my instructions had been carried out. It was decided 
 that the wounded had to be taken care of and that we 
 would leave the barges to remain where they were, as 
 the crowd seemed to be going away, and we thought in 
 an hour or two or three hours, there could be a peace- 
 able landing made."’ 
 
 So the tugboat steamed away to Port Perry where Su- 
 perintendent Potter and the six wounded men took a 
 train for Pittsburgh. Two hours later the tugboat bearing 
 Captain Rodgers, his crew of six men, Deputy Sheriff 
 Gray and a Pinkerton man, returned to Homestead. The 
 Captain testified : 
 
 We went back with the intent to land with the barges and stay 
 with them, or go on to town for further commissary supplies which 
 had been left behind. In anticipation we would be fired on we de- 
 termined to fight under the colors, and so ran up two flags, one at 
 each end. When we attempted to land alongside the barge we were 
 met with heavy volleys from both sides of the river, particularly 
 the Homestead side, and from behind intrenchments. The firing 
 was so heavy the pilot and engineer were compelled to leave their 
 
 posts and we were compelled to stop the boat, which drifted around 
 at the mercy of the mob, which continued firing. This lasted until 
 
 120 
 
Homestead 
 
 we drifted away from the point and to some extent out of the range 
 of the guns. The shore was lined with thousands on the Home- 
 stead side, and a good number on the opposite side, all of whom 
 seemed bent on destroying our lives and our boat. Holes in the 
 boat show missiles were fired from artillery. This firing gradually 
 died away until we were 14 miles from Homestead, when it ceased. 
 When we were drifting to the point, in point-blank range of the 
 mob, and only 30 or 40 feet away, our destruction would have been 
 inevitable had we not used means of defence we found on the boat. 
 We did this with such effect that the mob scattered and we were 
 enabled to put the pilot and engineer at their posts and so get away. 
 I can only say, in conclusion, that I have never heard or read of 
 any such inhuman action as that of this mob, or a part of it, in 
 shooting at wounded men, and doing it with fiendish delight. 
 The plight of the three hundred watchmen, confined 
 in the stranded and deserted barges, was desperate indeed. 
 Surrounded by thousands of bloodthirsty enemies bent 
 solely upon their complete extinction and equipped with 
 all diabolical agencies of destruction, they could not even 
 fight for their lives. Any one who showed a head for an 
 instant at a hatchway or porthole gasping for a breath 
 of air was pelted with bullets by sharpshooters; oil was 
 pumped upon the surface of the water and set on fire; 
 natural gas, directed from a large main, was exploded by 
 rockets; dynamite was hurled upon the barges to blow 
 them to bits; burning rafts were floated down to set them 
 on fire; cannon blazed at them from the opposite bank; 
 —such was the inferno in which the prisoners barely ex- 
 isted until, without hope of succor and destitute even of 
 food, they raised a white flag in token of surrender, only 
 to see it riddled by bullets. 
 A second attempt to save their lives if possible, late in 
 the afternoon, drew an answering signal from the Ad- 
 121 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 visory Committee, and Chairman O'Donnell, having ad- 
 dressed the crowd who, in his own words,’ ‘pledged them- 
 selves to a man to let the watchmen go unharmed and in 
 peace if they surrendered,’’ went down to the boat and 
 accepted the sole condition asked by the prisoners “that 
 you will give us free passage from Homestead.”’ 
 
 ‘‘When all was ready,’’ continued Mr. O’Donnell in 
 his testimony, ‘‘I gave the order and they marched out, 
 and I remained on the boat until the last man. I will state 
 by this time people were coming up, down, and across 
 the river, and that the barges were in the hands of the 
 rabble. I left the boat and they were marched to therink, 
 and the people formed on either side—men, women, and 
 children—and I must say they were subjected to very in- 
 human treatment, which our men were powerless to pro- 
 tect them from, and I know that many of our men’have 
 received scars and bruises in their endeavor to protect 
 the Pinkertons. We took them to the rink and that night 
 we sent them off.’’ 
 
 The “‘very inhuman treatment’’ noted by Mr. O’Don- 
 nell, who incidentally followed the procession, was de- 
 picted in his book by Mr. Bridge from information gar- 
 nered from newspaper accounts, in these words: 
 
 The doors of the barges were flung open and the victorious 
 strikers crowded into the barges. The reporters who followed them 
 found one dead and eleven wounded watchmen. The rest were dis- 
 armed and marched out, while the crowd swarmed over the boat 
 for loot. Cases of provisions were broken open and the contents 
 distributed among the women and children; bedding and every 
 portable thing was taken away. Then the barges were set on fire; 
 and the strikers turned to escort their prisoners to a public hall in 
 
 122 
 
Homestead 
 
 town. One by one, with bared heads, the latter descended the 
 gangplank, climbed up the incline to the mill yard, and across it 
 to the public road; and never did captives suffer more in running a 
 gauntlet of redskins. For nearly a mile the watchmen walked, ran, 
 or crawled through a lane of infuriated men, women, and children; 
 and at every step they were struck with fists, clubs, and stones. 
 Their hats, satchels, and coats were snatched away from them; 
 and in many cases they were robbed of their watches and money. 
 Not a man escaped injury. One of them, Connors, unable to move 
 and defend himself, was deliberately shot by one of the strikers 
 and then clubbed. Another, named Edwards, also wounded and 
 helpless, was clubbed by another striker with the butt end of a 
 - musket. Both of these men died; and another became insane and 
 committed suicide as a result of the fearful beating received after 
 surrender. About thirty others were afterwards taken to the hos- 
 pital with broken arms and disjointed ankles, shattered noses, 
 gouged eyes, bruised heads, and injured backs. 
 
 Sheriff McCleary, at the instigation of Mr. Frick, who 
 provided a special train, went to Homestead at midnight 
 accompanied by President Weihe of the Amalgamated 
 Association and brought the watchmen back to Pitts- 
 burgh hospitals. The day’s casualties were ten killed and 
 more than sixty wounded. 
 
 The rout was complete; the triumph hardly less im- 
 pressive than that which followed the first battle of Bull 
 Run; the victory the most costly of its kind ever won. 
 
 123 
 
1X 
 The State Intervenes 
 
 HE morning of July 7th dawned upon a wholly 
 peaceful community, with the Advisory Com- 
 mittee of the Amalgamated Association in ab- 
 solute possession of the properties owned by 
 the Carnegie Steel Company and in full military control 
 of the town of Homestead with its ten thousand inhabit- 
 ants and all the approaches by land and water to both. 
 A state of siege was declared. Strangers were excluded, 
 citizens were arrested without warrant, telegrams to 
 newspapers and individuals were censored and reporters 
 suspected of writing unfavorable accounts were kicked 
 out hatless and coatless to grope their way through the 
 darkness of night to Pittsburgh as best they could. 
 ‘‘Mob law,’’ a special correspondent who had been 
 thus treated telegraphed to the New York Times, “‘is 
 absolute. Never were rioters better armed. Not only have 
 they in their possession the guns captured from the three 
 hundred Pinkertons, with all the ammunition belonging 
 to that fateful expedition, but they have also been sup- 
 plied with rifles by three independent military organi- 
 zations of Pittsburgh, known as the Hibernian Rifles, 
 and by a Polish gun club. Today they received a box of 
 ammunition from Philadelphia, and yesterday one of the 
 strikers informed a reporter that enough dynamite was 
 124 
 
The State Intervenes 
 
 at their disposal to blow all the Carnegie works out of 
 sight—a remark which was exaggerated into a rumor 
 that they would destroy the works before non-union men 
 were permitted to enter them. 
 
 “Reinforcements are hourly pouring into Homestead 
 fromall quarters of the country—lawless, desperate, mur- 
 derous characters. They all claim to be workmen, sym- 
 pathetic and interested—sympathetic over the trouble 
 which has fallen upon their brethren, interested in the 
 final result. 
 
 “It is impossible to reach the Carnegie works. Today 
 Mr. Frick’s assistant, Mr. Childs, accompanied by Mr. 
 Potter, the Superintendent of the works, walked toward 
 the works. At the railway track they were stopped. 
 
 ‘We desire to visit the works,’ said Mr. Childs. 
 
 “You cannot visit them,’ was the reply. 
 
 “You know who I am?’ asked Mr. Potter. 
 
 Yes, but we have orders not to allow any one to enter 
 
 the works. 
 
 _ There was no strike, no lockout; there had not been at 
 any time; work had simply ceased automatically when 
 the time fixed by the agreement expired and terms for 
 continuance had not been arranged. It was no mere riot, 
 it was organized rebellion as clearly as Shay’s in the early 
 history of the Republic. 
 
 “It was not’’ sternly declared Chief Justice Paxson 
 later, ‘‘a cry of ‘bread or blood’ from famished lips or an 
 ebullition of angry passions from a sudden outrage or 
 provocation. It wasa deliberate attempt of men without 
 
 a grievance to wrest from others their lawfully acquired 
 126 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 property and to control them in their use and enjoy- 
 ment of it. 
 
 ‘‘A mere mob, collected upon the impulse of the moment, 
 without any definite object beyond the gratification of 
 its sudden passions, does not commit treason, although 
 it destroys property and takes human life. But when a 
 large number of men arm and organize themselves by 
 divisions and companies, appoint officers, and engage 
 in a common purpose to defy the law, to resist its officers, 
 and to deprive any portion of their fellow-citizens of the 
 rights to which they are entitled under the Constitu- 
 tion and laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, it 
 is a levying of war against the State, and the offense is 
 treason.” 
 
 This phase of the situation, imperceptible to the ex- 
 ultant rioters, was one which could not fail to give rise 
 to uneasiness in the minds of the leaders of the Amalga- 
 mated Association and their experienced advisers. After 
 all, it was a matter, not of wages for ignorant workmen 
 known to be fully paid, but of establishment of their 
 own power as officials of the union, that constituted the 
 chief stake in the contest. True, they still held fast the 
 powerful factors which they had counted upon originally 
 to ensure their success. Neither of the two great political 
 organizations would dare antagonize the millions of 
 workingmen whose votes could and probably would be 
 massed by their various unions throughout the entire 
 country in the forthcoming National election. Aggres- 
 sive Democratic and timorous Republican newspapers 
 
 would be equally solicitous for the “‘rights’’ of labor 
 126 
 
The State Intervenes 
 
 as contrasted with the “‘privileges’’ of capital, and rea- 
 son would be submerged in waves of public sympathy. 
 
 The wholly practical leaders of both parties would 
 point to dreaded tariff reduction as suspended by a thread 
 over the heads of steel manufacturers, extinction of ‘‘pro- 
 tection’ would be certain in the event of Democratic 
 success, atid severance of the tacit alliance which had 
 provided heavy duties would surely follow a Repub- 
 lican defeat which could be attributed to the selfish ob- 
 duracy of a favored ‘‘infant industry.”’ 
 
 The consequences to the Carnegie shareholders clearly 
 would be disastrous if a settlement satisfactory to both 
 unions and men should not be effected before election day, 
 —and Mr.Carnegie, who owned a majority of the stock, 
 had expressed his approval and pledged his support of 
 unionism over and over again and in one signal instance 
 had overridden the very manager who now blocked the 
 way of the ambitious labor leaders. Surely not only the 
 controlling owner but all other stockholders, every one 
 of whom was a lifelong Republican, a high protectionist 
 and an eager recipient of political favors, both past and 
 to come, could be relied upon to temporize for permanent 
 advantage. 
 
 All? Yes, all but one; only one of all the Company's 
 shareholders, only one of all contributing Republicans, 
 only one of all tenderly nurtured manufacturers, to beat! 
 It looked easy. So the leaders argued. AND YET— 
 
 It might be the better part of valor to waive magnani- 
 mously the claims of the men, to allay conceivable pub- 
 lic resentment at their shocking resort to brutality and 
 
 127 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 murder and thereby, in any case and above all, to save 
 the face of the union. 
 
 No time was lost in trying to appease public opinion. 
 On the day following the battle Chairman O'Donnell, 
 tacitly admitting that all other demands had lacked 
 justification, singled out the insistence that the date of 
 fixing the scale of wages should not be changed from 
 June to December as the one unalterable resolve which 
 ‘“‘under no circumstances’’ would be modified, and de- 
 
 clared that ‘‘the final adjustment must be made now.” 
 
 Anothermember of the Amalgamated Association who 
 had the confidence of the Sheriff informed that official 
 that mere acceptance by the company of a proposal to 
 “confer with,’’ i.e., to recognize, the union, would suf- 
 fice to ‘stop the rioting.” 
 
 Mr. Frick publicly rejoined that terms ceased to be an 
 issue when the company was deprived of possession of 
 its property by force, and murder of its employés began. 
 The sole question was whether the Carnegie Company 
 or the Amalgamated Association should have absolute 
 control of the company’s property, and this could be an- 
 swetred only by the State authorities. 
 
 ‘We today,”’ he continued, ‘‘are turned out of our plant 
 at Homestead and have been since the first of July. There 
 is nobody in the mills up there now; there is simply a 
 mass of idle machinery with nobody to look after it.”’ 
 
 He refused to confer with the officers of the union 
 whose followers were rioting and destroying property. 
 
 ‘‘Imay say with the greatest emphasis,’’ he concluded 
 calmly, “‘that under no circumstances will we have any 
 
 128 
 
The State Intervenes 
 
 further dealings with the Amalgamated Association as 
 an organization. This is final.’ 
 
 “What of the future?”’ he was asked. 
 
 ‘That is in the hands of the authorities of Allegheny 
 County. If they are unable to cope with the situation, it 
 is Clearly the duty of the Governor of the State to see 
 that we are installed in our property and permitted to 
 operate our plant unmolested.”’ 
 
 On the evening of the day—July 8th, 1892—-when this 
 vitally important declaration was published, a second 
 son, Henry Clay, junior, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Frick, 
 and there were grave doubts of the survival of either 
 mother or son for many days. The father, after a sleepless 
 night, was at his desk as usual, recipient of hourly bul- 
 letins, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the following day. 
 
 Meanwhile, beginning on the day of the battle, Sheriff 
 McCleary and Governor Robert E. Pattison were ex- 
 changing telegrams, as follows: 
 
 Juty 6.—SuerirF To GoverNor.— Situation at Homestead is very 
 grave. My deputies were driven from the ground and watchmen 
 sent by mill owners attacked. Shots were exchanged and some men 
 killed and wounded. Unless prompt measures are taken to prevent 
 it further bloodshed and great destruction of property may be ex- 
 pected. 
 
 The striking workmen and their friends on the ground number 
 at least 5,000 and the civil authorities are utterly unable to cope 
 with them. Wish you would send representative at once. 
 
 GovERNoR To SHEeriFF.—Local authorities must exhaust every 
 means at their command for the preservation of peace. 
 
 SaME Date—Suerirr.—The works at Homestead are in possession 
 of an armed mob; they number thousands. The mill owners this 
 morning attempted to land a number of watchmen, when an attack 
 
 129 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 was made on boats and 6 men on boats were badly wounded, a 
 number of men on shore were killed and wounded; how many 
 can not say. The boat later came down and was fired on from the 
 shore and pilot compelled to abandon pilot house. I have no means 
 at my command to meet emergency; a large armed force will be re- 
 quired; any delay may lead to further bloodshed and great de- 
 struction of property. You are, therefore, urged to act at once. 
 
 Govzernor.—How many deputies have you sworn in and what 
 measures have you taken to enforce order and protect property? 
 The county authorities must exhaust every means to preserve peace. 
 
 Same Date—Snerirr.—After personal visit to Homestead works 
 yesterday morning and careful inquiry as to surroundings, I en- 
 deavored to gather a force to guard works, but was unable to obtain 
 any. I then sent twelve deputies (almost my entire regular force) 
 to Homestead, but they were driven from the grounds. The mill 
 owners early this morning sent an armed guard of 300 men by river. 
 Boats containing this guard were fired on while on their way up the 
 river, and when they attempted to land at company’s ground were 
 met by an armed mob, which had broken down company’s fences 
 and taken possession of the landing. An encounter ensued, in which 
 a number were wounded on both sides; several are reported dead. 
 The coroner has just informed me that one of the guards has just 
 died. The guards have not been able to land, and the works are in 
 possession of the mob, who are armed with rifles and pistols and 
 are reported to have one cannon. The guards remain on the barges 
 near landing, having been abandoned by the steamer which towed 
 them there. The civil authorities here are powetless to meet the 
 situation. An armed and disciplined force is needed at once to pre- 
 vent further loss of life. I therefore urge immediate action on your 
 part. | 
 
 GoverNnor.—Your telegram indicates that you have not made any 
 effort to execute the law to enforce order, and I must insist upon 
 you calling upon all citizens for an adequate number of deputies. 
 
 Jury 7.—Sheriff reports inability to secure adequate force; makes 
 no request for military assistance. 
 
 Jury 10.—Suerirr.—The situation at Homestead has not improved, 
 while all is quiet there. The strikers are in control, and openly ex- 
 ptess to me and to the public their determination that the works 
 
 130 
 
The State Intervenes 
 
 shall not be operated unless by themselves. After making all efforts 
 in my power I have failed to secure a posse respectable enough in 
 numbers to accomplish anything, and I am satisfied that no posse 
 raised by civil authority can do anything to change the condition 
 of affairs, and that any attempt by an inadequate force to restore 
 the right of law will only result in further armed resistance and 
 consequent loss of life. Only a large military force will enable me 
 to control matters. I believe if such force is sent the disorderly ele- 
 ment will be overawed and order will be restored. I therefore call 
 upon you to furnish me such assistance. 
 
 GovzerNor.—Have ordered Maj. Gen. George R. Snowden with 
 the division of the National Guards of Pennsylvania to your sup- 
 port at once. Put yourself in communication with him. Communi- 
 cate further particulars. 
 
 Conformably to arrangements made in pursuance of 
 this order, on July 12th the entire division of the Penn- 
 sylvania National Guard, comprising eight thousand 
 men, headed by Major General Snowden and Sheriff 
 McCleary, marched into Homestead and put the Carne- 
 gie officials in possession, under continuing guard, of the 
 Company's property without encountering resistance. 
 
 Immediately upon issuing his order to General Snow- 
 den, Governor Pattison, smarting under criticism for al- 
 leged dilatoriness, made this statement: 
 
 The law is very explicit on this point and left me no other way 
 to act. Besides, Sheriff McCleary had not demanded military aid 
 as yet. He had only suggested it. The statutes expressly provide 
 that military aid shall not be furnished the civil authorities until 
 the latter have exhausted every means in their power to quell an 
 insurrection. The county is responsible to the mill owners for the 
 preservation of their property. 
 
 It is a very easy matter to talk about calling out the militia, but 
 it is not so easy to call them in again. Witness the coke riots of 
 
 last year when the militia was out for more than two months. The 
 militia have a very salutary effect on turbulent strikers while they 
 
 131 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 are present, but their withdrawal is exceedingly likely to cause a 
 renewal of hostilities. 
 
 Mr. Samuel Gompers gravely doubted the Governor's 
 right to call out the militia at all and politicians of both 
 parties were disposed to complain for one reason or an- 
 other, but the public generally coincided with the view 
 expressed by the New Yorx Times on July 11th to this 
 effect: 
 
 The calmness, prudence, and faithful effort to avoid resort to the 
 military power of the State, if possible, that have characterized 
 Gov. Pattison’s conduct from the beginning give greater weight to 
 the decision he now feels himself impelled to reach. And he has 
 done well in that when he saw the time to att had come, he has 
 resolved to use no half-way measures, but to employ all the force 
 of the Commonwealth. There will be far less likelihood of resist- 
 ance. There will be far greater certainty that resistance, if offered, 
 will be overcome promptly and with the least possible injury to 
 those who offer it. 
 
 Whatever doubts may have lingered in honest minds 
 were, inany case, dispelled by the Governor himself when 
 a few days later he appeared personally upon the scene 
 and declared flatly that he would spend the entire six mil- 
 lion dollars in the State treasury and mortgage the com- 
 monwealth itself ‘if necessary to maintain the National 
 Guard here until lawand order are restored.” Incidentally 
 he leased a house and announced his intention of remain- 
 ing with the troops ‘‘until preservation of law shall be 
 fully established and permanently guaranteed.”’ 
 
 Thus was dissipated probably for all time any surmise 
 that public authority could be defied successfully by a 
 private organization, however strong in numbers or in 
 wealth, within the boundaries of the United States. 
 
 132 i 
 
The State Intervenes 
 
 The firmness of the Governor, emphasized by the re- 
 sounding bugle notes and reverberations of sunset guns 
 from historic Braddock Field, where eight thousand 
 troops had pitched their tents, left no doubt of the elimi- 
 nation of rapine and murder as factors in the contest. 
 Employers and employés now stood upon a level, obedi- 
 ent to the law, and all phases of contention were resolved 
 to a single issue: Could the workmen compel the com- 
 pany to ‘‘recognize’’ and deal with the union? 
 
 Undismayed by their failure to force a second quick 
 surrender by menace to life and property, the Amalga- 
 mated Association promptly expanded the field of con- 
 troversy to comprise the entire force of men employed by 
 the Carnegies by bringing the ‘‘sympathetic strike’’ into 
 play. On the very day—July 13th—after the militia ar- 
 rived, the union workers in three outside plants voted 
 to break their agreement and strike unless Mr. Frick 
 would confer with the union leaders of Homestead. Crisp 
 and decisive came the laconic response: “‘Mr. Frick de- 
 clines.’’ Two thousand men promptly walked out of 
 the Upper and Lower mills in Pittsburgh, and from 
 Beaver Falls, thirty miles down the Ohio river, came the 
 following telegram: 
 
 We, the Amalgamated Association of Beaver Falls, the rod mill, 
 wire mill, and nail mill, have come to the conclusion that we will 
 refuse to work until such time as H. C. Frick, Chairman of Car- 
 negie Steel Company, Limited, is willing to confer with the Amal- 
 gamated Association in order to settle the Homestead affair. 
 
 ARTHUR THORNTON 
 Chairman of Committee. 
 
 pao 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 Mr. Frick repeated this ultimatum to Superintendent 
 Wrigley at Beaver Falls and added: 
 
 You will please say to Mr. Thornton, Chairman of the Commit- 
 tee, and ask him to so notify the men, that if they, composing the 
 Amalgamated Association at Beaver Falls Mills, and who signed 
 an agreement with us for one year, do not go to work on Monday 
 (this was Friday) next, or when you are ready to start (the mills 
 had been temporarily shut down for repairs) we shall consider 
 their failure to do so as a cancellation of the agreement existing 
 between us, and when these works do resume it will be as non- 
 union, and former employés satisfactory to us who desire to work 
 there will have to apply as individuals. You can say that under no 
 circumstances will we confer with the men at Homestead as mem- 
 bers of the Amalgamated Association. | | 
 
 The Carnegie Steel Company, Limited. 
 By H, C. Frick, Chairman. 
 
 Simultaneously, with steam up in seven of the ten 
 Homestead mills, Superintendent Potter addressed a per- 
 sonal note to each of the former employés inviting him 
 to return to his old position on July 18th, and the fol- 
 lowing placard was posted conspicuously: 
 
 THE CARNEGIE STEEL COMPANY, LIMITED. 
 
 Notice—Individual applications for employment at the Home- 
 stead Steel Works will be received by the General Superintendent 
 either in person or by letter until 6 p.m. Thursday, July 21, 1892. 
 It is our desire to retain in our service all of our old employés 
 whose past records are satisfactory and who did not take part in 
 the attempts which have been made to interfere with our right to 
 manage our business. 
 
 Such of our old employés as do not apply by the time above 
 named will be considered as having no desire to re-enter our em- 
 ployment, and the positions which they held will be given to 
 other men, and those first applying will have the choice of unfilled 
 positions for which they are suitable. 
 
 The Carnegie Steel Company (Limited). 
 H. C. Fricx, Chairman. 
 
 134 
 
The State Intervenes 
 
 Onthe1sth,177 men had returned towork;onthe 16th, 
 190; and on the 17th, 220; many applications from out- 
 siders were under consideration; and, ‘‘on the whole,”’ 
 Mr. Frick wrote to President Morse of the Illinois Steel 
 Company, ‘Iam pretty well pleased with the situation’’; 
 adding, inresponse to another anxious inquiry,‘‘Youcan 
 rest assured that we propose to manage our own business 
 as we think proper and right.”’ 
 
 Referring to the innumerable rumors then rife, the 
 correspondent of the New Yorx Timss said: 
 
 There have been published numerous statements to the effect 
 that Mr. Frick is constantly guarded by detectives. There is no 
 sign of a guard in his office. He can be seen at his desk from the 
 public hall of the building, and anybody can reach the hall by 
 going up in the elevator. 
 
 Among Mr. Frick’s many callers on the day when this 
 report appeared was an alert, intelligent Russian who 
 called himself Alexander Berkman and professed to rep- 
 resent a labor agency in New York. The interview lasted 
 about half an hour and an appointment was made for 
 further conversation, one week later, on Saturday, July 
 231d,1892,—the date of a memorable and tragic episode. 
 
 135 
 
x 
 Attempted Assassination 
 
 LEXANDER BERKMAN was a professed anarchist 
 
 —‘‘a violent and destructive opponent of all 
 
 government’’—and a disciple of the notori- 
 
 ous Emma Goldman. He was born in the 
 
 province of Vilna, Russia, in 1867, the son of a prosper- 
 
 ous druggist, and while attending a college exploited 
 
 views of such radical nature that he was expelled from 
 
 the town by the authorities. He came to New York when 
 
 nineteen years old and obtained a position on the Frei- 
 
 HEIT, an organ of discontent, but soon began to mouth 
 
 doctrines so extreme that John Most and his associates, 
 
 fearing that he might embroil them in penal offenses 
 against the government, compelled him to resign. 
 
 After working for a short time as a compositor in New 
 Haven, he obtained a place in the Singer sewing machine 
 factory in Elizabeth, where he joined the Penkert nihil- 
 ists who held that every individual was endowed with 
 absolute right to do whatever he might please without 
 regard to group opinion. Presently he drifted back to 
 New York where he invented an ‘employment agency’ 
 under the name of Simon Bachman and it was in the 
 guise of a representative of that imaginary concern that 
 he sought an interview with Mr. Frick and obtained 
 an appointment for Saturday, July 23rd. He was then 
 
 136 
 
Attempted Assassination 
 
 twenty-five years old, of average height, slender, lithe, 
 athletic, quick as a cat and sinewy as a leopard—a san- 
 guinary fanatic, with all the cunning and daring of his 
 breed, and yet a tyro. 
 
 His first call, made the week before to spy out the ground, 
 had revealed Mr. Frick’s custom of lunching more quickly 
 and returning sooner than his office force. If Berkman had 
 gone prepared on that occasion, when he arrived about 
 half-past-one and found his quarry absolutely alone, un- 
 suspecting and helpless in his desk-chair, he could have 
 killed him with surety and ease. But inexperience, cir- 
 cumstances and nerves combined to defeat his purpose. 
 
 Too tense to bide his time, Berkman reached Pittsburgh 
 on Thursday evening, and on Friday forenoon unable to 
 restrain his impulses, he called twice at Mr. Frick’s office 
 on the second floor of the Curonicize-TzLeGrapu building 
 but got only as far as the anteroom owing to the presence 
 of other callers. At noon on Saturday he appeared a third 
 time; but, when word came that Mr. Frick would be un- 
 able to see him for a few moments, he became so agitated 
 that he left hurriedly and, apparently failing to calm his 
 nerves sooner, did not return till nearly twoo’'clock, twenty 
 minutes too late to find his victim alone. But this time 
 he gave himself no opportunity to falter. Revolver in hand 
 though still in his pocket, he brushed past the office 
 boy, threw open the door and darted into the room draw- 
 ing his weapon. 
 
 As it happened, Mr. Frick was not in his desk-chair 
 but in another at the end of the long table conversing 
 with Vice Chairman Leishman and, rising quickly, was 
 
 137 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 turning to face the intruder when Berkman fired the first 
 bullet, which pierced the lobe of his left ear, entered his 
 neck near the base of his skull and passed down between 
 his shoulders. Mr. Frick staggered and fell as Berkman 
 quickly fired another bullet into the right side of his neck. 
 
 A third attempt to kill was frustrated by Mr. Leishman 
 who leaped forward and struck up the weapon just as it 
 exploded and then clinched with the assailant. While his 
 partner was wrestling to get hold of the revolver Mr. 
 Frick, dazed and bleeding profusely from his wounds, 
 struggled to his feet and, seizing Berkman around the 
 waist, brought all three to the floor with a crash; but, 
 interlocked though he was, the fanatic wrenched his left 
 hand loose and seizing from his pocket a dagger made 
 from a file stabbed viciously at his weakening adversary, 
 the first thrust piercing his hip, the second jabbing his 
 right side and the third tearing open his left leg below the 
 knee. By a supreme effort, however, Mr. Frick managed to 
 pinion the man’s arm and wrist to the floor and, throw- 
 ing himself upon his body, held him fast till the clerks, 
 aroused by the noise, rushed in and overpowered him. 
 
 But the nihilist had not yet reached the end of his re- 
 sources. He was still struggling when a Deputy Sheriff, 
 greatly excited, rushed into the room and was trying to 
 get a clear shot at him without imperilling others when 
 Mr. Frick, who had been leaning on his desk and watching 
 keenly, made a gesture of dissuasion. 
 
 ‘Don’t shoot,”’ he ejaculated, “‘leave him to the law; 
 but raise his head and let me see his face.”’ 
 
 This demand having been complied with none too 
 
 138 
 
Attempted Assassination 
 
 gently, the Sheriff, following the direction indicated by 
 Mr. Frick’s index finger, saw the culprit’s jaw moving as 
 if he were chewing something. Instantly his mouth was 
 forced open and a capsule containing enough fulminite 
 of mercury to blow all in the room to bits was extracted. 
 This was too much for a carpenter who, having rushed 
 in from his work hammer in hand, struck at, but missed, 
 Berkman’s head and was drawing back for another blow 
 when again Mr. Frick interceded faintly: 
 
 “Don’t kill him, I tell you; let the law take its course.”’ 
 
 The effort of speaking, following loss of blood which 
 was still streaming from his wounds, exhausted him and he 
 would have fallen if those nearest had not sprung to his 
 support and borne him toa couch in the adjoining room. 
 By this time policemen had arrived and taken charge of 
 Berkman, and surgeons and physicians were not far behind. 
 
 While the wounds inflicted by the nihilist’s jagged 
 dagger were being staunched Mr. Frick arranged for noti- 
 fication of his sick wife in such a way as to cause a mini- 
 mum of anxiety and dictated the following telegram to 
 his aged mother, who had been prostrated since the out- 
 break of violence: 
 
 Was shot twice but not dangerously. H. C. Frick. 
 
 A similar message was cabled to Mr. Carnegie with 
 these words added: 
 
 There is no necessity for you to come home. I am still in shape 
 to fight the battle out. 
 
 Meanwhile the physicians, preparatory to probing, 
 were providing an anaesthetic, which Mr. Frick reso- 
 lutely refused to have administered, saying that it was 
 
 139 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 quite unnecessary and was inadvisable because he might 
 help in locating the bullets. This surmise proved correct 
 from the moment the surgeon inserted the instrument 
 and pushed it forward gently and tentatively in pursu- 
 ance of the patient’s directions until in each of the two 
 searches he heard ‘‘There, that feels like it, Doctor,’’ 
 and extracted both balls with unerring precision. | 
 
 Mr. Frick, propped up in a chair at his desk after a 
 brief rest, then proceeded to finish his day’s work, speci- 
 fying the final terms of an essential loan which he had 
 been negotiating, signing several official documents and 
 many letters which he had dictated in the forenoon and 
 finally, just before submitting to be carried to an ambu- 
 lance, he made the following statement to be given to 
 the press: 
 
 This incident will not change the attitude of the Carnegie Steel 
 Company toward the Amalgamated Association. I do not think I 
 
 shall die but whether I do or not the Company will pursue the 
 same policy and it will win. | 
 
 He did not reach home until nearly eight o'clock, then 
 suffering intensely but able to sing out to Mrs. Frick, in 
 response to a query from her, as he was being borne past 
 her bedroom door on a stretcher: 
 
 “Don’t worry, Ada, I’m all right; I may come in 
 later to say good-night; how is the baby?”’ 
 
 Although not permitted to leave his bed that evening 
 or for several days following, Mr. Frick summoned his 
 secretary as soon as the doctors had left the next morn- 
 ing and dictated and signed this notice to the new em- 
 ployés, then numbering about five hundred: 
 
 140 
 
Attempted Assassination 
 CARNEGIE STEEL COMPANY, (LIMITED): 
 
 NnoTicE:—To all men who entered our employ after July 1st, 1892: 
 In no case and under no circumstances will a single one of you be 
 discharged to make room for another man. You will keep your 
 respective positions so long as you attend to your duties. Positive 
 orders to this effect have been given to the general superintendent. 
 By order of the board of managers, 
 The Carnegie Steel Company, (Limited) 
 H. C. Fricx, Chairman. 
 
 Homestead Steel Works, July 24th, 1892. 
 
 During the succeeding ten days, propped up in bed and 
 swathed with bandages, witha telephone installed with- 
 in reach and secretaries in constant attendance in defiance 
 of the doctors’ orders, ignoring pain and scofling at the 
 sweltering heat, Mr. Frick not only kept fully informed 
 but personally dictated every move in the continuing 
 contest and attended to all other details of the Com- 
 pany’s business with customary thoroughness. 
 
 On Wednesday, August 3rd, he was summoned to be- 
 hold the passing of the spirit of his little son and name- 
 sake, born less than four weeks previously, on the day 
 of the battle at Homestead, and on Thursday afternoon 
 his eyes rested upon the tiny coffin during a brief funeral 
 service. The long evening, passed at the bedside of the 
 stricken mother, finally wore away and he slept for a 
 few houts. 
 
 Rising and breakfasting promptly on the following 
 morning, thirteen days after he had been attacked, he 
 walked alone across the lawn, stepped upon an open 
 street-car, entered his office on the stroke of eight and 
 rang for the morning’s mail. 
 
 141 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 ‘“Those who hate him most,’’ wrote the correspondent 
 of the New York Wor tp, his severest critic, “‘admire 
 the nerve and stamina of this man of steel whom nothing 
 seems to be able to move. He looked a little thinner and 
 paler than before he was shot but the change was not so 
 marked as had been expected. There is a mark on his 
 left ear where a bullet passed through it and behind the 
 eat isa hole stuffed with cotton in which the bullet buried 
 itself. He was particularly interested in the hole in the 
 ceiling made by the bullet when Mr. Leishman knocked 
 up Berkman’s arm and which, but for that act, would 
 have ended his own career. But he was not worried when 
 he was attacked nor while lying in his home during those 
 terribly hot days when his recovery was anything but cer- 
 tain,and today, when he returned to work after thirteen 
 days, he seemed just the same as ever. There was no body- 
 guard. Mr. Frick does not like bodyguards. When he 
 saw the detective who had been watching the Company s 
 offices ever since the shooting he frowned and the detec- 
 tive was sent downstairs, where he remained as long as 
 the Chairman was in the building.”’ 
 
 “Tf an honest American,’’ he remarked to the Times 
 reporter, ‘‘cannot live in his own home without being 
 surrounded by a bodyguard, it is time to quit.’ 
 
 While he was in his office the Wortp correspondent 
 asked how he was feeling. 
 
 ‘Very well, indeed, thank you,”’ answered Mr. Frick. 
 ‘Tam nearly well, and in very good trim for work. I had 
 too much to do to stay away from the office any longer 
 and I am glad to get back again. I am going right along 
 
 142 
 
AT THE AGE OF TWENTY-FIVE 
 
Attempted Assassination 
 
 now attending to my affairs. Fortunately there is noth- 
 ing behind, for during my absence the work has been done 
 most satisfactorily by the officials and clerks. I could not 
 ask any better management of this trouble than that of 
 my assistants, and the results thus far are all that could 
 be wished for. There have been many grave situations 
 and complications and all of them have been successfully 
 met. The outlook is most bright. I could not ask for any- 
 thing better.’’ 
 
 He lunched with the managers of the Company’s vari- 
 ous plants and left for home on a street-car unattended 
 shortly after three o’clock. Half a dozen or more police- 
 men were patrolling the block and at the gate he met 
 Superintendent O'Mara and protested somewhat vehe- 
 mently. The Chief replied that he had stationed his men 
 upon his own notion that their presence would contrib- 
 ute to Mrs. Frick’s peace of mind and possibly hasten 
 her recovery. 
 
 “Very well,’’ was the reply, “‘come in and we will find 
 out.”’ 
 
 While the Chief waited in the hall Mr. Frick went up- 
 stairs and returning in a few moments said to him: 
 
 “My wife asks me to thank you most kindly for your 
 thoughtfulness but earnestly requests that you take the 
 men away; she fears that their being here all the time 
 might make the servants nervous.’ 
 
 The Chief laughed and complied, and thereafter Mr. 
 Frick made his trips daily to and from his office alone on 
 open street-cars at fixed hours without paying the slight- 
 est heed to the other passengers. 
 
 143 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 Berkman meanwhile, having grievously injured the 
 cause of the workmen whom, wholly without their con- 
 sent or knowledge, he had meant to serve, remained in 
 jail until the autumn when he was tried, convicted and 
 sentenced to one year in the workhouse for carrying con- 
 cealed weapons, and twenty-one years in the penitentiary 
 for assault with intent to kill. At the expiration of twelve 
 yeats, proposals to obtain commutation of his sentence 
 were strongly urged and no less earnestly opposed by 
 thousands of persons actuated by contrary motives, and 
 both parties solicited Mr. Frick’s support, which he de- 
 clined to accord to either the one or the other upon the 
 familiar ground based, so far as he was concerned, upon 
 his own tenet to the effect that, once the law was in- 
 voked in any matter, no species of influence should be 
 brought to bear upon the courts in their dispensation 
 of justice. | | 
 
 The advocates of clemency finally won in 1905, and 
 Berkman was released after thirteen years of imprison- 
 ment. Replying to a famous detective agency's proposi- 
 tion to furnish adequate safeguards against fateful pos- 
 sibilities, a secretary wrote: | 
 
 Dear Sir:— New York City, April 14th, 1905. 
 
 Mr. Frick directs me to say, in reply to yours of the twelfth, 
 that he is not at all interested in Berkman or in any of his class and 
 has no fear whatever. All newspaper reports regarding arrange- 
 ments made by him to keep track of Berkman, or anyone in con- 
 nection with him, are unfounded. 
 
 Neither then nor thereafter did Mr. Frick take or per- 
 mit anyone else to take the slightest precautions respect- 
 ing his personal safety. When news of his death on 
 
 144 
 
Attempted Assassination 
 
 December 2nd, 1919, reached the unrepentant anarchist, 
 he remarked with brutal cynicism: ‘‘Well anyhow he 
 left the country before I did.”’ 
 
 At a later hour of the very same day, by an odd co- 
 incidence, Berkman, along with Emma Goldman, was 
 deported by the United States Government. 
 
 145 
 
XI 
 Politics 
 
 HAT politics should play a large part in the 
 
 Homestead controversy was inevitable. The 
 
 two leading candidates for President, Mr. Har- 
 
 rison, Republican, and Mr. Cleveland, Demo- 
 crat, each standing for a second term, were unexception- 
 ableand well matched in ability,characterand experience. 
 Of the two Mr. Cleveland possessed the stronger personal 
 appeal but had won his election over Mr. Blaine in 1884 
 upon an issue of personal integrity by the narrowest con- 
 ceivable margin, only to be beaten by Mr. Harrison in 
 1888 by a substantial majority. 
 
 As between the two organizations, the Republican party 
 seemed to havedemonstrated superior capacity toconduct 
 a government successfully along constructive lines. The 
 first Democratic administration since that which preceded 
 the Civil War had proved unsatisfactory, lacking both 
 definiteness of purpose and cohesion in action, ‘a thing of 
 shreds and patches”’ ill fitted to establish and maintain 
 prosperous conditions throughout the country. The party 
 in national convention had disregarded its conservative 
 candidate’s wishes and had forced an issue, not between 
 excessive and moderate tariff rates, but between Protec- 
 tion and the closest feasible approach to Free Trade as 
 fundamental principles,—a far cry from the mere resent- 
 
 146 
 
Politics 
 
 ment at the McKinley Bill which had overwhelmed the 
 Republicans in the Congressional elections two years pre- 
 viously. Despitethe apparent significance of that stinging 
 rebuke in 1890, the country seemed likely to swing back 
 to the Republican policy in 1892 unless some extraneous 
 question should alienatea largeblock of normal partisans. 
 
 Upon the main issue Capital and Labor engaged in in- 
 dustrial pursuits were as one for mutual benefits derived 
 from the protective system of which the great steel-manu- 
 facturing State of Pennsylvania was the citadel. But any 
 change, however essential, fair and desirable, in the pro- 
 portions of legalized gains shared by the beneficiaries in 
 a time of marked prosperity could not fail to exasperate 
 the class affected adversely. In the Homestead instance 
 Labor seemed to be thesufferer, and workingmen through- 
 out the country, disinclined to consider the merits of the 
 case, wete easily aroused to consciousness of injury, and 
 large numbers of consumers, though still distrustful of 
 Free Trade, began to question the soundness of Protection. 
 
 This gave rise to a situation most serviceable to the 
 clever organizers, headed by Mr. Powderly, then engaged 
 in an endeavor to create trades unions upon a vast scale, 
 and they were quick totake advantage of it. Individually, 
 probably a majority of the workingmen felt their natural 
 affiliation to be with the Democratic “‘party of the 
 masses,’ but the leaders preferred to deal with the Repub- 
 lican “‘party of privilege’ as the more capable and better 
 equipped for trading purposes. 
 
 One of the perplexing problems which confronted the 
 Republican management at the outset had arisen from 
 
 147 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 the strained relations existing between the New Yorx 
 Tripung, the chief Republican organ, and the powerful 
 Typographical Union No.6. The Trisunz had been main- 
 tained as a non-union establishment for nearly fifteen 
 years but in 1890 negotiations had been begun with a 
 view to unionizing the office and were approaching a 
 probable settlement when the Republican Convention 
 nominated Mr. Whitelaw Reid for Vice-President. In 
 point of fact an adjustment would already have been 
 reached but for the circumstance that Mr. Reid was sety- 
 ing as Minister to France and unable to give the matter 
 his personal attention. 
 
 Having returned from France, however, he was about 
 to resume parleys when, quite unexpectedly and with- 
 out expectation or desire on his own part, he was nomi- 
 nated as the Republican candidate in place of Vice-Presi- 
 dent Levi P. Morton. The conversations which had al- 
 ready begun between Mr. Reid and the officers of the 
 Union were quietly continued without regard to his can- 
 didacy and a settlement satisfactory to both parties was 
 reached without difficulty. 
 
 Mr. Reid's attitude, indeed, had been so friendly and 
 considerate that, when Mr. Hugh O'Donnell, the head 
 of the Amalgamated Association in Pittsburgh, realized 
 that Mr. Frick was practically certain to win the contest, 
 he appealed to Mr. Reid to intercede with Mr. Carnegie 
 to propose a settlement upon his own terms, sepia ie 
 only upon recognition of the Union. 
 
 Mr. Reid thereupon, after having communicated his 
 purpose to Secretary of State Foster for the information 
 
 148 
 
Politics 
 
 doubtless of President Harrison, addressed the follow- 
 ing cypher communication, through Mr. John C. New, 
 Consul-General in London to Mr. Carnegie in Scotland: 
 
 Have received appeal from Hugh O’Donnell, for aid with you 
 in reaching settlement Homestead difficulty. He says he does not 
 ask in any political interest, or in that of organized Labor; but 
 solely for the men, women and little children making up their dis- 
 tressed community; and he makes appeal to me because he thinks 
 me, in consequence of our personal relations, in position to render 
 efficient aid. 
 
 He believes you will be able to start your mills, but that the 
 trouble will then have only begun. He thinks it to nobody’s in- 
 terest, either yours, theirs or the public’s, that such a bitter war- 
 fare should be inaugurated and that you can well afford the only 
 concession he asks. 
 
 He assures me that if your people will merely consent to reopen 
 a conference with their representatives, thus recognizing their or- 
 ganization, they will waive every other thing in dispute, and sub- 
 mit to whatever you think it right to require, whether as to scale 
 or wages or hours or anything else; and do all in their power to re- 
 establish harmonious relations. 
 
 These assurances have been given to me in writing, over his 
 signature, and have been repeated and emphasized in conversation, 
 in presence of witnesses, during the two days’ visit he has made 
 to New York for this purpose. 
 
 I cannot rest under such an appeal, in a matter which has al- 
 ready cost many lives and threatens yet more bloodshed and mis- 
 ery, without transmitting his message direct to you; and without 
 begging you to weigh it most carefully before deciding, for so 
 small a reason as the objection to continued recognition of their 
 organization, which you have heretofore recognized, to prolong 
 this distressing and bloody strife which may spread so widely. 
 
 Mr. Reid received the following reply from Mr. New: 
 
 Proposition heartily approved here. Send copy of same to Frick 
 and have Elkins and Wanamaker see him at once. Utmost im- 
 portance. 
 
 149 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 Simultaneously Mr. JohnE. Milholland, acting forMr. 
 Reid, by request of the Republican National Commit- 
 tee, arrived in Pittsburgh on July 30th and sought an 
 interview with Mr. Frick at his house with a letter of 
 introduction from Mr. Reid. Immediately following this 
 conversation Mr. Milholland made the following re- 
 port to Mr. Reid who forwarded it promptly to Mr. 
 Harrison: | 
 
 Mr. Frick was lying in bed when I called, his face and head 
 swathed in bandages. He seemed, however, to be in a fairly vigor- 
 ous condition and displayed considerable excitement when we 
 opened the conversation. I had presented your letter of introduc- 
 tion, and he seemed to know all about my mission. I discovered 
 later in the conversation that he had received some cablegrams 
 from the other side informing him that somebody from you would 
 call within a few days. 
 
 I briefly laid the correspondence in the case before him, that is 
 to say, Mr. O’Donnell’s letter, your despatch to Mr. Carnegie and 
 Consul-General New’s cablegram in reply saying that Mr. Car- 
 negie approved the proposition and recommending that it be im- 
 mediately laid before Mr. Frick. 
 
 I told Mr. Frick that Mr. Reid had cabled to Mr. Carnegie be- 
 
 _ cause he found it impossible to come in contact with him, Mr. 
 
 Frick. He looked surprised and asked what I meant. I told him 
 then of my visit to Mr. Schoonmaker, the New York representa- 
 tive of the firm. I told him that we had spent three days in en- 
 deavoring to get from Mr. Schoonmaker Mr. Carnegie’s address 
 or the use of the code. He told me that he had intended to trans- 
 mit the message through Mr. Frick and also that our enquiries for 
 Mr. Carnegie would have been the means of bringing us into re- 
 lation with Mr. Frick. I further stated that finally Mr. Schoon- 
 maker informed me after holding telephone communication with 
 the Pittsburgh office, that is, with Mr. Frick, that they did not 
 have Mr. Carnegie’s address and they did not have the code there. 
 There was of course but one interpretation to be placed upon such 
 a teply, namely, that Mr. Frick did not care to meet Mr. Reid and © 
 
 150 
 
Politics 
 
 was evidently bent upon preventing any intercourse between him 
 and Mr. Carnegie. 
 
 At this point, Mr. Frick declared emphatically that he would 
 never consent to settle the difficulties if President Harrison himself 
 should personally request him to do so. Notwithstanding the fact 
 that he was a Republican and a warm friend and admirer of the 
 President, the whole Cabinet, the whole leadership of the party 
 might demand it but he would not yield. He was going to fight 
 the strike out on the lines that he had laid down. I remarked, ‘“‘If 
 it takes all summer?’’ ““Yes,’” he said, “‘if it takes all summer and 
 all winter, and all next summer and all next winter. Yes, even my 
 life itself. I will fight this thing to the bitter end. I will never 
 recognize the Union, never, never!’’ He was considerably wrought 
 up at this point, and noticing the despatch that I held in myhand, 
 added *‘It makes no difference to me what Mr. Carnegie has said 
 to General New or to anybody else. I won't settle this strike even 
 if he should order me peremptorily to do so. If he interferes every 
 manager that he has will resign and of course I will get out of the 
 concern. But I do not think he will interfere.”’ 
 
 Then he talked for some time on the favorable outlook for the 
 situation from the Company’s point of view. He believed that 
 what he was doing was really in the true interests of the men 
 themselves. The Amalgamated Association, he said, was one of 
 the most tyrannous bodies on the face of the earth. He had put up 
 with it as long as he could and proposed to stand it no longer. 
 
 Mr. Frick detailed some of his unpleasant experiences with the 
 Association. I told him that I could fully appreciate the annoyance 
 to which he had been subjected, as I knew something about trades- 
 unions, but that it had not been the purpose of those who had 
 interested themselves with a view to effecting a settlement to in- 
 quire into the merits of the case, or the right or wrong of it. A 
 situation existed. It was of the most deplorable character. The 
 practical question was, Could anything be done to bring about a 
 settlement that would be satisfactory to both sides? It was simply 
 with that end in view and only that end, that Mr. Reid had inter- 
 ested himself to the extent of transmitting O’Donnell’s message 
 to Mr. Carnegie. He had no sympathy with the lawlessness; he 
 had no disposition to champion the cause of the strikers. His sole 
 object was to bring about peace if it were possible to do so. His 
 
 ISI 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 position in the matter, however, was so clearly defined in the tele- 
 gram that it was unnecessary to dwell further upon it. 
 
 Mr. Frick, who by this time had seemed to take a less hostile 
 view of the matter said that it was impossible to bring about peace 
 by any way that involved a recognition of the Union. That could 
 not be done, and there was no use discussing it. This position was 
 unalterably fixed. He seemed to think that it was just as well to 
 keep the matter of my visit a secret. I told him that I had no in- 
 tention of giving it publicity and while I could not speak for those 
 whom I represented, yet I thought it would be perhaps best all 
 round to say nothing of the matter at least for the present. Before 
 leaving, however, I made it perfectly clear that I had not bound 
 anyone to maintain secrecy. 
 
 I believe I have here stated the main points touched upon in the 
 hour or three-quarters of an hour’s conversation we had; there was 
 some incidental conversation, but I do not think any important 
 point touched upon has escaped me. 
 
 The first intimation of what was going on had reached 
 Mr. Frick in cablegrams from Mr. Carnegie dated July 
 28th and July 29th reading as follows: 
 
 Rannoch, July 28th, 1892. 
 
 We have telegram from Tribune Reid through high official Lon- 
 
 don Amalgamated Association reference Homestead Steel Works. 
 
 The proposition is worthy of consideration. Replied “nothing can 
 
 be done. Send H. C. Frick document.’ You must decide without 
 delay. Amalgamated Association evidently distressed. 
 
 Rannoch, July 29th, 1892. 
 
 After due consideration we have concluded Tribune too old. 
 
 Probably the proposition is not worthy of consideration. Useful 
 
 showing distress of Amalgamated Association. Use your own dis- 
 
 cretion about terms and starting. George Lauder, Henry Phipps, 
 Jr., Andrew Carnegie solid. H. C. Frick forever! 
 
 The perplexing difference in Mr. Carnegie’s attitude — 
 as revealed by his direct cablegram to Mr. Frick and as 
 transmitted by Mr. New was not mentioned to Mr. Mil- 
 
 152 
 
Politics 
 
 holland; nor was the incident recounted to Mr. Carnegie 
 until August 23rd, when Mr. Frick confessed apologeti- 
 cally that in the stress of business he had neglected to 
 write of it, and continued: 
 
 I told Mr. Milholland that I did not think the matter had been 
 placed before you correctly or you never would have entertained, 
 certainly not heartily approved, any proposition to adjust matters 
 with the Amalgamated Association, and that I was surprised that 
 you had not availed yourself of the opportunity offered to tell Mr. 
 Reid and Mr. O'Donnell emphatically that you did not propose 
 then, nor at any time in the future, to urge your partners here to 
 treat with law-breakers and assassins. I went over the situation 
 very fully with him at the time, and am satisfied convinced him 
 that it was most unreasonable for Mr. Reid to expect us to treat 
 with the Amalgamated Association. 
 
 He was very solicitous that the fact of his having called should 
 be considered confidential. I assured him that the matter would go 
 no further than my associates. 
 
 From information received from time to time since then, I am 
 inclined to the opinion that Reid has been keeping O’Donnell and 
 his gang on the string, and leading them to believe he was still 
 endeavoring to bring about a settlement through you. It is too 
 late now, however, for you to say or do anything in the matter. 
 
 As you know, I have always feared that the consolidation of 
 our various companies would give us some trouble with labor 
 where the Amalgamated Association was in charge, and I know 
 that you could not have had any other idea but that sooner or 
 later we would have to run non-union at all the works or union 
 at all the works, and when the issue was once made, viewing it 
 from any standpoint that you might, we could not afford to do 
 otherwise than fight it through to the end, without regard to cost 
 or time. 
 
 No more was heard of the matter until, while his ac- 
 count of the interview was on its way to Scotland, Mr. 
 Frick received word that Secretary of War Elkins and 
 Postmaster-General Wanamaker wished to make an ap- 
 
 153 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 pointment for an interview with him upon a subject of 
 great urgency. Whereupon he cabled Mr. Carnegie on 
 August 26th: 
 
 The fact that in your communication with New you advised 
 ‘having either Wanamaker or Elkins see me’’ and the fact that 
 they are both now wanting to see me leads to the conclusion that 
 Whitelaw Reid is holding out to Laugh’s(O’Donnell’s) representa- 
 tive that some arrangement can yet be made. Would advise cabling 
 Reid at once most emphatically to the contrary and that we will 
 never consent to any compromise of any kind at Plunge (Home- 
 stead) and tell him to so notify Laugh’s representative immediately 
 as I know they think you will interfere sooner or later in their 
 favor. 
 
 Mr. Carnegie replied promptly: 
 
 Wired Reid as follows: Tell party no compromise possible. Over 
 two thousand men working Homestead. Firm’s honor pledged 
 never to dismiss them. Every one of the twenty-three owners would 
 sink works rather than dismiss one man. Party only bringing thou- 
 
 sands to misery by allowing places taken by strangers after fight 
 is lost. 
 
 ‘“Frankly,’’ wrote Mr. Frick with respect to this, “I 
 do not think you sent the proper message to Reid. You 
 should have said emphatically, in my opinion, that we 
 did not propose hereafter, under any circumstances, to 
 deal with the Amalgamated Association. Saying to him 
 the number of men we had at work, and giving thatasa 
 reason really why we would make no compromise would, 
 it seems to me, indicate that if we had not so many new 
 men at work acompromise might be possible. Reid should 
 have been given to understand that we not only would 
 not compromise, but would never have any dealings 
 with the Amalgamated Association. This is the way it 
 strikes me.’’ 
 
 154 
 
Politics 
 
 Mr. Carnegie countered cleverly and good-naturedly 
 on September 9th: 
 
 My dear Mr. Frick: 
 
 Yours received. I thought I had sent a rattling message to Reid, 
 its form is yours and not mine. Your cable read: ‘‘Wire Reid we 
 will never consent to any compromise of any kind,’’—and these 
 were the words I began with, and kept to it. To travel beyond 
 them might not have suited your book. 
 
 You have no idea how much in the dark one is up here among 
 the moors, twenty-three miles from a railway station, and a wrong 
 word might easily be said, since I am so ignorant of conditions, 
 and just what you wished to hit at the time and how to hit it.— 
 Having wired your very words, I added the strongest proof why 
 compromise was impossible, for to my mind, the firm’s honor 
 being pledged in that public notice renders any re-instatement of 
 the Union simply impossible. 
 
 Had I known then that Mr. Reid had, or was going to change 
 his office from a Non-union to a Union office, I could not have been 
 so cruel as to put the matter in the way I did. It must have stung 
 him hard. I ask for a clean dismissal on the count that the message 
 to him was not what you “‘had aright to expect,’’ being your own 
 my boy. 
 
 r - Yours sincerely, 
 A.C. 
 
 No further appeals from the Republican leaders to 
 ‘recognize the Union’’ were received by either of the 
 partners. That nevertheless Mr. Frick had reason to an- 
 ticipate further nagging was indicated in this lugubrious 
 postcript to his letter to Mr. Carnegie: 
 
 At his request I am to meet Mr. Wanamaker on Monday night 
 at Cresson. I don’t know what about but surmise it may be on this 
 business. If I find it is so, I shall promptly inform Reid that he 
 must cease meddling in our affairs. He had no right to do so after 
 
 my interview with his representative. I wrote to Mr. Elkins that 
 I could not see him now. 
 
 “a5 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 But Mr. Frick guessed wrong. As already noted, Mr. 
 Reid had written the following letter to President Har- 
 
 rison on August 4th: 
 
 August 4th, 1892. 
 Private 
 Dear Mr. President; 
 
 As Mr. Milholland talked with you about the Homestead busi- 
 ness, you ought to know the steps taken. 
 
 After fruitless efforts for a day or two, I at last found a method 
 of sending the despatch which you saw, in cypher, through a com- 
 mercial concern not likely to talk. General New transmitted 1 it at 
 once and on Friday last telegraphed me as follows: 
 
 Proposition heartily approved here. Send copy of same to 
 Frick and have Elkins and Wanamaker see him at once. Ut- 
 most importance. 
 
 It seemed to me unwise to involve the Administration in any 
 way in this matter without first ascertaining the probable recep- 
 tion it would get; and in order to keep the matter for the time, 
 within as few hands as possible, I sent the same messenger to 
 Pittsburgh. You will find enclosed herewith his report of the con- 
 versation. 
 
 Seeing no opportunity for further useful action in the premises, 
 I have not communicated with Messrs. Wanamaker and Elkins; 
 but, if you should think otherwise, the matter is in your hands. 
 
 * * * * * 
 With high respect, 
 Always faithfully yours, 
 WHiTELAw Rerp. 
 
 What Mr. Wanamaker really sought was a substantial 
 contribution to the Republican Campaign fund—a prop- 
 osition which Mr. Frick found, upon making inquiry, 
 to be as distasteful to Mr. Carnegie as it was to himself. 
 
 That some contribution should be made was agreed 
 and the amount was still under discussion by correspond- 
 ence when Mr. Frick was called to New York on business, 
 and meeting Secretary Elkins, settled the matter by hand- 
 
 156 
 
Politics 
 
 ing him a check drawn to the order of Thomas Dolan, 
 for $25,000, the sum he had suggested in lieu of $50,000 
 which Mr. Wanamaker had intimated had been promised 
 by Mr. Carnegie, whose real view he found in a letter 
 awaiting him upon his arrival home, to the effect that 
 not more than $10,000 should be contributed. 
 
 ““Mr. Elkins told me,’’ wrote Mr. Frick on October 
 31st, ‘that Quay, Carter, Dolan and Clarkson felt very 
 confident, to which I said I thought it a waste of money, 
 _ but we wanted to do our duty and I hoped Mr. Harrison 
 would be elected.’’ 
 
 But Mr. Frick’s wish was smothered by his expecta- 
 tion. Mr.Cleveland was elected and bore into power with 
 himself Democratic majorities in both Houses of Con- 
 gress. Letters dated November 9th crossed. 
 
 “Tam very sorry for President Harrison,’’ wrote Mr. 
 Frick, ‘‘but I cannot see that our interests are going to 
 be affected one way or the other by the change in ad- 
 ministration.’’ 
 
 ‘Cleveland! Landslide!’’ replied Mr. Carnegie. ‘‘Well 
 we have nothing to fear and perhaps it is best. People 
 will now think the Protected Manfrs. will be attended to 
 and quit agitating. Cleveland is pretty good fellow. Off 
 for Venice tomortow.”’ 
 
 *T fear,’” he wrote a week later from Venice, ‘‘that 
 Homestead did much to elect Cleveland—very sorry— 
 but no use getting scared.” 
 
 On March 20th, 1893, following the inauguration of 
 Mr. Cleveland, Mr. Carnegie addressed the following 
 letter to Mr. Reid: 
 
 157 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 5 West Fifty-first Street 
 Private New York, March 20th, 1893. 
 
 My dear Mr. Reid: 
 
 I called upon you upon my return from Pittsburgh but found 
 your house closed. Supposing you would soon return I waited, but 
 learning from the woman at Mr. Mills’ house, (where I called to 
 ask about you), that you might not be here until May I feel that 
 it is too long to wait to express my sincere and heartfelt thanks for 
 the noble effort you made to settle that deplorable Homestead 
 blunder. I assure you my partners Messrs. Phipps & Lauder whom 
 I had summoned to Scotland to confer with me, agree with me in 
 feeling ourselves under a debt of gratitude to you. We supposed 
 the matter would be promptly settled, as a consequence of your 
 action. 
 
 I never suspected that the seven hundred men reported as at 
 work were new men. I rested believing them to be our former em- 
 ployés. Between ourselves, no manufacturer is wise who attempts 
 to employ new men. My partners thought the three thousand old 
 men would keep their promise to work, and therefore opened the 
 works for them. The guards were intended only to protect them. 
 The workmen were terrorized and dare not appear. Here was the 
 turning point. The works should then have been closed and the 
 firm should have kept on negotiating, but never starting until 
 matters were right. 
 
 For twenty-six years I ran all our various works and never had 
 but one labor stoppage. I told the Committee they were right in 
 saying ‘‘I would never fight but they had to learn one thing I could 
 beat any Committee ever formed, sitting down, the works would 
 start when they voted to ask me to start them.’’ They voted soon 
 enough—but I only started to express myself your debtor and to 
 assure you that all three of the principal owners are very grateful 
 to you. 
 
 This has been the hardest trial I ever had to endure (save when 
 the hand of death has come)—I have been in misery since July, but 
 am reconciled somewhat since I have visited Homestead and gone 
 through all the works and shaken hands with the chief men. 
 
 No one knows the virtues, the noble traits of the true working 
 man who has not lived with them as I have and there’s one con- 
 
 158 
 
Politics 
 
 solation in all my sorrow, Not one of them but said, Ah, Mr. Car- 
 negie if you had only been here it never would have happened. 
 
 To add to my cup I know the mistake injured my friends, Presi- 
 dent Harrison and yourself, but I was powerless—after the riot 
 and with Mr. Frick supposed to be dying no step could be taken 
 that would not have complicated matters still more. 
 
 I was all ready to return by the first steamer, but as my appear- 
 ance on the scene would have implied Mr. Frick’s virtual depo- 
 sition and he had begged me not to do this, I remained abroad. 
 Excuse this long epistle. My kindest regards to Mrs. Reid and Mr. 
 Mills and renewed thanks to you believe me always 
 
 Your friend 
 ANDREW CARNEGIE. 
 
 Mr. Frick said nothing. When the election was over 
 he returned to business without apologizing to any- 
 body for anything that he had done. 
 
 159 
 
XII 
 “The Laird” and “The Man” 
 
 HE motives and the acts of both Mr. Carnegie 
 
 and Mr. Frick were misunderstood or misrepre- 
 
 sented from the beginning of the struggle at 
 
 Homestead. One widespread impression respect- 
 ing the conduct of the former was that he forsook the 
 workmen whose friendship he had sedulously cultivated 
 and “‘ran away to Scotland”’ in the nick of time to avoid 
 facing the situation. This accusation, insofar at any rate 
 as it bore upon the date of his leaving the country, had 
 no foundation in fact. He sailed in April as usual, nearly 
 three months before the expiration of the agreement, in 
 pursuance of a routine which he had followed for years; 
 and wisely, since postponement would have served only 
 to evince apprehension which he did not feel, and to en- 
 courage the labor leaders in inciting disaffection among 
 the men. 
 
 His withdrawal from directive responsibility, even 
 from nominal membership of the Board, was attribut- 
 able undoubtedly to his sincere desire to shift the entire 
 executive and financial burden to the shoulders of Tue 
 Man whom at last he believed he had found, and thus 
 leave himself free to work at philosophy, experiment 
 in philanthropy, indulge his fads and play betimes at 
 publicity. 
 
 160 
 
AT THE AGE OF THIRTY 
 
“The Laird” and “The Man” 
 
 The possibility of serious disturbance in one of many 
 working organizations was incidental rather than unusual 
 and in no sense a controlling influence over his activities. 
 
 In point of fact neither Mr. Carnegie nor Mr. Frick fore- 
 saw anything approaching in magnitudeand consequences 
 the terrific hurricane that was to follow; less thanamonth 
 before the outbreak, they were planning a long conference 
 in Scotland; but, asa practical matter, the two hadagreed 
 that whatever might arise in the form of strikes or lock- 
 - outs, either at Homestead or elsewhere, could be handled 
 most effectively by the Chairman alone, without inter- 
 ference by the chief or any other stockholder,—and so 
 it was atranged to the satisfaction of both, the oneassum- 
 ing full responsibility and the other, content to aid by 
 suggestion, pledging unqualified support of whatever de- 
 cision might be reached by the management. 
 
 Although this understanding was observed faithfully, 
 in most trying circumstances, throughout the entire con- 
 test, both wereaware long before trouble began that their 
 minds were not in accord with respect to either general 
 policy, or specific methods. Mr. Frick stood for squarely 
 upholding what he considered the absolute right of a 
 corporation, no less than of an individual, to conduct 
 its business as it might see fit. It might or might not 
 deal with union officials as authorized representatives of 
 masses of workmen, but it should not be compelled to 
 do either through complicity or negligence on the part 
 of the State, whose sole duty was to guarantee and to 
 secute, by force if necessary, all ‘‘equal privileges’ ac- 
 corded by basic law to both Capital and Labor. 
 
 161 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 Mr. Carnegie held contrary views acclaimed by some 
 as ‘‘advanced”’ or ‘‘progressive’’ and condemned by othets 
 as ‘‘radical’’ or ‘‘socialistic.’’ To Labor he was accus- 
 tomed to accord rights that were ‘‘natural,’’ equivalent 
 to those depicted by Jefferson in the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence as ‘‘endowed by their Creator,’’ thus clearly 
 superseding rights of Capital derived from mere mundane 
 authority. This doctrine appealed strongly, on human- 
 itarian grounds, to those who perceived in its pronounce- 
 ment by a leading employer evidence of great breadth 
 and magnanimity, but it made slight impression upon 
 dialectical minds for the simple reason that it applied 
 solely to organized Labor in its unending struggle with 
 Capital and barred from consideration the vastly greater 
 number of individuals who were thus left out in the cold 
 without recourse of any kind. But Mr. Carnegie, heed- 
 less of his own disregard not only of logic but of the very 
 sympathy which he was striving to manifest for the toil- 
 ers, did not hesitate to carry his theory to its irresistible 
 conclusion with a dictum approximating an Eleventh 
 Commandment to the effect that— 
 
 ‘Thou shalt not take thy neighbor’s job.”’ 
 
 Pronouncing this ‘‘the unwritten law of the best work- 
 men,’’ Mr. Carnegie bestowed upon it his benediction 
 as being equally desirable from the standpoint of the best 
 employers. To the logical mind of Mr. Frick it spelt con- 
 clusively nothing less than abdication by responsible 
 managers of control of property from whose owners they 
 had accepted virtual trusteeship. A sharper disagreement 
 ‘‘in principle’ could hardly be imagined. 
 
 162 
 
“The Laird” and “The Man” 
 
 And yet the difference in application was even more 
 vivid. Mr. Carnegie had already, ina letter to Mr. Frick, 
 outlined the method which he reasoned would coincide 
 with his theory, in these words: 
 
 My idea of beating in a dispute with men is always to shut down 
 and suffer; let them decide by vote when they desire to go to work 
 —say kindly *‘All right, Gentlemen let’s hear from you, no quar- 
 rel, not the least in the world, until a majority vote (secret ballot) 
 to go to work—have a good time—when a majority vote to start, 
 start it is.’’ I am satisfied that the Employer or Firm who gets the 
 reputation of adhering to that will never have a prolonged stop- 
 page, or much ill feeling. AC 
 
 This was a private communication from controlling 
 owner to responsible manager and, from its permanent 
 abiding place in the office safe, could cause no embarrass- 
 ment; but unfortunately the like could not be said of a 
 sweeping generalization along the same line made pub- 
 lic some time before. 
 
 “My idea,’’ Mr. Carnegie then wrote, ‘‘is that the 
 Company should be known as determined to let the men 
 at any works stop work; that it will confer freely with 
 them and wait patiently until they decide to return to 
 work, never thinking of trying new men—never.”’ 
 
 Later he added: ‘‘Workmen can always be relied upon 
 to resent the employment of new men. Who can blame 
 them?”’ 
 
 Taken in conjunction with ‘‘Thou shalt not seek thy 
 neighbor’s job,” this naturally induced the labor lead- 
 ers to believe that they might count upon the moral sup- 
 port and dominant influence of Mr. Carnegie in offsetting 
 at least, and probably overwhelming, the stern deter- 
 
 163 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 mination of the man whom they most feared as an enemy 
 of labor organization. 
 
 This deduction was natural but erroneous. Mr. Frick 
 felt that he had ample reason to distrust a union which, 
 while holding that a company was bound by its con- 
 tracts, had persistently repudiated its own agreements, 
 but he was so eager to carry on peaceably the great under- 
 takings which he had in mind that he not only welcomed 
 but sought a continuance of the existing arrangement 
 with the Amalgamated Association upon a wage scale 
 which he and the labor leaders tacitly admitted to be 
 fair and reasonable, even going so far as to offer at the 
 last conference to split the immaterial difference of only 
 two dollars per ton in the fixed minimum. 
 
 Nevertheless, in the face of this proposal, involving 
 of course the ‘‘recognition’’ soardently desired, the labor 
 negotiators insisted that he was deliberately using a tri- 
 fling disparity as a pretext for completely smashing the 
 union, and a large portion of the popular Press denounced 
 him bitterly upon this false assumption. The public mis- 
 apprehension of Mr. Carnegie’s purpose in going abroad 
 was trivial by contrast with this misrepresentation of 
 Mr. Frick’s true attitude. 
 
 In point of fact, unrevealed for many years, it was 
 not Mr. Frick but Mr. Carnegie who wanted to make 
 open war on the union from the very beginning, and 
 it was not Mr. Carnegie but Mr. Frick who vetoed the 
 proposal. 
 
 Shortly before sailing in April, following several con- 
 ferences in New York, Mr. Carnegie embodied his idea 
 
 164 
 
“The Laird” and “The Man” 
 
 in a manifesto, or ‘‘ultimatum,’’ as subsequently he de- 
 scribed it, to be posted at a suitable moment, reading as 
 follows: 
 NOTICE 
 TO EMPLOYEES AT HOMESTEAD WORKS. 
 
 These Works have been consolidated with the Edgar Thomson 
 and Duquesne and other mills, there has been forced upon this 
 Firm the question Whether its Works are to be run ‘Union’ or 
 ‘Non-Union.’ As the vast majority of our employees are Non- 
 Union, the Firm has decided that the minority must give place to 
 the majority. These works therefore, will be necessarily Non-Union 
 after the expiration of the present agreement. 
 
 This does not imply that the men will make lower wages. On 
 the contrary, most of the men at Edgar Thomson and Duquesne 
 Works, both Non-Union, have made and are making higher wages 
 than those at Homestead, which has hitherto been Union. 
 
 * * * * * 
 
 This action is not taken in any spirit of hostility to labor organ- 
 izations, but every man will see that the frm cannot run Union 
 and Non-Union. It must be either one or the other. 
 
 Mr. Frick neither accepted nor rejected this plan; he 
 simply pigeon-holed the document, and abided events, 
 hoping that a sober second-thought would avert the ne- 
 cessity of engaging in altercation and possibly forcing 
 an issue of control at a most inopportune moment. This 
 policy quickly justified itself. Immediately upon his ar- 
 rival at Coworth Park, Sunningdale, England, Mr. Car- 
 negie was joined by two of his partners, Mr. Phipps 
 and Mr. Lauder, his cousin, and on May 4th addressed 
 to Mr. Frick a long communication which he labelled 
 ‘a joint production,”’ in the course of which he said: 
 
 You remember I gave you a type-written slip which I suggested 
 
 you might have to use. It is probable that you will. But I hope 
 you will make this change in it: I did not get it quite right, 
 
 165 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 because I think it said that the firm had to make the decision of 
 ‘Union’ or ‘Non-Union.’ This I am sure, is wrong. We need not 
 meet that point, and we should not. 
 
 We simply say that consolidation having taken place, we must 
 introduce the same system in our works; we do not care whether 
 a man belongs to as many Unions or organizations as he chooses, 
 
 but he must conform to the system in our other works. 
 * * * * cd 
 
 One thing we are all sure of: No contest will be entered in that 
 will fail. It will be harder this time at Homestead than it would 
 have been last time when we had the matter in ourown hands, asyou 
 have always felt. On the other hand, your reputation will shorten 
 it, so that I really do not believe it will be much of a struggle. We 
 all approve of anything you do, not stopping short of approval of 
 a contest. We are with you to the end. 
 
 Mr. Frick accepted this assurance as approval of his 
 determination as outlined in a letter dated April 21st, 
 saying that if ‘‘a stubborn fight’’ should arise, it would 
 be “‘fought to a finish without regard to cost or time.”’ 
 He made no reference to the proposed ‘‘ultimatum’”’; nor 
 did Mr. Carnegie on May 23rd when he wrote, ‘‘No doubt 
 you will get Homestead right as you can get anything 
 right with your ‘mild persistence.’ ”’ 
 
 On July 7th, the day following the pitched battle at 
 Homestead, Mr. Carnegie cabled from Pitlochry: 
 
 Cable received. All anxiety gone since you stand firm. Never 
 employ one these rioters. Let grass grow over works. Must not 
 fail now. You will win easily next trial only stand firm law and 
 order wish I could support you in any form. 
 
 Two days later a correspondent of the New Yorx 
 Wortp succeeded in tracing him to a secluded lodge 
 in Perthshire and reported as follows: 
 
 Asked if he had anything to say concerning the troubles at his 
 mills, Mr. Carnegie replied: 
 
 166 
 
“The Laird” and “The Man” 
 
 “IT have nothing whatever to say. I have given up all active con- 
 trol of the business and I do not care to interfere in any way with 
 the present management’s conduct of this affair.”’ 
 
 “But do you not still exercise a supervision of the affairs of the 
 company?” 
 
 “I have nothing whatever to say on that point, the business 
 management is in the hands of those who are fully competent to 
 deal with every question that may arise.”’ 
 
 ‘“Have you heard from Homestead since the riot occurred?”’ 
 
 “I have received several cables and among them several asking 
 my interference with the parties in control.”’ 
 
 ‘““But you must have some opinion in the matter that you are 
 willing to express.”’ 
 
 “No, sir. lam not willing to express any opinion. The men have 
 chosen their course and I am powerless to change it. The handling 
 of the case on the part of the company has my full approval and 
 sanction. Further than this I have no disposition to say anything.”’ 
 
 Immediately following the arrival of the troops the 
 union leaders sought to embarrass Mr. Carnegie and to 
 effect a break between the two partners by cabling this 
 message: 
 
 Kind master, tell us what you wish us to do and we shall do it 
 for you. 
 
 ‘““This,’’ wrote Mr. Carnegie in his Autobiography, 
 ‘“‘was most touching but, alas, too late. The mischief 
 was done, the works were in the hands of the Governor; 
 it was too late.”’ 
 
 Whether he meant to convey the impression that he 
 might have intervened if the affecting appeal had reached 
 him sooner, or simply availed himself of a plausible pre- 
 text to escape from a perplexing situation is perhaps a 
 question since, in lieu of a direct answer, the following 
 breath of apparent relief was flashed to Mr. Frick: 
 
 Governor’s action settles matters all right now no compromise. 
 
 167 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 ‘‘Much pleased with your cable, did not doubt your 
 position,’ Mr. Frick promptly responded and amplified 
 by letter in these words: 
 
 Your cable of this morning was received, and I cabled a reply. 
 Never had a doubt but that you would thoroughly approve of 
 every action taken in this matter when you would once be made 
 acquainted with all of the facts in the case, and have felt that you 
 had sufficient confidence in the management here not to form an 
 
 opinion unfavorable to it, even with the meagre information that 
 you would receive or gather from newspaper dispatches. 
 
 Meanwhile, in the course of frequent reports, he was 
 writing: 
 
 We will lose no time in resuming operations at Homestead, but 
 it shall be done with the greatest care, selecting the best men, and 
 
 re-organizing the entire works, so that we shall not employ any 
 more men than actually necessary. 
 
 Thus quite casually and without argument, Mr. Car- 
 negie’s favorite method of merely shutting down, wait- 
 ing patiently for the men to return to work and “never 
 thinking of trying new men—never,’’ was ignored and 
 no protest was forthcoming. 
 
 When Mr. Carnegie received news of the attempted 
 assassination of Mr. Frick he cabled promptly: 
 
 Too glad at your escape to think of anything. Never fear brave 
 and dear friend my appearing upon scene as long as you ate able to 
 direct matters from house and unless partners call. We know too 
 well what is due to you. Am subject your orders. Louise Stella 
 myself all relieved by cables just received. Be careful of yourself 
 is all we ask. 3 
 
 “I tremble yet to think of your escape, awful,’’ he 
 wrote but was reassured on August 5th by a cablegram 
 
 168 
 
“The Laird” and “The Man” 
 
 reading, ‘At office feeling first-class, everything assum- 
 ing good shape,’’ and replied: 
 
 Hearty congratulations from all here, upon return to post of 
 duty everything is right when you and Mrs. Frick are right every 
 
 other consideration insignificant. You owe it to all your friends to 
 be careful of yourself. 
 
 The first rift in the lute came on September roth, when 
 Mr. Frick wrote: 
 
 Had a cable yesterday evening from Mr. Lauder (Mr. Carnegie’s 
 cousin), who said he would be glad to come over if he could be of 
 any use in any position whatever. Wired him not to come at pres- 
 ent, and wrote him fully. There is a feeling yet that you will in 
 some way interfere to settle this strike question, and Mr. Lauder’s 
 coming over now would only give them further hope. There is 
 nothing personal in this matter, so far as I am concerned. I am, so 
 far as I know, only doing what it seems to me to be for the inter- 
 ests of the owners of the property, and if we want to get the full 
 benefit of all that we have gone through, there must be no devia- 
 tion from the policy we have been pursuing all along. After it is 
 all over, if it is thought somebody else can do better, the position 
 is open for him. I have never sought responsibility, nor to my 
 knowledge have I ever shirked it. 
 
 The decisive note in this crisp utterance was unmis- 
 takable. There had been no interference in the past; there 
 should be none in the present nor in the future; Mr. 
 Lauder was recognized universally as Mr. Carnegie’s 
 personal representative; his appearance upon the scene, 
 suggested undoubtedly by his Chief, would be hailed as 
 a signal that the controlling owner was dissatisfied with 
 the situation and was feeling his way toward taking a 
 hand, as he had done on previous occasions; its immedi- 
 ate effect would be strengthening of the union and dis- 
 couragement of the new men; the result might, and quite 
 
 169 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 likely would, be defeat and disaster; Mr. Lauder ought 
 not, and would not be permitted, to come. 
 
 When a precisely similar crisis arose during the coke 
 strike Mr. Frick, refusing to carry out instructions which 
 he considered ruinous, had conceded the right of majority 
 stockholders to dictate a policy and had withdrawn from 
 the management. His attitude had undergone no change. 
 Owners held, and should be empowered to exercise, full 
 control of their properties. Again he would retire volun- 
 tarily if his administration should prove unsatisfactory 
 ’—a significant phrase which, strip- 
 ping for an instant the velvet glove, revealed the hand of 
 steel. 
 
 Whatever construction hemay have put upon this plain 
 intimation and whatever may have been his emotions, 
 Mr. Carnegie, admittedly ill and obviously despondent, 
 ignored it for the moment, but at the expiration of a 
 week he wrote at great length, expressing his regret that 
 Mr. Frick had misinterpreted “‘Mr. Lauder’s volunteer- 
 ing to go to you,”’ hoping that he had not alienated 
 him by making ‘‘a curt reply,’’ quoting Mr. Phipps as 
 remarking that he was ‘‘too touchy’’ and arguing with 
 great earnestness that ‘‘the more partners there are in 
 the works the better’’ as showing that the firm was “‘a 
 unit and bound to win.”’ 
 
 Paying no attention to the general dissertation, Mr. 
 Frick answered a specific question somewhat laconically 
 in these words: 
 
 “after it is all over, 
 
 It seems to me that you would enjoy a trip in Italy much more 
 if you felt well satisfied with the way everything was running at 
 
 170 
 
“The Laird” and “The Man” 
 
 home, and that you would be better satisfied with the situation 
 here if you were to return in November, as you have counted on. 
 You will find that things are not as bad in many respects as you 
 imagine them to be. Curry and Leishman both think it would be 
 better that you should postpone your return until next spring, and 
 they have felt more strongly all the time than I have that it would 
 be a mistake for either yourself, Mr. Phipps or Mr. Lauder to re- 
 turn until this matter is over. I merely say this to show that the 
 decision reached in regard to Mr. Lauder was not made on my own 
 responsibility, although I freely concur in it. 
 
 Meanwhile, having received Mr. Frick’s response to 
 _ Mr. Lauder, setting forth his reasons for declining the 
 latter's proffer of aid, Mr. Carnegie wrote: 
 
 My dear Pard: 
 
 H.P. and J are delighted with sone of your reply to Lauder. Altho 
 we dont agree with your decision—Lauder is a partner—big word, 
 inside Homestead Works, and not a small word anywhere—His 
 presence there could only tell strikers the firm was a unit—not a 
 personal quarrel of any one member—lIf twenty of our young part- 
 ners were inside Homestead encouraging new men so much the 
 better. 
 
 This fight is too much against our Chairman—pattakes of per- 
 sonal issue. It is very bad indeed for you—very and also bad for the 
 interests of the firm. 
 
 There’s another point which troubles me on your account—the 
 danger that the public and hence all our men get the impression 
 that it is al] Frick—Your influence for good would be permanently 
 impaired—Y ou don’t deserve a bad name, but then one is sometimes 
 wrongfully got—Your partners should be as much identified with 
 this struggle as you—think over this counsel. It is from a very 
 wise man as you know and atrue friend. A.C. 
 
 Mr. Frick, on October 12th, summed up the situation 
 in response to this peculiar epistle as follows: 
 
 I note the counsel you give, but I cannot see wherein I can profit 
 by it, or what action could be taken by me that would change 
 matters in respect to that which you mention. 
 
 171 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 As you understand, the only objection to Mr. Laudet’s return- 
 ing now, or when he proposed it, was the fear that it might pro- 
 long the strike. For no other reason, I assure you. 
 
 So far as the strike is concerned, you will recollect, in your 
 library, before you left for Europe, during my next to the last visit 
 with you, when you gave me a memorandum expressing your views 
 about the labor situation at Homestead, I told you then that I did 
 not like to think of the labor situation at Homestead, etc., etc. If 
 we had adopted the policy of sitting down and waiting, we would 
 have still been sitting, waiting, and the fight would yet have to be 
 made, and then we would have been accused of trying to starve 
 our men into submission. This is the way I think. 
 
 Of course I may be wrong, and if we had eventually been com- 
 pelled to make a deal with the Amalgamated Association just 
 think what effect that would have had on Edgar Thomson and 
 Duquesne, and when this victory is won it will not take very long 
 to show our men at Homestead how much better it is to deal with 
 us direct, and anything we do for them will not be credited to the 
 Amalgamated Association, or any other Association, but to the 
 one that we are most deeply interested in. 
 
 Mr. Carnegie, having decided to follow his inclination 
 and seek diversion in Italy, proceeded by easy stages to 
 Milan, Venice and Florence, where two ia ge from 
 Pittsburgh awaited his arrival: 
 
 Nov. 18.—Victory!—Earty (H.C.F.). 
 
 Nov. 21.—Strike officially declared off yesterday. Our victory 
 is now complete and most gratifying. Do not think we will ever 
 have any serious labor trouble again, and should now soon have 
 Homestead and all the works formerly managed by Carnegie, Phipps 
 & Company, in as good shape as Edgar Thomson and Duquesne. 
 Let the Amalgamated still exist and hold full sway at other people’s 
 mills. That is no concern of ours. 
 
 ‘Life worth living again!’’ Mr. Carnegie replied, and 
 followed with: 
 
 Cables received—first happy morning since July—surprising how 
 pretty Italia—congratulate all round—improve works—go ahead 
 —clear track—tariff not in it—shake. 
 
 172 
 
“The Laird” and “The Man” 
 
 ‘Iam well,’’ he wrote from Rome, “‘and able to take 
 an interest in the wonders we see,’’ and added: 
 
 Shall see you all early after the New Year. Think I’m about ten 
 years older than when with you last. Europe has rung with Home- 
 stead, Homestead, until we are all sick of the name, but it is all over 
 now—So once again Happy New Year to all. I wish someone would 
 write me about your good self. I cannot believe you can be well. 
 
 Ever your Pard, A.C. 
 
 Mr. Carnegie returned home in January deeply dis- 
 tressed by consciousness of the contemptuous attitude of 
 _ the public toward him for what was regarded mistakenly 
 as the craven part which he had played. But he did not 
 flinch. Proceeding straightway to the battle-ground, he 
 published a carefully prepared statement with ‘‘I did not 
 come to Pittsburgh to rake up but to bury the past, of 
 which I knew nothing,’ reiterating his numerous asset- 
 tions that he had ‘‘retired from active business’’ for all 
 time four years previously and closing with this striking 
 tribute to his partner: 
 
 And now one word about Mr. Frick. I am not mistaken in the 
 man, as the future will show. Of his ability, fairness and pluck no 
 one has now the slightest question. His four years’ management 
 stamps him as one of the foremost managers of the world—I would 
 not exchange him for any manager I know. 
 
 People generally are still to learn of those virtues which his 
 partners and friends know so well. If his health be spared I predict 
 that no man who ever lived in Pittsburgh and managed business 
 here wil! be better liked or more admired by his employees than 
 my friend and partner Henry Clay Frick, nor do I believe any man 
 will be more valuable for the city. His are the qualities that wear; 
 he never disappoints; what he promises he more than fulfils. 
 
 I hope after this statement that the public will understand that 
 the officials of the Carnegie Steel Company, Limited, with Mr. 
 Frick at their head, are not dependent upon me, or upon any one 
 
 173 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 in any way for their positions, and that I have neither power nor 
 disposition to interfere with them in the management of the busi- 
 ness. And further, that I have the most implicit faith in them, 
 
 Many years later, it is true, Mr. Carnegie, actuated by 
 motives not then existent, said and did many things dif_i- 
 cult to reconcile with this unqualified encomium, but 
 the fact remains that he did play the game to the finish 
 and emerged from the ‘‘most terrible experience’ of his 
 life unscathed save in popular repute. 
 
 The relations of Taz Larrp and Tur Man, having thus 
 miraculously survived the ordeal, remained unimpaired. 
 
 174 
 
XIII 
 
 Victory’s Cost and Gain 
 
 ONDITIONS at Homestead and elsewhere in 
 the district improved steadily, from the com- 
 pany’s standpoint, during the summer months. 
 The sympathetic strikes, inaugurated with 
 
 great reluctance by union men at the Upper and Lower 
 mills in Pittsburgh and by non-union men at Fort Du- 
 quesne lasted only a few weeks and work was resumed by 
 the men individually all along the line on a non-union 
 basis. Nearly two thousand new men half filled the Home- 
 stead mills in August without serious menace from the 
 former employés. 
 
 But one dastardly performance marked this period under 
 the direction of Master Workman Hugh Dempsey of Dis- 
 trict Assembly No. 3 of the Knights of Labor. An unac- 
 countable epidemic broke out among the workmen who 
 obtained their meals inside the mills and completely mys- 
 tified the physicians, until, after several deaths had taken 
 place, suspicions of poisoning were confirmed by helpers 
 who confessed that they had been paid by Dempsey and 
 an associate to put certain yellow powders into the soup 
 and coffee supplied to the men. Analysis showed that 
 these powders contained croton oil and arsenic varied 
 with powders of antimony. 
 
 Dempsey was attested, indicted, convicted in due time 
 
 175 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 and sentenced, with others, to seven years in the peni- 
 tentiary. At the expiration of three years, besought as in 
 the case of Berkman, by both advocates and opponents 
 of clemency to intercede, Mr. Frick addressed the follow- 
 ing communication to the Board of Pardons: 
 
 I have been requested to write you upon the subject of the appli- 
 cation of Hugh Dempsey for pardon. If the application is put upon 
 the ground of clemency, it would not seem proper to protest. There 
 is no desire to interfere, and indeed it would be improper to at- 
 tempt to interfere with the exercise by the Board of Pardons of 
 its power so long as its exercise is invoked in the name of mercy, 
 but the claim of innocence and unfair trial heretofore made is so 
 manifestly untrue as to call for a protest from every well-informed 
 and law-abiding citizen. 
 
 Very Respectfully yours, 
 H. C, Frick, 
 
 The cynical effrontery of the Knights of Labor in up- 
 holding Dempsey and keeping his name on their rolls 
 after he had been sentenced to the penitentiary contri- 
 buted materially to the breakdown of the organization 
 under Mr. Powderly and its supersession by the American 
 Federation of Labor which was guided wisely and success- 
 fully for more than forty years by Mr. Samuel Gompers. 
 
 The troops were withdrawn gradually until October 
 13th, when the last instalment departed, and immediately 
 assaults upon the non-union employés were renewed 
 vigorously though only in a few individual instances 
 effectually. 
 
 ‘The firmness with which these strikers hold on,’’ 
 Mr. Frick wrote to Mr. Carnegie on October 31st, “‘is 
 surprising to every one, but I think after the election we 
 will see a decided change. There is not much that I can 
 
 176 
 
Victory’s Cost and Gain 
 
 say about Homestead except that we are gradually im- 
 proving. This strike, of course, will cost us a large sum 
 of money but we will get it all back in the next two or 
 three years, and, as you know, Homestead has never been 
 well managed; always something going wrong, and a 
 large amount of money has been wasted by poor manage- 
 ment. The mills have never been able to turn out the 
 product they should, owing to being held back by the 
 Amalgamated men, but this is a chestnut, etc.”’ 
 
 This diagnosis proved to be correct. The political cul- 
 mination pulled the last prop from under the Amalga- 
 mated Association and dissipated the faint lingering hopes 
 of the former employés, two hundred of whom broke 
 away on November 17th and were followed by large 
 groups of different classes on the following day, all of 
 whom were cordially greeted personally and few turned 
 back by Mr. Charles M. Schwab, who had been brought 
 by Mr. Frick from the Edgar Thomson works to become 
 Manager of the mills. Three days later the local lodges of 
 the Amalgamated Association formally abandoned the 
 contest and released their members. 
 
 The struggle had continued five months less one 
 week, and had cost the company in necessary expendi- 
 tures and loss of profits $2,000,000, the workmen in loss 
 of wages $1,200,000 and the State for militia service 
 $1,600,000,—a grand total of approximately five mil- 
 lions of dollars. 
 
 After notifying Mr. Carnegie that all expenses had been 
 charged up,‘‘so that we swallowed the dose as we went 
 along,’’ Mr. Frick summed up tersely: 
 
 177 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 We could never have profited much by any of our competitors 
 making and winning the fight we have made. We had to teach our 
 employés a lesson, and we have taught them one that they will 
 never forget, but we will talk this all over when we meet. It is 
 hard to estimate what blessings will flow from our recent complete 
 victory, both to the owners and the employés of the Carnegie Steel 
 
 Co. Ltd., J am sure that I never want to go through another such 
 fight. 
 
 Thereafter the company dealt with all their workmen 
 as individuals to mutual benefit and satisfaction and never 
 had a strike or a lock-out to mar their harmonious rela- 
 tionship, with the result that in 1900, the last year of 
 its separate existence, its net profits amounted to $40,- 
 000,000, thus fully verifying the prediction of Mr. Frick 
 contained in a letter to Mr. Carnegie dated September 
 8th, 1892, and reading as follows: 
 
 I do not agree with you, as stated in your cable, that we are 
 going to suffer for years at Homestead, as we surely would have 
 suffered if the struggle had not taken place. 
 
 Notwithstanding the heavy loss entailed by the shut- 
 down at Homestead, the net profits of the Carnegie Steel 
 Company for 1892 fell off only $300,000 from the gains of 
 1891—from $4,300,000 to $4,000,000—and still showed 
 16% upon the entire expanded capital of $25,000,000. 
 
 The reinstatement of the Democratic party in full power 
 on March 4th, 1893, was preceded by symptoms of much 
 uncertainty respecting continuance of prosperous con- 
 ditions. Business began to slacken early in the year and 
 misgivings became so strong when President Cleveland 
 insisted in his inaugural message that solemn pledges of 
 substantial tariff reductions must be kept that manufac- 
 turers, caught between enhanced timidity of capital and 
 
 178 
 
Victory’s Cost and Gain 
 
 unusual caution of consumers, were thrown back upon 
 their own resources for money with which to fabricate 
 products which they could not sell. The consequence was 
 not actually the “‘panic’’ that it was termed but rather 
 a universal and irresistible business depression which 
 settled like a pall over the entire country. Many indus- 
 trial establishments ‘‘closed for repairs’ and all “‘slowed 
 down’’ to curtail production until the storm should blow 
 over. 
 
 The Chairman of the Carnegie Steel Company found 
 himself in a most trying position. His aims were three- 
 fold: (2) To guide the company through the critical period 
 with a minimum of loss or sacrifice: (2) To demonstrate 
 that workingmen fare better in co-operation with their 
 own employers than under direction of labor unions 
 and (3) To meet the financial requirements of the Com- 
 pany without calling upon the controlling owner for 
 assistance. 
 
 The experience was less exciting than that of quelling 
 a terrific outbreak in the previous year but the task was 
 hardly less difficult. All thought of expansion or advance- 
 ment fell inevitably before the absolute necessities of 
 working capital and most rigid economy to provide liv- 
 ing wages. Day by day and hour by hour throughout the 
 blazing summer time Mr. Frick patiently and, so far as 
 anyone perceived, happily paced the treadmill. Oddly 
 the most revealing glimpses of that dreary period appear 
 in cheery comments from Mr. Carnegie, with whom he 
 was still in full accord, written in England and Scotland, 
 and ending with the following: 
 
 179 
 
 : 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 I know you have been having a hard time, but, under the cir- 
 cumstances, the tenor of your letters and also your cables has been 
 reassuring. It did me great good to get the words that, ‘‘all things 
 considered, we are getting along comfortably.’’ You took in the 
 situation promptly, I must say, upon your arrival, and have added 
 even to your unsurpassed reputation as a financier. 
 
 The Chairman, meanwhile, evinced no desire for the 
 controlling owner’s return and brought into play the in- 
 genuity developed years before in hiring money. He not 
 only stood ready whenever requested to endorse person- 
 ally any note offered for sale but also did not hesitate to 
 gates the backing of his friends. 
 
 “T took considerable liberty,’’ he wrote appealing to 
 Mr. John Walker on August roth,‘‘in promising Mr. 
 Arbuckle your individual guarantee, but I really do not 
 think I could have secured the money without it, and I 
 trust you will have no hesitancy in doing this for us. As 
 you know every dollar I have or any of us have would 
 always be used to protect you against loss of any kind, 
 and while things are bad I am sure we can get through 
 this with unimpaired credit.” 
 
 Although Mr. Andrew W. Mellon was so fully occu- 
 pied in protecting their mutual interests in outside under- 
 takings, he could always be relied upon to fill temporary 
 gaps; but Mr. Frick’s most noteworthy coup, when the 
 firm’s credit was finally exhausted, consisted of pledging 
 in lots of varying amounts the entire resources of the H. 
 C. Frick Coke Company and realizing no less than six 
 million dollars for the ‘‘accommodation’’ of the Carnegie 
 concern. This happy stroke, achieved hardly less upon 
 his own high financial rating than upon the record of 
 
 180 
 
Victory’s Cost and Gain 
 
 the company of his own creation, really tided over the 
 financial crisis and won the confidence of the full force 
 employed while neighboring mills were shutting down. 
 
 But Homestead continued to be a thorn in his flesh. 
 Young Mr. Schwab's zeal, charm and vivid personality 
 had proved of inestimable value in restoring good feeling 
 between the various groups so recently incensed at one 
 another but, from the company’s standpoint, his meth- 
 ods did not satisfy the pressing need of rigid economy in 
 operation at sucha timeand the Chairman felt constrained 
 to institute many reforms while the Manager was in Scot- 
 land visiting Mr. Carnegie. Happily Mr. Schwab proved 
 wholly tractable upon his return and, by promptly renew- 
 ing his full support, Mr. Frick achieved hisimmediate pur- 
 pose without impairing the full usefulness of the ‘‘great 
 ability’’ which he ungrudgingly accorded his youthful 
 coadjutor. 
 
 The salutary effect throughout the entire organization 
 of this evidence of unflinching determination to carry 
 out the company’s policy could hardly be overestimated. 
 _ A substantial reduction in salaries was decreed and ac- 
 cepted by all affected without a whimper. Mr. Frick had 
 already forwarded an outline of the percentage basis which 
 he had adopted when he received Mr. Carnegie’s sugges- 
 tion that reductions should apply to all salaries begin- 
 ning with the Chairman’s; so that, in making acknowl- 
 edgment, he merely remarked somewhat drily that *’No 
 sensible person would expect anything else than that a 
 reduction when made should include everybody,’’—an 
 observation which drew no response. 
 
 181 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 Mr. Carnegie returned to New York early in September 
 and went immediately to the White Mountains in search 
 of relief from a slight indisposition and a few weeks later 
 proceeded as far west as Chicago, whence he returned to 
 New York by way of Pittsburgh, to facilitate consul- 
 tation with Mr. Frick. But there was no imminent or 
 important question to discuss. The condition of the Com- 
 pany, compared with that of the country, was satisfac- 
 tory and, contrasted with other steel concerns, as a con- 
 sequence of shrewd financiering and enforced economies, 
 was absolutely pre-eminent. There was no pressing need 
 for money, no sign of labor disturbances and nothing, in 
 fact, to do but to hold fast and mark time in hopeful an- 
 ticipation of the general recovery in business which was 
 bound soon to come. 
 
 After all, as Mr. Carnegie had predicted, the bark of 
 the Wilson tariff had proved worse than its bite and 
 toward the end of December the Chairman was able 
 to report to the controlling owner that, despite all 
 drawbacks, the dreary year would show a net profit 
 for the Carnegie Steel Company (Limited) of not less 
 than $3,000,000, a decrease of only one million dollars 
 from 1892. 
 
 Whereupon Mr. Carnegie promptly decided to go to 
 Europe for the winter and on the eve of sailing wrote to 
 Mr. Frick: | 
 
 Good-bye—If I had been as well two weeks ago as I am now I 
 should not have thought of deserting you for several months, but 
 I am subject to cable, recall or conference and I have faith in your 
 judgment which keeps me easy. Yours ever, A.C. 
 
 182 
 
Victory’s Cost and Gain 
 
 The year 1894 opened more auspiciously for business 
 and manufacturing than had been anticipated. Results 
 for January clearly evidenced the upward trend and so 
 delighted Mr. Carnegie that he wrote immediately from 
 Luxor insisting that the Frick family visit Scotland in 
 the summer. 
 
 Differences of opinion among coke operators as to the 
 method of meeting a labor crisis prevented the Chairman 
 from leaving in early summet but, finally yielding to Mr. 
 Carnegie’s persistent importunities, he sailed late in July 
 and proceeded directly to Cluny Castle for a few days’ 
 visit, which ended with mutual consciousness that per- 
 haps never before had the two viewed all problems and 
 policies so nearly eye to eye. 
 
 A return visit to Pittsburgh in November seemed to 
 tighten even more closely the bonds of understanding 
 and friendship. 
 
 Mr. Carnegie looked back upon it “‘with rare pleasure,” 
 —indeed,‘‘we never enjoyed ourselves so much.”’ 
 
 During the latter part of 1894, a difference in opinion 
 respecting methods of dealing with competing coke oper- 
 ators so nearly caused a break between the two partners 
 that each offered to sell his interest to the other, but a 
 satisfactory adjustment of all points in dispute was finally 
 effected at an unrecorded personal interview. Undoubt- 
 edly, when this meeting took place, sober second thoughts 
 had implanted the conviction in both minds that each 
 needed the other and that full separation would involve 
 enormous mutual sacrifices. Assuredly Mr. Carnegie 
 could not have failed to contrast the $4,000,000 net 
 
 183 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 profit of his company in the previous year with nearly 
 $1,000,000 actual loss incurred by its chief competitor, 
 the Illinois Steel Company, as a direct consequence of 
 Mr. Frick’s surpassing management, and had written 
 ea 
 “Last year was tfeally fine under the circumstances. 
 
 This year may not be better but a year comes after when 
 I think double.”’ 
 
 Mr. Frick, too, for his part, at forty-six, in full matu- 
 rity of his powers and broadened by experience, could not 
 have failed to recognize the wider opportunity afforded 
 himself as the head of the commanding combination. 
 
 So one may readily surmise that the atmosphere of the 
 conference—wherever held and by whomsoever initi- 
 ated—was from the beginning far less antagonistic than 
 it was assuasive. Despite the unacceptable offer of each 
 to sell out to the other, there was no disagreement in 
 principle; the difference which had so nearly caused a 
 complete severance of relations was found, after all, to 
 have been one of degree only. Mr. Carnegie had been 
 even more insistent than Mr. Frick himself that the time 
 for a respite for the working partner had come as a mat- 
 ter of both personal right and corporate policy, and 
 it is altogether probable that, at the peace meeting, he 
 evinced willingness to accept any solution that would 
 ensure continuance of the single-headed management. 
 
 In any case, Mr. Frick proposed the creation of a new 
 post, to be filled by an official designated as President, 
 who should superintend operation without interference 
 but under the supervision and general direction of the 
 
 184 
 
Victory’s Cost and Gain 
 
 Chairman of the Board. Mr. Carnegie approved unhesi- 
 tatingly and the arrangement, since adopted by nearly all 
 great corporations, was initiated and Mr. Leishman was 
 appointed President. 
 
 While relinquishing his purpose to dispose of his entire 
 interest in the Carnegie Company, Mr. Frick nevertheless 
 felt constrained to rid himself of all financial obligations. 
 From the day when he borrowed two thousand dollars 
 from his sister to begin business with he had never been 
 out of debt and now, after a full quarter century, seemed 
 an opportune time to free his mind of consciousness of a 
 fact which, though not important in itself, ought no 
 longer to exist. The thought was not new. As long before 
 as 1892 he had offered to sell to Mr. Carnegie at a low 
 price a sufficient amount of his most cherished possession, 
 stock in the H. C. Frick Coke Company, to take up the 
 notes he had given in payment for his interest in the steel 
 company, writing somewhat plaintively in the midst of 
 the Homestead warfare: 
 
 ‘‘T should like to feel that I was out of debt for once, 
 and that is what moves me to make this proposition to 
 you. 
 
 But Mr. Carnegie declined, saying: 
 
 ‘‘Remember you are not really zu debt—the collateral 
 given up frees you or your estate—I don’t think you 
 should lessen your interest in Frick Company—lIt is You, 
 and the only trouble about it is its not being a Limited, 
 so all dead wood can be lopped off.”’ 
 
 —and Mr. Frick responded with full candor that on 
 the whole he was “‘not at all disappointed.”’ 
 
 185 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 But the wish had persisted and Mr. Carnegie reluc- 
 tantly accepted a fresh proposal to purchase 5 per cent of 
 the 8 per cent interest in the Carnegie Steel Company 
 which he held as collateral security for Mr. Frick’s obli- 
 gations to himself, at 1.344 on the $1,250,000 involved, 
 and to cancel the notes. 
 
 This transaction reduced Mr. Frick’s total interest in 
 the steel company from 11 per cent to 6 per cent, but left 
 the remainder along with his large holdings in the coke 
 company and in many other concerns conjointly with 
 Mr. Mellon, free from incumbrance of any kind. 
 
 So the controlling owner and the controlling director 
 continued their business relationship upon the new and 
 even basis of neither feeling under the slightest legal or 
 moral obligation to the other. 
 
 186 
 
XIV 
 
 Oliver and Frick 
 
 HE ensuing five years—1896-1900—comprised 
 
 a period of successful expansion of the Carnegie 
 
 Steel Company unsurpassed in the history of 
 
 industrial development ,—net earnings increas- 
 ing eightfold, from $5,000,000 to $40,000,000 a year, 
 and actual values of properties owned in yet greater 
 proportion, without the addition of a dollar of cash 
 capital. 
 
 Chief among the contributions to this amazing result , 
 meeting at lowest costs enormous demands for steel prod - 
 ucts, was the acquisition of mines capable of yielding 
 huge quantities of Bessemer ore. Very early in his man- 
 agement Mr. Frick had realized that control of sources 
 of supply of raw material was essential to full independ- 
 ence of the manufacturing unit into which he was weld- 
 ing the segregated and competing plants. Its own coke, 
 the company had; its own ore, it must have. The Tyrone 
 region of Pennsylvania had promised well prior to the 
 Chairman's advent but in practice its product had proved 
 deficient in both quantity and quality, and prospecting 
 had approached a standstill when a gleam of light ap- 
 peared in the northwest. 
 
 Iron ore had been discovered in the Lake Superior region 
 as eatly as 1860, but it lay in ranges so distant that min- 
 
 187 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 ing was impracticable except in so small a way, with 
 primitive tools transported through a hundred miles of 
 forest from Duluth, that the first railroad to the nearest 
 Vermilion range was not built until 1884. Although pro- 
 duction was restricted to this section and development 
 lagged for years, the extraordinary purity of the mineral 
 did not escape notice, and only a rumor to the effect that 
 Mr. John D. Rockefeller was making large investments 
 in the region was needed to attract widespread attention. 
 
 Among the most alert and energetic of investigators 
 was Mr. Henry W. Oliver, of the big Pittsburgh firm of 
 plow and shovel manufacturers, who lost no time in form- 
 ing the Oliver Iron Mining Company to operate the first 
 mine opened up on the famous Mesabi range, which soon 
 becameand continues to be the most fruitful in the world. 
 
 This was in 1892, the year of the Homestead trouble, 
 but Mr. Frick was not so busy as to neglect an opportu- 
 nity whose coming he had been awaiting for years and, 
 immediately upon his return to his office partially recoy- 
 ered from the effects of Berkman’s murderous assault, he 
 opened negotiations with Mr. Oliver for participation in 
 his mining enterprise. His approach was cordially wel- 
 comed. The primary purposes of their two companies 
 were identical. Both desired above all else to be assured 
 adequate supplies of high-grade Bessemer ores for their 
 blast furnaces; each, moreover, would gain through a 
 combination providing a market for the entire product 
 of the mine and the lowest transportation rates for guar- 
 anteed tonnage; and the new company itself would be 
 susceptible of unlimited expansion through unequalled 
 
 188 
 
Oliver and Frick 
 
 advantages in the purchase of products of other mines 
 upon a royalty basis. True, the Carnegie Company would 
 profit more largely, in proportion to its greater consump- 
 tion; but this could be offset by provision of money 
 needed for development purposes. 
 
 Quick trading between friends who held each other in 
 highest esteem proved feasible, and Mr. Oliver agreed 
 to give the Carnegie Company one-half of the mining 
 company’s capital stock in return for a mortgage loan of 
 _ $500,000 to the latter for development purposes. 
 
 Fully convinced that this combination was the most 
 advantageous that ever had been, or probably ever could 
 be made, for the Carnegie Company, Mr. Frick hastened 
 to notify the controlling owner of his accomplishment, 
 in confident expectancy of winning his enthusiastic ap- 
 probation. But Mr. Carnegie, despondent over the pro- 
 longation of the shutdown at Homestead and possibly 
 chilled by the failure of his own costly experiments in 
 the Tyrone region, had reached the conclusion that 
 “pioneering don’t pay.”’ 
 
 “Oliver’s ore bargain,’’ he responded from Rannock 
 Lodge, ‘‘is just like him—nothing in it. If there 1s any 
 department of business which offers no inducement, it is 
 ore. It never has been very profitable, and the Mesabi is 
 not the last great deposit that Lake Superior is to reveal.” 
 
 Although the Chairman had made the bargain with 
 full authority and insisted upon strict adherence to its 
 terms, Mr. Carnegie strove persistently to prevent com- 
 pliance by the company and, in the face of his opposition, 
 development of the property was seriously retarded 
 
 189 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 through 1893 into 1894, when the activities of the Rocke- 
 feller managers produced a disturbing effect upon his 
 mind. 
 
 ‘“‘Oliver,’’ he wrote from Sorrento on March 16th, 
 1894, ‘‘hasn’t much of a bargain in his Mesabi, as I see 
 it, but in view of threatened combination it is good pol- 
 icy to take the half as independent of its intrinsic value; 
 it gives us a wedge that can be driven in somewhere to 
 our advantage in the general winding up. In less strong 
 hands, the Oliver would be squeezed. Remember Recka- 
 fellows & Porter will own the R. R. and that’s like own- 
 ing the pipe lines—Producers will not have much of a 
 show. We are big enough, however, to take care of our- 
 selves and if forced could make another outlet somehow. 
 
 ‘Taking half with Oliver means we have all the risk, 
 must furnish all the capital—not a small amount, etc., 
 etc.; besides, Oliver isn’t a good manager and mining 
 needs just that thing. It’s a pity we have to go in at all, 
 still I cannot but recognize we are right in flanking the 
 combination as far as possible—There are no doubt others 
 in Oliver’s position who will offer to do as he has, with 
 us. I don’t think Standard people will succeed in making 
 ore a monopoly like oil, they have failed in every new 
 venture and Rockefeller’s reputation now is one of the 
 poorest investors in the world. His railroads are almost 
 worthless. Note Troy, Cotton Seed, etc., etc. Still Ifavor 
 taking the Oliver half gratis.”’ 
 
 This obviously reluctant assent was qualified within 
 a fortnight when he wrote that he should “‘not be sorry 
 if you miss one-half of Oliver mines,’’ was ‘‘not greatly 
 
 1g0 
 
Oliver and Frick 
 
 scared about Rockefellow,’’ did ‘‘not want any business 
 managed by Harry (Oliver), good fellow though he is’’ 
 and that “‘really’’ in any case Mr. Carnegie himself 
 “should stand for controlling interest.’’ The hint thus 
 conveyed evoking no response from the Chairman, on 
 April 18th, 1894, he addressed a formal communication 
 to the Board of Managers to this effect: 
 
 You will find that this ore venture, like all other ventures in 
 ore, will result in much trouble and less profit than almost any 
 branch of our business. If any of our brilliant and talented young 
 partners have more time, or attention, than is required for their 
 present duties, they will find sources of much greater profit right 
 at home. I hope you will make a note of this prophecy. 
 
 Simultaneously, as revealed by Mr. J. Frederick Byers 
 in an address delivered on February 26th, 1927, thirty- 
 three years later, he was advising his friend, Mr. A. M. 
 Byets, ‘against investment in association with Messrs. 
 Oliver and Kimberly because of the hazards of the under- 
 taking.’’ So, despite the astounding fact that, through 
 the introduction of huge Oliver steam shovels, the out- 
 put of the Mesabi range was increased from 29,245 tons 
 in 1892 to 1,913,234 tons in 1894, the mining company 
 continued to languish from inadequate capital for an- 
 other two years. 
 
 But in 1896, Messrs. Oliver and Frick, still persisting 
 in the face of constant discouragement, effected an ar- 
 tangement with Mr. Rockefeller’s managers to lease his 
 properties upon a royalty basis of 25 cents a ton, as against 
 65 cents a ton then universally paid, in consideration of 
 a guaranteed output of 600,000 tons a year and a like 
 amount from the Oliver mines, to be shipped over the 
 
 IgI 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 Rockefeller railroad and steamship lines to Lake Erie 
 ports at a total rate of $1.45 a ton. The contract, running 
 for a period of fifty years and indicating a visible saving 
 to the Carnegie-Oliver interests of $500,000 a year, a 
 total of twenty-five millions, was made subject to ap- 
 proval by the Boards of the two companies and required 
 the consent of Mr. Carnegie as controlling owner of the 
 steel company. 
 
 Mr. Oliver waited upon him in New York shortly after 
 his return from Europe and submitted the agreement with 
 a strong recommendation of acceptance from Mr. Frick, 
 to whom Mr. Carnegie wrote immediately upon the con- 
 clusion of the interview: 
 
 Oliver called today. He has got matter really in good shape—so 
 HE says. Hope he will have final papers to submit when you come. 
 He may be too sanguine about closing on basis reported. 
 
 Apparently all misgivings in Mr. Carnegie’s mind as 
 to the advisability of engaging in mining operations were 
 dissipated by the obvious merits of the proposition. But 
 then arose another question, for which probably Mr. 
 Oliver was prepared, in the light of the hint conveyed 
 two years previously that he was “‘really’’ entitled to a 
 controlling interest, without which he was never content 
 for long to continue association with any corporation. 
 Mr. Oliver acquiesced. And then the trading began, with 
 the astute Scotchman in his element. The two interests, 
 he thought, ought to be revised to correspond to the per- 
 centages of consumption. That seemed undeniable. In 
 any event, Mr. Oliver was in no position to dispute it. 
 
 On the other hand, of course, Mr. Oliver should be 
 
 192 
 
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Oliver and Frick 
 
 reimbursed to the extent of the actual cash he had paid 
 in. The trading continued, as related by Mr. Carnegie: 
 
 Oliver Mining Company made, say, $400,000. 
 
 Now hesayshis%— = $200,000 
 
 Now he got half his cost 
 
 $120,000 60,000 
 
 He wants his $260,000 2,3, 4, 5, 
 
 years with interest—for this he sells us th 
 making us éths. 
 
 He asked $120,000 but when I showed him hevhad given as $60,- 
 ooo % and that this was ‘‘gone’’—He agreed. He wanted 1 2 3 
 4 § years. I said we could not pay anything shorter than 2 years. 
 No doubt the interest sold will net this before it is due. 
 
 2th of $400,000 is 5 pS 35323 
 to begin with—then we 
 have only to pay 1335333 
 
 One year like last would pay it entire. 
 
 The next year did, in fact, ‘“‘pay it entire’’ and much 
 more; with the net result that the Carnegie Steel Com- 
 pany acquired five-sixths and, of course, full control of 
 the Oliver Mining Company, after it had proved highly 
 successful, for literally nothing. 
 
 ‘Pretty good, I think,’’ Mr. Carnegie complacently 
 remarked. 
 
 But better yet was to ensue immediately. Thereduction 
 of royalties paid on the Rockefeller output from 65 cents 
 to 25 cents a ton, resulting in a corresponding lowering 
 of selling prices at the Lake Erie docks, greatly alarmed 
 the stockholders of other mining companies who, fore- 
 seeing only disaster, began to throw their shares upon 
 the market, only to discover that purchasers could not 
 be found. A rare opportunity thus presented itself and 
 early in the summer of 1897, when the demoralization 
 
 193 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 was at its worst, Messrs. Oliver and Frick concluded that 
 the time was ripe to gather options upon the shares of 
 the three most important companies. 
 
 It was a difficult task, owing to the wide distribution 
 of the stock throughout the country, but Mr. Oliver 
 undertook it with characteristic energy and succeeded 
 so well from the beginning that, warned by previous ex- 
 perience, Mr. Frick went to Scotland laden with facts 
 and figures calculated to avert conceivable opposition 
 from the controlling owner. But Mr. Carnegie continued 
 to balk at “‘pioneering’’ and, even after having studied 
 the final report showing the acquisition by Mr. Oliver 
 of more than four hundred options at astoundingly low 
 prices, he vetoed the proposition with a jocular quip at 
 the enthusiasm of his partners. 
 
 Mr. Oliver was in despair. The options were about to 
 expire and he was only too well aware that extensions 
 could not be obtained. Although knowing that nothing 
 effective could beadded by way of argument to the Chair- 
 man’s strong presentation of the case, he also realized 
 that the time had passed when Mr. Frick would plead 
 with Mr. Carnegie for consideration of any kind. Having 
 no such compunctions himself, he hung his last hope upon 
 the slender thread of personal entreaty and, on September 
 25th, 1897, sent the following telegram: 
 
 To CarNEGIE LaGGAN 
 
 I am distressed at indications here that Norrie options expiring 
 on Monday, are to be refused. It would be a terrible mistake. The 
 good times make it that I could not possibly secure these options 
 
 again at fifty per cent., advance. The Norrie mine controls the 
 whole situation. They have sold over one million tons this year. 
 
 194 
 
Oliver and Frick 
 
 With the additional property we will get from the fee owners, we 
 secure fifteen to twenty million tons of the ore that the Carnegie 
 Company are purchasing this year five hundred and fifty thousand 
 tons. I will guarantee, counting the surplus they have in their 
 treasury, to return in profits every dollar we invest in two years. 
 Do not allow my hard summer’s work to go for naught. 
 
 Henry W. OLIver 
 
 This beseeching message added the requisite touch to 
 Mr. Frick’s impressive reasoning; Mr. Carnegie replied 
 promptly agreeing to abide by the decision of the Chair- 
 _ man and the Board of Managers and, in the nick of time, 
 Mr. Oliver was authorized by unanimous vote to declare 
 the options. By so small a margin, the Carnegie-Oliver 
 interests gained a position which enabled them to ac- 
 quire within two years sufficient additional lands to give 
 them exclusive ownership of two-thirds of the greatest 
 high-grade Bessemer ore deposit in the world. 
 
 Once the deal was made, Mr. Carnegie quickly awoke 
 to realization of the wisdom of overriding his own whim 
 against ‘‘pioneering.’’ 
 
 “Tam happy,’ he wrote frankly to Mr. Frick as early 
 as October gth, ‘‘that we are now secure in our ore sup- 
 ply; it was the only element needed to give us an impreg- 
 nable position.”’ 
 
 Rejoicing in the Carnegie and the Oliver offices natu- 
 rally was boundless but even there none, from the far- 
 seeing Frick and the indomitable Oliver to the sanguine 
 young partners headed by the buoyant Schwab and the 
 canny Morrison, comprehended fully the vastness of the 
 potentialities of the commonplace transaction. 
 
 A very few figures suffice to indicate the concrete re- 
 
 195 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 sults. From less than 30,000 tons of ore in 1892, the out- 
 put of the Mesabi range increased to 9,303,541 tons in 
 1901 and reached 40,396,711 tons in 1918; the known 
 supply turned over to the United States Steel Corpora- 
 tion by the Carnegie Company in 1901 was valued by 
 Mr. Schwab at $333,000,000; and the total known re- 
 serve of the Mesabi region in 1920 was reported by the 
 Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers to be 
 I,400,000,000 tons. 
 
 After noting in his book, ‘“The Story of Steel,’’ pub- 
 lished in 1926, the recent increase in national wealth from 
 220 billions of dollars to 350 billions, Mr. J. Bernard 
 Walter, Editor Emeritus of the Scmentiric AMERICAN Said: 
 
 If the writer were asked to name the principal agent in the enor- 
 mous growth in wealth of this country during the past two decades, 
 he would unhesitatingly name the vast iron deposits of the Lake 
 Superior region and the consequent phenomenal growth of our 
 steel industry. 
 
 To this extent at any rate the dictum of Mr. Walker 
 seems to be justified by two warrantable deductions, re- 
 gatdless of the relative economic merits of competition 
 and combination, to wit: 
 
 (1) But for the acquirement of the Mesabi mines ob- 
 tained for the Carnegie Company by Messrs. Oliver and 
 Frick, with the assent of Mr. Carnegie, in the manner 
 noted, the colossal United States Steel Corporation, with 
 its later huge net earnings of $200,000,000 a year, could 
 not have been organized; and 
 
 (2) Without the subsequent intervention of Mr. Frick 
 alone, as presently we shall show, in the expert opinion 
 of Mr. John D. Rockefeller, the Corporation could hardly 
 
 196 
 
Oliver and Frick 
 
 have survived the first crisis of its infancy. The Carnegie 
 Company was now assured an abundant supply of iron 
 ore and cheap transportation from its mines to Lake Erie 
 ports, but one essential connecting link was yet to be 
 provided. That was conveyance by rail for two hundred 
 miles from lakes to furnaces. The Pennsylvania railroad 
 was the natural medium but its virtual monopoly had 
 emboldened its management to exact excessive rates for 
 inadequate service while dealing separately with the vari- 
 ous Pittsburgh manufacturers. Both Mr.Carnegie, origi- 
 nally, and Mr. Frick, subsequently, had chafed under this 
 domination for years in vain. Impervious alike to the 
 repeated threats of the former to arouse public opinion 
 in behalf of justice to the city and of the latter to project 
 a competing line, the powerful corporation had calmly 
 assumed itself to be so strongly intrenched politically 
 that there was no cause for apprehension. 
 
 The acquirement of the Oliver Mining Company and 
 the making of the Rockefeller alliance effected a com- 
 plete change in this situation overnight and Mr. Frick 
 lost no time in pointing out that the Carnegie Company 
 was now in a position to finance a new railroad by agree- 
 ing to furnish ample shipments and, if necessary, by guar- 
 anteeing construction bonds, without itself contributing 
 a dollar in cash. He no longer pleaded, he flatly demanded, 
 the privilege of operating over Pennsylvania tracks the 
 Carnegie Company’s trains of ore, with its own loco- 
 motives and crews, on its own schedules. 
 
 This was reprisal for past injuries with a touch of 
 vengeance, but it seems to have been justified and the 
 
 197 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 discomfited Pennsylvania management was hesitating when 
 word came from Mr. Carnegie to the effect that he had qui- 
 etly acquired control of the rusty rails called Pittsburgh, 
 Shenango and Lake Erie railroad through arrangements 
 with Mr. Samuel B. Dick, its President, and Mr. Fred- 
 erick H. Prince, the Boston capitalist, who had saved the 
 company from actual bankruptcy by paying its coupons. 
 
 Although naturally peeved at secret intervention which 
 might have put him in an equivocal position, Mr. Frick 
 perceived two reasons for rejoicing,—first, that fortu- 
 nately he had made no commitment and, secondly, be- 
 cause no conceivable project could have served better his 
 purpose to attain complete independence for the Carnegie 
 Company. So it came to pass that, in less than fifteen 
 months, the old road was reorganized, rechristened the 
 Pittsburgh, Bessemer and Lake Erie, rebuilt throughout, 
 extended forty-two miles to join the Company's Union 
 railway, and trains of thirty-five steel cats were running 
 from the Company’s docks at Connaught over its new 
 steel bridge, two-thirds of a mile long, across the Alle- 
 gheny, and delivering 175,000 tons of ore to the big blast 
 furnaces at Braddock, Duquesne and Pittsburgh. 
 
 Thus was completed the thousand-mile chain, stretch- 
 ing from the bowels of the earth north of Lake Superior 
 to the salesrooms south of Lake Erie, which established 
 the invulnerable preeminence of the Carnegie Steel Com- 
 pany; and every link was unassailable save one. While 
 the contract with Mr. Rockefeller’s steamship company 
 affording conveyance of 1,200,000 tons of ore per annum 
 for fifty years met immediate requirements fairly well, it 
 
 198 
 
Oliver and Frick 
 
 neither provided for the needs of probable expansion nor 
 ensured the perpetuity of ownership, and incidentally 
 still left the company even then partially dependent upon 
 the service of unsubstantial shipping concerns. 
 
 To safeguard the situation fully, Mr. Frick enlisted 
 the services of Mr. Oliver and, at the end of fifteen months, 
 that patient and skilful negotiator had purchased for the 
 Oliver Mining Company a fleet of six vessels, along with 
 the ore mines on the Marquette range owned by the Lake 
 Superior Iron Company, and had formulated a plan for 
 financing the undertaking through the issuance of bonds 
 by a new subsidiary Pittsburgh Steamship Company. 
 
 The securities found a ready market and the transaction 
 was completed so expeditiously and admirably that Mr. 
 Carnegie, thenabroad, so far from interposing objections, 
 as in the previous instance already noted, promptly rati- 
 fied the arrangement and, frankly reversing his opinion 
 of the desirability of Mr. Oliver as a partner, offered him 
 a valuable interest in the Carnegie Steel Company. 
 
 Ten years of arduous labor, attended by many vicissi- 
 tudes, had been required to fulfil Mr. Frick’s ambitious 
 project of unification and expansion, but the great con- 
 structive effort, fortified by amazingly efficient executive 
 capacity, now began to find its reward in an increase 
 in tons of steel ingots produced from 332,111 in 1889 
 to 2,663,412 in 1899 and in net profits from $1,900,000 
 to $21,000,000, of which, incidentally, $1,253,853 was 
 earned on the company’s 30 per cent interest in the 
 H. C. Frick Coke Company and no less than $1,067,000 
 on its five-sixths interest in the Oliver Mining Company. 
 
 199 
 
XV 
 Negotiations 
 
 HE year 1899 was the most eventful in the his- 
 
 tory of the Carnegie Steel Company, not only 
 
 revealing clearly for the first time its enormous 
 
 earning capacity of more than 80 per cent upon 
 its inflated capital, equal to 400 per cent upon its original 
 paid-up shares, but also marking a complete severance of 
 the personal and partnership relations of its two creative 
 and guiding spirits. 
 
 The three years following the reconcilement of Mr. 
 Carnegie and Mr. Frick were not marred by serious alter- 
 cations. Correspondence was renewed promptly and fre- 
 quently educed differences of opinion respecting both 
 policies and men, but contrary views were advanced 
 tentatively, and expressed courteously, though plainly 
 and frankly, with obvious design to avoid offensiveness. 
 
 Early in 1896 a rift seemed imminent in consequence of 
 Mr. Carnegie’s recurrence to negotiating with outsiders 
 upon a basis differing from that adopted by the firm, 
 without consulting or even notifying his partners. It 
 was his yielding to this inclination that had just caused 
 the rupture which came so near being complete and Mr. 
 Frick felt that he could not tacitly assent to continuance 
 of the practice by permitting the episode to pass unno- 
 ticed. But his remonstrance was mild indeed as compared 
 
 200 
 
Negotiations 
 
 with the caustic protest that would surely have been 
 forthcoming before the two had pledged the mutual con- 
 fidence essential to better understanding. 
 
 ‘“True,’’ he wrote, “‘we did shake hands but there is a 
 difference in the way of stating things: don’t you think 
 so? On Sunday morning you had reached a different con- 
 clusion, and were so set in your idea that you would not 
 even discuss the matter, and this is certainly not what 
 that open book above your mantelpiece says. I never 
 told you what you say about the Bessemer Coke rate nor 
 could anybody else have done so and told you the truth, 
 as I said to yourecently when you referred to the matter.” 
 
 And, looking to the future, he added: 
 
 Suppose you deal frankly with me. Don’t put words in my mouth 
 that I never uttered. 
 
 You do not find me putting you in a compromising position 
 when we get into discussion with outside people. I have stood by 
 you in this matter just as loyally as you could wish and my sug- 
 gestions as to appointments, etc., have not weakened your position. 
 I may view the whole matter differently from you, but there is no 
 reason why we should quarrel about it. What we are both after is 
 the ultimate best interest of the Companies in which we are in- 
 terested. We should not allow feeling to enter into such matters, 
 as you have often said. You may not care for the dollars but your 
 partners do. 
 
 In all my dealings want of frankness with you on all subjects 
 has not been a failing. It might from some points of view be con- 
 sidered a fault. 
 
 What, if any, response was evoked by this temperate 
 avowal is not of record; quite likely none other than of 
 a jocose and conciliatory nature; in any case, the pleas- 
 ing change in tone proved effective, and Mr. Carnegie 
 gaveno further cause for complaint. Almost immediately, 
 
 201 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 moreover, his most businesslike letters, though bearing 
 no longer the familiar superscription ‘‘My dear Pard,”’ 
 began to reflect the temperamental buoyancy, good fel- 
 lowship and friendliness of former scribbled communi- 
 cations, after this fashion: 
 
 Suppose you put your “gigantic intellect’’ on this and write me 
 freely. | 
 
 Don’t let us fail now and you can buy $60,000 more pictures per 
 year and remember me in your prayers. 
 
 Douched, massaged—fine! ‘‘No family should be without it.”’ 
 
 Paid my bill at Aix out of capital, sorry you couldn't arrange 
 dead-head! 
 
 We are all hoping for a visit from the Fricks this season at Ski- 
 bo. I have my eye on adjoining estate, castle and all—tell Helen 
 about this—I am anxious for her to come to MY side. 
 
 How goes the struggle for European trip? I can give you plenty 
 of fishing in salt or fresh water. P.S. Can you not get more land 
 adjoining Illinois Steel? 
 
 And so forth, by frequent reiteration, through the 
 year 1898. 
 
 The advent of the year 1899 synchronized with a crisis 
 in the entire steel industry. Competing companies sud- 
 denly awoke to realization of the fact that they had been 
 so skilfully outgeneralled by the Carnegie management 
 that the very existence of several, if notall, was imperilled. 
 The menace was widespread, involving, in hardly less 
 degree than the shareholders of the various corporations, 
 the bankers who had floated their securities. Not only 
 wete hundreds of millions of dollars and the priceless 
 prestige of scores of investment brokers at stake but all 
 stock values might be seriously affected by a general 
 crash in steel shares. 
 
 The pre-eminence of the Carnegie Company in resources, 
 
 202 
 
Negotiations 
 
 plants and organization, fortified by ownership of all 
 agencies contributing to manufacture and by absolute 
 financial independence, was undeniable, and a vastly 
 greater earning power than had yet been revealed was 
 shrewdly suspected. Only the few men in full control 
 could compute the potentialities of the young industrial 
 giant. But those few had access to accurate foreknowl- 
 edge in the estimates of their Chairman which had never 
 failed of realization. 
 
 Mr. Carnegie called them together at his house in New 
 York on the evening of January 5th to consider the sit- 
 uation. Messrs. Carnegie, Frick, Phipps, Lauder, Schwab, 
 Lovejoy and Peacock reported present and, by request of 
 the controlling owner, the Chairman announced his judg- 
 ment that the net profits of the coming year would reach 
 $20,000,000 and might be expected to double that sum 
 in 1900. In the event of these anticipations being verified 
 by results—as subsequently they were—the company 
 would inaugurate the coming century with an earning 
 capacity of 160 per cent upon its outstanding stock, the 
 equivalent of 800 per cent upon its entire cash-paid 
 capital. 
 
 Two questions, said Mr. Carnegie, confronted the part- 
 nets present, representing practically all of the share- 
 holders: 
 
 (2) Should a price be fixed upon the entire property, 
 including 30 per cent of the stock of the H. C. Frick 
 Coke Company, for submission to a syndicate of New 
 York and Chicago capitalists who had made overtures 
 
 for its purchase? and 
 203 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 (2) In the event of a sale upon that basis failing of 
 consummation, should steps be taken to consolidate the 
 Steel Company and the Coke Company on terms to be 
 agreed upon? 
 
 Both proposals were unanimously decided in the af- 
 firmative, and the price was fixed at $250,000,000, pay- 
 able one-half in cash and one-half in fifty-year, five-per- 
 cent gold bonds. 
 
 This offer was declined by the Syndicate vik it was 
 reported, had hoped to make partial payment in the 
 stock of a new company. 
 
 Two plans were then drawn for the consolidation of 
 the Steel and Coke Companies,—one by Mr. Frick pro- 
 viding for the purchase of both properties by a new com- 
 pany with $60,000,000 capital and $100,000,000 bonds 
 and another by Mr. Carnegie increasing the proposed 
 capitalization to $150,000,000 of preferred and common 
 stock and the bond issue to $150,000,000. These and 
 other proposals were under consideration when a fresh 
 proffer was made by a syndicate headed by Former Judge 
 W. H. Moore, looking to the purchase of Mr. Carnegie’s 
 majority holdings in both companies for $157,950,000, 
 payable in $100,000,000 first mortgage bonds and $57,- 
 950,000 in cash. 
 
 This sum was pronounced satisfactory by Mr. Carnegie, 
 but as a consideration for an option he required a cash 
 deposit of $1,170,000 to be paid to himself if the Syn- 
 dicate should fail to consummate the transaction within 
 ninety days. The amount thus fixed he reckoned as his 
 percentage of a total option price of $2,000,000. Mr. 
 
 204 
 
Negotiations 
 
 Moore offered to put up $1,000,000, the Carnegie part- 
 ners waived payments for their percentages in the total 
 option price, Messrs. Frick and Phipps contributed the 
 additional $170,000 required by Mr. Carnegie, and all 
 parties to the agreement signed the papers on April 
 24th. 
 
 Mr. Carnegie, having publicly proclaimed his inten- 
 tion to sell out to his partners when he should retire 
 from business, preferred not to deal with outside parties 
 personally and gave his power of attorney to Messts. 
 Frick and Phipps, his senior partners, to execute the agree- 
 ment and to complete the entire transaction on his be- 
 half. He then sailed for England after having arranged 
 with Mr. Frick to keep him fully informed, regarding 
 the progress of the Syndicate’s endeavors. 
 
 There then seemed to be a perfect understanding be- 
 tween Mr. Carnegie and his designated agents but later 
 developments indicated much confusion in the former’s 
 mind from the beginning. On May 4th, the following 
 cablegram was sent from New York: 
 
 Carnegie, Langham Hotel, London. 
 Option money deposited today. We furnish one hundred and 
 seventy thousand. Except Lauder, your partners underwrite largely 
 
 and look to you for kind aid. Teaeas Trek 
 
 Testifying before the Congressional Investigating 
 Committee in January, 1912, however, when asked by 
 Chairman Stanley if he ‘“‘did not know at any time’’ 
 that his partners ‘‘had any interest in that option,’ 
 Mr. Carnegie replied, ‘‘No sir, I did not suspect it,’’ and 
 the colloquy continued: 
 
 205 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 Tue CuarrMan. Was not the amount put to your credit, when 
 the option was not carried through, $1,180,000? 
 
 Mr. Carnecis. When I returned from Europe I found that they 
 had deposited the amount due me, which I got. 
 
 Tur CHAIRMAN. Which was $1,180,000 was it not? 
 
 Mr. Carngciz. I think so. About that. 
 
 Tue Cuarrman. Did you not know at that time that a part of 
 that money was contributed by your partners? Were you not told 
 that at that time? 
 
 Mr. Carnecigz. Part of what money? 
 
 THe CuarrMan. A part of the $1,180,000 that was put up for 
 that option. | 
 
 Mr. Carnecie. I was in Europe, and I did not hear anything. 
 I sailed before the option money was deposited. 
 
 Tue CuairMan. Were you not told in Europe that your part- 
 ners had put up a part of that money? 
 
 Mr. Carneciz. When the option was not executed, I lost all in- 
 terest init, and things that came to me bearing upon it I never read. 
 
 Tue Cuairman. Did you not stipulate at the time, or promise at 
 the time, or make a statement at the time, or send a letter from 
 Europe at the time, stating that if your partners had put up any of 
 this money they would be refunded their portion of the money? 
 
 Mr. Carneciz. Ido not remember that at all. 
 
 Tue Coarrman. I will hand youa letter here, and ask you if this 
 is not your handwriting, containing a statement with reference to 
 this option, that you will demand this money and that— _ 
 
 “Of course any part paid by my partners 
 I shall refund.”’ 
 
 I will ask if that is in your handwriting. That is a photographic 
 copy of the letter (handing paper to Mr. Carnegie). The main part 
 of it is written by an amanuensis, but the line across the middle is 
 what I refer to. I will ask you if that is not in your handwriting? 
 
 Mr. Carnecre. Yes; of course. I have never seen this since I 
 wrote it. I wrote this. I shall have to study it a moment. I never 
 knew of the deposit of my money until I came back, and no part- 
 ner ever asked me for any money that I can think of. 
 
 Later he declared his willingness ‘‘to refund to all of 
 them today, but if Mr. Frick and Mr. Phipps entered 
 206 
 
Negotiations 
 
 into a contract with the Moore Brothers by which they 
 assumed to make $5,000,000 apiece, and never told me 
 about it, why, I do not think I am obligated to pay them 
 anything now.”’ 
 
 Mr. Garpner. Do you mean half a million dollars or $5 ,000,- 
 000? You said $5,000,000 the other day, I think. 
 
 Mr. Carneciz. Now, it may be half a million or it may be 
 $5,000,000. I think I said five millions, did I not? If I were asked 
 what I thought, I should say it was half a million each. I can only 
 state what I heard about this. 
 
 Mr. Garpner. I think you said day before yesterday five mil- 
 lions. AmI right, Mr. Reed? 
 
 Mr. Rezp (Mr. Carnegie’s attorney). Five millions of the stock 
 of the new company was to go to them, he said. 
 
 Mr. Garpner. Was it $5,000,000 each or $5,000,000 in all? 
 
 Mr. ReEp. Ido not know. 
 
 Mr. Carnecte. Well, that is the best of my recollection. 
 
 * * * * * 
 
 Mr. Garpner. The testimony was, as I remember it, that the 
 option ran in the name of Judge Moore for your share in the com- 
 pany. 
 
 Mr. Carneciz. I never knew Judge Moore was a party to it. If 
 I had known it, I would not have given them an option upon any 
 account. 
 
 The records, nevertheless, show that on May 1oth, 
 1899, Messrs. Frick and Phipps cabled an outline of the 
 Syndicate’s plan of reorganization and clearly identified 
 it ten days later ina second cablegram reading as follows: 
 
 New York, May 20th, 1899. 
 
 CaRNEGIE CLASHMORE SCOTLAND. 
 
 Moote’s plan cabled was not made public but requiring our aid 
 consented to Pennsylvania charter. Present plan capital Two hun- 
 dred and fifty millions of one kind of stock to be sold at par subject 
 to bonds. Proceeds of fifteen millions stock go into treasury and 
 fifteen millions to bear expenses. One-third of the balance to Moore, 
 one-third to us and one-third to be held for deserving young men, 
 
 207 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 thus carrying out your long cherished idea. Expect to offer public 
 
 soon. After allowing fair premium on bonds you will see we are 
 
 offering the stock at less than paid you. Bonds are a serious objec- 
 
 tion, perhaps fatal. The sum needed is immense, hence uncertainty. 
 Frick. Purpps. 
 
 This cablegram was amplified three days later in a 
 letter from Mr. Frick to Mr. Carnegie at Skibo Castle 
 reading in essential part as follows: 
 
 May 23rd, 1899. 
 
 I beg to enclose a copy of the agreement reached last Friday, 
 after a hard struggle, and after an offer to Mr. Moore to return 
 his money, which he refused to accept. | 
 
 We endeavored to limit Moore’s share of the profits in pro- 
 motion to one-fifth of the amount left of $15,000,000, but finally 
 compromised on one-third. 
 
 This agreement puts the matter in control of Mr. Phipps and 
 myself, and is on a very conservative basis, in view of what has 
 been agreed to pay you, and on a basis where our employés and 
 friends can safely invest. It is astonishing the demand there is 
 from that source. 
 
 I propose having all of our partners who take stock in the new 
 Company join in an agreement not to sell any of their stock for 
 two years, unless otherwise mutually agreed. | 
 
 These communications certainly seem to show that, if 
 Mr. Carnegie was kept in ignorance (1) of Mr. Moore’s 
 connection with the enterprise, (2) of the participation 
 of Messrs. Frick and Phipps in both the general under- 
 taking and the promotion profits and (3) of the expec- 
 tation that the junior partners would partake of the 
 underwriting, the fact could hardly be attributed to any 
 attempt at concealment on the part of Messrs. Frick 
 and Phipps. | 
 
 These strange misapprehensions on the part of Mr. 
 Carnegie, however, being unsuspected by anyone else, 
 
 208 
 
Negotiations 
 
 had no effect upon the negotiations and all signs pointed 
 to success of the undertaking when suddenly there fell a 
 bolt from the blue in the complete demoralization of the 
 money market caused by the unexpected death of Former 
 Governor Roswell P. Flower, then head of the most ac- 
 tive and most seriously extended brokerage firm in Wall 
 Street. All values shrank so sharply overnight that the 
 great number of banks and bankers involved, already 
 overloaded with underwritings, were in no position to 
 make further commitments. 
 
 While the partial panic thus created was not expected 
 to be of long duration, it was a virtual certainty that the 
 Moore Syndicate would be unable, even with the power- 
 ful aid of Mr. George F. Baker, to raise the many mil- 
 lions required to take up the Carnegie option within the 
 time allotted. A reasonable extension, such as was being 
 generally allowed in like enterprises, Judge Moore had 
 reason to believe, would suffice to meet the temporary 
 crisis, and in the circumstances he did not doubt that it 
 would be granted. Mr. Frick and Mr. Phipps were far 
 less confident and promptly cabled to Mr. Carnegie pro- 
 posing a conference at Edinburgh. On May 29th Mr. Frick 
 wrote to Mr. Moore in Chicago: 
 
 On Saturday we received a cable from Mr. Carnegie, in reply to 
 the one which you saw sent him on Friday. He said he would be 
 delighted to see us, not, however, at Edinboro: we would have to 
 go to Skibo, as he was doing strictly an office business. As you are 
 of opinion that October would be the most propitious time for 
 renewing our efforts to put this matter through, and as our option 
 expires about August 4th, it seems to me that your interest, being 
 so large, should induce you to go abroad and join Mr. Phipps and 
 myself in the interview with Mr. Carnegie regarding an extension 
 
 209 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 of the same, and a modification of some of its terms. I personally 
 should feel much better if you would join us at Mr. Carnegie’s 
 castle on the 21st of June. If you should decide to go, it would be 
 well to keep it entirely quiet, and not let the newspapers know 
 that you are going abroad to see him. I have grave fears that Mr. 
 Carnegie will decline to extend the option. He will regard it as a 
 cold business transaction, so that the result, as far as you are con- 
 cerned, would be to lose the money you have paid, and I have 
 serious doubts about Mr. Carnegie’s willingness ever to return it. 
 Please think this over and let me hear from you. 
 
 Mr. Moore replied that the necessity of attending to 
 other matters at home would prevent him from going. 
 Even though circumstances were otherwise, moreover, 
 he should doubt the advisability of making the trip. 
 
 “Of course,’’ he said with shrewd insight, “I do not 
 care to lose the money and Mr. Carnegie would undoubt- 
 edly believe that the long distance travelled was for the 
 sole purpose of saving it. If you and Mr. Phipps cannot 
 convince him that he will be a loser if he does not take 
 advantage of this opportunity, I feel certain that he can- 
 not be convinced.’’ 
 
 Reluctantly but frankly concurring with this judg- 
 ment, Mr. Frick and Mr. Phipps sailed and put forth 
 their best endeavors, with the disappointing result that, 
 at the end of a month, Mr. Frick cabled to Mr. Moore: 
 
 Carnegie refuses to extend or modify option. Impossible. 
 
 So the deal fell through and, on the day following the 
 expiration of the option, the forfeited $1,170,000 was 
 credited to Mr. Carnegie’s personal account on the books 
 of the Carnegie Steel Company. 
 
 The breakdown of negotiations with the Moore Syn- 
 dicate, marking failure of the third attempt to enable 
 
 210 
 
Negotiations 
 
 Mr. Carnegie to withdraw from active business, was 
 most disappointing naturally to his partners who, under 
 the final arrangement skilfully effected by Mr. Frick, 
 would have gained control of the great property which 
 jointly they had built up. Obviously, however, there 
 was nothing to do but to take up anew the various 
 plans which had been suggested for consolidation of the 
 Steel and Coke Companies. Having reached this conclu- 
 sion, and divining further that parley with the con- 
 _ trolling owner at that stage would prove surely futile 
 and possibly acrimonious, the two chief senior mem- 
 bers of the firm separated, Mr. Phipps returning to his 
 place in Scotland and Mr. Frick to Aix les Bains for rest 
 and meditation, with the understanding that the latter 
 should return to America for consultation with the jun- 
 ior partners and the formulation of a fresh proposal. 
 
 It was a disheartening renewal of what seemed to have 
 become, for no apparent reason, a hopeless undertaking. 
 The real motive of Mr. Carnegie was wholly conjec- 
 tural. Was he, like his partners, disconcerted by the col- 
 lapse of the latest trading which would have brought 
 to him a fortune greater probably than any other in the 
 world and given to him the freedom which he craved? 
 If so, why had he refused to grant the brief extension of 
 the option which everybody believed would produce 
 that result? Or did he consider $1,170,000 in the hand 
 worth $157,950,000 in the bush? One per cent upon so 
 huge a sum realized surely could not be reckoned as ex- 
 cessive even though it should be sacrificed; it could not, 
 moreover, be lost in case of a second forfeiture of the 
 
 211 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 option, whose price was already in hand and would re- 
 main there under the identical terms of the pine: 
 agreement. 
 
 Had Mr. Carnegie’s attitude changed since he sold the 
 privilege of purchase to persons then unknown but sub- 
 sequently revealed to him, though not that he could re- 
 call, as chiefly his own associates? Had he really wished 
 to pass control of the entire property to his partners, 
 with Henry Clay Frick at their head? 
 
 This was the question that puzzled the two senior 
 members because it bore directly upon the problem of 
 consolidation. Itis hardly conceivable that either of them 
 had forgotten that the first words of Mr. Carnegie’s pros - 
 pectus which accompanied the plan submitted by him 
 were these: 
 
 In pursuance of a decision of long standing, the four principal 
 owners of the Carnegie Steel Company, Limited, and the H. C. 
 Frick Coke Company (Messrs. Carnegie, Phipps, Frick and Lauder) 
 now retire from active business. 
 
 —a statement true as to Mr. Phipps but a complete sur- 
 prise to Mr. Frick and then quite contrary to his desire. 
 
 And yet, somewhat contradictory of this ‘decision of 
 long standing,’’ as Mr. Frick must have recalled, Mr. 
 Carnegie had simultaneously pencilled on the back of a 
 memorandum sent to Mr. Lauder and the junior partners 
 the following personal note: 
 
 H. C. F.—Have written Lauder as desired. Let them decide 
 whether to include our Frick Coal Company stock or not. I don’t 
 care. It’s good enough to hold as long as I can have you as my 
 pard looking after it. I’m not going to force it on my partners. 
 
 22 
 
Negotiations 
 
 And there the matter had been left. What was the por- 
 tent of it all? Did Mr. Carnegie really favor the consoli- 
 dation for which he, in common with his associates, had 
 voted? Or was it his underlying purpose to segregate the 
 two companies and, by relegating the Chairman of both 
 to coke production, to eliminate him from steel manu- 
 facture? Or did hetruly careas little, one way or the other, 
 as he had seemed to mind smashing the trade with the 
 Moore Syndicate? Or what? | 
 
 Bewildered by the strange workings of a mind which 
 he was never able fully to comprehend, Mr. Frick sailed 
 for home on August 30th to evolve a reorganization 
 through anticipated ‘“‘consolidation,’’ harassed, dubious 
 and mistrustful, with only the consciousness of the es- 
 tablishment of a closer personal relationship with Mr. 
 Phipps which might, as in fact it did, prove to be of 
 inestimable value. 
 
 Henry Phipps, Jr. was not merely the second largest 
 owner of the Carnegie Company; as the only surviving 
 partner of the brothers Kloman whose one little engine 
 and single trip-hammer constituted the basis of the great 
 plant, he was its oldest member, preceding Mr. Carnegie 
 by four years,—from 1861 to 1865, when the Union Iron 
 Mills Company was organized with a capital of $500,- 
 ooo to take over the firm’s property and the Cyclops mill, 
 in which Mr. Carnegie had acquired an interest. 
 
 The partnership of the two young men—Mr. Phipps 
 was then twenty-six and Mr. Carnegie thirty— continued 
 through many vicissitudes for thirty-six years, at the end 
 of which they sold their holdings to the United States 
 
 213 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 Steel Corporation for colossal sums. During this long 
 period, until toward the very last, they were to each 
 other ‘‘Andrew’’ and ‘‘Harry,’’ and no serious disturb- 
 ance of their amicable relations had arisen when the 
 transaction with the Moore Syndicate fell through. 
 
 Nevertheless, although from the beginning subordi- 
 nate to Mr. Carnegie as controlling owner, Mr. Phipps 
 scrupulously maintained his fullindependencein thought 
 and action. His undeviating course, indeed, could not 
 be better depicted than by himself, in a letter addressed 
 to ‘“My Dear Andrew’”’ in 1890 protesting against what 
 he considered the unfairness of a virtual edict of the con- 
 trolling owner, to this effect: 
 
 With regard to the sale of undivided stock, if it were in my 
 possession, I would do pretty much as you would wish, as it al- 
 ways gives me pleasure to concur with you—when I can properly 
 do so. A right decision in this matter is less important to me in its 
 effects upon my pocket than its influence upon my mind. To feel 
 that I have been rightly treated is a greater pleasure to me than 
 any probable or possible gain in money; That is subordinate, the 
 first is everything; and next to it is the feeling that the business in 
 which my heart has ever been, has been dealt with on timehonored, 
 safe and just business principles. 
 
 “You have not forgotten,’’ he interjected, careful to 
 voice his own appreciation of his partner’s considera- 
 tion, ‘the time I had to get Frick in, but on my argu- 
 ments and strong urging you consented, with the proviso 
 that I should represent his stock. Your overcoming your 
 powerful convictions so long held was very clever and I 
 ever held it as a notable instance of your reasonableness.”’ 
 
 It was frank recognition of his own responsibility un- 
 doubtedly that impelled Mr. Phipps to uphold Mr. Frick 
 
 214 
 
Negotiations 
 
 in the trying early days of his management but it is no 
 less certain that, once the new executive had won his 
 spurs, his every act was judged upon its merits; that was 
 Mr. Phipps’s conception of perfect fairness to both share- 
 holders and management. In point of fact, the two men 
 apparently never disagreed upon any point of policy or 
 method but, owing to Mr. Phipps’s prolonged absences, 
 they were not brought into close personal contact until 
 Mr. Carnegie deputed them to act for himself, as well as 
 for the Company, in the negotiations with Mr. Moore. 
 The outcome of the ensuing difficulties on all sides was 
 an arousal of mutual respect and faith which led them 
 to see eye to eye from that time forward. 
 
 It may be well believed, therefore, that Mr. Frick wel- 
 comed the wise counsel of his sympathetic associate con- 
 tained in the following letter which awaited his perusal 
 
 on the steamer: 
 hel ricl:. Beaufort Castle, August 26th, 1899. 
 
 Though I gave my views strongly and fully to my three senior 
 associates, yet I consider it a duty to put them in a more enduring 
 form. 
 
 The price at which it is proposed that we take over the prop- 
 erties of the firm is far too high; unless it is intended to make a 
 quick sale and get out of business, which appears to be the inten- 
 tion of mainly one member. You suggested $250,000,000, and I 
 think you spoke wisely. Perhaps it will be necessary to give more, 
 but we should not pay the $320,000,000. We cannot defend the 
 transaction to the community now, nor in later years to ourselves. 
 
 My aim is to make the securities good enough to keep. Our 
 friend only wants to make them good enough to give away. 
 
 The senior says we can prick the bubble of trusts. Where is there 
 one that is burdened with fixed interest charges exceeding $8,000,- 
 ooo. Time taken now to negotiate will bring better results than 
 perhaps years of earnings. 
 
 215 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 We should want the basis on which we start, one to inspire 
 confidence instead of derision. 
 
 As Mr. C., in many letters and conversations, has stated his 
 desire to benefit the firm, when, if not now, is he to do it? Good 
 times like the present, make bad times; a law sure as the swing of 
 the pendulum. We have experience to know these elementary 
 truths. Have we the sense to put them into practice? 
 
 If a fair value was agreed upon, probably we would be willing 
 to give the retiring partner all bonds; otherwise, I think I will 
 take my share, and advise my friends to do likewise. 
 
 I reserve the same right that any of the other partners possess 
 as to a final decision. 
 
 The quiet and time for reflection on the voyage, gives you a 
 good chance to think carefully over the foregoing. Upon you will 
 rest the great responsibility, which, in respect to the value of the 
 property, few men in the world have ever had to meet. Reputation 
 and profit alike require that you should pause before you take this 
 
 serious step. 
 P Yours very truly 
 
 Henry Puteps. 
 
 Enheartened by this assurance of firm support by the 
 most powerful partner other than the controlling owner, 
 without regard to the latter’s wishes, of a prudent and 
 conservative programme such as had always appealed 
 to his own judgment, Mr. Frick, while on the ocean, 
 made a rough draft of a plan upon the lines suggested by 
 Mr. Phipps, whipped it into shape immediately upon 
 atrival, obtained the written approval of all the junior 
 partners within reach, comprising Messrs. Schwab, L.C. 
 Phipps, Clemson, Gayley, Singer, Peacock, Curry, Mor- 
 rison and Lovejoy, and one week after landing cabled to 
 Mr. Phipps: 
 
 Unanimous favoring reorganization two hundred fifty millions 
 
 without bonds but will write fully after further meeting next 
 week,  H.C.F. 
 
 216 
 
Negotiations 
 On September 28th he wrote to Mr. Phipps: 
 
 The enclosed plan is the outcome of many conferences and much 
 consideration on the part of all. From what I know of your views, 
 I am inclined to think you will not approve of some features of it 
 on first reading. However, I should like you to give it serious 
 consideration, and on your return home, before you take the mat- 
 ter up, you will give me an opportunity of talking it over with 
 you. Even if you should not sail, as your last letter to me would 
 indicate, before the middle of November, we would have ample 
 time to talk it over before it need be taken up with the Senior, or 
 others. ; 
 
 P.S.—Mr. Lovejoy is mailing Mr. Carnegie a copy of the en- 
 closed, signed by all today. 
 
 “We would not favor any plan that would contem- 
 plate bonding the property,’’ were the final words of 
 the proposed agreement signed by the junior partners. 
 
 That settled it. Mr. Carnegie rejected the plan in- 
 stantly. He wanted bonds. 
 
 217 
 
XVI 
 Mr. Frick Receives His Resignation 
 
 rn. CARNEGIE returned to New York in 
 
 October and shortly after his arrival at- 
 
 tended a meeting of the Board of Managers 
 
 in Pittsburgh. He was in high spirits and 
 
 never more jovial. If he detected a certain tenseness in 
 
 the atmosphere, the fact was not apparent. He fairly 
 
 radiated goodfellowship, sweetness of spirit, apprecia- 
 tiveness of his associates and kindliness for all men. 
 
 The meeting itself was harmonious throughout, only 
 one subject out of routine being considered. Mr. Frick 
 announced that he had recently acquired, partly in ex- 
 change for other real estate that he had owned for years, 
 certain lands above Peter’s Creek which he contemplated 
 putting on the market. 
 
 Before doing so, however, in view of Mr. Schwab's 
 opinion that the Company would need the property be- 
 fore long, he felt that he should offer the privilege of 
 purchase to the Board. Personally he doubted that the 
 Company could utilize it advantageously for many years 
 and the only reason for acquiring it would be to prevent 
 construction of a large competitive plant or to hold in 
 reserve to meet possible contingencies. Mr. Lawrence 
 Phipps, the Manager most familiar with real estate, 
 had valued it at $4000 an acre, which probably could be 
 
 218 
 
Mr. Frick Receives His Resignation 
 
 obtained, but the price to the Company would be $3500. 
 
 The Board, with Mr. Carnegie’s sanction, voted unani- 
 mously to buy the land. Subsequently, however, Mr. Frick 
 felt constrained to impose an unacceptable condition 
 upon the transaction and presently sold the property to 
 outsiders for $500,000 more than he would have obtained 
 from the Company. 
 
 The condition referred to consisted of a peremptory de- 
 mand for nothing less than an apology from Mr. Carnegie. 
 
 Following the highly agreeable meeting of the Board, 
 Mr. Carnegie chatted gaily with individual members, 
 made a few desultory remarks privately to Mr. Frick 
 concerning a new plan for consolidation, in the course 
 of which he casually submitted a mystifying proposal to 
 exchange for the latter’s coke stock an additional inter- 
 est in the Steel Company, ‘‘dollar for dollar,’’ and con- 
 versed at length with Mr. John Walker, former manager of 
 Carnegie, Phipps & Co., and still a large holder of Frick 
 Company stock. No sooner had he reached his home in 
 New York than the purport of his various observations, 
 divulged to Mr. Frick, caused deep resentment. Chief 
 among the aspersions reported was an alleged insinua- 
 tion that the Chairman had wrongfully exacted from 
 the Company an undue profit on the sale of his land to 
 the Board of Managers. 
 
 Nothing imaginable could have offended Mr. Frick 
 more deeply and, having decided to retaliate by making 
 his refutation of what he considered a personal insult a 
 matter of record, he addressed a formal communication 
 to the Board reading in part as follows: 
 
 219 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 Mr. Carnegie also stated, I am told, while here, that he had 
 purchased that land from me above Peter’s Creek; that he had agreed 
 to pay market price, although he had his doubts as to whether I 
 had any right, while Chairman of the Board of Managers of the 
 Carnegie Steel Company, to make such a purchase. He knows how 
 I became interested in that land, because I told him so in your 
 presence, the other day. Why was he not manly enough to say to 
 my face what he had said behind my back? He knew he had no 
 right to say what he did. Now, before the Steel Company becomes 
 the owner of that land, he must apologize for that statement. 
 
 Harmony is so essential for the success of any organization that 
 I have stood a great many insults from Mr. Carnegie in the past, 
 but I will submit to no further insults in the future. 
 
 There are many other matters I might refer to, but I have no 
 desire to quarrel with him, or to raise trouble in the organization, 
 but, in justice to myself, I could not at this time, say less than I 
 have. 
 
 A copy of the statement was sent to Mr. Carnegie and 
 was followed by a notice that, at its next meeting, the 
 Board had approved the minute. As soon as he received 
 this information, Mr. Carnegie entrained for Pittsburgh 
 on December 31rd, called for an immediate meeting of the 
 Board, which Mr. Frick refrained from attending, and 
 demanded that the Managers sign a paper requesting 
 the Chairman to resign, saying that he should not use 
 it unless it became necessary to do so. 
 
 Armed with this document, he then waited upon Mr. 
 Frick and reminded him of his repeated assertions that 
 he had no desire to retain for a moment an executive 
 position, contrary to the wishes of a shareholding ma- 
 jority. What more he may have had in mind to say can 
 only be surmised, as Mr. Frick brought the interview to 
 an abrupt conclusion by a nod of acquiescence and, on 
 
 220 
 
Mr. Frick Receives His Resignation 
 
 the next day, the following entry was made in the min- 
 ute book of the Company: 
 
 At a meeting of the Board of Managers of The Carnegie Steel 
 Company, Limited, held at the General Offices of the Association, 
 Carnegie Building, Pittsburgh, Pa., at 12:30 p.m., Tuesday, De- 
 cember 5, 1899, there were present MM. Schwab (president), 
 Peacock, Phipps, Morrison, Clemson, Gayley and Lovejoy (secre- 
 tary); and MM. Carnegie, Henry Phipps, George Lauder and W. 
 H. Singer. 
 
 The following communication was read: 
 
 December 5th, 1899. 
 
 Gentlemen: 
 I beg to present my resignation as a member of your Board. 
 Yours very truly, 
 HC. PRicx, 
 
 To the Board of Managers, 
 The Carnegie Steel Co., Ltd., 
 Pittsburgh, Pa. 
 
 On motion, (MM. Clemson and Peacock), the resignation was 
 accepted, with the sincere thanks of the Board of Managers, both 
 as such and as representing the Shareholders; for efficient, zealous 
 and faithful service as a member of this Board from January 14, 
 1889, to the present day; The vote being unanimous, and all present 
 concurring. 
 
 So ended peaceably an arduous service of ten years and 
 eleven months, but not the struggle of two determined 
 men. Mr. Carnegie’s war proved to be one of extermi- 
 nation and Mr. Frick had not yet begun to fight. 
 
 Of vastly greater importance than a mere question of 
 propriety involved in a minor real estate transaction was 
 the ‘‘coke difference’ mentioned in Mr. Carnegie’s letter 
 to Mr. Frick. The price which the Carnegie Company 
 should pay the Frick Company for coke had been a bone 
 of contention for ten years, the former as by far the 
 largest purchaser quite properly demanding a preferen- 
 
 221 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 tial rate and the latter insisting with equal justness that 
 the charge should not be so low as to warrant criticism 
 by its minority shareholders. 
 
 Each year the officers of the respective companies had 
 experienced increasing difficulty in satisfying all con- 
 cerned and, early in December, 1898, Mr. Carnegie and 
 Mr. Frick personally took the matter in hand with a 
 view to effecting a permanent arrangement. Each natu- 
 rally favored the company which bore his name, but the 
 question quickly simmered down to $1.50 per ton asked 
 by Mr. Frick as against $1.20 offered by Mr. Carnegie 
 and a compromise at $1.35 per ton for a period of five 
 years, beginning on January 1st, 1899, was agreed upon. 
 
 Pending formal action by the two Boards of Managers, 
 Mr. Carnegie gave notice through Messrs. Lauder and 
 Schwab that a clause must be inserted in the contract 
 providing that if at any time the market price should fall 
 below $1.35 per ton, the charge to the Carnegie Com- 
 pany should be reduced accordingly. Mr. Frick promptly 
 rejoined through the same intermediaries that the under- 
 standing did not comprise any such arrangement and he 
 could not recommend the execution of a contract on that 
 basis. Nevertheless he stood ready to make any reason- 
 able concession to effect a settlement. Perhaps it would 
 be well to let the matter rest until Mr. Carnegie should 
 make his promised visit to Pittsburgh when another 
 effort might be made to reach a definite agreement. 
 
 But Mr. Carnegie did not go to Pittsburgh and, when 
 Mr. Frick raised the question in New York on the eve of 
 his sailing, he refrained from discussing it, and Mr. Frick 
 
 222 
 
Mr. Frick Receives His Resignation 
 
 pressed its consideration no further, chiefly no doubt be- 
 cause the Moore option was then uppermost in the minds 
 of both. 
 
 Meanwhile, quite paradoxically, the Coke Company 
 was selling large quantities of fuel to the Steel Company 
 at one price and the Steel Company was buying the same 
 product from the Coke Company at another. That is to 
 say, the seller was charging the market rate, less about 
 20 per cent preferential, as usual, and the purchaser was 
 accepting at $1.35 per ton, under a contract which Mr. 
 Carnegie declared he had made with Mr. Frick. The 
 difference in favor of the steel company was exceeding 
 $600,000 for the year 1899 and seemed likely to amount 
 to millions annually for years to come. 
 
 Such was the confused and dangerous condition of 
 affairs when the Chairman returned from Europe follow- 
 ing the Moore Syndicate fiasco and called a meeting of 
 the Board of Directors of the Coke Company for Octo- 
 ber 25th to make official record of the company’s posi- 
 tion. President Lynch submitted the following: 
 
 Resotvep, That the president be authorized and instructed to 
 notify the Carnegie Steel Company, Limited, that the existence of 
 any contract is denied and that no claim to settle in accordance 
 with the terms of the alleged contract for past, present and future 
 deliveries of coke to the said Carnegie Steel Company, Limited, 
 will be recognized or entertained by this Company. 
 
 Messrs. Frick and Lauder, Mr. Carnegie’s representa- 
 tive, refrained from voting because of their partnership 
 in the steel company and the resolution was adopted by 
 the votes of Messrs. Walker, Lynch and Bosworth, whose 
 interests were in the coke company exclusively. 
 
 223 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 This action afforded Mr. Frick an opportunity to in- 
 corporate in his “‘Minute’’ filed with the steel company, 
 following Mr. Carnegie’s conversations in Pittsburgh, 
 the following: 
 
 I learn that Mr. Carnegie, while here, stated that I showed 
 cowardice in not bringing up question of price of coke as between 
 Steel and Coke Companies. It was not my business to bring that 
 question up. He is in possession of the Minutes of the Board of 
 Directors of the Frick Coke Company, giving their views of the 
 attempt, on his part, to force them to take practically cost for 
 their coke. 
 
 It is the business of the Presidents of the two Companies to make 
 contracts of all kinds. Mr. Carnegie has no authority to make a 
 contract that would bind this Company. Neither have I any au- 
 thority to make any contract that would bind the Frick Coke 
 Company, and, at any rate, why should he, whose interest is larger 
 in Steel than it is in Coke, insist on fixing the price which the Steel 
 Company should pay for their coke? 
 
 The Frick Coke Company has always been used as a convenience. 
 The records will show that its credit has always been largely used 
 for the Steel Company, and is to-day, to the extent of at least 
 $6,000,000. The value of our coke properties, for over a year, has 
 been, at every opportunity, depreciated by Mr. Carnegie and Mr. 
 Lauder, and I submit that it is not unreasonable that I have con- 
 siderable feeling on this subject. 
 
 He also threatened, I am told, while here, that, if a low price 
 did not prevail, or something was not done, he would buy twenty 
 thousand acres of Washington Run coal and build coke ovens. 
 That is to say, he threatened, if the minority stockholders would 
 not give their share of the coke to the Steel Company at about 
 cost, he would attempt to ruin them. | 
 
 While Mr. Carnegie’s real attitude in those days was 
 more frequently conjectural than assured, there seems to 
 be no doubt that the quick change in his state of feeling 
 toward Mr. Frick was caused by thisindignant ““Minute.”’ 
 With respect, for example, to the very dispute out of 
 
 224 
 
MR. AND MRS. H.C. FRICK MR. AND MRS. P. C. KNOX 
 (On a holiday in Venice) 
 
Mr. Frick Receives His Resignation 
 
 which the final rupture grew, we find him writing, just 
 before the displeasing paper was filed, with all his for- 
 mer sprightly and ingratiating pungency: 
 
 There’s one question I wish you would fix up—coke prices. 
 With market price 1.50 and idle ovens I think 1.35 is the fair price 
 to C.S.Co. Now you said 1.35 was right. Surely you and Lauder 
 and Lawrence can figure this out. The best plan is to get a fixed 
 price for all time and relieve the friction which has arisen. 
 
 Do get at this and fix it and always remember that none of your 
 partners can or will regard you as only the representative of a seller 
 company to them, they will not argue or object freely but they 
 think all the same. None of them want to stir up things with F. & 
 Co.—very foolish when its only business with nothing personal 
 init. Isn’t it? Yet so it is. 
 
 Do get at a permanent arrangement and greatly oblige. You 
 want to make your pard a Christmas gift anyhow. I'll not look 
 for a $40,000 thing. Give me a settlement permanent on coke and 
 I'll bless you. 
 
 yA Oe 
 
 We never had friction before—it annoys me more than dollars— 
 
 even than Phillippines. 
 
 And then, a few days later, in reply apparently to a 
 letter from Mr. Frick, not in evidence, noting an un- 
 settled misunderstanding of precise terms: 
 
 H.C.F., Esq. 
 
 Excuse me, I have no time to waste upon the Prest. of the F.C. 
 Co. who begins saying he didn’t know the bargain—that’s all I 
 read—lIts gone to waste basket. It is all settled anyhow. Schwab 
 writes me they are all willing to pay 1.35 permanently. I think its 
 high. It is your own terms and ends it. 
 
 My friend, you are so touchy upon F.C.Co. (fortunately the only 
 point) you are, and we all have our ‘‘crazy bones’’—you know 
 where Roslander, thanks to you for him, gets his finger sometimes 
 and oh it hurts, doesn’t it? But now all’s over and you have a 
 mighty good bargain and a big profit. I had no part fixing price. 
 
 226 
 
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XVII 
 
 The Final Dramatic Break 
 
 R. Henry Cray Frick, Chairman of the H. 
 C. Frick Coke Company and former Chair- 
 man of the Carnegie Steel Company, Lim- 
 ited, was seated at the desk in his private 
 office in the Carnegie building at midday on January 
 8th, 1900. He had finished dictating answers to various 
 business communications and, having lighted a fresh 
 cigar, was reading leisurely a personal letter from his 
 friend, Mr. A. R. Whitney, who was then sojourning in 
 Colorado Springs. Raising his eyes upon hearing the door 
 open and close, he beheld without appearance of emotion 
 the familiar figure of Mr. Andrew Carnegie poised at the 
 entrance. Half rising, he stood in an attitude of expect- 
 ancy while the unheralded visitor, with a cheery ‘‘Good 
 morning, Mr. Frick,’’ stepped jauntily forward and, in 
 response to a grave bow, placed himself gingerly upon 
 the edge of a chair obviously assigned to callers. Having 
 simultaneously resumed his own seat, Mr. Frick, with- 
 out speaking, looked at him inquiringly. 
 
 Mr. Carnegie readily announced his mission. He had 
 dropped in to see if they could not reach a definite and 
 final settlement of the coke dispute between their two 
 companies. Personally, ashe had said overand overagain, 
 he could perceive no reason why a satisfactory contract 
 
 227 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 should not be executed at once. The price had been agreed 
 upon and he stood ready to close the matter and be done 
 with it. 
 
 “If you had stood by our arrangement originally,”’ 
 quietly remarked Mr. Frick, *‘it would have been closed 
 long ago.”’ 
 
 Well, in the opinion of Mr. Carnegie, expressed with 
 a hint of impatience, there was no use in going over all 
 that. Let bygones be bygones! The present situation was 
 the one to be considered. He had thought the matter out. 
 In fact, he had decided upon a plan. $1.35 was mutually 
 satisfactory. Very well, let it stand for two years. At the 
 end of that time both parties would know whether they 
 wanted to go on or to make other arrangements. Each 
 could do what he liked. | 
 
 The Steel Company must have coke of course. Every- 
 body knew that. And it must take no chances. It must 
 provide for all contingencies. But two years would afford 
 ample time to acquire fifteen or twenty thousand acres 
 of coal lands to be mined if necessary. That would be 
 only prudent. The Coke Company too could make any 
 provision for the future it saw fit. So the arrangement 
 would be perfectly fair all around. 
 
 ‘Is that the contract you propose to have made?’ 
 asked Mr. Frick. 
 
 “It is perfectly fair; what do you say?”’ 
 
 ‘But if I object, it is your intention to put it through 
 anyway?” 
 
 ‘That plan or something similar will undoubtedly be 
 adopted. You may as well make up your mind to that.” 
 
 228 
 
The Final Dramatic Break 
 
 “Mr. Carnegie, would you like to sell your interest in 
 the Coke Company at a price to be fixed by competent 
 and disinterested business men? If so, I will buy it.”’ 
 
 ‘I will have nothing to do with outsiders.”’ 
 
 “Will you buy my interest in the Steel Company at 
 a price to be fixed in the same way? If so, you can have 
 rh 
 
 ‘Nothing to do with outsiders. Never have had. If 
 the company wants to take over your interest, the way 
 is provided and you have signed for it.”’ 
 
 ‘At the sum appearing on the books, you mean, with- 
 out regard to its actual value?’ 
 
 ‘As provided by the contract.”’ 
 
 “And if Ido not accept your proposed agreement be- 
 tween the two companies, or whatever else you may 
 suggest, you intend to take over my interest in the way 
 you have indicated?’ 
 
 “It’s not my business; it’s the company’s.”’ 
 
 ‘And the company will try to do it?’ 
 
 “Why not? The company has the right.”’ 
 
 “And you will advise the company to exercise its 
 power?” 
 
 “Your interest will surely be taken over by the com- 
 pany; you can depend on that.”’ 
 
 The colloquy had been carried on thus far,— by Mr. 
 Frick in notably distinct but even tones, by Mr. Carne- 
 gie toward the end impatiently. There was nothing more 
 to be said by way of explanation. The case was closed, 
 the verdict rendered. Mr. Frick looked long and intently 
 into Mr. Carnegie’s defiant eyes while, one cannot doubt, 
 
 229 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 the steel was creeping slowly into his own. Then, speak- 
 ing still evenly but with steadily rising inflection, “‘his 
 anger,’’ writes Mr. Bridge in his History of the Carnegie 
 Steel Company, “‘burst out into flame,’’ and his pent-up 
 indignation was finding full vent when Mr. Carnegie, 
 who had been edging toward the door, suddenly hastened 
 his steps and dashed into the hall, closely followed by 
 Mr. Frick. 
 
 During the ensuing nineteen years, from 1900 to 1919, 
 when both passed away, the elder in August and the 
 younger in December, neither Mr. Carnegie nor Mr. 
 Frick spoke to the other. 
 
 Mr. Frick returned to his desk, teckel at his watch, 
 reverted to his custom of clearing his desk before lunch- 
 eon, rang for his secretary and dictated a reply to Mr. 
 Whitney, whose letter he had been reading when inter- 
 rupted, in the course of which he said incidentally: 
 
 Everything here moving along very pleasantly. All concerns are 
 making money and the outlook is quite bright for the coming year 
 
 along all lines. I hope that this will find your daughter much 
 improved. 
 
 Five minutes later Mr. Carnegie, appearing distressed, 
 entered the Board room of the Carnegie Company and 
 directed his associates awaiting him to proceed with the 
 work in hand. 
 
 On his way back to his office from luncheon at the 
 club, Mr. Frick dropped in on his old friend and asso- 
 ciate Mr. John Walker. 
 
 ‘John,’ he remarked meditatively, ‘I lost my temper 
 this morning.”’ 
 
 230 
 
The Final Dramatic Break 
 
 “Oh, well,’ smilingly observed Mr. Walker,‘‘I knew 
 you had one.”’ 
 
 ‘For the first time in years.”’ 
 
 ‘Washington lost his once, you know. Carnegie, I 
 suppose. Proceed.”’ 
 
 Whereupon Mr. Frick depicted the episode in detail 
 and quietly awaited comment. 
 
 “All right!’ ejaculated Mr. Walker. ‘“That will clear 
 the air. We shall soon be out in the open now. It is high 
 time.”’ 
 
 They had not long to wait. The month intervening 
 between December 5th, when Mr. Carnegie obtained Mr. 
 Frick’s resignation, and January 8th, when he reappeared 
 in Pittsburgh, had been one of ominous silence on the 
 part of the controlling owner and of anxious waiting by 
 his partners. Only Mr. Carnegie himself could tell where 
 the next blow would fall or what its nature might be, 
 and he confided in none of his associates barring possibly 
 his cousin, Mr. Lauder, his oldest comrade, Mr. Phipps, 
 and his most valued manager, Mr. Schwab, having al- 
 ready revealed their lack of sympathy with his pro- 
 gramme by pleading with him to refrain from taking the 
 first step. 
 
 On Sunday, December 3rd, with the acquiescence of 
 Mr. Phipps, the following communication from Mr. 
 Schwab was delivered to Mr. Frick: 
 
 My dear Mr. Frick: 
 
 I write you confidentially. I just returned from New York this 
 morning. Mr. Carnegie is en route to Pittsburgh today—and will 
 be at the offices in the morning. Nothing could be done with him 
 looking towards a reconciliation. He seems most determined. I 
 
 231 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 did my best. So did Mr. Phipps. I feel certain he will give positive 
 instructions to the Board and Stockholders as to his wishes in this 
 matter. I have gone into the matter carefully and am advised by 
 disinterested and good authority that, by reason of his interest, he 
 can regulate this matter to suit himself—with much trouble no 
 doubt, but he can ultimately do so. 
 
 I believe all the Junior members of the board and all the Junior 
 Partners will do as he directs. Any concerted action would be ulti- 
 mately useless and result in their down-fall. Am satisfied that no 
 action on my part would have any effect in the end. We must de- 
 clare ourselves. Under these circumstances there is nothing left for 
 us to do than to obey, although the situation the Board is thus 
 placed in is most embarrassing. 
 
 Mr. Carnegie will no doubt see you in the morning and I appeal 
 to you to sacrifice considerable if necessary to avert this crisis. I 
 could say much on this subject but you understand and it is un- 
 necessary. Personally my position is most embarrassing as you well 
 know. My long association with you and your kindly and generous 
 treatment of me makes it very hard to act as I shall be obliged to 
 
 do. But I cannot possibly see any good to you or any one else by 
 doing otherwise. It would probably ruin me and not help you. 
 Of this as above stated I am well advised by one most friendly to 
 you. I beg of you for myself and for all the Junior Partners, to avoid 
 putting me in this awkward position, if possible and consistent. 
 
 I write you this instead of telling you because I cannot under 
 the circumstances well discuss this subject with you at this time, 
 and I wanted you to know before tomorrow. Please consider con- 
 
 fidential for the present, and believe me 
 As Ever 
 
 C.M.S. 
 
 This was a fair warning which was heeded by Mr. Frick, 
 partly no doubt in consideration of the perplexities of 
 others, to the extent at least of acceding to Mr. Car- 
 negie’s demand for his resignation without protest or 
 argument. But the indirect effect upon Mr. Carnegie 
 himself was to strengthen his confidence that he could 
 safely ignore his junior partners, whom he had terror- 
 
 232 
 
The Final Dramatic Break 
 
 ized, his senior partners, whom he mistakenly thought 
 he had cowed and, last but far from least, the Company’s 
 distinguished counsel, Knox and Reed, who refused to 
 appear in any legal proceedings against Mr. Frick. 
 
 Calling other lawyers into service, he perfected his 
 plans during that holiday month and, when he reap- 
 peared before the Board, he felt fully equipped to meet 
 any contingency. Clearly, to his mind, his recent experi- 
 ence left no alternative to proceeding to the extreme limit 
 _ of possibilities, namely, to eject Mr. Frick from partner- 
 ship and forcibly seize his interest at virtually whatever 
 price he himself might see fit to pay. 
 
 All this Mr. Carnegie seems to have believed he could 
 do legally under the terms of various agreements and he 
 proceeded forthwith to execute his purpose. 
 
 At the annual meeting of the stockholders of the H. 
 C. Frick Coke Company, on the following day, the num- 
 ber of directors was increased from five to seven; Messrs. 
 Frick, Lynch and Lauder were re-elected, Messrs. Walker 
 and Bosworth were dropped and Messrs. Gayley, More- 
 land, Clemson and Motrison, to whose names qualifying 
 shares had been transferred by the Steel Company, were 
 chosen; giving the Carnegie interests control by a major- 
 ity of three. Mr. Lynch was continued as President and 
 the office of Chairman, previously held by Mr. Frick, 
 was abolished by unanimous consent. 
 
 The only significance of this action, barring of course 
 the change in control, lay in the dropping of Mr. John 
 Walker, who was not only the largest stockholder hav- 
 ing no interest in the Steel Company but was guardian of 
 
 233 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 Andrew Carnegie Wilson, a minor who had inherited his 
 share of Mr. Carnegie’s deceased partner, whose widow 
 and daughter he also represented. In view of these circum- 
 stances and of the common knowledge that Mr. Carnegie 
 and Mr. Walker had been on friendly terms for years, the 
 exclusion of the latter from the Board caused surprise. 
 
 Presently, however, the fact transpired that, in the 
 course of the recent interview between the two, Mr. 
 Walker had rejected Mr. Carnegie’s proposal that he ex- 
 change his coke stock for an interest’ in the steel firm and 
 a position on the Board, feeling that such an act would 
 constitute a betrayal of Mr. Frick, who alone had tried 
 to protect the minority stockholders. Subsequently, 
 moreover, when assured that Mr. Carnegie would guar- 
 antee full recompense in some form for any loss to his 
 personal interests if he would withdraw his opposition 
 to the coke contract which he had voted to repudiate, 
 he had spurned the suggestion with words that virtually 
 enforced his deposition by Mr. Carnegie and added an- 
 other doughty foe to the latter’s swelling galaxy of 
 adversaries. 
 
 Immediately following its organization on the same 
 day, the new Board voted—five to two—to rescind the 
 resolution of October 25th denying the existence of a 
 contract to deliver coke to the Carnegie Steel Company 
 at $1.35 per ton, and, two weeks later, on January 24th, 
 adopted the following resolution, over the protests of 
 Mr. Frick and President Lynch: 
 
 Whereas this Company acting by H.C. Frick, then chairman of 
 the Board of Directors in December, 1898, entered into an agree- 
 
 234 
 
The Final Dramatic Break 
 
 ment with the Carnegie Steel Co. (Ltd.), whereby this Company 
 agreed to sell and Steel Company agreed to purchase all the coke 
 required for the furnaces of said Steel Company for the period of 
 five years, beginning January 1, 1899, at the price of $1.35 per ton 
 of 2,000 pounds delivered f.0.b. cars at oven, payable on or before 
 the 2oth day of each month for the preceding month’s shipment, 
 and pursuant to said agreement the shipment of coke began Jan- 
 uary 1, 1899; and 
 
 Whereas said agreement, though acted upon by the parties, was 
 never formerly set forth in writing. 
 
 Resolved, That the said agreement be, and the same is hereby, 
 ratified and confirmed as fully and completely as if the same had 
 been originally entered into under authority of a resolution of this 
 Board, and the officers of this Company are hereby authorized and 
 directed to reduce said agreement to writing, and to execute and 
 deliver the same in the name and on the behalf of this Company, 
 taking effect as of January 1, 1899. 
 
 A proposed contract with the Carnegie Steel Company, 
 embodying the terms recited and already executed by 
 President Schwab was then submitted and President 
 Lynch, by direction of the Board, executed it under 
 protest. 
 
 It is interesting, at this point, to note that if Mr. Car- 
 negie had not insisted originally that his understanding 
 with Mr. Frick comprehended the inclusion of a clause 
 giving the steel company the advantage of a lower price 
 if such should appear ‘“‘at the market,’’—a provision 
 which he now abandoned— the contract would have been 
 executed at the time for a period of five years, and the 
 Coke Company would then have been forfeiting to the 
 Steel Company the difference between $1.35 and the mar- 
 ket price of $3.50 per ton, or $2.15 0m 2,500,000 tons, no 
 less than $5,375,000 a year. 
 
 235 
 
ae * cee < 
 
 however, need not tbe considered se phy 
 
 “ 
 
 ae pr ea ci a: Cay Seale aia come 
 racrwedh weeks 
 
 3 Ps. aN Tg se bss ea) ES mae Mek: Nas 
 
XVIII 
 
 Mr. Frick Wins His Fight 
 
 AVING been thus quietly ousted from the 
 
 Chairmanship of both companies, Mr. Frick 
 
 no longer had a voice in the management of 
 
 either. To make the severance complete, how- 
 ever, it was incumbent upon Mr.Carnegie to acquire his 
 23 per cent of stock in the Coke Company and his one- 
 sixth interest in the steel firm. 
 
 There seemed to be no insuperable obstacle in the way. 
 Mr. Frick was as eager to sell as Mr. Carnegie was will- 
 ing to buy. His holdings in the two concerns constituted 
 the bulk, although not the sum total, of his fortune, 
 which he naturally desired to keep within his own con- 
 trol for investment in enterprises, the management of 
 which he would share. There was no question of his 
 full ownership of his coke stock for which he stood 
 ready to accept any price fixed by disinterested persons 
 as its fair value. 
 
 His title to his interest in the Steel Company, also fully 
 paid for, was equally clear but the holding itself, Mr. 
 Carnegie maintained, was subject to recapture by the 
 Company for the sum at which it was carried on the books 
 at the time. The difference between this price and the 
 actual value, asappraised by disinterested persons, which 
 Mr. Frick offered to accept, was very large. The “‘book 
 
 237 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 value’ of his one-sixth interest, as determined by Mr. 
 Carnegie, was ‘‘approximately $4,900,000°’; his own esti- 
 mate of its real value was‘ ‘upwards of $15,000,000 '; two 
 years later, following transformation through the new 
 Carnegie Company, it was exchanged for securities of the 
 United States Steel Corporation having a market value 
 at the time of not less than $25,000,000. 
 
 Although nobody foresaw this quick quintupling, all 
 realized that the amount of money involved in the con- 
 troversy could not be less than six millions of dollars 
 and might easily prove to be twice that sum. 
 
 While the representatives of the Steel Company were 
 assuming control of the Coke Company and ratifying as 
 a valid contract the tentative verbal arrangement made 
 by Messrs. Carnegie and Frick thirteen months previ- 
 ously, Mr. Carnegie was personally directing the recap- 
 ture by his Board of Managers of Mr. Frick’s interest in 
 the steel partnership. 
 
 The procedure was based upon the following clause in 
 an‘‘Iron-clad Agreement’’ signed by Mr. Frick and other 
 members of the firm under date of July rst, 1892: 
 
 This agreement, Made this first day of July, A.D., 1892, and on 
 certain dates thereafter, as shown, between The Carnegie Steel 
 Company, Limited, party of the first part, and each one of the 
 members of that Association who has hereunto affixed his name, 
 party of the second part, witnesseth: 
 
 (1) That the party of the second part, for and in consideration 
 of the execution and delivery of this agreement by each of the 
 other active members of said Association, The Carnegie Steel Com- 
 pany, Limited, and in consideration of the sum of One Dollar in 
 
 hand paid by the party of the first part, the receipt whereof, by the 
 signing hereof, is hereby acknowledged, as well as for other good 
 
 238 
 
Mr. Frick Wins His Fight 
 
 and valuable considerations, to him moving, does hereby cove- 
 nant, promise and agree to and with the party of the first part, 
 that he, the party of the second part, at any time hereafter when 
 three-fourths in number of the persons holding interests in said 
 first party, and three-fourths in value of said interests, shall re- 
 quest him, the said party of the second part, to do so, will sell, 
 assign and transfer to said first party, or to such person or persons 
 as it shall designate, all of his, the said party of the second part, 
 interest in the Limited partnership of The Carnegie Steel Company, 
 Limited. The interest shall be assigned freed from all liens and en- 
 cumbrances or contracts of any kind, and this transfer shall at once 
 terminate all the interest of said party of the second part in and in 
 connection with the said The Carnegie Steel Company, Limited. 
 
 CII) The request of the requisite number of members and value 
 of interests shall be evidenced by a writing signed by them or their 
 proper agents or Attorneys in Fact; and a copy thereof shall be 
 either served upon the party whose interest it is proposed to buy, 
 or mailed to him at his post office address; at least five (5) days 
 before the day fixed in said request to make said transfer and 
 assignment. 
 
 CID The party of the first part covenants and agrees that it will 
 pay unto the party so selling and assigning, the value of the in- 
 terest assigned, as it shall appear to be on the books of said The 
 Carnegie Steel Company, Limited, on the first day of the month 
 following said assignment. 
 
 Said payment shall be in manner as follows: 
 
 If the interest assigned shall exceed four (4) per centum, but 
 shall not exceed twenty (20) per centum of the Capital Stock at 
 par, then the same shall be paid for as follows: One-fourth cash 
 within six months after the date of the assignment, and the balance 
 in five equal annual payments from the date of the assignment, to 
 be evidenced by the notes of said party. 
 
 CIV) This agreement, and the option the party of the second 
 part hereby gives to the party of the first part, is hereby declared 
 to be irrevocable, and that it may be carried out in good faith, and 
 notwithstanding any effort on the part of the party of the second 
 part to evade it, the party of the second part does hereby appoint 
 the person, who, at the time he is called upon to act, is Chairman 
 of the party of the first part, the Attorney in Fact for said party of 
 
 #38 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 the second part, for him and in his name, place and stead to assign 
 and transfer the said interest in said The Carnegie Steel Company, 
 Limited, whenever under this agreement it would be the duty of 
 said party of the second part to do so. 
 
 Application of this method of recapture would have 
 resulted in payments by the company to Mr. Frick as 
 follows: On or before September 1st, 1900, $1,225,000; 
 On March 1st, 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904 and 1905, each, 
 an instalment of $735,000; total, $4,900,000, a sum prac- 
 tically certain to be exceeded materially by the profits 
 accruing during that period to the credit of the one- 
 sixth share, which consequently would have paid for 
 itself, with a net gain to Mr. Carnegie, as the holder of 
 a Majority interest, of many millions. 
 
 In point of fact, the net earnings upon Mr. Frick’s 
 one-sixth interest, in that very year of 1900 alone, sur- 
 passed the ‘‘book value’’ of $4,900,000 by $1,766,666. 
 
 Technically, however, though hardly perhaps in fair- 
 ness, this extraordinary circumstance had no bearing 
 upon the question at issue. Either the company had or 
 had not a legal right to appropriate the share upon 
 the terms specified in the option quoted, when three 
 Iron-clad Agreements, each differing from the others, 
 were really involved. Of these the first was between Car- 
 negie Brothers & Co., a constituent concern, since liqui- 
 dated, and its partners, executed on September 1st, 1887; 
 the second was between its successor, the Carnegie Steel 
 Company, Limited, and some of its partners, dated July 
 1st, 1892, and signed by Mr. Frick and others but never 
 executed by several, including Messrs. Carnegie, Phipps 
 
 240 
 
Mr. Frick Wins His Fight 
 
 and Lauder; and the third was of the same parties, dated 
 September 1st, 1897, but executed by Mr. Carnegie alone. 
 
 To recapture Mr. Frick’s interest at‘‘book value’’ and 
 obtain legal title, it was considered necessary prelimi- 
 narily (1) To abrogate the resolution of 1897; (2) To re- 
 vive the original agreement of Carnegie Brothers & Co., 
 of 1887, bearing the signatures of all the partners, thus 
 establishing mutuality of benefit and obligation; G) To 
 validate the agreement of 1892, signed in part only, in 
 order to obtain Mr. Frick’s signature and (4) To obtain 
 additional signatures to this agreement in order to pro- 
 vide the *‘three-fourths in number’’as well as the‘ ‘three- 
 fourths in value’ required to take over the interest desired. 
 
 Resolutions designed to accomplish these purposes 
 were produced by Mr. Carnegie immediately following 
 the conclusion of his spirited interview with Mr. Frick 
 on January 8th, and were promptly adopted by the 
 Board of Managers. The resolution of 1897 was rescinded, 
 the original agreement of 1887 was recognized simply as 
 “appearing in the Minutes’’of an unidentified company, 
 the agreement of 1892 was referred to for the first time 
 as “‘Supplemental’’ instead of the entirely new partner- 
 ship compact which previously it had been considered 
 to be, and the secretary was instructed to obtain all sig- 
 natures not yet attached to the document. 
 
 All of these except Mr. Henry Phipps’s and Mr. A. R. 
 Whitney's having been secured readily, Mr. Carnegie, 
 either thinking that the task would be distasteful to 
 Secretary Lovejoy, who was not in sympathy with the 
 movement, or surmising that President Schwab would 
 
 241 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 speak more influentially as his personal representative, 
 deputed the latter to obtain the three-fourths required 
 for the formal demand and, on January 15th, the fol- 
 lowing notice was served on Mr. Frick: 
 
 Under the provisions of a certain Agreement between The Car- 
 negie Steel Company, Limited, and the partners composing it, 
 known as and generally referred to as the ‘‘Iron Clad’’ Agreement, 
 we, the undersigned, being three-fourths in number of the persons 
 holding interests in said Association, and three-fourths in value 
 of said interests, do now hereby request Henry C. Frick to sell, 
 assign and transfer to The Carnegie Steel Company, Limited, all 
 of his interest in the capital of The Carnegie Steel Company, 
 Limited, said transfer to be made as at the close of Business Jan- 
 uary 31, 1900, and to be paid for as provided in said Agreement. 
 
 Messrs. Phipps and Frick, having already protested 
 separately at the action of the Board on January 8th, 
 joined in notifying the company that the “fair and true 
 value” of its properties was not shown on its books, ex- 
 pressing their belief that it exceeded “considerably” 
 $250,000,000 and declaring their willingness to accept 
 the appraisal of three disinterested men as “final and con- 
 clusive.’’ Receipt of these communications was not ac- 
 knowledged, and on February 1st, the following letter 
 was delivered by hand: 
 
 Mr. H. C. Frick, 
 Building. 
 Dear Sir: 
 
 I beg to advise you that pursuant to the terms of the so called 
 ‘Tron-clad Agreement’’ and at the request of the Board of Man- 
 agers, I have to-day acting as your Attorney in Fact executed and 
 delivered to The Carnegie Steel Company, Limited, a transfer of 
 your interest in the capital of said Company. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 C. M. Scuwas. 
 
 242 
 
Mr. Frick Wins His Fight 
 
 The stage was now set for trial of the most famous 
 lawsuit ever brought in Pennsylvania. There had been 
 a sharp competition for the services of John G. Johnson, 
 Esq., the foremost lawyer of the country, as senior coun- 
 sel, but Mr. Frick’s retainer was the first to arrive. 
 The great man’s distinguished associates were Esquires 
 D. D. Watson and Willis F. McCook. Mr. Carnegie’s 
 solicitors were Esquires George Tucker Bispham, Rich- 
 ard C. Dale, Clarence Burleigh and the firm of Dalzell, 
 Scott & Gordon. 
 
 Mr. Frick’s Bill of Complaint in his Equity Suit against 
 the Steel Company and its shareholders and the joint and 
 several answer of the defendants headed by Mr. Carnegie 
 were filed with the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny 
 County promptly upon the opening of the Spring term 
 early in March. Eleven years later, in his testimony before 
 a Congressional Committee, Judge Reed of Knox & Reed, 
 the company’s attorneys who had refused to represent 
 their most affluent client in any legal proceedings against 
 Mr. Frick, set forth tersely the main point at issue. 
 
 ‘“The fundamental question in the case,’’ he informed 
 the committee, “was whether Mr. Frick could be put 
 out at all under the agreement. The next question was, 
 how much was his interest worth? The attorneys who 
 drew this answer—I had nothing to do with it—drew it 
 with the main object in view, namely, to show that Mr. 
 Frick, as one of a committee, had fixed his own valuation 
 and was committed to it. How they found that I do not 
 know. I hate to say it, but they stated rather carelessly 
 that it was a full and accurate value of the assets when 
 
 243 
 
y Frick the Man 
 
 they should have said that it was a full and accurate ac- 
 count of the method adopted by the parties.”’ 
 
 ‘Do you understand it, Judge?’ asked Congressman 
 Gardner. 
 
 ‘‘Sometimes I think I do and sometimes that I do not. 
 I do not know what they did with the profits except that 
 I think they depreciated things to about the extent of 
 the profits and never allowed their book values to rise 
 atalli® 
 
 “Let me tell you, gentlemen,’’ interjected Mr. Car- 
 negie with rare insouciance, “‘since you have mentioned 
 the name of Mr. Frick, that the quarrel was not between 
 us. I never had a quarrel with Mr. Frick in my life. It 
 was with the partners he quarreled. I tried to go in and 
 settle it.” 
 
 Asked how he personally accounted for the assertion 
 in his sworn Answer to the Bill that the “book value”’ 
 of the entire assets of the company was “‘full, fair and 
 accurate,’’ Mr. Carnegie replied: 
 
 Mr. Carnecie. As to the value of our property, No. Everything 
 I have said here shows you that the property did not go into that 
 account at all. 
 
 Mr. Brat. Then this statement in this answer, as you under- 
 stand it now, is not a correct statement? 
 
 Mr. Carneciez. It is misleading. 
 
 Mr. Brat. It is a misleading statement? 
 
 Mr. Carnecte. Surely. 
 
 Mr. Beat. Can you not go further than that and say that it is 
 an incorrect statement? 
 
 Mr. Carneaiz. Yes; certainly it is an incorrect statement. Have 
 you any doubt about it yourself? (Laughter). 
 
 Mr. Beat. Not at all. 
 
 244 
 
Mr. Frick Wins His Fight 
 
 Tue CHatrMan. It is sworn to. 
 
 Mr. CarneciE. Yes. 
 
 THe CHairMaNn. By you? 
 
 Mr. Carneciz. Yes. My partners sent this on as an answer 
 prepared by our lawyers. I no doubt glanced over it and signed it, 
 but I did not read it all. 
 
 There was no casualness in the preparation of the brief 
 for the plaintiff. Mr. Frick gave his undivided attention 
 to the matter, not only gathering the data required down 
 to the minutest detail but sifting and analyzing it with 
 the painstaking thoroughness of a trained mind; inviting 
 and even suggesting innumerable questions for himself 
 to answer; proposing lines of bold attack supported by 
 factsand arguments; and generally laying a broad founda- 
 tion for comprehensive presentation of a case punctuated 
 and enlivened by severe and caustic phrasing of his own 
 devising. 
 
 The purely legal aspects of the controversy hardly call 
 for consideration in view of their failure to attain judi- 
 cial determination, but if Mr. Carnegie had thought to 
 intimidate Mr. Frick into full submission, in line with 
 the tender of his resignation without a protest, his hope 
 was rudely dispelled by this defiant and scornful atti- 
 tude, and his feelings were deeply hurt. 
 
 ‘Frick has filed an abusive Bill against me,’’ he con- 
 fided to Mr. Elbert H.Gary on a railway train, ‘‘and here 
 is the reply which I want you to read.”’ 
 
 ‘I did soat once,’ Judge Gary told his own biographer, 
 ‘‘and found that Mr. Carnegie had excoriated Mr. Frick 
 in violent language. I advised him not to file that reply; 
 it was too abusive. Mr. Carnegie was plainly disappointed, 
 
 245 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 for he believed he had done a fine thing, but he agreed 
 to show the paper to his counsel, and it was never filed 
 in that form.”’ 
 
 Simultaneously with the filing of Mr. Carnegie’s An- 
 swer in Part I of the Court of Common Pleas appeared 
 the Bill of Complaint in the coke suit of his lifelong 
 friend and associate, the redoubtable Mr. John Walker, 
 in Part II. Compared with the scathing terms of this 
 grim indictment, Mr. Frick’s denunciation was less per- 
 sonal and almost indulgent. Contemptuously depicting 
 the added directors as mere tools of their master, desig- 
 nated and qualified by him to act in his interest, in “utter 
 and fraudulent disregard’’ of the rights of the minority 
 stockholders, Mr. Walker pinned the entire responsibil- 
 ity upon Mr. Carnegie personally for “‘the execution of 
 their evil design to cheat and defraud, not honestly 
 or in good faith for the Coke Company but dishonestly 
 and in bad faith for the benefit of said Carnegie,’’ thereby 
 becoming “‘guilty not only of constructive but also of 
 actual fraud.”’ 
 
 Since it was obviously “‘vain and useless’’ to look to 
 such ‘‘representatives of the Steel Company and Carnegie 
 for any redress for the aforesaid wrongs and grievances,’ 
 Mr. Walker, on his own behalf and as guardian of Andrew 
 Carnegie Wilson, was driven to pray the Honorable Judges 
 for equitable relief. 
 
 While these blunt accusations from such a source made 
 highly unpleasant reading, particularly when spread 
 over the first pages of the newspapers, yet another defec- 
 tion, although relatively unimportant, bore perhaps even 
 
 246 
 
Mr. Frick Wins His Fight 
 
 greater significance to Mr. Carnegie’s mind. All but two 
 of the junior or ‘‘debtor’’ partners accepted Mr. Schwab's 
 judgment that Mr. Carnegie could, and ‘‘would prob- 
 ably,’’ ruin them if they should disobey his orders, and 
 bowed submissively, but of these two one was Mr. F. T. 
 F. Lovejoy, Secretary of the company, who was more 
 familiar with the intricacies of the various Iron-clad 
 Agreements than anybody else and had served as special 
 counsellor to the controlling owner in constructing and 
 interpreting them. 
 
 While acting under instructions to make a thorough 
 investigation of the proposed Agreement of 1897 with a 
 view to perfecting it in every detail, he was informed by 
 the company’s attorneys that, to make it legally bind- 
 ing beyond question, it would be necessary to give to 
 each shareholder the privilege of taking up his interest 
 for cash and to secure the signature of every partner 
 without exception in order to establish full mutuality 
 of the pledge to surrender an interest upon demand. The 
 latter requirement was supposed to have been met in the 
 original Agreement of 1887, but inquiry developed the 
 fact that the name of Mr. Vandevort was not appended. 
 Mr. Frick promptly apprized Mr. Carnegie, who was then 
 in Scotland, of this fatal defect. 
 
 “The fact is,’’ he wrote on June roth, 1898, ‘‘that the 
 present Iron-clad Agreement (that of 1892, unsigned by 
 Mr. Phipps and dependent for validity upon assumed 
 continuance of the Agreement of 1887) is not binding on 
 anybody and never has been; while we have purchased in- 
 terests of deceased partners under it, if objection had been 
 
 247 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 raised by their estates, it could not have been enforced.”’ 
 
 But time was pressing, owing to the imminence of a 
 conference at Skibo Castle designed to win Mr. Phipps’s 
 assent to the new Agreement, and Mr. Lovejoy had 
 drawn a paper, for the debtor partners to sign, fully coy- 
 ering the point, and a copy was enclosed ‘‘for your con- 
 sideration and FOR MR. PHIPPS'S CONSIDERATION. 
 
 No cablegram being received in response, however, no 
 further step was taken and Mr. Frick sailed, as planned, 
 to find awaiting him at Liverpool the following commu- 
 nication: 
 
 Sx1s0 CastLz, Dornoca, N.B. 
 
 My dear Mr. Frick, 27th June, 1898. 
 
 Just occurs to me perhaps much better not to talk over new Iron- 
 clad Agreement until Squire (Mr. Phipps) comes here with you. 
 
 I do not agree that the present one is not binding,—better avoid 
 that point. 
 
 The Squire and Mr. Curry expect to come up here with you. 
 We are looking forward with the greatest pleasure to the arrival 
 of you all. 
 
 7 Hastily yours 
 H. C. Frick, Esq., ANDREW CARNEGIE. 
 White Star S.S.“‘Germanic,"’ 
 Liverpool. 
 
 The intimation was plain that Mr. Phipps was to be 
 kept in ignorance of Mr. Lovejoy’s discovery that he 
 was not, as he had been led to believe, bound by his sig- 
 nature to the 1887 Agreement,—at least until he could 
 be induced to accept the new one which superseded it. 
 But the precaution was to no purpose. Mr. Phipps could 
 not be persuaded to sign. 
 
 Although Mr. Lovejoy, in common with the other 
 junior partners, invited the loss of fortune foreseen by 
 
 248 
 
 a) Oe a 
 
Mr. Frick Wins His Fight 
 
 Mr. Schwab if he should disobey Mr. Carnegie’s orders, 
 he could not conscientiously join with his fellow man- 
 agers in an effort to enforce an agreement which the dis- 
 tinguished counsel of the company had pronounced in- 
 valid, calling for the resignation of Mr. Frick and pro- 
 viding for recapture of his interest ‘‘for a consideration 
 virtually nominal.’’ Consequently he resigned as Man- 
 ager and Secretary and filed a separate Bill setting forth 
 that the agreement was ‘‘null and void,”’ that ‘‘even if it 
 were in full force and effect, no cause existed for the plain- 
 tiff’s expulsion’ and that, in any event, “‘justice and 
 equity required that he should not be compelled to accept 
 such payment as the purchasers themselves might fix.”’ 
 
 However grieved he may have been by this singular 
 action on the part of a junior partner whose fortune, he 
 considered, was attributable to his own generosity, Mr. 
 Carnegie not only betrayed no resentment but was so 
 deeply impressed by Mr. Lovejoy’s legal opinion, based 
 upon the defect in the original agreement discovered and 
 reported nearly two years previously, that, having com- 
 missioned an associate to make, on his own account, 
 tentative advances looking toa settlement, he advertised 
 indifference by going to Florida. 
 
 In vain. Mr. Frick continued imperturbable, Mr. Walker 
 implacable, Mr. Lovejoy undisturbed, Messrs. Knox & 
 Reed courteously aloof and the renowned Esquire John- 
 son smilingly unapproachable. Mr. Carnegie returned. 
 
 It was an anomalous situation. The Carnegie Steel 
 Company was piling up profits at an undreamed-of rate 
 but its prestige was diminishing, its superb organization 
 
 249 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 was quaking, its rivals were chortling, bankers were 
 beginning to look askance, customers were showing 
 signs of dismay, and rumors were rife of prospective dis- 
 closures compelling governmental rending of the very 
 foundations of its industrial supremacy. Clearly, all con- 
 cerned, from the most affluent shareholder to the hum- 
 blest yet highly prosperous wage-earner, had everything 
 to lose and nothing to gain from protraction of the bitter 
 struggle between its masterful guiding spirits. Again 
 with the full acquiescence of Mr. Frick, and undismayed 
 by his recent failure, Mr. Phipps intervened. 
 
 Nobody living was so well fitted for the role of peace- 
 maker as he; none other could have appealed so effec- 
 tively to the sentimental side of Mr. Carnegie’s better 
 nature; none could meet him on the same level; the two 
 had toiled shoulder to shoulder as partners for nearly 
 forty years and had shared a prosperity far surpassing 
 any registered in the dreams of either; each admired and 
 respected the other; between them was no jealousy; their 
 friendship had never been seriously shaken; they were 
 growing old. 
 
 There was a touch of pathos in the meeting. They were 
 still ‘‘Harry’’and‘*Andrew’’to each other, but for how 
 long? Appearances had been safeguarded scrupulously. 
 Mr. Carnegie had shown, perhaps had felt, no resent- 
 ment at what he must have considered a personal defec- 
 tion and Mr. Phipps had confined the protest which he 
 felt bound to make to the smallest formal compass. The 
 public detected no more than a difference in judgment; 
 their associates, with minds possessed by self interest, 
 
 250 
 
 ——— 
 
AT THE AGE OF FORTY-FIVE 
 
Mr. Frick Wins His Fight 
 
 prudently perceived nothing. But the two concerned knew 
 that at last a rift was opening which must be closed quick- 
 ly or it would widen beyond possibility of repair. The 
 one must have been as surely conscious as the other was 
 clearly aware of the entrance into their relationship of 
 the fatal element of mistrust. 
 
 Mr. Phipps was not accustomed to champion the causes 
 of others in public; privately, with Mr. Schwab, he had 
 urged upon Mr. Carnegie the unwisdom of deposing Mr. 
 _ Frick as Manager, but he seems to have raised no objection 
 when he heard the controlling owner direct his Board to 
 demand the Chairman’s resignation; that was not his 
 affair. Nor was Mr. Frick’s suit at law; he had not 
 sought an interview to discuss the merits of that; his 
 grievance was his own, as he had indicated plainly to 
 Mr. Frick himself, and it was based, not upon legal rights, 
 but upon personal honor, mutual friendship and identical 
 interests. 
 
 He had signed the original Iron-clad Agreement of 
 1887 most reluctantly and only upon the definite under- 
 standing that it “‘should apply only to debtor partners 
 or employés’’ and under no circumstances to those class- 
 ified as ‘Senior Partners’’ who had bought and paid for 
 their shares. 
 
 “Of course,’ he added in a memorandum filed with 
 Mr. Frick on January 17th, 1900, when the latter was 
 threatened with ejectment and partial confiscation of his 
 interest, ‘‘much was left to the honor of the Managers, 
 in whom it was not unreasonable for me to impose im- 
 plicit confidence, and I am confident that the agreement 
 
 251 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 would never have been made an engine of oppression and 
 robbery.”’ 
 
 A second time, in 1892, ‘‘when the consolidation papers 
 were agreed to by Mr. Carnegie and me at his place near 
 Windsor, England,” he received personal reassurance to 
 the same effect with respect to ‘the intent of the paper 
 of 1887.”’ | 
 
 Still further confirmation of Mr. Carnegie’s commit- 
 ment to this view was afforded by both word and deed 
 of Mr. Carnegie himself in 1897, when he began a letter 
 designed to allay Mr. Phipps’s apprehensions respecting 
 the proposed new Agreement with these words: 
 
 My Dear Pard: a dade 554s 
 
 Surely you are a little “‘off.”’ 
 
 I know of no reason why the Iron-clad is not pleasing to you. 
 
 Did you not suggest that the power to expel should not apply 
 to such as own their interests, and hasn’t your wish been granted? 
 
 Mr. Phipps discovered upon examining the revised 
 document that his desire to have the restriction to debtor 
 partners clearly specified instead of being left indefinitely 
 a matter of honor between partners had, indeed, been 
 heeded, the‘ ‘party of the second part” being explicitly 
 
 designated as an ‘‘active member of the Association — 
 
 whenever, and at any time he shall be indebted in any 
 sum to The Carnegie Steel Company, Limited, or to any 
 member thereof for the purchase of Capital in said Asso- 
 ciation, thus relieving all actual owners from any com- 
 mitment whatever. 
 
 This clause Mr. Phipps found wholly satisfactory and 
 most comforting. His refusal to sign the last Agreement 
 
 252 
 
 oe oe 
 
Mr. Frick Wins His Fight 
 
 of 1897, executed by the company and by Mr. Carnegie 
 alone of all the partners, and rescinded by the latter’s 
 direction on the memorable 8th of January, was based 
 upon other grounds. 
 
 “I replied,’ Mr. Phipps continued in his Memoran- 
 dum to Mr. Frick, ‘‘that there were clauses in the agree- 
 ment that were unjust, and he replied ‘Harry, Iam ill, and 
 am going abroad, and fix it to your satisfaction’—On 
 such a promise, so clear and explicit, I would have done 
 anything for my friend, and especially in his condition.”’ 
 
 ‘I am very sorry to say,’ he concluded mournfully, 
 “that since then he has shown no willingness to correct 
 the agreement as promised.”’ 
 
 Mr. Phipps carried out the plan of the interview pre- 
 cisely as agreed upon by Mr. Frick and himself. He 
 scrupulously refrained from uttering a word that might 
 give cause for offense but he spoke with a frankness equiva- 
 lent to his friendliness. For himself, he had burned his 
 bridges; there had been nothing else to do in justice to 
 himself and his family; if one owner’s interest could be 
 seized by the company at fictitious book value, another's 
 could be; continued possession of his own would be a 
 matter, not of right, but of favor. Personal altercations 
 between partners he viewed only with deep regret; he 
 had never engaged in one; he never should; but it was 
 only fair to say that Mr. Frick and himself had confided 
 fully in each other from necessity in mutual defense. 
 
 He frankly accepted the responsibility for suggesting 
 that Mr. Frick search the records of the settlement with 
 Superintendent Abbott and Mr. Frick had done so and 
 
 253 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 had found in a letter addressed to him in Mr. Carnegie’s 
 own handwriting these words: 
 
 Mr. Abbott came from Washington to see me as his friend. 
 
 He thought that if he retired his half was worth far more than 
 the books and I could not say otherwise. 
 
 I said of course it was worth 20% more than the books and if he 
 decided to retire and sell, Ishould see he got that for it. 
 
 And he got it and, by seeing that he did, Mr. Carnegie 
 had upheld the very principle for which Mr. Frick and 
 he were contending. Mr. Carnegie had forgotten all about 
 this act of generosity, no doubt, as he had forgotten 
 many other kindnesses of like nature, but there stood 
 the admission. It might or might not have legal effect; 
 but, to his mind, it surely did have moral force which 
 no honorable man could, and he did not believe Mr. Car- 
 negie would, ignore. 
 
 While plainly surprised at this bit of information, Mr. 
 Carnegie welcomed the opportunity to respond to his 
 lifelong associate's freshening of their friendship and 
 his reiteration of faith in himself. 
 
 ‘‘Make your own plan, Harry,’ he finally said, ‘‘I only 
 want what is fair.”’ 
 
 So the interview ended to mutual satisfaction and Mr. 
 Phipps immediately reported to Mr. Frick, whose sole 
 comment was: 
 
 “It is useless now to talk about anybody buying or 
 selling. The fair thing to do is to make the consolidation 
 of the two companies upon the terms agreed to by every- 
 body a year ago before the Moore offer was received. 
 That will solve the whole problem justly and honestly. 
 Tam willing.”’ 
 
 254 
 
Mr. Frick Wins His Fight 
 
 At a meeting quickly arranged to take place at Mr. 
 Carnegie’s house in New York, on the evening of March 
 17th, attended by Mr. Carnegie, Mr. Phipps, Mr. Schwab 
 and Mr. Lovejoy, representing Mr. Frick, Mr. Phipps 
 submitted the latter’s suggestion and it was favorably 
 received. Three days later it was adopted by all parties 
 in interest at a larger gathering in Atlantic City which 
 became famous and, on March 21st, the following com- 
 munication was delivered by hand: 
 
 Tur CARNEGIE STEEL CompaANy, LiMiTED. 
 PITTSBURGH, PA. 
 Mr. H. C. Frick, March 21st, 1900, 
 
 Pittsburgh, Pa. 
 Dear Sir: 
 
 Referring to the tentative Agreement made at Atlantic City, 
 March roth and 20th, 1900, by Messrs. Carnegie, Phipps (Henry), 
 Schwab, Phipps (L.C..), Lovejoy, Morrison, Clemson, Gayley and 
 Moreland, covering a plan for the consolidation of the Carnegie 
 Steel and Frick Coke interests recommended by all the signers :— 
 
 To prevent any misunderstanding as to the terms of said tenta- 
 tive Agreement as to one particular, on which you advise me that 
 you do not consider the language sufficiently explicit: I would say 
 that it is the understanding of all the persons making said Agree- 
 ment that the transfer of six per cent. of the Capital of The Car- 
 negie Steel Company, Limited, made by me (as Attorney in Fact 
 under the “‘Iron-clad Agreement’’) out of your Capital Account, 
 February 1st, 1900, shall be cancelled to the end that you shall be 
 entitled to and shall receive your full share (6%) of the Dividend 
 declared by The Carnegie Steel Company, Limited, to adjust the 
 relative Book-Values of the Stocks of The Carnegie Steel Company, 
 Limited, and of the H. C. Frick Coke Company and its subsidiary 
 Companies, as provided in said Agreement, and of any and all 
 other Dividends, if any, declared by The Carnegie Steel Company, 
 Limited, between January 31st, 1900 and the date upon which the 
 consolidation is consummated and the balance of surplus turned 
 over to the new Companies. 
 
 You shall receive out of this merger the same moneys, bonds, 
 
 ASS 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 stocks and other properties as if no attempt had been made to 
 transfer such interest. 
 We hope to be able to complete said merger in all respects by May 
 Ist, 1900, and we now agree to do so by June ist, 1900, at furthest. 
 This to be without prejudice in case the Agreement referred to 
 
 be not approved by all concerned. Yours truly 
 
 C. M. Scuwas. 
 President 
 
 The settlement was heralded, by unanimous assent, 
 for courtesy’s sake as a‘‘compromise’’; it was really a 
 complete surrender by Mr. Carnegie and an unqualified 
 triumph for Mr. Frick, who received from the new com- 
 pany precisely $15,000,000 for the interest whose value 
 he had estimated at ‘‘upwards’’ of that sum, and who 
 celebrated the event by sending a single telegram to his 
 friend, Mr. Whitney, reading: 
 
 Settlement made. I get what is due me. All well. 
 
 I, of course, have not met this man Carnegie and never expect 
 nor want to. It is not my intention to be officially connected with 
 the reorganized concern. 
 
 In point of fact, by arrangement, neither Mr. Carnegie 
 nor Mr. Frick was included in the directorate, but the 
 former assumed full control from Scotland and the latter 
 kept a sharp eye on operations in Pittsburgh. The month 
 of March, 1900, the last of separate operation, showed net 
 profits : of the Carnegie Steel Company, $4,394,588.48; of 
 the Frick Coke Company, $666,142.41; a total of more 
 than $5,000,000,—at the rate of $60,000,000 per year. 
 
 “Pretty satisfactory figures, are they not?’ wrote Mr. 
 Frick to Mr. Mellon in London. 
 
 But he chafed at signs of what he considered loose and 
 wasteful management and latein August, on the day when 
 
 256 
 
Mr. Frick Wins His Fight 
 
 President Schwab left the great concern headless to sail 
 for Skibo, he sent the following cablegram,—the last 
 message ever sent by him to his former partner: 
 CarneaiE, Clashmore. 
 
 You being in control, stockholders and public look to you to 
 see that the great Carnegie Company is managed successfully and 
 honestly. Five year contracts for coal fifty per cent above the low- 
 est price paid, and six per cent above prices now currently paid by 
 smaller concern. Ruinous. Scrap unloaded on you at fancy prices, 
 while others were selling, now being sacrificed abroad. Look into 
 these and other matters yourself. Do not let them hide things from 
 you. You cannot trust many by whom you are surrounded to give 
 you facts. You need commercial rather than professional ability to 
 cope with concerns managed by brainy and honest men trained to 
 the business. You are being outgeneralled all along the line, and 
 your management of the Company has already become the subject 
 of jest. Thies 
 
 Simultaneously he wrote a long letter to Mr. Phipps, 
 then in England, specifying many instances of losses ag- 
 gregating millions per year incurred unnecessarily and 
 calling him sharply to task, as a director, for inatten- 
 tiveness to his obligations. 
 
 Meanwhile the consolidation of the two companies 
 had been effected under the name of The Carnegie Com- 
 pany and $160,000,000 bonds and $160,000,000 of stock 
 had been issued proportionately to the original owners, 
 resulting in the delivery to the three chief shareholders 
 
 of the following securities: 
 
 STOCK BONDS 
 Andrew Carnegie $86,382,000 $88,147,000 
 Henry Phipps 17,227,000 17,577,000 
 Henry C. Frick 15,484,000 15,800,000 
 
 the remainder going to sixty junior partners and heirs 
 of deceased members of the firm. 
 257 
 
XIX 
 The United States Steel Corporation 
 
 HE Carnegie Company died a yearling. It began 
 
 Operations on April 1st, 1900, and passed out 
 
 of existence on March 31st, 1901. The time had 
 
 then come for Mr. Carnegie to realize his cher- 
 ished ambition to retire by forcing a sale of his prop- 
 erty upon his rivals, and he proceeded with unexampled 
 skill and audacity to accomplish his purpose. A way 
 had been opened through the enormous successes of the 
 steel and coke concerns which enabled the new con- 
 _solidated company to earn interest upon a thousand mil- 
 lions of dollars, which it might either pay in full or use 
 in part to crush its competitors. In any case, whatever 
 disposition might be made of profits, the credit of the 
 Company was limitless and its power as resistless as its 
 position was impregnable. 
 
 That its policy was to be one of expansion along new 
 lines was clearly indicated by the announcement, early in 
 the summer, of immediate construction of a $12,000,000 
 tube plant upon land already purchased at Conneaut on 
 Lake Erie. This was a dagger thrust at the very heart 
 of corporate finance. What was about to happen to the 
 National Tube Company, just formed and floated by no 
 less a firm than J. P. Morgan & Co.? Mr. Carnegie made 
 light of the undertaking. 
 
 258 
 
The United States Steel Corporation 
 
 “The policy of the Carnegie Company,”’ he declared, 
 ‘1s to codperate in every way with its fellow manufac- 
 turers in the industrial world, and not to push itself into 
 any new field save in self-defence. We did not leave the 
 National Tube Company. They left us, which they had 
 a perfect right to do, of course. Now we are ready to 
 shake hands and codperate with them in the most friendly 
 spirit. Weare better for them thana dozen small concerns, 
 conducted in a small jealous way. We believe there is 
 room enough for the two concerns,”’ etc. 
 
 But the misgivings of the security holders, instead of 
 being dispelled by this naive declaration, were greatly en- 
 hanced when it transpired that Mr. Schwab had brought 
 back from Skibo a message to his partners from the con- 
 trolling owner containing these significant phrases: 
 
 If I were czar (of the Carnegie Company), I would make no 
 dividends upon common stock, save all surplus, and spend it for a 
 hoop and cotton-tie mill, for wire and nail mills, for tube mills, 
 for lines of boats upon the Lakes for our manufactured articles, and 
 to bring back scrap, etc... . Put your trust in the policy of attend- 
 ing to your own business in your own way and running your mills 
 _ full, regardless of prices, and very little trust in the efficacy of arti- 
 ficial arrangements with your competitors, which have the serious 
 result of strengthening them if they strengthen you. Such is my 
 advice. 
 
 This clearly presaged aggressive and ruinous compe- 
 tition, not merely for the National Tube Company, but 
 for eight other near-Trust metal concerns, which had 
 been organized during the previous few years and financed 
 in Wall Street through the sale of more than five hun- 
 dred millions of stock,—all over-capitalized and all 
 vulnerable. 
 
 259 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 ‘Tt is all Carnegie bluff,’’ sneered brokers who still 
 had stock for sale. 
 
 But responsible bankers, directors and managers were 
 less confident. True, bluffing had constituted a large part 
 in the canny Scotsman’s shrewd trading with the new 
 corporations but that was no secret; he had admitted the 
 fact with a frankness which they had found most dis- 
 concerting. | 
 
 ‘Inform these people,’’ he had openly instructed his 
 managers, ‘‘that we do not propose to be injured; on the 
 contrary, we expect to reap great gains from it; that we 
 will observe an ‘armed neutrality’ as long as it is made 
 to our interest to do so, but that we require this arrange- 
 ment—then specify what is advantageous for us, very 
 advantageous, more advantageous than existed before 
 the combination, and we will get it. If they decline to 
 give us what we want, then there must be no bluff. We 
 must accept the situation and prove that if it is fight they 
 want, here we are ‘always ready’. Here is a historic sit- 
 uation for the Managers to study—Richelieu’s advice: 
 ‘First, all means to conciliate; failing that, all means to 
 crush’.”’ 
 
 This relentless policy he was now in a position to 
 adopt with every prospect of success, and his pronuncia- 
 mento indicated only too distinctly that he meant to en- 
 force it promptly and rigorously. It was the stern reality 
 of the actual situation, in vastly greater measure than 
 either the eager pleading of Judge Gary recounted by 
 his biographer or the eloquent portrayal of possibilities 
 by Mr. Schwab at a celebrated dinner party, that finally 
 
 260 
 
‘“CLAYTON’ —PITTSBURGH 
 
The United States Steel Corporation 
 
 impelled Mr. Morgan to essay the greatest undertaking 
 of his career. Obviously the only solution of the problem 
 lay in amalgamation of the segregated Trusts upon a lar- 
 get scalethan had ever been dreamed of, and Mr. Carnegie 
 held the key to success or failure in his whiphand. 
 
 Mr. Schwab, who had reported that Mr. Carnegie 
 would sell, was commissioned to obtain his price, and 
 quickly returned with a pencilled memorandum embody- 
 ing his terms. Characteristically, Mr. Morgan accepted 
 the figures as final and, taking the option sum as a basis, 
 himself fixed arbitrarily the amount, chiefly in securities, 
 to be allotted each of the desired constituent companies. 
 His liberal proposals were accepted promptly by the 
 frightened owners and plans for the United States Steel 
 Corporation were actually published when a singular and 
 possibly vital omission was noted with deep concern. To 
 “round out” the enterprise, the Rockefeller ore proper- 
 ties must be acquired and included. 
 
 There then took place an extraordinary episode shed- 
 ding interesting sidelights upon various personalities. 
 
 “Morgan growled”’ that they “‘had all they could at- 
 tend to,’’ records Judge Gary’s biographer, but the Judge 
 persisted and, continues the biographer: 
 
 ‘*How ate we going to get them?”’ Mr. Morgan asked. 
 
 ‘You are to talk to Mr. Rockefeller.”’ 
 
 “T would not think of it.”’ 
 
 “Why?” 
 
 “IT don’t like him.”’ 
 
 “Mr. Morgan,”’ said the Judge, ‘‘when a business proposition 
 of so great importance to the Steel Corporation is involved, would 
 you let a personal prejudice interfere with its success?”’. 
 
 “IT don’t know,” he replied. 
 
 261 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 The next morning, however, he came in excitedly, throwing up 
 his arms in exultation and shouting to Judge Gary, ‘I have done 
 if: 
 
 “*Done what?”’ 
 
 ‘*T have seen Rockefeller.’ 
 
 ‘*How did he treat you?”’ 
 
 “All right.” 
 
 “Did you get the ore lands?”’ 
 
 ‘No. I just told him that we ought to have them, and asked 
 him if he would not make a proposition. How much do you think 
 we ought to pay?” 
 
 ‘I am not prepared to say. It would take me a week to figure 
 out what I would consider a reasonable price.” 
 
 ‘Well, tell me offhand what you think we ought to pay.”’ 
 
 The Judge worked for half an hour, and finally announced, 
 ““there’s an outside figure—so many millions.” 
 
 Mr. Morgan made no response and there the matter 
 rested forseveraldays. Mr. Rockefeller, having originally 
 declined a request from Mr. Morgan for an interview 
 at his office upon the ground that he never went down- 
 town, replied to a second suggestion that he would be 
 happy to see Mr. Morgan at his residence at the latter’s 
 convenience, with the understanding that only strictly 
 personal matters were to be considered, as he supposed 
 the fact was generally known that he had retired from 
 business. | 
 
 Notwithstanding this restriction, Mr. Morgan called 
 and, having briefly depicted the situation, told Mr. Rocke- 
 feller, precisely as he had recited to Judge Gary, that 
 the new Steel Corporation ought to have his iron ores. 
 Mr. Rockefeller expressed regret that Mr. Morgan had 
 put himself to unnecessary trouble, owing doubtless to 
 a misunderstanding of his previous message, and sug- 
 
 262 
 
The United States Steel Corporation 
 
 gested that he talk with his son, who had charge of such 
 matters and would undoubtedly be pleased to wait upon 
 him. 
 
 Having obtained Judge Gary’s judgment of a suitable 
 price, Mr. Morgan invited Mr. John D., junior, to call, 
 and at the appointed hour, the young man—he was then 
 only twenty-seven—appeared for his first interview with 
 the lion of Wall Street. The two sat down. 
 
 “T understand,’’ said Mr. Morgan brusquely, ‘‘that 
 your father wants to sell his Minnesota ore properties 
 and has authorized you to act for him. How much do 
 you want for them?’ 
 
 Young Mr. Rockefeller rose from his chair and, with 
 an evenness of tone suggestive of his father’s, replied: 
 
 “Tt is true that I am authorized to speak for my father 
 in such matters, Mr. Morgan, but I have no information 
 to the effect that he wishes to dispose of his ore proper- 
 ties: in point of fact, Jam confident that he has no such 
 desire.”’ 
 
 ‘‘And what did Mr. Morgan say?’’ quietly asked Mr. 
 Rockefeller when his son repeated his remarks. 
 
 “Mr. Morgan said nothing; he sat quite silent.’’ 
 
 ‘‘And what did you do?”’ 
 
 “T picked up my hat and, bowing as courteously as I 
 know how, I said ‘If that is all, Mr. Morgan, I bid you 
 good afternoon,’ and walked out. Did I do right, sir?”’ 
 
 Mr. Rockefeller meditated for an instant and replied 
 thoughtfully: 
 
 “Whether what you said was right or wise, I would 
 not venture to judge; time alone can answer that ques- 
 
 263 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 tion; but I may say to you, my son, that if I had been in 
 your place, Ishould have done precisely what you did.”’ 
 
 Negotiations were at a standstill. Obviously no ap- 
 proach could be expected from Mr. Rockefeller and Mr. 
 Morgan could not reopen the subject without sacrifice 
 of dignity. But Wall Street was agog with excitement, 
 subscriptions to the syndicate underwriting were being 
 held up and publication of the completed plan was in the 
 printer’s hands awaiting inclusion of the essential ore 
 properties. The whole project was endangered and time 
 was pressing. Mr. Morgan sent for Mr. Frick and put- 
 ting the situation before him; asked what, if anything, 
 could he suggest? 
 
 Mr. Frick said he would think the matter over and 
 went home. His acquaintance with Mr. Rockefeller was 
 slight. Years before he had been introduced to him by 
 Mr. Carnegie in words of fulsome praise and had received 
 hearty congratulations upon the “‘intelligence, courage 
 and firmness’’ which he had displayed in the Homestead 
 controversy. The two had met onceor twice more recently 
 but their conversation had been only casual and the best 
 assurance that Mr. Frick could feel was that Mr. Rocke- 
 feller regarded him favorably as one who had rendered 
 signal service to all corporate interests, and that their 
 relations were friendly. 
 
 Proud and sensitive himself, he disliked to invite a re- 
 buff, but he had voluntarily proffered his services to Mr. 
 Morgan if in any way they could be utilized to advantage 
 and, after due consideration, without consulting anybody 
 or even notifying Mr. Morgan, he decided to take the 
 
 264 
 
The United States Steel Corporation 
 
 initiative and, through a trustworthy intermediary, he 
 sought an interview with Mr. Rockefeller which should 
 be regarded as wholly private and confidential. 
 
 The response was prompt and cordial. Mr. Rockefeller 
 would be happy to see him respecting any matter of mutual 
 interest and suggested that he come quietly to Pocantico 
 Hills the following morning. Accordingly, shortly be- 
 fore 10 o'clock, Mr. Frick, leaving his carriage to wait 
 onthemain street, walked upthedriveway to Mr. Rocke- 
 feller’s residence and, just within the entrance, found 
 Mr. Rockefeller himself strolling thoughtfully through 
 his spacious grounds. Mr. Frick joined him in his walk 
 and, briefly apologizing for what he feared might prove 
 to be an intrusion, set forth the purpose of his mission. 
 Mr. Rockefeller listened attentively to a concise, accurate 
 and straightforward statement, such as had first won the 
 approbation of Judge Mellon years before, and then said: 
 
 “Mr. Frick, I naturally suspected what you had in 
 mind. My understanding of the situation coincides in all 
 respects with yours. As my son told Mr. Morgan, I am 
 not anxious to sell my ore properties, but, as you surmise, 
 I never wish to stand in the way of a worthy enterprise. 
 I do frankly object, however, to a prospective purchaser 
 arbitrarily fixing an ‘outside figure’ and I cannot deal on 
 such a basis. That seems too much like an ultimatum. 
 Now I want to ask you a question. Nobody is more 
 familiar with those properties than you are. Do you or 
 do you not agree with me that the price these gentle- 
 men propose to pay is less by several millions than their 
 true value?’ 
 
 265 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 Mr. Frick replied that unquestionably, if payment was 
 to be made chiefly in securities of the new company, and 
 taking into consideration the allotments made for other 
 properties, the sum suggested was far too small. 
 
 “I thought that would be your answer,’’ said Mr. 
 Rockefeller. ‘“Now, Mr. Frick, I will tell you what I 
 will do. I want only a just and fair price. You know 
 what that is, certainly better than those gentlemen do, 
 and quite likely than I do. I know your judgment is good 
 and I believe you to be a square man. I am willing, Mr. 
 Frick, to put my interests in these properties in your 
 hands.”’ 
 
 Amazed at this proposal, Mr. Frick, while expressing 
 full appreciation of the compliment, hesitated to assume 
 the responsibility. 
 
 ‘*You need not hesitate, Mr. Frick,’’ calmly remarked 
 Mr. Rockefeller. ‘‘My confidence is implicit. You will 
 receive no complaint from me. Now you will wish to be 
 on your way. I thank you for coming to see me.”’ 
 
 The two men shook hands and parted. The outcome 
 of their conversation is recorded by Judge Gary’s biog- 
 rapher in these words: 
 
 “To my surprise,’’ Judge Gary says in telling the story, “Mr. 
 Frick brought in a figure from Mr. Rockefeller a few days later— 
 $5,000,000 more than my outside figure. “That is a prohibitive 
 proposition’ I said. 
 
 ‘* ‘Judge Gary,’ exclaimed Mr. Morgan, ‘in a business proposition 
 as great as this would you let a matter of $5,000,000 stand in the ~ 
 way of success?’ 
 
 “But I told you, Mr. Morgan, that mine was the outside.’ 
 
 ‘Well, put it this way: would you let these properties go?’ 
 66é ‘No. ’ . 
 
 266 
 
The United States Steel Corporation 
 
 4e¢6 99 
 
 Well, write out an acceptance.’ 
 
 And so it happened that when on April 2 another circular came 
 out, addressed to the stockholders, the Lake Superior Consoli- 
 dated Ore Mines were included in the amalgamation. 
 
 Years afterwards Mr. Rockefeller, recalling the inci- 
 dent, said ““The price seemed wholly fair at that time 
 and was entirely satisfactory to me. It was not long either 
 before the purchasers themselves-realized that it was 
 really very low.”’ 
 
 “‘I doubt, as Irecall the circumstances,’’ he added rem1- 
 niscently, ‘‘if anybody but Mr. Frick could have effected 
 the transaction.”’ 
 
 “And if it had not been effected?’’ he was asked. 
 
 “Then, in my opinion,’’ he replied slowly, ‘‘the United 
 States Steel Corporation could not have survived the 
 stress of its formative period.”’ 
 
 In view of the tremendous enhancement of the new 
 company’s prestige through the subsequent inclusion, 
 arranged by Mr. Frick, of both Mr. Rockefeller and his 
 son, in its first directorate, this deduction seems more 
 nearly certain than probable. In any case, Mr. Frick, 
 greatly to his credit, permitted no mention of the part 
 he had played in achieving the reconcilement and, as 
 late as 1903, with his consent and approval, the historian 
 Bridge summed up the great accomplishment from the 
 standpoint of the Carnegie shareholders with this un- 
 divided encomium: 
 
 It was the most masterly piece of diplomacy in the history of 
 
 American industry, and formed a fitting climax to Andrew Car- 
 negie’s romantic business career. 
 
 267 
 
Prick the Mian 
 
 Mr. Frick received in exchange for his interest in the 
 Carnegie Company these securities in the United States 
 Steel Corporation, to wit: 
 
 Bonds 3 "yy Vee SOs ee ee $15,800,000 
 Preferred stock (7%) . . 2. 1 3 23,767,940 
 Commonstock: | §:,. sin eae See 21,832,440 
 
 representing substantially the net combined recompense 
 for his services to the H. C. Frick Coke Company for 
 thirty-one years and to the Carnegie Steel Company for 
 twelve years. 
 
 He was elected a member of the first Board of Directors 
 of the United States Steel Corporation as a matter of 
 course. 
 
 And so it came about that, barely sixteen months after 
 he had been ousted, by Mr. Carnegie’s orders, from the 
 management of the two great companies which he had 
 done so much to build, Henry Clay Frick was brought 
 back, through Mr. Carnegie’s retirement, into a position 
 soon to become hardly less potent in the controlling 
 Committee of both, and retained it to his dying day. 
 
 268 
 
xX 
 A Capitalist 
 
 1TH completion of the processes which 
 transformed his ownership in the steel 
 and coke companies into bonds and shares 
 of the great Corporation, the career of 
 Mr. Frick as an executive ended and he emerged, at the 
 age of fifty-two, a capitalist of the first rank whose in- 
 terests were no longer confined to a manufacturing town 
 but now lay in the financial center of the country. He 
 never forsook and frequently occupied his handsome resi- 
 dence in Pittsburgh but in 1905 he leased for the family 
 an additional residence in New York City and two years 
 later took possession of the magnificent country estate 
 which he had acquired at Pride’s Crossing, Massachusetts. 
 Their first house in New York, at No. 640 Fifth Ave- 
 nue, was admirably located and most comfortable, but 
 it did not quite fill Mr. Frick’s fixed requirement of ‘‘al- 
 ways the best.’’ He had known for years precisely what 
 he wanted. Away back in 1880, while Mr. Mellon and 
 himself were waiting to embark on their first trip to 
 Europe, they took a drive up Fifth Avenue. Pausing in 
 front of the cathedral, Mr. Frick directed his friend’s at- 
 tention to thenew brownstone Vanderbilt houses across 
 the street. 
 269 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 ‘‘T suppose,’’ he remarked meditatively, “those are 
 really the best residences in the city.”’ 
 
 ‘IT think they areso considered,”’ rejoined Mr. Mellon. 
 
 ‘I wonder how much the upkeep of the one on that 
 corner would be.”’ 
 
 Mr. Mellon ventured no estimate. 
 
 ‘Say three hundred thousand dollars a year? I should 
 think that would cover it.”’ 
 
 “It might.’ 
 
 ‘That would be 6 per cent on five millions or 5 per 
 cent on six, say a thousand dollars a day; that is all I 
 shall ever want,’’ Mr. Frick remarked, and they walked 
 along. 
 
 So, as a matter of course, twenty odd years later, Mr. 
 Frick rented the residence of Mr. George W. Vanderbilt 
 and the family occupied it until 1914, when they moved 
 into the palace which he had built at a cost of $5,400,- 
 ooo on the site of the Lenox library to serve primarily asa 
 residence and ultimately as an art gallery for the public. 
 
 Meanwhile he entered upon his new vocation. Weary 
 of the exactions of desk work after thirty years of close 
 application, he took no office but shared that of his 
 friend Mr. Schoonmaker until 1914, when he provided a 
 small study for his personal use in his new residence, while 
 retaining his rooms in the Frick Building, Pittsburgh, 
 for transaction of business. His waking hours quickly 
 and automatically resolved into three approximately 
 equal parts: (2) Investments, (2) Art, @) Recreation,— 
 and they continued to be allotted in about those pro- 
 portions during the ensuing years. 
 
 2'70 
 
A Capitalist 
 
 The first problem which demanded prompt attention 
 was financial. Nine-tenths of Mr. Frick’s entire fortune, 
 estimated at $50,000,000, was held in United States Steel 
 securities and the stock exchange prices justified the valu- 
 ation when Mr. Morgan, by a stroke of genius, had car- 
 ried the Corporation successfully through its first crisis 
 by personally settling the strike which was called co- 
 incidentally with its launching. The Syndicate still con- 
 trolled the market, under the adroit manipulation of Mr. 
 James R. Keene, and the prospect at the beginning of 
 1902 appeared auspicious. 
 
 But Mr. Frick was unquiet. He not only had too many 
 of his eggs in one basket, but he appreciated the danger 
 of the company’s heavy over-capitalization and was still 
 most distrustful of themanagement of which he had com- 
 plained to Mr. Carnegie the year before. As he was not 
 a member of the Syndicate and was a director only in 
 name, having declined to participate in the management 
 even to the extent of attending meetings of the Board, 
 he was under no commitment with respect to the dis- 
 position of his shares. He had no wish to sell but careful 
 study from his expert knowledge of results and methods 
 of operation convinced him that declines in earnings 
 were inevitable, and he began to liquidate his holdings. 
 
 The accuracy of his judgment was quickly confirmed 
 by the gyrations of the stock market, to wit: 
 
 1902 1903 1904 
 High Low High Low High Low 
 U.S. Sreex, Preferred 973% 79 8934 50% 9558 51% 
 U.S.Srzzt,Common 4634 219% 39% I0 3356 834 
 
 271 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 Mr. Frick sold slowly and circumspectly on temporary 
 rebounds, but the time came when he had disposed of 
 his entire block of 218,324 shares of common stock and 
 all but 10,000 of his original 237,679 shares of preferred. 
 
 The bottom was reached in January, 1904, when the 
 common struck 834 and the preferred shivered around $0. 
 
 It was indeed a desperate situation. Business was bad. 
 Dividends, which had been paid regularly at the rates of 
 7 per cent on the preferred stock and 2 per cent on the 
 common were not being earned. Twenty-one thousand 
 employés had been discharged and the average wage of 
 the 147,000 remaining had been reduced from $716 to 
 $677. Thousands of these had bought from the company 
 at 8234 preferred stock which was now quoted at 50. 
 The ‘‘profit-sharing’’ plan seemed to have resolved into 
 a ‘‘loss-sharing’’ plan devised by Wall Street promoters 
 to unload their worthless shares upon their own work- 
 ingmen, whomight lose every dollar of their hard-earned 
 savings. Rumors were rife of a receivership and foreclo- 
 sure, confirming Mr.Carnegie’s reported expectation that 
 the entire property would fall to him as owner of the 
 bonds by default. A semi-panic was already hatching on 
 the stock exchange. 
 
 Only a Morgan could hope to stem the tide and 
 weather the storm. Again the great banker called upon 
 Mr. Frick for advice and assistance. 
 
 The meeting took place on Mr. Morgan's yacht the 
 Corsair. After having depicted the true situation with 
 the lucidity of which he was a master, Mr. Frick recom- 
 mended: (1) Stoppage of dividends on the common stock, 
 
 272 
 
A Capitalist 
 
 (2) Reduction of dividends on the preferred, and (3) Com- 
 plete reorganization of the operating force. Mr. Morgan 
 had just rejected Judge Gary’s fervent plea to pass divi- 
 dends on the common stock but, upon Mr. Frick’s pres- 
 entation of the case, he would now assent. Mr.Schwab 
 having resigned, he would approve a thorough reor- 
 ganization if Mr. Frick would contribute his energy and 
 experience to make it effective. 
 
 To this Mr. Frick could not consent. Mr. Mellon and 
 himself had been driven by a disagreement with Mr. Car- 
 negie into expansion of a small wire enterprise to steel 
 manufacture ona large scaleas the Union Steel Company, 
 which had not been included in the big combination. 
 With Mr. Mellon’s consent he had lent the use of his 
 name as a director to the Corporation, but he could not 
 properly participate actively in the management of a 
 competing concern. To Mr. Morgan, however, this did 
 not appear as an insurmountable obstacle. 
 
 “For the purpose of inducing Mr. Frick to become 
 active in the Steel Corporation,’’ said Mr. George F. 
 Redmond in his Financial Weekly,‘‘Mr. Morgan purchased 
 the Union Steel Works’’ at a price which, Mr. Mellon 
 declared, ‘‘yielded a fair profit to all concerned.”’ 
 
 There remained only the question of continuing divi- 
 dends upon the preferred stock. Mr. Redmond continued: 
 
 Mr. Frick pleaded earnestly and Mr. Morgan listened intently. 
 Finally, rising from the breakfast table and going on deck with 
 Mr. Frick, he said to him, with tears in his eyes, that if the divi- 
 dends were not paid on the preferred stock, he could not face going 
 down town on the following day. Mr. Frick was deeply touched. 
 
 273 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 He then realized how keenly Mr. Morgan felt upon the subject and 
 assured him that not another word should be said. At once he 
 threw himself energetically into the task of aiding in steering 
 the great organization through its trouble. 
 
 The other directors were enheartened by Mr. Frick’s 
 action; internal dissensions ceased; certain influential 
 directors, who had induced Mr. George F. Baker unwill- 
 ingly to convey to Mr. Morgan a proposal that Judge 
 Gary be deposed, accepted his refusal to acquiesce, 
 without resentment; all joined in firm determination to 
 avert further disaster. 
 
 Good fortune attended earnest endeavors. Business 
 began to pick up, the working shareholders accepted the 
 passing of the common dividend as evidence that their 
 interests were being safeguarded, and all other preferred 
 stockholders naturally took heart. 
 
 Inevitably the market responded slowly but steadily. 
 Before the close of 1906, when dividends were resumed, 
 the preferred stock had climbed from 50% to 113% and 
 the common from 834 to 50}4. The crisis had been met 
 successfully and incidentally, at the end of the three- 
 year period of resuscitation, Mr. Frick, now assured good 
 management and convinced of sound conditions, accord- 
 ing to Mr. Albert W. Atwood, the financial expert, ““was 
 down on the books of the company as the owner of 100,- 
 ooo shares of preferred and 50,000 shares of common 
 stock,’’ the amounts which he had quietly acquired as 
 suitable for permanent investment. 
 
 During the anxious period which immediately followed 
 public announcement of his resumption of activity in 
 
 274 
 
A Capitalist 
 
 steel manufacture, Mr. Frick was deluged with letters 
 of inquiry from anxious investors, all of which he an- 
 swered with painstaking care, with a view to spreading 
 warranted reassurance without conveying undue encour- 
 agement. His first replies were somewhat perfunctory, 
 of the “‘wait and see’ order, but toward the end of 1904 
 he became more explicit. 
 
 ‘I know you are wrong,’’ he wrote in December to 
 Mr. E. T. Earl of Los Angeles, ‘‘in suspecting that Mr. 
 Morgan has in any way intentionally deceived investors. 
 Of course some things were done that should not have 
 been done, but it isa great property and I think it is now 
 well managed.’’ 
 
 Striving to inculcate caution, he wrote anonymously 
 to Mr. Charles W. Barron of the Boston News Bureau: 
 
 November 7th, 1904. 
 Dear Sir: 
 
 Are you sure of your position on the Steels? 
 
 Does the Corporation have any cash surplus applicable to divi- 
 dends? 
 
 Is not their surplus invested in improvements made on their 
 properties, and which from time to time should be charged against 
 earnings, especially so in view of the high capitalization of the 
 Company? 
 
 Can you not ascertain for a regular 
 
 READER 
 
 But he did not withhold words of encouragement from 
 his co-laborerts. | 
 “I very much regret,’’ he telegraphed to the new 
 President, Mr. W. E. Corey, ‘‘my inability to be pres- 
 ent at the dinner to the Presidents of the constituent 
 275 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 Companies this evening. I congratulate them, one and 
 all, upon their efficiency during this trying year, the 
 splendid condition of their organizations and the pres- 
 ent bright outlook.”’ 
 
 Those were busy years, leaving little time for discrimi- 
 native purchase of paintings or for recreation, although 
 neither of those pursuits was wholly neglected. Many 
 millions of dollars derived from sale of his steel securities 
 were awaiting judicious investment and his concentra- 
 tive policy forbade haphazard purchases of dissimilar 
 properties. Hemust place hismoney where hecould watch 
 and guide it without encroaching too heavily upon his 
 time. Inquiry and reflection finally evolved a programme. 
 
 ‘‘Railroads,’’ he concluded, ‘‘are the Rembrandts of 
 investment.’’ 
 
 And railways began and continued through life to con- 
 stitute his chief financial interest, to the virtual exclusion 
 of all other considerations. But first he acquainted him- 
 self with all of the intricacies of values, present and pro- 
 spective, of natural growth and forced development, of 
 increase, decrease and distribution of earnings, of trans- 
 portation and rate-making with which asa large shipper 
 he was already familiar, of judicious extravagance as 
 compared with false economies, of financing through is- 
 suance of shares or bonds, of general conditions which 
 presaged easy or difficult marketing of securities and 
 finally all details of bookkeeping, of which his thirty 
 yeats of practice since he first took his place upon the 
 high stool in his Grandfather Overholt’s little counting- 
 room at Broadford had made him a past master. 
 
 276 
 
A Capitalist 
 April 14th, 1905, found him a director in the follow- 
 ing railway companies: 
 Chicago and Northwestern. 
 Union Pacific. 
 
 Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé. 
 Reading. 
 
 To these were added shortly: 
 
 The Pennsylvania. 
 Baltimore and Ohio. 
 Norfolk and Western. 
 
 Small interests in small companies did not attract him. 
 Those enumerated heselected as the ones preferableamong 
 the large corporations and, adding steadily to his hold- 
 ings from his constantly increasing income, presently he 
 became the largest individual railway stockholder in the 
 world, being recorded on the various books at one time 
 as the owner of an average exceeding $6,000,000 par value 
 in each of his seven favorites, without taking into cal- 
 culation many additional shares held by brokers and 
 others for his account. 
 
 He never “‘speculated’’ in the common sense of the 
 term; that is to say, he did not trade on margins; when 
 he bought or sold, as frequently happened, the. trans- 
 actions were outright and deliveries were duly made. 
 He never tried to break down a property; if he could not 
 perceive a possibility of building one up by exercise of 
 talent and use of exceptional resources, he let it alone. 
 In voicing his views, he was always a bull, never a bear; 
 but he seldom expressed an opinion. 
 
 Personal contact with strong financial institutions being 
 
 277 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 considered a desirable safeguard for railway financing, 
 he was recorded in 1905 as a director in the Union Trust 
 Company and Mellon National Bank of Pittsburgh, 
 the Commercial Trust Company and Franklin National 
 Bank of Philadelphia, the Equitable Life Assurance So- 
 ciety with its allied banks and the National City Bank 
 of New York. 
 
 During the summer of 1901, Mr. Frick had granted 
 ‘with pleasure’ a request from Mr. James H. Hyde, con- 
 trolling owner, that he accept election as a trustee of the 
 Equitable Life Assurance Society and wrote confirming 
 his cablegram that he considered it “‘quite an honor to 
 be offered the position on the Board of a company held 
 in high esteem in Pittsburgh, as it is everywhere.’’ The 
 Board then comprised fifty-two of the most distinguished 
 business men of the country but their titles were only 
 nominal, as the actual power of direction, though vested 
 by the company’s charter in the directors, was exercised 
 by small committees headed by President Alexander and 
 Vice President Hyde. Mr. Frick was duly elected on Au- 
 gust 7th, 1901, but in common with the other “‘outside’”’ 
 directors he did not attend a meeting until February 8th, 
 1905. Prior to that time he had shared without a shadow 
 of doubt the universal belief that the phenomenal success 
 of the great Society afforded convincing proof of the ex- 
 cellence of its management. 
 
 Then came the culmination of an unsuspected feud be- 
 tween the President and the Vice President over the future 
 control of the Society and each made public charges 
 against the other of sucha character as to create a veritable 
 
 278 
 
A Capitalist 
 
 sensation throughout the entire country. Public opinion, 
 aroused by hundreds of thousands of indignant and fright- 
 ened policy-holders, forced a meeting of the big Board 
 of Directors, at which a thorough investigation by com- 
 petent and disinterested members was decreed. A strong 
 committee comprising Messrs. Cornelius N. Bliss, Henry 
 C. Frick, Edward H. Harriman, Melville E. Ingalls and 
 Brayton Ives, was promptly designated to make an in- 
 vestigation and to submit recommendations. 
 
 Mr. Frick who, it was well known, had done no busi- 
 ness with the Society and had never profited directly or 
 indirectly from its operations, was appointed Chairman. 
 It was an arduous and thankless task which he would 
 have gladly shunned but for his chagrin at his own ap- 
 parent neglect, intensified by his consciousness of a pub- 
 lic duty, and he accepted the responsibility. 
 
 Subsequent events clearly and quickly demonstrated 
 that a majority of the Board, subservient to the two high 
 officials whose acts were in question, would not have 
 acquiesced in the appointment of Mr. Frick if they had 
 estimated correctly the quality of the man. 
 
 The first meeting of the Committee was held on April 
 7th and no time was lost in beginning a searching in- 
 quiry into the practices primarily of the President and 
 the Vice President, with the resultant findings (1) that 
 both had profited materially through participation in 
 underwriting syndicates at the expense of the Society 
 with no risk to themselves, (2) that the Vice President 
 had been guilty of irregular conduct in relation to the 
 affairs of the Society, (3) that the President had not only 
 
 279 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 been aware of but had encouraged such conduct and had 
 concealed his knowledge from the Board, (4) that the 
 two, therefore, were equally guilty and should be de- 
 posed, (5) that extravagant, loose and irregular methods 
 permeated the entire force, owing to the pernicious ex- 
 amples set by the heads and (6) that a complete reorgan- 
 ization by an entirely new management was imperative. 
 
 This unanimous and unexpectedly inexorable report, 
 fully sustained by indubitable proof, was submitted by the 
 Chairman to the Board, with the accompanying drastic 
 recommendations, on May 31st, but meanwhile Messrs. 
 Alexander and Hyde, joining forces for this purpose, had 
 mustered a sufficient number of directors to constitute a 
 majority, and the Board rejected the report. The policy- 
 holders, the newspapers and the public generally, how- 
 ever, upheld the Committee so overwhelmingly that the 
 resignations of both President and Vice President were 
 soon forthcoming and ultimately the complete reorgan- 
 ization advised was effected. Thus a very signal service 
 was rendered, not merely to millions of policy-holders 
 and beneficiaries, but to the fundamental practices of in- 
 surance management, and made for more scrupulous con- 
 duct of all corporations. 
 
 Mr. Frick, immediately upon the rejection of his recom- 
 mendations, not only resigned from the Equitable Board, 
 but severed his connection with all of its allied financial 
 institutions, including the Mercantile and EquitableTrust 
 Companies of New York and the Commercial Trust Com- 
 pany and Franklin National Bank of Philadelphia. He 
 had had his lesson,—never again to lend his name to a 
 
 280 
 
A Capitalist 
 concern with whose condition and operations he could 
 not maintain full familiarity. 
 
 In point of fact, he did not, during the remaining four- 
 teen years, join another Board and, resigning from the 
 National City Bank of New York in 1910 and from the 
 Union Pacific and its auxiliary railways in 1911, he re- 
 stricted his directorships to his favored Pennsylvania, 
 Reading, Atchison and Northwestern railways; to his 
 trusted Pittsburgh banks, the Mellon National and the 
 Union Trust Company, in each of which he was a large 
 shareholder; and of course to the United States Steel 
 Corporation, of whose meetings he practically never 
 missed one except when abroad, and is said to have at- 
 tended more than a thousand between 1905 and 1919. 
 
 One of the most difficult problems confronting the 
 United States Government at the conclusion of the war 
 pertained to the return of the railways of the country to 
 the control and direction of their original owners. The 
 condition of the vast properties was inevitably deplora- 
 ble. Normal progress had been arrested even before the 
 country became directly involved in strife by the virtual 
 impossibility of obtaining either capital, labor or mate- 
 rials essential to adequate maintenance and, following 
 the armistice, the Congress had undertaken to enact req- 
 uisite legislation, but progress was distressingly slow. 
 
 Fortunately the Administration had, in Walker D. 
 Hines, Esq., who had succeeded Secretary McAdoo as 
 Director General of the Railroads on January roth, 1919, 
 a man who did not hesitate to face the situation squarely 
 while there was yet time to avert widespread disaster. 
 
 281 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 On October 7th, 1919, he addressed a communication to 
 Chairmen Cummins and Esch of the Senate and House 
 Committees depicting the situation and setting forth the 
 urgent need of legislation to avert irreparable damage 
 to shippers and consumers no less than to holders of 
 securities. 
 
 This statement, presently published by the Congress- 
 men, attracted the attention of Mr. Frick who, as the 
 largest individual holder of railway securities, was natu- 
 rally concerned most seriously. Theretofore he had taken 
 no part in the discussion of ways and means of accom- 
 plishing the purpose, relying upon the Association of 
 Railway Executives, of which Mr. T. De Witt Cuyler, 
 his co-director of the Pennsylvania Railroad, was Chair- 
 man, to co-operate with the Director General, whom he 
 knew well and held in high esteem. But the latter's open 
 warning to the Congress gave rise in his mind to appre- 
 hension that all was not going well and he dictated the 
 following lucid and convincing argument: 
 
 New York, October 17th, 1919. 
 Hon. Walker D. Hines, 
 
 Director General of Railways, 
 Washington, D. C. 
 My dear Mr. Hines: 
 
 Permit me to express the personal gratification which I feel at 
 the convincing clearness with which you have put before the Con- 
 gress and the public the exact situation of the railways of the 
 country. I frankly cannot conceive how it could have been done 
 more forcibly and effectively and, for that reason, I should con- 
 sider that I were remiss in my duty as a citizen if I should fail to 
 congratulate you most heartily and sincerely upon your rendering 
 of a notable public service. 
 
 In common with many others I am deeply distressed by the 
 
 282 
 
A Capitalist 
 
 appalling conditions which now confront us as a part of the after- 
 math of the war, and while I cannot doubt that a just and true 
 solution will ultimately be reached, I cannot escape the conclusion 
 that something must be done at once to avert overwhelming dis- 
 aster. That you are fully appreciative of the dangers which lurk in 
 delay in grasping the situation manfully, even boldly, you show 
 plainly in your lucid statement which, to my mind, as I have said, 
 could not be improved upon. 
 
 There is one phase of the existing condition, however, which I 
 trust you will permit me to submit for your consideration without 
 meaning to be in the slightest degree intrusive. It is the essential 
 element of te. What the whole country needs now above all else 
 is restoration of confidence, and this can be obtained only through 
 prompt and decisive action such as would follow naturally and 
 logically your admirable diagnosis. Everybody realizes that ade- 
 quate railway service is the keystone of the entire arch of indus- 
 trial progress and prosperity. Even more vital than the circulation 
 of money is the circulation of goods. Without that the enormous 
 demands now being made upon the manufacturers of all kinds of 
 products cannot be met and business will continue to be at a stand- 
 still so long as the requisite facilities are not provided. As of course 
 you ate aware, the manufacturers are overwhelmed with orders 
 which they cannot fill and they naturally refrain from making 
 necessary enlargements of their plants while in doubt as to their 
 ability to make deliveries. 
 
 So it all comes straight back to the railroads. They must have 
 relief and have it quickly, not merely in justice to the great army 
 of investors in railway securities who accepted without question 
 the President’s definite promises of fair treatment when they turned 
 over their properties, but all for the general effect upon the public 
 mind of reassurance in the good faith of their Government. 
 
 The United States simply cannot afford, from even a purely prac- 
 tical standpoint, to send the railroads further along the road to 
 rack and ruin. And the only way in the world to prevent this is to 
 increase the rates immediately, so that everybody may know to a 
 certainty that when the properties are turned back to their owners 
 they will be given a chance to live and to obtain readily on a fair 
 basis the vast amount of capital whose outlay alone can prevent 
 the choking of the great arteries of commerce. 
 
 283 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 How large an increase should be allowed I do not pretend to 
 know. You are far better qualified to judge than I because my in- 
 formation is necessarily general and not expert. But upon one 
 point I do not hesitate to express a very positive opinion. This is 
 no time for cheese-paring or niggardly treatment. Desperate dis- 
 eases call for drastic remedies. Homeopathic doses in the present 
 condition would be hardly better than none at all. Personally I 
 am convinced that less than a 25 percent general increase would 
 not get results. It ought, in fact, to be more, but this would 
 probably be sufficient to tide over the crisis and give heart, encour- 
 agement and resolution to all whose earnest co-operation must be 
 had. 
 
 We have in this country everything to do with. The only essen- 
 tial thing is to press the button and you are the one person in a 
 position to do it. I appreciate fully the magnitude of your respon- 
 sibility and how seriously you must regard it. But there it is upon 
 your shoulders and there is no escape. Nor, holding as I do so high 
 an opinion of your breadth and courage, do I believe for a moment 
 that you would care to evade it. Consequently I do not hesitate to 
 point out what strikes me as a superb opportunity to do the right 
 thing at the right time and the only thing as I perceive it, that can 
 lift the pall of depression and mistrust which is surely settling 
 down over the country. 3 
 
 I am confident that I need make no apology for speaking thus 
 frankly. I should feel hurt if I suspected for a moment that you 
 would not welcome frank suggestion or that by any possibility 
 you should attribute to me any unworthy motives. I only want 
 what is best for our country and for all the people in it. 
 
 If I should seem to have written too earnestly I beg you to 
 accept my assurance that my doing so is due simply to the fact 
 that that is the way I feel. 
 
 With renewed appreciation of your splendid statement, 
 
 Iam, 
 Most sincerely yours, 
 H. C. Frick. 
 
 This letter quickly elicited the information that a seri- 
 ous disagreement between the Director General and the 
 
 Railway Executives had produced a dangerous deadlock 
 284 
 
A Capitalist 
 which seemed unlikely to be broken. Mr. Hines gladly wel- 
 comed Mr. Frick’s intervention and promptly responded 
 from a train en route from Chicago to Washington, put- 
 ting him in possession of the facts. 
 
 The crux of the entire difficulty lay in the question of 
 rate-taising, which the Executives had demanded some- 
 what peremptorily and which the Director General had 
 refused to grant on the general ground that such action 
 by the Government, for the sole benefit of the railways, 
 upon the eve of relinquishing control, would surely evoke 
 strong disapprobation throughout the country, which 
 might in turn producea severe rebuke from the Congress. 
 Moreover, as a matter of right, legal and moral, no less 
 than that of the impracticability noted, he could not see 
 his own way clear to take advantage of a technical, war- 
 time privilege to deprive the Interstate Commerce Com- 
 mission of the power of regulation which it was designed 
 by law to possess, and the exercise of which in ordinary 
 course it would soon resume. 
 
 All this, Mr. Hines informed Mr. Frick, he had pre- 
 sented to the Railway Executives in amplified communi- 
 cations, copies of which he inclosed for his inspection, 
 adding simply but sturdily: 
 
 I am glad to get the benefit of your views, and appreciate your 
 writing me frankly on the subject, but I cannot escape the con- 
 clusion above expressed. 
 
 Thus Mr. Frick found himself in a position of grave 
 responsibility which he had not sought but could not 
 evade. The Director General’s attitude obviously was 
 
 fixed irrevocably and the resolution adopted by the 
 285 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 Executives was unanimous, embracing the representations 
 of all of the companies in which he was interested to a 
 greater degree than anybody else. Clearly, he must reach 
 a decision upon the merits of the case, to the exclusion 
 of all other considerations. And this hedid with charac- 
 teristic thoroughness. After having carefully weighed 
 the arguments of both sides, he conferred at length with 
 members of the Railway Committee, who were in effect 
 his own representatives. 
 
 But he did not stop there. He called into consultation 
 a few friends who, having no personal interest in the 
 matter, he thought might have a clearer comprehension 
 of public opinion and its probable effect upon both the 
 Congress and the future of the properties. His situation, 
 indeed, was akin to that which confronted him when he 
 was requested by the President to answer questions re- 
 specting the actual cost of steel manufacture “‘as a citi- 
 zen, not as a director.’’ He took a full week to decide; 
 then, following a final conversation with one whom he 
 knew to be wholly disinterested, he summarized deci- 
 sively: 
 
 ‘Hines is right; I shall stand by him.”’ 
 
 He then dictated the following letter: 
 
 New York, October 27th, 1919. 
 
 Hon. Walker D. Hines, 
 Director General of Railways 
 Washington, D. C. 
 My dear Mr. Hines: 
 
 I have to thank you for your valued favor of the 19th, and am 
 inclined to the belief from the accompanying letters and what you 
 say, that you could not well have taken any other course. 
 
 286 
 
DRIVING OFF 
 
A Capitalist 
 
 I may take the liberty of writing you again in the near future. 
 I might say, however, as it stands today, it seems to me the only 
 thing to do is to turn the railroads back to the owners with a 
 guaranty for several months—probably as long as a year—or until 
 proper railroad legislation can be secured. 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 H. C. Frick. 
 
 The relief borne by this crisp message to the Director 
 General, who fully realized that the obdurate Executives 
 were powerless against Mr. Frick’s complete reversal of 
 his own position, must have been intense. Writing of 
 
 the results years afterward, in response to an inquiry, 
 he said: 
 
 Mr. Frick’s attitude was exactly in line with what you said. 
 Although in his letter of October 17th he was most emphatic that 
 there ought to be a large and immediate increase in freight rates, 
 yet when he had considered the explanation which I placed before 
 him he stated in his letter of October 27th that he was ‘‘inclined 
 to the belief from the accompanying letters and what you say, 
 that you could not well have taken any other course,’’ and indi- 
 cates that instead of an immediate rate increase ‘‘the only thing to 
 do is to turn the railroads back to their owners with a guaranty 
 for several months—probably as long as a year—or until proper 
 railroad legislation can be secured.”’ 
 
 The thing turned out much in line with Mr. Frick’s idea as thus 
 expressed. It had already been announced that the railroads would 
 be turned back on December 31st, 1919, and Congress was actively 
 engaged in shaping comprehensive railroad legislation. This legis- 
 lation included a six months’ guaranty, within which time the 
 Interstate Commerce Commission made a very heavy rate increase, 
 —substantially greater than Mr. Frick recommended and far 
 greater than anything that would have been possible during the 
 last days of Federal control. 
 
 As a matter of fact, in order to enable Congress to complete the 
 legislation, the actual turning back of the railroads did not take 
 
 287 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 place until March 1st, 1920, and the President signed the new 
 railroad legislation on February 28th. 
 Sincerely yours, 
 Wa xer D, Hinzs. 
 
 That this achievement of Mr. Hines, thus aided by 
 Mr. Frick, counted for one of the most powerful factors 
 in averting a deplorable renewal of hostility to rate ad- 
 vafices seems now to be undeniable. 
 
 It is, moreover, a noteworthy circumstance, with re- 
 spect to this biographical record, that this was the last 
 and perhaps, from a public standpoint, the most helpful 
 act of a business and financial nature in the career of 
 Henry Clay Frick. 
 
 288 
 
xX XI 
 Public Affairs 
 
 LTH OUGH Mr. Frick had several opportunities to 
 enter public life, he was really tempted but 
 once. That was in 1880 when he was offered 
 a Republican nomination for Congress. The 
 time was propitious and the proposal alluring. He was 
 thirty years old, had just made his first million, was 
 master of an established business which did not require 
 
 his exclusive attention, and his inclination was to 
 broader fields. The position which he had attained in 
 the community had brought the proffer to him unsought 
 and a nomination was equivalent to an election. He had 
 been too fully occupied to take an active part in politics 
 but, like his grandfather before him, he had felt a keen 
 interest in all public affairs. Naturally, too, he was flat- 
 tered to be thus singled out by the leaders as the one 
 young man most likely to reflect credit upon the district. 
 
 One morning, after having transacted his business at 
 the Mellon bank, he made casual allusion to the matter 
 but, as he sought no advice, none was volunteered. 
 
 ‘“He is getting ambitious,’’ the Judge remarked to his 
 son Andrew when he had left, ‘‘but he would be foolish 
 to take it.”’ 
 
 ‘“Never fear,’’ came the rejoinder, ‘“‘he often jumps at 
 a thing but he never decides until he has taken time to 
 
 289 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 think it out and then he is pretty sure to reach the right 
 conclusion.”’ 
 
 The next day he announced perfunctorily that he had 
 declined the offer and thanked his friends for their com- 
 mendation of his judgment. 
 
 “It is always a mistake for a good business man to 
 take public office,’’ mused Mr. Andrew Mellon, recalling 
 the incident some forty years later, while gazing medi- 
 tatively at the Washington monument from the office of 
 the Secretary of the Treasury. 
 
 Mr. Frick’s closest political associate was Philander 
 C. Knox and far-reaching consequences were attributable 
 to their mutual fidelity. Never a seeker of office for him- 
 self, Mr. Frick was always chary of urging the candida- 
 cies of others outside of his own State but, feeling in 1896 
 that his notably effective support of the Republican 
 ticket might justify the breaking of his rule, he paid his 
 friend the following striking tribute in a letter to the 
 President-elect: 
 
 Pittsburgh. 
 Dec. 16th, 1896. 
 Hon. William McKinley, 
 Canton, Ohio. 
 Dear Sir:—- 
 
 Knowing how great have been the demands upon your time, I 
 have refrained from writing to extend my congratulations, but I 
 feel that I must trespass upon your patience in regard to a matter 
 in which I take a sincere personal interest. 
 
 The Pittsburgh papers, have, as you have doubtless seen, several 
 times referred to P. C. Knox, Esq., as a possible appointee to the 
 position of Attorney General under your administration. It has 
 been my idea that a President should be free to choose his advisers 
 without pressure or solicitations from outsiders, but as custom 
 
 290 
 
Public Affairs 
 
 seems to have made it permissible to present names for your con- 
 sideration, I venture to call your attention to the merits of Mr. 
 Knox. 
 
 I have known him through both business and personal relations, 
 I may say intimately, for twenty years past. As counsel for the 
 Carnegie Company, and other interests with which I have been 
 connected, I have had abundant opportunity, from a business 
 man’s standpoint, to judge of his ability as a lawyer and his char- 
 acter as a man. You are better qualified to judge of his legal edu- 
 cation, but the estimation in which his brother lawyers hold him, 
 having lately elected him President of the State Bar Association, 
 would seem sufficient evidence upon that point. 
 
 Mr. Knox possesses certain traits which it seems to me would be 
 especially valuable in such a position. He has well been described 
 to me by a Pittsburgh lawyer as a crystal thinker, and his state- 
 ments ate always clear and to the point, but what is more im- 
 portant, he is an independent adviser, by which I mean that he 
 does not trim his advice to suit the desire of his client, but if in his 
 judgment the proposed course is unwise, or wrong, he does not 
 hesitate to say so. He is intensely loyal, not only to the interests 
 of his clients, but as a friend, as I can especially testify, for I have 
 gone through some troublesome times, when he has stood faith- 
 fully beside me. 
 
 Let me venture to say that, if you are considering the desirability 
 of giving Pennsylvania a representative in your Cabinet, that you 
 could not find a more loyal lieutenant. I think I may say also that 
 his appointment would be entirely satisfactory to both factions of 
 the party in this State, and perhaps might be a step towards a very 
 much desired harmonizing of masters in State politics. 
 
 With great respect, 
 Yours, &c., 
 H. C. Frick. 
 
 President McKinley made the tender, which Mr. Knox 
 felt constrained to decline for financial reasons of a per- 
 sonal nature which, he ingenuously added, might not sub- 
 sist four years later, at the end of which the offer was, in 
 
 fact, renewed and accepted. 
 291 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 So it came about that, but for his own disinclination, 
 Mr. Frick would have become Senator for Pennsylvania 
 in 1904 when, following the death of Senator Quay, At- 
 torney General Knox and ex-Senator Donald Cameron, 
 representing the dominant Republican oligarchy, waited 
 upon him and offered him the ad interim appointment 
 to be supplemented by an election for the full term in 
 1905. Taken completely by surprise, he demurred but by 
 their earnest request withheld a positive refusal for a few 
 days. Thereupon Mr. Knox appealed to President Roose- 
 velt for aid and on May 27th wrote to Mr. Frick: 
 
 The President was very much delighted about the matter you, 
 Cameron and I discussed, and I sincerely hope that you will not 
 interfere with its going through. 
 
 But in the meantime Mr. Frick had reached a decision 
 and three days later replied: 
 
 Regarding the other matter. I am decidedly of the opinion that 
 I should adhere to my determination not to accept any position, 
 however prominent, even if it could be secured without much 
 effort. I certainly appreciate most highly the fact that I have some 
 friends who think I might satisfactorily fill such a position. 
 
 Being assured over the telephone that this was final, 
 Mr. Knox with characteristic frankness announced that, 
 in that case, his own name might be considered, and Mr. 
 Frick did not rest until he had obtained the pledges req- 
 uisite to his election. 
 
 Mr. Knox resigned in 1909 to become Secretary of State 
 under Mr. Taft and, subsequently being again returned 
 to the Senate largely through Mr. Frick’s influence, was 
 enabled, in the year following the latter's death, to in- 
 duce President-elect Harding to appoint their mutual 
 
 292 
 
Public Affairs 
 
 friend, Mr. Andrew W. Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury. 
 
 Besought a second time to permit his name to be used 
 in connection with the Senatorship, again, ina letter to 
 ex-Senator Cameron, Mr. Frick definitely refused upon 
 the ground that he had “‘no political ambition.”’ 
 
 Mr. Frick was a staunch Republican of the type of 
 George F. Edmunds, who held to his dying day that 
 “the Democratic party never was, is not now and never 
 will be fit to govern the United States.’’ But the prepon- 
 derance of voters in Pennsylvania who shared this view 
 was so overwhelming that there arose no occasion for 
 partisan service following the retirement of the solitary 
 Democratic Governor, Mr. Robert E. Pattison, and his 
 support was restricted to modest, though invariable, 
 contributions “‘to maintain the organization.’’ Dis- 
 gusted at being forced into a defiance of his party’s man- 
 agers during the Homestead strike, he refrained there- 
 after from public declaration of his personal preferences 
 as between candidates but he never hesitated to voice 
 privately his opinions. 
 
 ‘I thoroughly agree with you,’’ he wrote to Mr. John 
 W. Gates on January 26th, 1896, ‘‘that Thomas B. Reed 
 is the man for President. He is my first choice and has 
 been since his name was first mentioned.”’ 
 
 A month later, however, without changing his view, 
 he could not resist the appeal of a friend and wrote to 
 Mr. J.C. Morse of the Illinois Steel Company: 
 
 It looks now as if there was going to be quite a struggle for the 
 Republican nomination for President. On Saturday I had an inter- 
 view with Senator Quay who told me he was going to try to secure 
 
 293 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 the nomination, and he thought his chances were very good, al- 
 though he admitted that at the present time McKinley seemed to 
 be in the lead. Quay would make a splendid President, from what 
 I know of him. He is a man on whose word you can absolutely 
 rely, and has much greater ability than is generally conceded him. 
 If he does not get the nomination for himself, I am inclined to 
 think he will be in a position to name the successful man. In that 
 event, it will not be McKinley, in my opinion. 
 
 But Mr. McKinley was nominated and elected after a 
 desperate struggle with Mr. Bryan. Immediately there 
 arose a powerful demand from manufacturers for an ex- 
 cessively upward revision of tariff rates and the House 
 of Representatives responded readily. But fortunately for 
 the Republican party its Senate leader, Mr. Nelson W. 
 Aldrich, experienced and far-sighted, had not forgotten 
 the disaster of 1892 generally accredited in about equal 
 proportions to the ill-fated McKinley Bill and the Home- 
 stead warfare, and he grimly determined to avert a pos- 
 sible repetition. 
 
 The task was not easy. Industrialists and manufac- 
 turers, in common with capitalists and bankers, had 
 dumped millions into Mr. Hanna’s war chest to accom- 
 plish the defeat of Mr. Bryan and their calls for recom- 
 pense were both insistent and extortionate. As a result 
 of this pressure, the steel industry had been particularly 
 and most unduly favored by the House of Representa- 
 tives, and it was this circumstance, oddly, that sug- 
 gested to Mr. Aldrich a move which must be reckoned 
 among the most adroit ever conceived even by his 
 extraordinary mind. Taking pen in hand, he wrote the 
 following letter: 
 
 294 
 
Public Affairs 
 
 United States Senate 
 Washington, D.C. 
 Dear Mr. Frick:— March 29th, 1897. 
 
 I am very anxious to talk with someone connected with your 
 concern or otherwise, who would be willing to give me reliable 
 information in regard to the present condition of the different 
 branches of the iron and steel industry, and who would make sug- 
 gestions as to the proper relative rates of duty upon different prod- 
 ucts. I would treat all information and suggestions as strictly 
 confidential. 
 
 I believe that it is extremely important to the country, and to 
 the iron and steel industry, that there should be no excessive rates 
 levied in any portion of the new tariff bill, and I cannot help 
 thinking that some of those suggested by the Ways and Means 
 Committee in the metal schedule are unnecessarily high. 
 
 Very truly yours 
 Netson W. ALDRICH. 
 
 Senator Aldrich’s purposes, now revealed for the first 
 time to our knowledge in this seemingly naive commu- 
 nication, were manifold, concentrated into one,— to save 
 the Republican party from the perpetration of a second 
 blunder which to his politic mind bade fair to prove 
 worse than a crime. To modify the claims of the tariff 
 barons through presentation of facts proving them to be 
 excessive and greedy; to appease capital by testimony of 
 the man who then stood forth as the foremost champion 
 of property rights; to confound political opponents who 
 eagerly awaited evidences of Republican subserviency 
 to the moneyed power which undoubtedly had restored 
 its political supremacy; to surprise and gratify the great 
 body of consumers whostill believed that they were being 
 
 295 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 mulcted in the interest of the few; to justify Protection 
 as an economic principle operating to the advantage of 
 the whole country and of all the people; to show from 
 practice that tariffs ‘“‘for revenue only’’ resulted in de- 
 pression and dearth of employment while moderate, 
 scientifically adjusted “‘protective’’ duties produced ad- 
 vancement and prosperity,—these were the essentials of 
 re-establishment of the Republican party upon a sound 
 and enduring basis. 
 
 So the sagacious leader went for aid straight to head- 
 quarters, to the head of the greatest metal manufactur- 
 ing unit which had most to lose or to gain, to the oper- 
 ator whose facts and figures were at his finger tips and 
 could not be confuted, whose skill had been directed to 
 reduction of costs and corresponding increases in wages 
 through inventive processes, resulting in lower prices 
 for larger production to consumers, to the employer who 
 could not be denied by capital and, by ordeal of battle, 
 had actually won the favor of labor,—and his appeal, 
 not to the selfishness, but to the wisdom and reason and 
 broad vision of this man was not made in vain. 
 
 There was no delay. The minds of Mr. Carnegie and 
 Mr. Frick, the one perhaps altruistically, the other surely 
 practically, had met long before in realization that the 
 high protection under which their industry had thrived — 
 had reached its peak of necessity or advantage and that 
 gradual subsidence from artificial planes to natural bases 
 had become the part of wisdom in striving for an im- 
 pregnable position. Consultation was not requisite. Mr. 
 Frick replied immediately: 
 
 296 
 
Public Affairs 
 
 My dear Mr. Aldrich :— Marcagzstnn8o7. 
 
 Acknowledging receipt of your esteemed favor of the 29th: 
 
 I beg to say that we will be glad to give you any information as 
 to the present condition of the different branches of the Iron and 
 Steel industries we can, if you will kindly write, specifying just 
 what information you would like. 
 
 We entirely agree with you that it is extremely important for 
 every one that there should be no excessive rates levied in any 
 portion of the new tariff bill. 
 
 We have had some communication with Mr. Swank, of Phila- 
 delphia, and have said to him, among other things, as follows: 
 
 “If a bill can be passed which even our opponents will consider 
 moderate, and which keeps primarily in view increased revenue, 
 we shall have done a great day’s work for Protection. It is not in 
 the increase of duties that our advantage lies so much as in the 
 change from advalorem to specific duties, and the leaders of every 
 branch of manufacturies should be required to submit schedules of 
 specific duties as far as possible. The undervaluations going on are 
 scandalous, and rapidly driving honest importers out of the busi- 
 ness. Speaking broadly, we do not know anything in the Iron and 
 Steel Schedule that requires increased duties. Of course Cotton 
 Ties should be taken from the free list, and made to pay, say one- 
 half of the duty imposed by the ‘McKinley Bill’.”’ 
 
 We have preferred thus far to leave this matter with Mr. Swank, 
 after giving him our views, as he is well posted, or should be, as 
 to what is generally needed, or wanted, by the Iron and Steel 
 Manufacturers. 
 
 Very respectfully yours 
 H. C. Frick. 
 
 The metal schedules presented by the House of Repre- 
 sentatives were studied carefully anew by Mr. Frick and 
 his associates and revised sharply but accurately down- 
 ward conjointly with Senator Aldrich and his advisers, 
 to the end that the strong leader easily won the approval 
 of his own chamber and scored perhaps the most notable 
 of his many triumphs in conference. To Aldrich, credit 
 
 297 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 for the sagacious idea; to Frick, thanks largely for the 
 successful performance; so the record stands; and, both 
 being men looking always to results without exploita- 
 tion, the inwardness of the achievement was never fe- 
 vealed. 
 
 Mr. Frick was so fully occupied trying to save his for- 
 tune that he paid slight attention to the National cam- 
 paign of 1900, the result of which in any case seemed 
 to be assured, but he took a most active interest in 1904 
 on behalf of President Roosevelt, with whom casual ac- 
 quaintance had been ripened by mutual respect and ad- 
 miration into close personal relationship. 
 
 “T feel,’’ wrote the President in 1903 in a cordial letter 
 asking him to serve on the Isthmian Canal Commission, 
 “that no man’s name in the country would carry more 
 weight than yours,’’ and Mr. Frick, while constrained 
 to decline, added heartily, ‘“Your administration has 
 my warmest endorsement and where I feel I can be of 
 service 1am yours to command.”’ 
 
 The time came during the following year when Mr. 
 Roosevelt became so surprisingly and needlessly alarmed 
 at what he regarded as his prospective defeat that he 
 drew upon all available sources for aid. Mr. Frick re- 
 sponded promptly and generously with both time and 
 money, consulting frequently with Chairman Cortelyou, 
 persuading Mr. Cornelius N. Bliss to accept the treasury- 
 ship, effecting a temporary reconciliation of Mr. E. H. 
 Harriman with the President, selecting a Pittsburgh 
 finance committee whose initial contribution was $100,- 
 ooo, personally subscribing even mote than that and 
 
 298 
 
Public Affairs 
 
 abandoning his customary trip to Europe in order that 
 he might remain within call to do whatever might be 
 asked of him. Immensely gratified by the result, he tele- 
 graphed the President on election night: 
 
 The endorsement of yourself and your policies by your fellow 
 
 citizens is magnificent and truly well deserved. Cordial congratu- 
 lations! 
 
 Bee hice. 
 
 Shortly after the election, the inside struggle for con- 
 trol of the Equitable Assurance Society, of which Mr. 
 Frick had become a trustee, approached a climax and he 
 joined with other prominent Republicans in trying to 
 effect a solution by obtaining the appointment of Mr. 
 James H. Hyde as Ambassador to France, but the best 
 the President could be persuaded to offer was the Min- 
 istry to Belgium, which the young man promptly de- 
 clined, and the insurance investigation which brought 
 Mr. Charles Evans Hughes into public life ensued. With 
 this unimportant exception, the relations of Mr. Roose- 
 velt and Mr. Frick seem to have been wholly social until 
 the latter part of 1905, when the latter, replying to the 
 President’s request that he find a position for a friend, 
 expressed his views on the railway strike situation in 
 the following communication: 
 
 October 27th, 1905. 
 Dear Mr. President :— 
 
 Your personal note of the sixteenth regarding Mr. Loomis just 
 received, having been wrongly addressed. 
 
 There is no opening at present suitable for Mr. Loomis. Presi- 
 dent Corey of the Steel Corporation, however, will, through Mr. 
 Bacon invite Loomis to call on him and it is possible he can be 
 placed in the near future. We are extremely anxious to secure 
 
 299 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 orders for battleships and cruisers from Russia, and in this con- 
 nection may be able to use him. 
 
 Your visit to the South has been very successful, and no doubt 
 of great benefit; and I congratulate you. 
 
 I am pleased to note that you have not in any respect departed 
 from your previous public announcement that you do not favor 
 any legislation or action which will injure or retard business pros- 
 perity or interfere with private property. I am sure the members of 
 your Cabinet and others in authority will be influenced by your 
 conclusions. This is particularly applicable at the present time to 
 the Department of Commerce and Labor. | 
 
 Also, I believe with you that the demand for legislation relating 
 to transportation rates is imperative and pressing. It seems to me 
 that the idea of placing the power in a commission to originate 
 rates is more or less impracticable, and would result in fixing them 
 on a basis of mileage, which, in view of widely different conditions, 
 as applied to different localities, would be unjust and unreasonable. 
 By this I mean the commission should not have the right to fix 
 rates generally nor except on complaint in specific cases that rates 
 put in force by the railroad are unreasonable. : 
 
 But I think the evils which now exist may be overcome without 
 any legislation which will seriously damage property rights or the 
 great railroad business of the country so closely identified with 
 business prosperity. What we need is a prevention of unjust rates, 
 and, particularly, unjust discrimination, and a prompt remedy for 
 existing wrongs. I think there should be created a court or courts, 
 with competent, adequate and final jurisdiction, whose duties 
 should be confined to the disposition of rate cases; or, if additional 
 jurisdiction is given, the rate cases should always have preference 
 as to disposition. 
 
 Also, there should be an Interstate Commerce Commission, com- 
 posed of, say, nine of the highest ability and standing, which 
 might perhaps sit in groups of three in different parts of the coun- 
 try, or in a body, as circumstances might require, to whom com- 
 plaints might be made. This committee should have power to 
 secure the evidence applicable, and its decision should go into 
 immediate effect, with heavy penalties for violation, unless an 
 appeal should be promptly presented to the court above referred 
 to. In case of appeal, the appellant should be required to give bond 
 
 300 
 
Public Affairs 
 
 to cover damages and costs. If the decision appealed from be sus- 
 tained the judgment of the court would date from the time of the 
 decision by the commission, and the bond would protect the ag- 
 grieved party; and, in either case, the loser should pay all costs 
 including reasonable attorneys fees. Possibly the complaining party 
 at the outset should file a bond to cover costs in case he is finally 
 unsuccessful. Under such a law very few appeals would be taken; 
 and in any event both sides to a controversy would be fully pro- 
 tected. 
 
 Cordial congratulations. Many and happy returns of this day. 
 (Mr. Roosevelt’s birthday.) 
 
 With great respect, always, 
 
 Sincerely yours 
 H. C. Frick. 
 
 The position subsequently assumed by the President 
 clearly indicated that his course was influenced by atten- 
 tive consideration to these sensible suggestions,—greatly, 
 no doubt, to the gratification of Mr. Frick,—and the 
 cordial relationship continued. 
 
 Two years elapsed, however, before the two men were 
 brought into contact by questions bearing upon public 
 policy and governmental action. The autumn of 1907 
 found the business and financial worlds in a state of un- 
 rest and apprehension. President Roosevelt's warfare on 
 the trusts had already produced, under the Sherman law, 
 six important actions, of which two had been won and 
 four were pending, and no less than thirty-four prose- 
 cutions under the Elkins act forbidding the giving or 
 acceptance of rebates, involving large sums of money, 
 were under way. Nobody could tell where the headsman’s 
 axe would fall next, large business was rapidly approach- 
 ing paralysis and financial conditions were distinctly 
 alarming. 
 
 301 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 Although the country banks had drawn as heavily as 
 possible upon their reserves in New York, they were un- 
 able to supply their customers and were calling all col- 
 lectable loans, while in the city itself runs were begin- 
 ning on many small banks and were seriously menacing 
 two big trust companies. Large depositors had not been 
 denied but they were well aware that they could not get 
 their money and, for mutual protection, they refrained 
 from asking. The fright had not yet become so wide- 
 spread as to present unmistakable signs of a panic, but 
 it was becoming more general daily and only the light- 
 ing of a match was needed to explode the magazine. 
 
 Bankers were meeting nightly in Mr. J. P. Morgan's 
 library, often remaining till daybreak, studying reports, 
 investigating rumors, recapitulating resources and mak- 
 ing tentative plans to meet any contingencies that might 
 arise, under the direction of the most courageous financier 
 of his time. All appreciated the magnitude of the danger 
 but none could foresee the extent of the disaster and suffer- 
 ing that would inevitably ensue from a general panic, 
 once become nation-wide and irresistible. 
 
 The supreme test came in the last week of October, 
 when the fact transpired that the key of the situation 
 lay in a stock brokerage house. Moore and Schley, one 
 of the largest firms in the country, were heavy borrowers 
 of money from financial institutions, not only in New 
 York but in Philadelphia and Chicago, with which they 
 had deposited, along with other collateral securities, a 
 huge number of shares of the Tennessee Coal and Iron 
 Company which, the exigencies of the time quickly de- 
 
 302 
 
Public Affairs 
 
 veloped, had no market value. If some other disposition 
 could not be made of this large block of stock, not only 
 would the firm be forced into bankruptcy but many of 
 the lending banks throughout the country would also 
 be imperilled. 
 
 Among the friends of Moore and Schley was Colonel 
 Oliver H. Payne, who had exchanged with them mil- 
 lions of current securities for these useless shares, hoping 
 to tide them over the crisis. But the effort was unavail- 
 ing and, simultaneously with the failure of a Providence 
 trust company and the issuance of clearing-house certifi- 
 cates, Colonel Payne put the matter before his attorney, 
 Lewis Cass Ledyard, Esq., and directed him to place it 
 before Mr. Morgan, with expression of his own belief that 
 a smash was inevitable unless the United States Steel Cor- 
 poration could see its way clear to purchase the Tennessee 
 shares at a price that would relieve the brokers. Four years 
 later, in testifying before a Congressional committee, 
 Mr. Ledyard recounted the subsequent happenings. 
 
 Mr. Morgan was deeply concerned. “It is very serious, ’ 
 he said, ‘the most serious thing that has appeared in con- 
 nection with the panic. If Moore and Schley go, there’s 
 no telling what the effect will be on Wall Street and the 
 financial institutions or how many houses will go with 
 them or how many banks throughout the country will 
 go down. I will see what can be done about it at once.” 
 
 Judge Gary and Mr. Frick were summoned by tele- 
 phone. Both were familiar with the Tennessee property. 
 Neither considered the stock worth more than $60 a 
 share and neither approved buying it then at any price, 
 
 303 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 fearing that its absorption might invite a government 
 suit under the anti-trust act such as was then pending 
 against the Standard Oil Company. 
 
 “I do not know,’’ ejaculated Mr. Morgan, ‘‘whether 
 the United States Steel Corporation can afford to buy 
 this stock or not, but I will say that, in my opinion, if 
 it does not or unless someone furnishes immediate relief, 
 no man on earth can say what the effect will be on the 
 financial institutions of the country under these critical 
 conditions.”’ 
 
 Others were called in and conference followed con- 
 ference in rapid succession during the night. Mr. Frick 
 was visibly impressed by Mr. Morgan’s argument and 
 finally admitted that, in so perilous a condition, the in- 
 terests of the whole country should be regarded as para- 
 mount and that, if necessary to avert the disastrous con- 
 sequences of a vast panic, the Steel Corporation should 
 not hesitate to pay an excessive price for the stock; and 
 yet at the last moment before definitely registering his 
 assent, he forsook the conference and sought Mr. Led- 
 yard, who testified as follows: 
 
 Mr. Frick came into the room where I was, and he said, ‘“Mr. 
 Ledyard, I want to ask you something. I have known you for 
 years, and J know you very well, and I depend absolutely upon 
 what you say. Have you looked into this situation yourself of 
 Moore & Schley?’ I said, ‘“Mr. Frick, I have looked into it to the 
 extent I have been able. I have not been personally over their 
 books, but I have been over it with their bookkeepers, and I have 
 been over it with Mr. Schley, and I have done what I can to 
 familiarize myself with their affairs and the necessities of their 
 condition."’ He said, *‘Are you of the opinion, from what you 
 have seen and from what information you have gathered—are you 
 
 304 
 
Public Affairs 
 
 frankly of the opinion that nothing less than par will pull these 
 people out and save them?”’ I said, ‘‘I am, Mr. Frick. I do not 
 think any less than par for the Tennessee stock will pull them out, 
 and I do not know whether that will do it, but I think it will.’’ 
 He said, ‘‘Very good, Mr. Ledyard; if you say so, that is the end 
 of the entire question for me.”’ 
 
 The question of the stock purchase was thus disposed 
 of. But the apprehension respecting governmental prose- 
 cution was still grave to the mind of Judge Gary, who 
 gave this testimony: 
 
 I said to Mr. Morgan, “In the first place, I would not think of 
 considering the purchase of this stock without going to Washing- 
 ton first and taking the matter up with the President or the De- 
 partment of Justice, or both.’’ He said,’*‘Why? Have they any 
 right to say whether you buy or not?’’ I said, ‘“No; they have not. 
 But here is a financial crisis, and from your standpoint the object 
 of buying this stock would be to allay this storm, to assist in ovet- 
 coming this panic, and if the Department of Justice or the President 
 should find out we had purchased, or were about to purchase it, 
 and should enjoin us from purchasing on the ground that it would 
 add to our holdings and thereby raise the question of creating or 
 adding to a monopoly, you can see at once that what we had done 
 would be to make the financial conditions very much worse than 
 they are now; and therefore, it seems to me, we ought to know 
 how the President and the Department of Justice would feel about 
 the question.’’ He said, *‘Well, I think that is very forcible, and I 
 see no objection to your going over there if you feel like it.”’ 
 
 But Mr. Morgan was still dubious and did not make 
 his half-hearted assent definite until, at his earnest in- 
 sistence and greatly against his own inclination, Mr. 
 Frick agreed to join with Judge Gary in presenting the 
 case to the President. Time was a vital factor in the un- 
 dertaking. It was Sunday evening and announcement of 
 
 305 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 the completion of the transaction with the approval of 
 the government was deemed essential to obviate calami- 
 tous frenzy on the Stock Exchange at its opening at 10 
 o'clock on the following morning. 
 
 The story of the subsequent happenings is familiar. A 
 special train bore the two commissioners to Washington 
 in the early morning hours; the President was induced to 
 leave his breakfast untouched to hear them; in the absence 
 of Attorney General Bonaparte, Secretary Root was hastily 
 summoned and, before the gong sounded in the Stock Ex- 
 change, the glad tidings had swept through Wall Street 
 that the menace of the Tennessee steel pool no longer 
 existed, that United States Steel bonds would be sub- 
 stituted immediately for the uncurrent shares, that the 
 big brokerage house was saved from dissolution and that 
 President Roosevelt had personally assured Messts. Frick 
 and Gary, upon the legal advice of Mr. Root that, ‘while 
 he could not advise them to take the action proposed, he 
 felt it no public duty of his to interpose any objection.” 
 
 This ‘‘good enough Morgan”’ saved the situation and 
 the two commissioners returned from Washington the 
 recipients of hearty congratulations and many expres- 
 sions of gratitude. 
 
 But Mr. Frick, now thoroughly aroused, soon realized 
 that only a breathing spell had been gained and that 
 heavier clouds still hovered over the financial and indus- 
 trialconditions of thecountry. Most threatening of these, 
 to his mind, which turned invariably to the common 
 advantages of consolidation and concentration, was the 
 
 306 
 
Public Affairs 
 
 government suit pending for the dissolution of the Stand- 
 ard Oil Company. If that could be settled out of court 
 upon terms which would effect practical compliance with 
 the anti-trust law by ensuring full protection of the pub- 
 lic through some form of governmental supervision and 
 regulation, without depriving the producers of their le- 
 gitimate opportunities, he became convinced that an 
 enormous revival of business and corresponding resto- 
 ration of universal prosperity would follow promptly. 
 
 Having no interest in the oil concern and being averse 
 on principle to interference with other people’s business, 
 he hesitated to make even a gesture along the natural 
 line but finally, after carefully studying the grounds of 
 complaint and conferring with Judge Gary, he sought 
 the advice of Senator Knox as to the advisability and 
 propriety of requesting an informal interview with the 
 President, in the hope of supplementing the successful 
 outcome of their recent conversation. 
 
 “T think,’’ Senator Knox replied, “‘that it is always a 
 help to the President to talk with you and Judge Gary, 
 and such a talk at this time would be helpful to the 
 general situation irrespective of the results in the partic- 
 ular matter. With respect to that, nothing can be done 
 except it meets with his approval and therefore, Mr. 
 Kellogg consenting, it would be best in my view to take 
 it up directly with the President if you think it possible 
 to get him to agree to anything the other side would 
 accept.’ 
 
 Whereupon Mr. Frick, still reluctant but emboldened 
 
 3°97 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 by the President’s previous reception, addressed the fol- 
 lowing communication to Mr. Roosevelt: 
 
 New York, 
 Personal November 30th, 1907. 
 My dear Mr. President :— 
 
 For some time Judge Gary and I have been considering the pos- 
 sibility of some disposition of the pending suit brought by the 
 Government against the Standard Oil Company which would be 
 satisfactory to the Government and to the public generally, and at 
 the same time might be accepted by, if not entirely satisfactory to, 
 the defender. é 
 
 I think there is no doubt this litigation materially affects the 
 business situation and very greatly adds to the feeling of financial 
 uncertainty which exists in this country and other countries. It is 
 not necessary at this time to discuss its merits. No doubt you and I 
 would agree as to where the responsibility lies. But conditions are 
 very grave and are not improving as we could wish. The impor- 
 tance of the subject-matter cannot be over-estimated. My interest 
 in the question is confined to the public welfare. 
 
 Judge Gary and I have discussed the propriety of consulting you 
 in regard to this matter. We have had some conversation with Mr. 
 Kellogg upon this subject. We stated to him that we might desire 
 to talk with you; and understand that he does not object. It is our 
 intention to keep the matter very confidential. If you think favor- 
 ably of my suggestion, it would be the effort of Judge Gary and 
 myself from an independent standpoint and solely in the public 
 interest to get into communication with those who control the 
 defense and ascertain exactly what can be done, using our influence 
 to bring about such a solution as would be satisfactory to the 
 Administration and yet protect the properties involved. 
 
 If in your opinion what I propose is impracticable or improper or 
 unwelcome, of course I know you will say so frankly. 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 H. C, Frick. 
 
 Three days later, probably after conference with his 
 advisers, the President replied: 
 308 
 
Public Affairs 
 
 Tse Wuite Housz 
 WASHINGTON 
 
 December 3rd, 1907. 
 My dear Mr. Frick: 
 
 Your letter of the 30th ultimo was duly received. I should al- 
 ways be glad to see you and Judge Gary on any matter, but it 
 seems to me that the only wise course in the case of a suit before 
 the Department of Justice is to have the communication come from 
 the counsel of the Standard Oil Companyto the counsel of the Gov- 
 ernment. While, as I say, I should be glad to see you and Judge 
 Gary, the only possible outcome of any talk with me would be 
 that I should ask you to have the Standard Oil Company, thru its 
 counsel, formulate any proposals and put them before Mr. Kellogg, 
 who would then go over them with the Attorney General, and 
 afterwards, if it was necessary, they would be brought before me. 
 I hope you understand the reasons which actuate me in writing 
 thus. I think if you will go over the matter with Judge Gary you 
 will see that it would be inadvisable for me, from the standpoint 
 of the Government, to take any other course; and I think Knox 
 would tell you so if you would consult him. 
 
 With regard, believe me, 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 
 
 The courteous but definite response, restricting negoti- 
 ations strictly to official channels, disposed of the sug- 
 gestion, and Mr. Frick, though naturally disappointed 
 at being denied the privilege of placing the outlines of 
 the plan which he had conceived to be a possible prac- 
 tical solution before Messrs. Roosevelt and Rockefeller 
 personally, abandoned the attempt with a sense of relief 
 rather than of resentment. 
 
 Mr. Frick supported Mr. Taft, as a “‘regular,’’ from 
 force of habit. After having contributed through vari- 
 ous channels sums aggregating $50,000, he replied to an 
 
 309 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 earnest solicitation from Mr. Charles D. Hilles for an 
 additional subscription at the last moment: 
 
 Pripz’s Crossinc 
 MassacHUSETTS 
 November 2nd, 1912. 
 My dear Mr. Hilles: 
 
 I am just in receipt of your favor of the first. I think President 
 Taft has no show for reelection on Tuesday next. I have contrib- 
 uted, as you state, towards the campaign and I would contribute 
 almost any amount to insure the success of the Republican party if 
 I thought there was a chance. But I think I should not have been 
 asked to contribute to this campaign. 
 
 The administration utterly failed to treat many of its warmest 
 friends fairly. Take for instance, the case of the suit against the 
 United States Steel Corporation, in which they charge me with 
 misrepresenting very important matters to the President in order 
 to enable the Steel Company to purchase a property which I was 
 always opposed to its buying at any price. After much discussion I 
 was prevailed on to go to Washington, as its purchase looked as if 
 it would save the country from a very disastrous panic. 
 
 Much to my surprise Secretary Knox, when I last saw him, told 
 me the bringing of the suit had never been brought before the 
 cabinet. The President, I think, also told me that he did not know 
 that such a charge in the suit was to be made against me. This 
 shows a great lack of interest in very important matters on the 
 part of the President and his Secretary, Mr. Knox. 
 
 I write you thus fully as 1 do not want my position misunder- 
 
 stood. 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 H. C. Frick. 
 
 Although Mr. Frick obviously felt aggrieved by such 
 misrepresentation of his own position by the govern- 
 ment and seemed quite willing that Mr. Taft and even 
 Mr. Knox should be informed of the fact, his chief com- 
 plaint was of what he regarded as a breach of faith on 
 
 310 
 
Public Affairs 
 
 the part of the Attorney General, to whom Judge Gary 
 reported to the Board he had pledged prompt correction 
 of any practices which the Department should give notice 
 were deemed illegal or improper, and Mr. Wickersham 
 had tacitly acquiesced in this arrangement. Nevertheless, 
 shortly thereafter, according toJudgeGary’s biographer, 
 without specifying a single objection, or suggesting the 
 slightest change, Mr. Wickersham mentioned casually to 
 Judge Gary at a dinner that the excitement over the 
 Stanley investigation, the hostility to the Steel Corpo- 
 ration and the charges of its being favored by the Ad- 
 ministration led the Administration to feel that it must 
 bring suit for dissolution of the corporation. Mr. Gary 
 confessed himself ‘“‘overwhelmed”’ by this announcement 
 and Mr. Frick was highly indignant at what he con- 
 sidered a contemptible admission of yielding to polliti- 
 cal exigencies, at the cost of simple right and a solemn 
 pledge. It may be mentioned, in passing, that the suit was 
 brought and dragged through the courts, at heavy cost, 
 for seven years, only to fail in the end, but Mr. Frick 
 did not forget. Writing to Secretary Knox in 1915, he 
 said: 
 
 I see by the press that Mr. George W. Wickersham is making 
 himself quite prominent in calling and conferring with Mr. Hughes, 
 and leaving the impression that he is his chief adviser. It will cool 
 the ardor of a great many friends of the nominee if they are left 
 under the impression that that gentleman is to be prominent in the 
 coming administration. I wish some one would give Mr. Hughes 
 an intimation of this. Of course, we want everyone’s assistance, 
 but I should be sorry to think that after election Mr. Hughes 
 might feel obliged to give Mr. Wickersham a prominent place in 
 his administration. 
 
 311 
 
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XXII 
 
 The Patriot 
 
 1G Business accepted the return of the Dem- 
 
 Ocratic party to power in 1913, without serious 
 
 misgivings, as the inevitable consequence of 
 
 a Republican row which had been universally 
 
 “‘discounted’’ by Wall Street. Republican capitalists 
 
 pronounced Mr. Roosevelt responsible and tranquilly 
 
 reconciled themselves to the prospect of a respite in 
 
 business which they hoped might not run into general 
 depression. 
 
 They felt no animosity toward Mr. Wilson for such of 
 his utterances as they regarded as radical and menacing 
 to their interests. He had simply played the political 
 game, after the manner of a candidate to whom American 
 tradition had accorded much latitude, in his choice of 
 methods and varied appeals to discordant elements. Many 
 believed that at heart he was conservative, as befitted a 
 highly intelligent student of government, and that, once 
 confronted by the grave responsibilities of authority, he 
 would revert to the call of his reasoning faculties. In 
 any case he was *‘safer than Roosevelt’’; so perhaps, after 
 all, an interlude in control by the only party really fit to 
 govern might serve an excellent purpose in conveying a 
 needed lesson to the Republican politicians upon whom 
 Big Business relied for intelligent pursuit of their trade. 
 
 313 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 But while sojourning in Bermuda for rest and reflection 
 immediately following his election Mr. Wilson derived 
 either from some undisclosed source or from his own 
 imagination an impression that Wall Street was con- 
 spiring to discredit his administration from the start and, 
 upon his return, he publicly assumed a belligerent and 
 menacing attitude. After heralding at a banquet of the 
 Southern Society his suspicion that the moneyed power 
 was fomenting a panic “‘to create the impression that 
 the wrong thing is going to be done,”’ he said: 
 
 I do not believe there is any man living who dares to use that 
 machinery to create such a panic. And if any one attempts it I 
 promise you that I will build the gibbet for him as high as Haman’s. 
 But that is only figuratively speaking. What I will do will be to 
 direct the attention of the people to him, and I think that they 
 will manage to cut him to the quick. With their eyes open, the 
 people are not going to let any man do such a thing. 
 
 What precisely this mystifying and startling decla- 
 ration foreboded nobody assumed to know, since nothing 
 whatever had transpired from Wall Street so likely to 
 arouse panicky apprehensions as the utterance itself. Even 
 so, somewhat oddly, manifestations of alarm and remon- 
 strance were confined chiefly to the columns of public 
 journals which had supported Mr. Wilson’s candidacy; 
 Capital, as represented by “‘the Street,’’ remained un- 
 ruffled and apparently passive. Large undertakings on 
 the part especially of railway corporations were not aban- 
 doned; they were not even put aside; they were merely 
 subjected to a process, so quiet as to be hardly noticeable, 
 of masterly inactivity. 
 
 314 
 
The Patriot 
 
 “It is a time to abide events,’’ was the calm advice of 
 Mr. Frick, who arranged accordingly to prolong his 
 usual stay abroad in search of Old Masters. 
 
 This was the last of his many visits abroad. Disturbed 
 by the Continental outlook in the Summer of 1914, he 
 remained at home as a precautionary measure bearing 
 upon his heavy responsibilities and was at Pride’s when 
 the live coals which he had been carefully watching 
 flicker in the furnaces of Europe burst into flame. 
 
 In common with the great majority of thoughtful 
 Americans, he simply adhered to his own admonition to 
 his friends at the beginning of the war to “‘stand with 
 the President,’’ and he did not grieve when the responsi- 
 bility continued undivided as the result of Democratic 
 success at the Congressional elections. But his sympathies 
 were strong with the Allies from the beginning and, 
 while sedulously avoiding any appearance of being any- 
 thing but “neutral even in his thoughts,’ he never missed 
 an opportunity to extend quietly, even furtively, such 
 aid and comfort as he considered suitable. A complete 
 tabulation of his contributions cannot be compiled as 
 they were made deliberately for secrecy’s sake through 
 different agencies from various funds, and in many in- 
 stances no records were made. His largest subscription 
 during this period was to the Gold Note Syndicate for 
 the relief of the British Treasury, but this was in the 
 form of a low-rate loan which presumably would be, 
 and ultimately was, repaid. Outright gifts were made, 
 in varying amounts, to the Belgian Relief Fund, the 
 American Ambulance Hospital in France, the maimed 
 
 B35 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 French soldiers, the families of disabled French artists, 
 ‘‘French sufferers,’’ the Armored Motor Squadron, the 
 Allies’ Bazar, and to other like organizations whenever 
 solicited by responsible persons. 
 
 Altogether, the total of gifts made during the war for 
 humanitarian purposes by Mr. Frick personally and 
 through generous members of his family must have ex- 
 ceeded one million of dollars; in truth, he never knew 
 how much and he permitted no computation. 
 
 His initial subscription to the First Liberty Loan was 
 made on the morning of May 22nd, 1917, when Mr. Frick 
 was called to the telephone by Mr. George F. Baker of 
 the First National Bank of New York, his closest finan- 
 cial friend, and the following conversation ensued: 
 
 Mr. Baxer—Washington is about to ask for subscriptions to 
 the First Liberty Loan and of course we want to give it a good 
 start. 
 
 Mr. Frick—Of course. 
 
 Mr. Baxer—How many shall I put you down for? 
 
 Mr. Fricx—The same as you take yourself. 
 
 Mr. Baxer—I thought a million. 
 
 Mr. Frick—All right. If youshould want any more, don’t bother 
 to ring. Put me down. 
 
 Subsequently, Mr. McEldowney’s records show, Mr. 
 Frick bought $4,545,000 of the various issues through 
 the Union Trust Company. How many additional he 
 purchased through other channels cannot be ascertained. 
 But he never failed to respond to a call,—not even when 
 later the stock of a company, with whose affairs he was 
 
 fully conversant, was purchasable on a 15 per cent earn- 
 316 
 
AT THE I6TH HOLE, MYOPIA HUNT CLUB 
 
The Patriot 
 
 ing basis, as contrasted with a yield of 4 per cent from 
 government bonds. 
 
 Characteristically, in sending his final subscription of 
 $1,500,000 to the Fourth Liberty Loan on September 28th, 
 1918, he requested Mr. McEldowney to see that it re- 
 ceive no special mention at the big public meeting but 
 ‘be treated as you treat all other subscriptions,’’ but the 
 amount was too large to be ignored and was heralded 
 by the Pittsburgh newspapets as ‘‘the largest ever sub- 
 scribed by one person to any war activity.”’ 
 
 Mr. Frick’s only son was accepted for air service and 
 his only daughter sailed for Red Cross service in France 
 in November. 
 
 A joint resolution declaring a state of war against Ger- 
 many was introduced in the Senate by Senator Martin of 
 Virginia and referred to the Committee on Foreign Re- 
 lations on April 2nd. Being found unsatisfactory in form, 
 a substitute resolution pronounced by many Senators ‘‘a 
 model,’’ was reported back on April 3rd and adopted 
 by the votes of all Senators except Messrs. La Follette, 
 Gronna, Lane, Stone, Vardaman and Norris. 
 
 ‘I was glad to hear through Mr. Schoonmaker,’’ Mr. 
 Frick wrote to Senator Knox, ‘‘that you were the author 
 of the Declaration of War; it struck me as a very good 
 paper; and I rejoice that we have you in the Senate to 
 continue doing many fine things that you will get no 
 credit for.”’ 
 
 “Of course,’’ he added in reply to a query, ‘‘I thor- 
 oughly believe that those of us who stay at home and 
 take our ease should willingly pay any taxes that may 
 
 317 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 be assessed to carry on the war, although I have to confess 
 that the present disposition seems to be to impose unfairly 
 upon those who are supposed to have large incomes.’’ 
 
 In common with a vast number of Americans of like 
 energizing disposition, Mr. Frick chafed at the laggard- 
 liness of the government during the Summer, but he was 
 so thrilled by the splendor of President Wilson’s address 
 to Congress at its reopening in December that he could 
 not refrain from voicing his approbation in these en- 
 
 thusiastic terms: 
 
 New York, 
 December 7th, 1917. 
 Dear Mr. President: 
 
 May I be permitted to congratulate you and the country on your 
 admirable address to Congress—only one of many. You have stated 
 the situation just as any true American or citizen of any country 
 should view it, and every one should be willing to make any neces- 
 sary sacrifice to bring about what you have stated should be done. 
 
 It is a great satisfaction to feel that we have in you a leader in 
 whom we should be proud: and,while I differ from you in politics, 
 I subscribe without reservation to all you are contending for. 
 
 It is my fervent wish that you may be spared to see the trouble 
 ended satisfactorily, as I firmly feel you are devoted to this great 
 work and will carry it forward fairly and honestly. 
 
 Cordially yours, 
 Henry C. Frick. 
 Hon. Woodrow Wilson. 
 
 To which the President responded expressing his 
 gratification and his feeling that the sentiment of the 
 country was more and more uniting for a great dem- 
 onstration of the nation’s power as well as its high 
 purpose. 
 
 From that day forward Mr. Frick held himself at the 
 
 318 
 
The Patriot 
 
 call of the Administration and engaged, both in New 
 York and at Pride’s, in frequent consultations with its 
 representatives. One notable instance afforded an inter- 
 esting test of relative loyalties. 
 
 Responding one morning to a summons to the White 
 House, Mr. Bernard M. Baruch, the New York financier 
 who subsequently became a member of the Commission 
 in charge of all purchases for the Allies, Chairman of 
 the War Industries Board and economic adviser of the 
 American Peace Commission, found the President greatly 
 disturbed by complaints that the prices of steel—par- 
 ticularly ship plates—as offered by the manufacturers 
 were in excess of fair prices. 
 
 Mr. Baruch suggested that a meeting with the heads 
 of the various steel companies be arranged and the Presi- 
 dent, acquiescing, authorized him to take the necessary 
 steps and to act by official authority as his personal rep- 
 resentative. 
 
 The conference with the heads of the various companies 
 was held in the office of the United States Steel Corpo- 
 ration and proved most unsatisfactory to Mr. Baruch. 
 Judge Gary did the talking. Yes, it was true, as alleged, 
 that the manufacturers desired to charge the United States 
 four and one-fourth cents per pound for steel plates; and 
 Judge Gary considered this a fair price, especially in view 
 of the President's insistence that no higher price be charged 
 the Allies,—a matter seriously affecting the profits of 
 the manufacturers. Mr. Baruch urged that Big Business 
 Was missing an opportunity in failing to show that in 
 time of war its representatives placed the welfare of their 
 
 379 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 government ahead of their own and insisted that Judge 
 Gary call up the White House and get the President's 
 views. Judge Gary refused to do this and declared the 
 conference ended. 
 
 The discomfiture of Mr. Baruch is easily imagined. His 
 mission was an abject failure and he must report accord- 
 ingly; his pride was shaken; his vanity, hurt; and the 
 fault was his, and his alone. He had not insisted upon 
 presenting his entire case; he had not depicted the grue- 
 someness of the situation as it appeared to the Chief Mag- 
 istrate, keenly sensitive to his personal responsibility for 
 the keeping of his official engagements, whether written 
 or understood, and to the safeguarding of his country’s 
 honor to the smallest detail. His mission must be ful- 
 filled. He could not, he would not, return to Washing- 
 ton humiliated. 
 
 Diligent inquiry elicited the information that Judge 
 Gary, then out of reach, was to dine that evening at his 
 club where, at an hour which he deemed suitable for 
 calling, Mr. Baruch was informed that Mr. Gary was in 
 conference and could not see him. Very well, he replied, 
 he would wait; the matter was important. At the expi- 
 ration of half an hour, he sent up a card upon which he 
 had written: 
 
 My message is from the President and I must return tonight. 
 
 There was no answer. An hour passed. Finally Judge 
 Gary appeared and, saying simply that he thought the 
 Government would accept his judgment that the price 
 fixed was fair, he left the club. 
 
 320 
 
The Patriot 
 
 On the following morning Mr. Baruch, perturbed and 
 indignant, called upon Mr. Frick at his house and told his 
 story from start to finish. Mr. Frick listened attentively. 
 
 “Of course,’’ he remarked when his visitor had fin- 
 ished, “‘you are aware that I am a director of the Steel 
 Corporation.” 
 
 ““Certainly,’’ Mr. Baruch replied, ‘‘but I am not here 
 to see you in that capacity. This country is at war and I 
 have come here by the President’s direction to obtain 
 from you as a patriotic citizen certain information for 
 his guidance in the performance of his duties.”’ 
 
 “What precisely does the President wish to know?’’ 
 
 “'T have already told you that the manufacturers are 
 charging the Allies four and one-quarter cents per pound 
 for ship plates.”’ 
 
 Mr. Frick nodded assent. 
 
 ‘The President would like to learn from you, if you 
 can tell, what the production cost of ship plates is.’’ 
 
 Mr. Frick medidated for a moment and then said: 
 
 “Mr. Baruch, I have nothing to do with selling opera- 
 tions of the Corporation. I know nothing of the arrange- 
 ments between the manufacturers and the various govern- 
 ments to which you refer. Ido not interfere with business 
 which does not fall within my province. But if the Presi- 
 dent, for purposes of his own, in the proper and honor- 
 able conduct of the war, has authorized you to ask me 
 as a citizen to state the production cost of ship plates I 
 can answer his question. It is two and one-half cents a 
 pound.”’ | 
 
 “Including a profit?”’ 
 
 321 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 “Only sufficient to safeguard the manufacturer against 
 loss,—which is only fair and proper. Mind you, that is 
 the cost to the United States Steel Corporation. I have 
 no information respecting costs to other companies.”’ 
 
 Mr. Baruch was profuse in his thanks and assured him 
 that the information which he had given the President 
 would be held in strictest confidence. 
 
 ‘“Naturally,’’ Mr. Frick replied simply, ‘I should pre- 
 fer that it be kept that way. I should be criticized no 
 doubt, and perhaps rightly. But if [had wished to dodge, 
 I should not have answered at all. I am always respon- 
 sible for what I say and you may tell the President that, 
 if the accuracy of my figures should be questioned in 
 any such way as might embarrass him, he need not hesi- 
 tate to ask me to prove them openly.”’ 
 
 The President's order to the Commission to stand firm, 
 was so convincing of his knowledge of the facts that Mr. 
 Frick’s testimony was not required and, after much hag- 
 gling over the evidence that costs to the smaller concerns, 
 whose products were essential, were materially higher, 
 a compromise, generally considered fair, was effected 
 upon the basis of three and forty-one-hundredths cents 
 per pound. Thereafter, by the President's explicit direc- 
 tion, Mr. Baruch kept in constant touch with Mr. Frick 
 respecting all perplexing problems of the War Industry 
 Board, ‘‘and,’’ in Mr. Baruch’s own words “‘he never 
 failed to keep an appointment whenever and wherever 
 suggested.” 
 
 Mr. Frick’s attitude toward personal profiteering dur- 
 ing the war was disclosed incidentally. A luncheon guest 
 
 422 
 
The Patriot 
 
 just returned from Washington reported remarks heard 
 at the capital somewhat critical of the methods of a cer- 
 tain Syndicate engaged in financing a huge shipbuilding 
 project with the approval and prospective support of the 
 Government from which, it was anticipated, construc- 
 tion contracts would be obtained on a cost-plus basis. 
 Questions were being asked, not with respect to the per- 
 centages to be allowed for profits, which were published 
 and appeared moderate, but as to the need of forming 
 subsidiary companies for manufacturing and other pur- 
 poses whose costs might easily be enhanced in various 
 ways without being so readily ascertained. 
 
 Although, inthe confusion attendant upon the making 
 of many other like arrangements upon a large scale, this 
 particular operation had escaped public attention, vague 
 suspicions of the devious workings of High Finance were 
 becoming rife, and observant persons were manifesting 
 concern lest unpleasant disclosures impair the navy’s 
 fighting capacity at a critical time. 
 
 _ Mr. Frick listened attentively but said nothing. Fol- 
 
 lowing the luncheon, however, he excused himself for a 
 moment to send a telephone message before rejoining his 
 guest in the drawing room. Presently he was summoned 
 to his office and, upon returning, remarked quietly: 
 
 “T had an interest in that Syndicate. I took it up to 
 help the Government by relieving it of a part of its heavy 
 financing and with the understanding that subscribers 
 would receive no more than a moderate rate of interest 
 on their payments to be fixed openly by the Government. 
 The thought of making a profit never crossed my mind. 
 
 323 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 I find, however, upon inquiry, that my money is no longer 
 needed by the Syndicate, as the subscriptions are selling 
 at a premium, which seems to indicate some ground for 
 the rumor you heard. I gave orders to sell my interest 
 when I went to the telephone and have just now been 
 notified that it has been sold. I don’t know whether there 
 is a profit in the transaction or not. I hope not, but my 
 report will show in the morning, and if there is, it will 
 go into the United War Work treasury before night. 
 
 “Tt is dificult for a man of means to know what to do 
 in all instances,’’ he added. ‘‘Some of my shareholdings 
 will increase in value during the war, no doubt to my 
 ultimate advantage; others may decrease for one reason 
 or another; nobody can tell; I cannot keep shifting my 
 investments in any case and it would do no good if I 
 could; so the best I can do is to stand pat.”’ 
 
 In point of fact, the appraisal of Mr. Frick’s estate fol- 
 lowing his death showed that his fortune shrank many 
 millions between the beginning and the ending of the 
 wart of the United States against the Central Powers of 
 Europe. 
 
 It is an interesting fact, not generally known, that the 
 only two multi-millionaires who supported quietly, but 
 effectively, the successful organized effort to prevent the 
 inclusion of the United States in the League of Nations 
 were Messrs. Henry Clay Frick and Andrew W. Mellon. 
 This endeavor, it may be recalled, was initiated and di- 
 rected bya small group comprising a dozen resolute United 
 States Senators and a few publicists. The contest quickly 
 resolved into a bitter struggle against heavy odds. Ani- 
 
 324 
 
The Patriot 
 
 mated by a natural revulsion against warfare, following 
 the world’s greatest devastation, a powerful sentiment 
 sprang up throughout the entire country in favor of any 
 movement designed to perpetuate peace. Republicans and 
 Democrats alike fell into line behind President Wilson 
 and Former President Taft and of all classes none was so 
 zealous, so determined and so active as the moneyed ele- » 
 ment of New York. Bankers noticeably and capitalists, 
 though less aggressively, seemed to be literally unani- 
 mous in their advocacy of the most far-reaching and most 
 appealing experiment ever adventured by the Republic. 
 To oppose its undertaking was to invite personal igno- 
 miny. 
 
 Such was the atmosphere in which Henry Clay Frick 
 lived when, one evening in May, 1919, the group op- 
 posed to joining the League, assembled at their accus- 
 tomed meeting place in Senator Brandegee’s residence 
 in Washington, were apprized that their whole plan of 
 campaign was seriously endangered. Their strategy had 
 consisted of disseminating propaganda chiefly through- 
 out the middle West at mass meetings and by distri- 
 bution of quantities of ‘“‘campaign literature’ for the 
 purpose of starting “back fires” upon wavering Senators. 
 Thus far, with the powerful aid of a few public journals 
 headed in the West by the Cutcaco Trispune and the 
 Kansas Crry Srar, in the East by the New Yorx Sun, 
 Boston EvENING TRANscRIPT and WASHINGTON Post, and 
 nationally by the aggregation of public journals owned 
 by William Randolph Hearst and, incidentally, by a 
 small but energetic weekly paper printed in New York, 
 
 375 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 the campaign had progressed favorably, but the time 
 had come when essential travelling and mailing expend- 
 itures required considerable sums, and the modest funds 
 which the committee had been able to supply were com- 
 pletely exhausted. The problem of ways and means, to 
 oppose successfully skilful antagonists suffering from 
 no such handicap was poignant. The finding of a deeper 
 reservoir upon which to draw for financial aid had be- 
 come a paramount necessity. 
 
 Various plans were proposed only to be rejected as im- 
 practicable and the outlook was lamentably gloomy 
 when late in the evening the resourceful Senator Knox - 
 suggested as a last resort an appeal to Mr. Frick and Mr. 
 Mellon, who he said were accustomed to act together 
 in such matters and both of whom, he thought—with 
 no reason for his surmise—might be impressed with the 
 merits of the cause, if it could be placed before them 
 effectively. He felt confident, in any case, that if either 
 could be won over, the other would join. The suggestion 
 had crossed his mind in consequence of a chance remark 
 by the New York representative present that he would 
 be obliged to leave on the following morning to attend 
 a complimentary dinner which Mr. Frick was to give to 
 General Wood on the following evening. This might 
 afford him an opportunity, Senator Knox suggested, to 
 broach the subject and, if the response should by chance 
 be favorable, he himself would follow it up immediately 
 with Mr. Mellon. 
 
 The proposal was accepted and the dinner, attended 
 by forty of New York's most distinguished men, was so 
 
 326 
 
The Patriot 
 
 successful that afterwards the host pronounced it per- 
 haps the most satisfactory he had ever given. Fortunately 
 for his design, the delegated conspirator was requested 
 by his host to remain after the party had dissolved and, 
 yet more happily for his purpose, he was informed pres- 
 ently that enlightenment respecting the contest over 
 joining the League of Nations was desired. 
 
 ‘“Those whom I come into contact with,’’ said Mr. 
 Frick, ‘‘seem to feel that this country ought to join and 
 I am being constantly urged to support the movement. 
 But the fact is that I have been so busy of late that I 
 haven't followed the discussion as closely probably as I 
 ought. I went to the opera house and listened to the 
 President and Mr. Taft and I must confess that, while 
 Mr. Taft's speech seemed to me very good, Mr. Wilson’s 
 was not convincing. I should like to hear the other side 
 if there is one, and I judge from the little I have read 
 about it that there is.”’ 
 
 Marvelling at this auspicious fortuity, the eager propa- 
 gandist set forth the stock arguments of the group of 
 Irreconcilables with whom he was aligned as succinctly 
 as he was capable of doing, although at considerable 
 length. Mr. Frick followed the statement closely, ask- 
 ing many questions, and finally said: 
 
 ‘‘As I understand it, then, the proposition is to pledge 
 the United States, now the richest and most powerful 
 nation in the world, to pool its issues with other coun- 
 tries, which are largely its debtors, and to agree in ad- 
 vance to abide by the policies and practices adopted by a 
 majority or two-thirds of its associates; that is, to sur- 
 
 327 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 render its present right of independence of action upon any 
 specific question whenever such a question may arise.”’ 
 
 ‘That is substantially it.”’ 
 
 ‘Well, Iam opposed to that. Of course Iam. I don't 
 see how any experienced business man could fail to be. 
 Why, it seems to mea crazy thing to do.”’ 
 
 “That is what Senator Knox and the rest of us think. 
 Now the question is, Will you help us to beat it?”’ 
 
 ‘“What do you want me to do?’ 
 
 The visitor then recounted the happening of the pre- 
 vious evening in Washington as the simplest way of pre- 
 senting the full situation. 
 
 ‘‘So,’’ remarked Mr. Frick, smiling, ‘‘you were going 
 to fetch up the matter anyway? 
 
 ‘If I could get a chance, yes.”’ 
 
 ‘That's rather odd; but’ he added quizzically, “I un- 
 derstood you to say that Knox was going to see Mr. 
 Mellon; why didn’t he?”’ 
 
 “Well, as it happens, Mr. Mellon was here tonight; 
 also, for some reason or other, the Senator seemed to 
 think it might be well for me to pull your leg first.’’ 
 
 ‘Come now, do you consider that a compliment or a 
 reflection?’ 
 
 “Oh, a compliment surely. In fact, my only objection 
 to his programme was that Mr. Mellon might feel ag- 
 grieved.”’ 
 
 This was too much for one possessed of humor in Mr. 
 Frick’s gay mood. 
 
 “I don’t think you needed to worry about that,’’ he 
 chuckled; then sobering quickly, he added: 
 
 328 
 
IN LATER YEARS 
 
 (Mr. Frick at ‘Eagle Rock,’’ his country place at 
 Pride’s Crossing, Massachusetts) 
 
“ 
 
 ie 
 
The Patriot 
 
 “Well, I’ll go along. How much do you want?”’ 
 
 A sum was mentioned. 
 
 “That won't go far.”’ 
 
 “Only for a starter of course; to Senator Pepper, to- 
 morrow; time is important.”’ 
 
 “Tt will be sent in the morning.”’ 
 
 The highly gratified guest had said good-night and 
 was on the threshold when a quick step was heard down 
 the long corridor and Mr. Frick, his eyes gleaming with 
 the joyous light of battle, appeared pointing a finger 
 admonitorily and with seriousness, partly mock and 
 partly real, he said: 
 
 ‘Be sure you put up a good fight. Now that we are in, 
 we must win, you know. Keep me posted. Good luck 
 and good-night.”’ 
 
 Three days later the New York member of the cabal 
 received the following note from the Senate Chamber: 
 
 Thanks for your note. I had already received a letter from Mr. 
 Frick announcing what he had done and I wrote to Pittsburgh and 
 obtained the same amount from Mr. Mellon. I told Medill [Sen- 
 ator McCormick] today and he says he can now go to Chicago and 
 
 raise about twenty [thousand]. 
 Very sincerely yours, 
 
 P. C. Knox. 
 
 The desired reservoir had been found and it was both 
 deep and full. All anxiety respecting sinews of war was 
 dispelled. Rejoicing pervaded the camp of the Irrecon- 
 cilables, efforts were redoubled all along the line and the 
 redoubtable little band pushed on to the victory which, 
 whether desirable or not, presently was won in the Sen- 
 ate and ultimately was ratified by the people. 
 
 59 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 Mr. Frick’s interest became intense and never flagged 
 for a moment during the seven months left to him of 
 earthly existence. After listening, three days before he 
 died, toan encouraging report of progress in what proved 
 to be his last fight, he smiled contentedly and pronounced 
 it “‘Goop.”’ 
 
 33° 
 
XXIII 
 
 An Art Collector 
 
 HAT Mr. Fricx’s love of art was innate there 
 
 can be no question. While yet in his teens, as 
 
 already noted, the walls of his living room 
 
 were covered with such “‘prints and sketches’’ 
 as wete obtainable in a remote country village for the 
 meager remnants of small earnings at his disposal. 
 Whether he actually essayed the use of pencil and brush, 
 as vaguely recalled by one or two of his contemporaries, 
 is perhaps a question, although a surmise to that effect 
 is not improbable. But testimony to his inherent interest 
 is abundant and evidences of a steadily increasing bent 
 and a signal refinement of taste are manifest at least from 
 the time of furnishing his home in Pittsburgh. 
 
 Hewas attracted first to the French School, and begin- 
 ning while abroad in 1895 he bought a number of paint- 
 ings of varying merits, many of which, as his taste became 
 more catholic, he subsequently disposed of. Although he 
 undertook his new avocation with characteristic caution 
 and only after studies as thorough and as painstaking as he 
 ever applied to a business venture, he quickly developed 
 a tare power of discrimination which he applied unhesi- 
 tatingly whenever an opportunity arose to substitute an 
 example of an artist's genius superior to one which he 
 had acquired, thus pursuing his unwavering policy of 
 
 331 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 always getting the best obtainable. Even while proceed- 
 ing by this winnowing process, at the end of three years 
 he had gathered into his mansion in Pittsburgh no less 
 than seventy-one pictures fairly representative of Rem- 
 brandt, Nattier, Hoppner, Reynolds, Watts, Dagnan Bou- 
 veret, Corot, Daubigny, Troyon, Millet, Jacque, Rous- 
 seau, Alma Tadema, Jules Breton, Fritz Thaulow, Mauve, 
 Greuze, Van Marcke, Monet, Cazin, Bouguereau, Gé- 
 rome, his particular friend Chartran and others, consti- 
 tuting altogether an admirable nucleus for the superb 
 collection ultimately achieved. 
 
 This much he did solely for the gratification of himself, 
 his family and his friends. It was not until after he had 
 residedin NewYork that he was inspired by an inspection 
 of the famous Wallace collection in London to make 
 his own as complete and as nearly perfect as possible for 
 ultimate exhibition, suitably housed and amply endowed 
 for acquirement of meritorious additions through all 
 years to come, to the people of his own country. 
 
 To compare with other collections, that left by Mr. 
 Frick in fulfilment of his noble aspiration might seem 
 invidious and could serve no useful purpose, but there 
 can hardly be dissent from the expert judgment of Mr. 
 Cortissoz that ‘‘this excels any single gift ever made to 
 the public in the past.’’ It comprises more than a hundred 
 paintings, and every one is a masterpiece representing 
 the best work of fifty or more of the world’s greatest 
 artists. 
 
 In addition to paintings, Mr. Frick acquired exquisite 
 examples in sculpture, Renaissance bronzes, Limoges 
 
 332 
 
An Ast Colleétor 
 
 enamels, and Chinese porcelains. The bust of a Neapol- 
 itan Princess by Laurana and the Portrait of Madame 
 Cayla by Houdon, are masterpieces in marble, and among 
 the bronzes, are the works of Giovanni da Bologna, Ben- 
 venuto Cellini, Verrocchio and Michelangelo. 
 
 Both Limousin and Pénicaud, those rare masters in the 
 art of ‘‘Limoges,’’ are represented, and thus the enamels 
 rival in quality the finest in the museums of Europe. 
 
 The collection of so-called black hawthorn vases of the 
 K’ang and Hsi period is one of the most choice in exist- 
 ence, and the beauty of these objets d’art is greatly en- 
 hanced by the dignity and harmony of the setting afforded 
 by the paintings themselves. 
 
 ‘““A Noble Landmark in our Art History,’’ was the 
 title given by Mr. Cortissoz to his appreciative and dis- 
 criminating tribute, published simultaneously with Mr. 
 Frick’s Will. 
 
 “Comment upon Mr. Frick’s gift of his collection to 
 the public,’’ he wrote, ‘‘is naturally enough concentrated 
 
 just now upon the mere magnitude of his bequest. He 
 leaves to the city, or to the state as the exact terms of 
 his will may determine, a prodigious body of artistic 
 treasures. It is said that it cost him from $30,000,000 to 
 $40,000,000 and the estimate seems reasonable. Yet it is 
 in the particular disposition of his works of art that he 
 has done most to place his countrymen in his debt. For 
 a number of years, when our great private collections 
 have not gone to the auction room, they have gravitated 
 to public museums. Nothing could be more commend- 
 able—save the newer policy which has given a Johnson 
 
 333 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 Museum to Philadelphia, a Freer Museum to Washing- 
 ton, and now a Frick Museum to New York. 
 
 ‘The independent gathering of masterpieces, isolated 
 in a building of their own, is a boon for which we are 
 always bound to be grateful, and it takes ona particularly 
 rare atmosphere when it reduces to a minimum the in- 
 stitutional character inseparable from the public mu- 
 seums. The Frick collection will inevitably be compared 
 with the Wallace Collection in London. But when the 
 reader is making comparisons of this sort let him think 
 of another, smaller shrine of art; instead of Hertford 
 House, let him think of the Poldi-pezzoli, at Milan. 
 There is the ideal precedent which Mr. Frick has fol- 
 lowed. 
 
 “Tn giving his house along with his pictures and other 
 beautiful possessions he has done all that a collector 
 could do to send Velasquez or a Rembrandt or a Gains- 
 borough down to posterity, not as a ‘museum specimen’ 
 but as a human thing, a work made truly for the delight 
 of mankind. We would be lost without museums, but 
 we are trebly enriched when the museum idea is camou- 
 flaged, so to say, by the atmosphere of an individual’s 
 home. It is an interesting coincidence that, at the time 
 when the historic interiors of Europe and Great Britain 
 are being broken up as never before, the announcement 
 of the Frick bequest should be made. The old order 
 changeth, giving place to the new. Is the ancient tra- 
 dition to be revived in the United States, ancestral col- 
 lections being scattered abroad only to enter upon a more 
 permanent form of existence on this side of the Atlantic? 
 
 334 
 
An Art Colleétor 
 
 ‘It requires no great stretching of the imagination to 
 recognize in Mr. Frick’s gift the establishment of some- 
 thing like a landmark in our art history.”’ 
 
 Mr. Frick did not merely admire and enjoy his beauti- 
 ful pictures; he loved them with a passion as tender as 
 he felt for little children. They rested him, refreshed his 
 mind, soothed his spirit. Often late at night, at the end 
 of a trying day, when perfect stillness rei gned, he would 
 slip noiselessly, almost furtively, into the darkened gal- 
 lery, turn on the lights and sit for an hour or more, first 
 on one divan then on another, absorbing solace and hap- 
 piness through the mirrors of his heart before seeking 
 the mental and physical relaxation of dreamless sleep. 
 And nothing gave him so much pleasure as quietly wit- 
 nessing, himself unseen, the delights of enraptured visi- 
 tors, and listening to their comments. 
 
 In his later years, he personally superintended and di- 
 rected the unwrapping and hanging of every fresh acqui- 
 sition and made careful notation, in a diary deplorably 
 casual in other respects, of dates of arrival and the like, 
 but with no superfluous word, as for example: 
 
 191g 
 March 12.—Purchased Stuart ‘‘Geo. Washington.”’ 
 
 yaeeay.——Re the Vermeer. 
 May 24.—Purchased paintings from Bacon Estate. 
 Aug. 13.—Vermeer arrived. Taken to Pride’s. 
 Sept. 7.—Brought the Vermeer from Pride’s. 
 The first Old Master purchased was Rembrandt’s 
 ‘Portrait of a Painter.’’ 
 The Vermeer referred to, ‘‘Lady with a Letter,’’ was 
 the last painting bought by Mr. Frick, and this, with 
 
 335 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 Rembrandt’s ‘Self Portrait,’’ Velasquez’s “‘Philip the 
 Fourth,’’ Holbein’s *‘Sir Thomas More,’’ and Bellini’s 
 ‘St. Francis,’’ comprised his favorites. But he never 
 wavered in allegiance to his first choice among artists. 
 Asked late in life what man’s gift he would have pre- 
 ferred to inherit if he had possessed the privilege of se- 
 lection, he replied unhesitatingly: 
 
 ‘““Rembrandt’s.”’ 
 
 His first announcement of his purpose, after viewing the 
 Wallace collection was made confidentially to a friend. 
 
 ‘The American people,’’ hesaid, ‘‘arefond—and prop- 
 erly so—of going to Europe, chiefly to see the famous 
 paintings and other works of art there. I am going to 
 try to bring some of them here where all Americans may 
 have the opportunity of seeing them without crossing 
 the ocean.”’ 
 
 And toward the last, while showing the last Vermeer 
 purchased to another friend, he looked down the long 
 gallery and remarked quietly: 
 
 ‘‘T can only hope that the public will get one-half the 
 pleasure that has been afforded me in enjoyment of these 
 masterpieces in proper surroundings. I want this col- 
 lection to be my monument.”’ 
 
 336 
 
An Art Colleétor 
 
 PAINTINGS, DRAWINGS, AND ETCHINGS SELECTED AND PURCHASED BY 
 MR. FRICK PERSONALLY BETWEEN 1881 AND I9I9 
 
 DATE OF 
 PURCHASE ARTIST TITLE 
 
 1881 Luts Jiminez In the Louvre 
 
 1887 Trro Less1 The Reader 
 MEYER VON Bremen The Darlings 
 
 1895 Martin Rico Fishermen’s Houses, Venice 
 J. B. Rosie Flower Piece 
 BouGuEREAU Espiéglerie 
 BRETON Last Gleanings 
 Cazin Sunday Evening in a Miners’ Village 
 CazIn The Pool—Gray Night 
 C. E. Jacque Minding the Flock 
 A. B. WALE Sheep 
 J. G. Jacquet Manon 
 HarNETT Still Life 
 J. R. WoopwEti Landscape 
 Rosa BoNHEUR Horse Fair 
 J. W. Beatry Harvest Scene 
 Monet Argenteuil 
 THAULOW Village Night Scene 
 
 1896 PICcKNELL Among the Polls 
 Van Os Fruit 
 Mauve A Quiet Hour 
 CHARTRAN Portrait of H.C. Frick 
 RosENBOOM Five Water Colors 
 HARPIGNIES Lake at Briare 
 HARPIGNIES Sunset Pool 
 DavuBIGNY Les Laveuses 
 ZIEM French Gardens in Venice 
 Diaz A Pond of Vipers 
 RosENBOOM Yellow Roses 
 Mauve Early Morning Ploughing 
 RoussEAu Edge of Woods 
 
 1897 Draz Love's Caresses 
 L’ HERMITE The Haymakers 
 ALMA TADEMA Watching 
 MILLET The Farmer’s Wife A drawing 
 
 337 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 DATE OF 
 
 PURCHASE ARTIST TITLE 
 1897 J. Dupré *La Riviere 
 LINNELL Evening: Hampstead Heath 
 1898 Romney *Mary Finch Hatton 
 Cazin The Dipper 
 RAFFAELLI La Toilette 
 Corot *Ville d’Avray 
 TROYON Landscape 
 Swan Tigers Drinking 
 MiILiet The Knitting Lesson A drawing 
 CuvILLON Le Lever 
 Wo. A. CorFin A Rainy Day 
 THAULOW Hoar Frost 
 Dacnan-Bovuveret Disciples at Emmaus 
 MiLeT Shepherd Minding Sheep A drawing 
 1899 CHELMINSKI Moonlight Drive 
 THAULOW Winter in Norway 
 Mitiet TheSower A drawing 
 TROYON Road near the Woods 
 CHARTRAN Portrait of P. C. Knox 
 HoppNER *Miss Byng 
 THAULOW The Smoky City 
 FRIANT Chagrin d’Enfant 
 LEroy Cats the Burglars 
 MILLET Puy-de-Déme A drawing 
 MILiet Cow Herder % 
 REMBRANDT *A Young Painter 
 NATTIER *The Honorable Elizabeth Hamilton 
 DaGcnan-Bouveret Head of Christ 
 Corot *L’Etang 
 MortanpD Horse in Stable 
 TROYON Paturage en Normandie 
 DavuBIGNY Le Village de Glaton 
 1900 VOLLON Still Life 
 1901 Monet Bords de la Seine 
 TURNER *Antwerp: Van Goyen Looking for a 
 Subject 
 DaGcnan-Bovuveret Consoling the Afflicted 
 ~ *In the Frick Collection 
 
 338 
 
DATE OF 
 PURCHASE 
 
 1901 
 
 1902 
 
 1903 
 
 1904 
 
 15 
 
 1906 
 
 An Art Collector 
 
 ARTIST TITLE 
 Jacos RutsDAEL A Waterfall 
 Jacos Maris Amsterdam 
 IsRAELS Mother and Children 
 VERMEER *The Music Lesson 
 WouvERMAN *Cavalry Camp 
 Diaz La Plaine 
 Draz Les Baigneuses 
 IsRAELS Near the Cradle 
 Jacos Maris Mussel Gatherers 
 Mauve Hauling Logs 
 HosBEMA *A Woody Country 
 THomas Lawrence Marquise de Blaisel 
 Rousszau *Village de Becquigny 
 Curp *Herdsman and Cows 
 REYNOLDS Lady Beaumont 
 REYNOLDS Sir George Beaumont 
 Corot *Le Matin: Lac de Garde 
 RoMNEY *The Honorable Miss Harford 
 GAINSBOROUGH *Mrs. Hatchett 
 GeratD TersurG *Portrait of Lady in Black 
 CoNSsTABLE Agitated Sea 
 DavuBIGNY *Dieppe 
 MurILLo Portrait of the Artist 
 Tuomas Lawrence *Lady Peel 
 RoMNEY *Lady Hamilton 
 TURNER *Boats Entering Calais Harbor 
 RAEBURN *Mrs. Cruikshank 
 Ext Greco *Portrait of a Cardinal 
 Van Dyck *Portrait of Canevari 
 Cuyp *Sunrise on the Maas or Dort 
 Metsu *Lady in Blue Negligé 
 TITIAN *Pietro Aretino 
 TENIERS Family Party 
 Sotomon RuyspaEt *Landscape 
 VLIEGER Sea Shore 
 Franz Hats *Portrait of an Artist 
 LE QuESNE Settlement of St. Louis 
 
 *In the Frick Collection 
 
 339 
 
DATE OF 
 PURCHASE 
 
 1906 VAN DE CaPELLE 
 
 1907 
 
 1908 
 
 1909 
 
 1910 
 
 I91I 
 
 Frick the Man 
 
 ARTIST 
 
 Mitiet 
 Corot 
 REYNOLDS 
 REYNOLDs 
 REMBRANDT 
 Van Dycx 
 VAN OsTADE 
 
 TITLE 
 *View of Dort 
 *La Femme a la Lampe 
 *le Lac 
 *Mrs. Harcourt 
 *Lady Skipworth 
 *Self Portrait 
 *Marchesa Giovanna Cattaneo 
 *Halt at the Inn 
 
 ScHoot oF AVIGNON *Pieta 
 
 C. HassaM 
 RoMNEY 
 MILLET 
 CoNSTABLE 
 VELASQUEZ 
 GAINSBOROUGH 
 TURNER 
 
 Et Greco 
 ZIEM 
 
 Van Dycx 
 Van Dycx 
 TARBELL 
 
 Curr 
 BROUWER 
 REYNOLDS 
 REMBRANDT 
 Franz Hats 
 Jacos RuisDAEL 
 Franz Hats 
 RuBENS 
 REMBRANDT 
 REMBRANDT 
 Goya 
 VELASQUEZ 
 VERMEER 
 HosBEMA 
 RaEBURN 
 GAINSBOROUGH 
 
 *In the Frick Collection 
 
 340 
 
 The June Idyl 
 *Lady Warwick and Children 
 La Sortie A drawing 
 *Salisbury Cathedral 
 Marianna of Austria 
 The Honorable Mrs. Watson 
 *Mortlake Terrace 
 *Purification of Temple 
 La Galére 
 *Mrs. Snyders 
 *Franz Snyders 
 Scene in the Berkshire Hills 
 *River Scene 
 Landscape 
 *Lady Elizabeth Taylor 
 *Polish Rider 
 *Portrait of a Woman 
 *The Quay at Amsterdam 
 *A Burgomaster 
 Italian Prince in Armor 
 Man in Broad-brimmed Hat and Ruff 
 Woman in White Cap and Ruff 
 Tirana 
 *Philip IV 
 *Soldier and Laughing Girl 
 *Landscape 
 *James Cruikshank 
 *The Honorable Frances Duncombe 
 
DATE OF 
 PURCHASE 
 
 I9II 
 1912 
 
 1913 
 
 1914 
 
 19%) 
 
 1916 
 
 An Art Colleétor 
 
 ARTIST 
 ROMNEY 
 HoLsBEIN 
 VERONESE 
 VERONESE 
 Van Dycx 
 
 Et Greco 
 GuARDI 
 GuARDI 
 GAINSBOROUGH 
 GAINSBOROUGH 
 GAINSBOROUGH 
 REMBRANDT 
 REMBRANDT 
 REMBRANDT 
 Van Dycx 
 Jacos Maris 
 HoGarTH 
 Goya 
 
 Goya 
 GAINSBOROUGH 
 WHISTLER 
 WHISTLER 
 WHISTLER 
 TURNER 
 TURNER 
 
 GERHARDT DavIpD 
 GIOVANNI BELLINI 
 
 Ho.sBEIN 
 HoppNER 
 RUBENS 
 FRAGONARD 
 GAINSBOROUGH 
 VAN DER PLuYM 
 WHISTLER 
 WHISTLER 
 TITIAN 
 
 *In the Frick Collection 
 
 TITLE 
 *Lady Milnes 
 *Sir Thomas More 
 *Wisdom and Strength 
 *Virtue and Vice 
 *James Stanley, Earl of Derby, his 
 Wife and Child 
 
 *Knight of Malta 
 
 Canal Scene 
 
 Canal Scene 
 *Study of a Lady Seated A drawing 
 *Study of a Lady Seated * 
 *Landscape e 
 *Landscape with Cottage 
 *Houses around Courtyard 
 *Isaac Blessing Jacob 
 *Paola Adorno 
 *The Bridge 
 *The Honorable Mary Edwards 
 *Sefiora Dona Maria Martinez da Puga 
 *Count Teba 
 *Lady Innes 
 *Rosa Corder 
 *Comte de Montesquieu 
 *The Ocean (Nocturne) 
 *Cologne: Arrival of the Packet Boat 
 *Dieppe: Moving Day 
 *Descent from the Cross 
 *St. Francis in the Desert 
 *Sir Thomas Cromwell 
 *The Misses Bligh 
 *A mbrose Spinola 
 *Romance of Love and Youth 
 *The Mall in St. James Park 
 *Old Woman with a Bible | 
 *Lady Meux 
 *Mrs. Leyland 
 *Man with a Red Cap 
 
 341 
 
DATE OF 
 PURCHASE 
 
 1916 
 ue 
 
 1918 
 
 Frick the Man 
 
 ARTIST 
 Goya 
 Franz Hats 
 Van Dycx 
 GAINSBOROUGH 
 PETER DE Hoocu 
 Van Dycx 
 BoucHER 
 BoucHER 
 BoucHER 
 WHISTLER 
 WHISTLER 
 WHISTLER 
 DGrRER 
 REMBRANDT 
 REMBRANDT 
 Van Dyck 
 Van Dycx 
 DUrer 
 Direr 
 REMBRANDT 
 REMBRANDT 
 REMBRANDT 
 REMBRANDT 
 REMBRANDT 
 MERYON 
 MERYON 
 MERYON 
 TIEPOLO 
 RENOIR 
 BELLOWS 
 R. Kent 
 GILBERT STUART 
 LEMORDANT 
 Goya 
 RAEBURN 
 HoGarTH 
 HoppNER 
 
 *In the Frick Collection 
 
 342 
 
 TITLE 
 
 *The Forge 
 *Admiral de Ruyter 
 *Countess of Clanbrassil 
 *Mrs. Wm. Peter Baker 
 *Interior with Figures 
 *Sir John Suckling 
 *La Musique 
 *Le Dessin 
 *Jeune Fille Tenant Fleurs 
 *The Ferry, Venice 
 *Nocturne, Venice 
 *La Cimetiere, Venice 
 *Adam and Eve ® 
 *The Three Trees - 
 *The Goldweigher’s Field ‘ss 
 *Pierre Breughel, Younger 
 *Franz Snyders 
 *Knight, Death andthe Devil ”’ 
 *Coat of Arms with the Scull 
 *Cottage with White Palings 
 *Landscape 
 *Landscape 
 *Clement de Jonghe 
 *St. Francis Beneath a Tree 
 *Le Pont au Change 
 *L’Arche du Pont NotreDame ”’ 
 *Fourteen Etchings 
 *Perseus and Andromeda 
 *Mother and Children 
 
 Docks in Winter 
 
 Seiners 
 *George Washington 
 
 Sketch 
 *Portrait of a Man 
 
 Portrait of a Man 
 
 Portrait of a Man 
 
 Princess Sophia 
 
 An'etching 
 
An Art Colleéor 
 
 DATE OF 
 PURCHASE ARTIST TITLE 
 1918 Jacos RuIsDAEL Waterfall 
 RoMNEY Mrs. Thomas Raikes and Child 
 Dirk Hats Dutch Interior 
 REYNOLDs Portrait of Lady Cecil Rice 
 GAINSBOROUGH R. B. Sheridan 
 GuaRDI Venetian Scene 
 PATER *L’Orchestre du Village 
 PATER _ *Marche Comique 
 BoucHER Four Engravings after Boucher 
 1919 VERMEER *Reading a Letter 
 
 *TIn the Frick Collection 
 
 343 
 
XXIV 
 Benefactions and Bequests 
 
 HAT Princeton University stood first among edu- 
 cational institutions in the estimation of Mr. 
 Frick was made clear to the public when an- 
 nouncement was made that he had bequeathed 
 to it thirty out of a total of one hundred shares in the 
 residue of his estate, but the fact is not generally known 
 that this splendid donation, though the greatest, was but 
 the last of many gifts that had preceded it. His first con- 
 tributions of $20,500, subsequently increased to $36,314, 
 for the purchase of land for the Colonial Club and $20,000 
 for the gymnasium were made during the first year of 
 President Woodrow Wilson’s administration in 1903. 
 Others followed chronologically as follows: 
 1906—To endow a bed in the infirmary, $3,000; 1914—for erec- 
 tion of Freshman and Sophomore dining halls, $10,000; 1915 —to 
 deficit and library book fund, $10,000; land for campus $23,500; 
 1916—sketches for chemical laboratory, $2,200; organ, $46,000; 
 endowment for upkeep of organ, $100,000; land for campus, $92,- 
 ooo; 1918—additional compensation for organist, $5,000; Prince- 
 
 ton Bureau, Paris, for service to men overseas, $1000; 1919—alter- 
 ations to chemical laboratory, $9,500; total, $358,514. 
 
 The University also profited handsomely from Mr. 
 Frick’s possession of ready money 1n 1916. It held in its 
 treasury at that time one thousand shares of the Chase 
 National Bank, whose capital was about to be doubled, 
 
 344 
 
Benefaétions and Bequests 
 
 affording stockholders an opportunity to subscribe for 
 their respective allotments at par. The privilege was val- 
 uable but the University was unable to exercise it, owing 
 to lack of funds and inability to get a bid for its holdings. 
 Even the ‘insiders’ had “‘enough of the stock,’’ reported 
 Mr. Moses Taylor Pyne, when he sought advice from 
 Mr. Frick, who promptly loaned the University $100,- 
 000 at 4 per cent for such time as might be required to 
 protect its rights, with the result that at the end of six 
 months thetreasurer was able to sell three hundred shares 
 for enough to pay off the loan, leaving seven hundred 
 shares free and clear and realizing for the University a 
 net profit of $225,000. 
 
 But Mr. Frick’s interest in educational advancement 
 was not confined to universities and colleges. It was even 
 keener in common schools. This was but natural. To those 
 humble institutions he was indebted chiefly for such in- 
 tellectual training as he was able to acquire in his youth, 
 and subsequent experience undoubtedly impressed upon 
 his mind a sense of their deficiencies. It is quite probable, 
 too, that he took pride in his Grandfather Overholt’s 
 successful endeavors to raise the system in Pennsylvania 
 to a higher plane. What better service could he render 
 than to supplement the work of his most revered pro- 
 genitor? That such an aspiration crossed his mind when, 
 in 1909, he directed his attention to the needs of his native 
 community may well be believed. The only question was 
 how to render real service in a practical way, and this 
 he answered from a close study of conditions which con- 
 vinced him that the first requisite of improvement was 
 
 345 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 teaching of the teachers. To carry out his purpose he 
 summoned to Pride’s his old friend, John A. Brashear, 
 the humble millwright and idealist who had become 
 famous for his invention of astronomical instruments 
 which had widened the boundaries of science, simply 
 because he ‘‘loved the stars,’’ and confided to him his 
 design. 
 
 ““Briefly,’’ says Mr. Brashear in his naive Memoirs, 
 ‘‘he made me custodian of a fund of $250,000 for the 
 betterment of our grade schools, with especial reference 
 to assisting to improve their methods of teaching. Mr. 
 Frick wished that the name of the donor of the fund 
 remain unknown, and it was so for seven years. With 
 his help and consent I appointed a committee of enthusi- 
 astic men to assist in this important work, but I remained 
 the spokesman of the unannounced donor. The Educa- 
 tional Fund Commission contained two judges, two ex- 
 perienced members of local boards of education (now the 
 Board of Public Education of Pittsburgh), and two man- 
 ufacturing engineers interested in educational work. At 
 the first meeting of the Commission, October 2nd, 1909, 
 I was elected President. We all entered upon our duties 
 with enthusiasm and a deep sense of responsibility which 
 had devolved upon us in such an unexpected and unusual 
 manner.”’ 
 
 Seven years later Judge Joseph Buffington, an original 
 member of the Commission, made public the following 
 report: 
 
 The desire of the donor to now make the fund permanent has 
 necessitated the disclosure of his identity; and at a recent confer- 
 
 346 
 
Benefactions and Bequests 
 
 ence with him at which he made the fund of $250,000 permanent, 
 he added an annual income of $12,500 for a term of five years, the 
 donor has at our urgent request permitted us to lift the veil of 
 modest retirement which has hitherto characterized this splendid 
 anonymous gift. 
 
 There have been, of course, instances here and there of small 
 gifts to the public schools, but this gift is, historically speaking, 
 I believe, the first and only instance of an endowment by an indi- 
 vidual, on a large scale, of an American public-school system. 
 
 In starting out on this new field the Commission sought the 
 views of the best educators over the country, but after they had 
 been heard from, the Commission finally, as in most cases of re- 
 sponsibility, had to evolve its own plan. In substance that plan 
 was to Create, stimulate, and develop the ambition, field, and vi- 
 sion of the two thousand teachers who were moulding the eighty 
 thousand school children of the city. They determined that in the 
 public school the individual teacher was, in the final analysis, the 
 power behind the gun; and if that teacher could be led from the 
 sphere of humdrum routine into an atmosphere of progressive self- 
 improvement, that the child, the schools, and the community 
 would be benefited. 
 
 With that specific end in view—the energizing, vitalizing, and 
 inspiring the individual teacher—the Commission turned to the 
 summer schools of pedagogy which wete being established in differ- 
 ent parts of the country. These schools were beginning to draw to 
 their sessions the most ambitious and progressive teachers, and the 
 Commission determined as an experiment to select about seventy 
 Pittsburgh teachers and send them to these schools with the dis- 
 tinct idea of coupling vocational and vacational work, and enable 
 these teachers to bring back to Pittsburgh the best ideas they could 
 from the best teachers from other American cities who attended 
 these summer schools. 
 
 It will thus be seen that the basic feature of the Commission was 
 teaching the child by teaching the teacher, and in doing that to 
 get the best ideas of the best school work of other cities and bring 
 that best to the schools of Pittsburgh .. . 
 
 The keynote had been struck, the problem solved. Henceforth 
 it was a mere question of going ahead on the lines mapped. By the 
 time three years had passed, the teachers grasped the idea of the 
 
 347 
 
Benefaétions and Bequests 
 
 The Commission has generously encouraged the routine profes- 
 sional work being carried on with the teachers throughout the 
 school year by making an appropriation to pay for the services of 
 outside school experts who may be brought to the city to assist in 
 the development of such work. 
 
 “This gift of Henry Clay Frick,’’ Dr. Davidson con- 
 cluded, ‘*is unique in the annals of America. I venture to 
 say that no bequest has ever been made to an educational 
 institution in thiscountry that hasaccomplished so much 
 in a given space of time as has been accomplished by the 
 magnificent bequest of Henry Clay Frick to the uses of 
 the public school teachers of Pittsburgh. Due to this be- 
 neficence this city is today among the foremost cities of 
 America and of the world in all matters pertaining to 
 the professional growth and the professional improve- 
 ment of its teachers."’ 
 
 The old observatory of the Western University had 
 become useless in 1894 and Mr. Brashear was made Chair- 
 man of a committee to raise funds for construction of a 
 new one. At the expiration of four years enough money 
 had been subscribed to prepare plans and lay a corner 
 stone but that was about all. Seven additional years rolled 
 by and the undertaking was still lagging in the Spring 
 of 1905 when, one evening while visiting Pittsburgh, 
 Mr. Frick invited his old friend to dinner. 
 
 ““Brashear,’’ he asked, “‘how is the observatory com- 
 ing on?”’ 
 
 The depressed scientist shook his head. Mr. William 
 Thaw had contributed handsomely, but a second stand- 
 still had been reached. 
 
 ‘*Well,’’ rejoined Mr. Frick, ‘‘go and find out what it 
 
 349 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 will cost to finish and equip it and if you can raise half 
 of the amount by October 15th, I will pay the other 
 half.”’ 
 
 So the beautiful observatory was completed and in the 
 crypt was placed a tablet in memory of the two best- 
 beloved of all residents of Pittsburgh, before or since: 
 
 PHOEBE : S§ : BRASHEAR 
 
 1843-1910 
 
 We have loved the stars too fondly 
 To be fearful of the night. 
 
 JOHN - A+ BRASHEAR 
 1840-1920 
 
 Responding in 1900 to a request for a contribution to 
 a fund for the construction of a library for the College of 
 Wooster in Ohio, the home of his parents, Mr. Frick de- 
 cided to bear the entire cost of the building, but declined 
 to have it called the ‘Frick Library,’’ although finally 
 he consented to the placing of a tablet reciting that it 
 was erected in memory of his parents. 
 
 No records of his many miscellaneous gifts, prior to 
 1914, can be found, but a partial list of contributions 
 for educational and humanitarian purposes, exclusive 
 of those mentioned elsewhere, comprises the following: 
 
 EpucaTionaL:—Harvard University; American Academy in 
 Rome; Pennsylvania College for Women; General Education; Bev- 
 erly High School; Pittsburgh Civic Commission; Metropolitan 
 Museum of Arts; Boston Museum; Young Women’s Association. 
 
 HuMANITARIAN:—Pittsburgh Newsboys’ Home; Home for the 
 Friendless; Home for Crippled Children; Beverly Hospital; Asso- 
 
 35° 
 
Benefactions and Bequests 
 
 ciation for Improving Condition of the Poor;Children’s Aid Society; 
 Pittsburgh Tuberculosis Hospital; Homestead Hospital; Gloucester 
 Fishermen; Beverly Playgrounds; Seamen’s Church; New York 
 Dispensary and Hospital; Association for the Blind; Homestead 
 Park; Kingsley House Association; Lakeside Hospital, Cleveland; 
 Children’s Hospital; Mercy Hospital; Presbyterian Aged Women’s 
 Home; Home for Incurables; Eye, Ear, and Throat Hospital; Pub- 
 lic Baths, Pittsburgh; Martinique Sufferers; Allegheny General 
 Hospital; Actors’ Hospital; Soho Bath House; Russian Jews; San 
 Francisco Sufferers; San Bois Coal Mine Sufferers; Infants’ Hos- 
 pital, and Mt. Pleasant Park. 
 
 The year 1914 brought a contribution for the Salem 
 sufferers followed by donations of various sums to the 
 Lying-In-Hospital, the Women’s Service League, the 
 Horticulture Society, the New York Militia, the Masonic 
 Homes, the Memorial to Mrs. Schenley, the Railroad 
 Fund, the New York Police Relief Fund, the New York 
 Charity Organization, the Museum of Natural History, 
 Dorchester House Hospital, for the Unemployed of Pitts- 
 burgh and New York, the Valley Forge Memorial, the 
 Roanoke Auditorium, the American School in Rome, the 
 Scottdale Temperance Campaign, the Actors Fund and 
 many others, notably for anything helpful to children,— 
 Boy Scouts, Girls’ Camp Outings, Home for Deficient 
 Children and nurseries. Nearly all of such gifts were 
 made anonymously and frequently in cash to avoid pub- 
 licity. Probably no man ever gave more freely and con- 
 stantly or strove more earnestly to prevent his left hand 
 from knowing what his right hand was doing. 
 
 Mr. Frick’s final disposition of his great accumulations 
 was made in 1915, in a Will pronounced by Lewis Cass 
 Ledyard, Esq., leader of the American Bar, the most ad- 
 
 351 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 mirable and the easiest to put into form of the many 
 involving large bequests he had drawn. 
 
 “Mr. Frick,’’ he once said, ‘not only knew precisely 
 what he wanted to do but precisely how he wanted to 
 do it. His own detailed conception called for no more 
 than certain legal phrasing to become as nearly perfect 
 as any testament I have ever read.”’ 
 
 After allotting about one-sixth of his estate to mem- 
 bers of his family, he made the following public bequests: 
 
 To THE Frick Coxtection (Incorporated):—Real estate bounded 
 by Fifth Avenue, Seventieth Street, Madison Avenue and Seventy- 
 first Street, dwelling house thereon with contents thereof, com- 
 prising paintings and other works of art, furnishings and organ, 
 subject to occupancy by Mrs. Frick during her lifetime, “‘for the 
 purpose of establishing and maintaining a gallery of art in and at 
 the said house and premises above described, and encouraging and 
 developing the study of the fine arts, and of advancing the general 
 knowledge of kindred subjects; such gallery of art to be for the 
 use and benefit of all persons whomsoever, to the end that the 
 same shall be a public gallery of art to which the entire public 
 shall forever have access, subject only to reasonable regulations 
 to be from time to time established by the said corporation.” 
 
 To THE TRUSTEES OF THE Frick Coutiection (Mrs. Frick, Miss 
 Frick, Mr. Childs Frick and Messrs. George F. Baker, Jr., J. Horace 
 Harding, Walker D. Hines, Lewis Cass Ledyard, John D. Rocke- 
 feller, Jr., and Horace Havemeyer and their successors )— $15 ,000- 
 000 in trust to collect the income therefrom and use the same for 
 maintenance of, and additions to, the said Collection. 
 
 ‘Section 6. I am conscious that, in asking their acceptance of 
 these trusts for carrying out my wishes for the formation and or- 
 ganization of Tur Frick Cotxecrion, I am imposing upon these 
 gentlemen a duty which may prove very burdensome, and my only 
 justification for asking this advice at their hands is found in my 
 belief that they will undertake it because it is a public service. 
 
 ““SEcTION 7. It is my desire and purpose through the provisions 
 of this Article of my will to found an institution which shall be 
 
 354 
 
Benefactions and Bequests 
 
 permanent in character and which shall encourage and develop the 
 study of the fine arts and which shall promote the general knowl- 
 edge of kindred subjects among the public at large. 
 
 ‘The devise and gifts made by this Article to the said corporation 
 herein directed to be formed and to be known as Tus Frick Cot- 
 LECTION are subject only to the condition that the said gallery of 
 art shall at all times subsequent to the termination of the estate in 
 my said dwelling house devised to my wife in and by the first sec- 
 tion of this Article of my will, be maintained under the name 
 which I have directed to be given to said corporation, and in and 
 upon the premises mentioned in this Article, and it is my will that 
 such of my paintings and other works of art as are herein bequeathed 
 to it shall at all times be there preserved and maintained.”’ 
 
 To THe City or Pirrssurcuo—One hundred and fifty-one acres 
 of land (described) as a public park, free to the people, and in trust 
 the income of $2,000,000 for its maintenance. 
 
 The public institutions which shared in the residuary 
 estate were the following: 
 
 Educational Fund Commission, Children’s Hospital, Allegheny 
 General Hospital, Home for the Friendless, Kingsley House Asso- 
 ciation, Mercy Hospital, Pittsburgh Free Dispensary, Pittsburgh 
 Newsboys Home, Western Pennsylvania Hospital, Central Young 
 Women’s Christian Association, Uniontown Hospital, Cottage 
 State Hospital, Westmoreland Hospital, Mount Pleasant Mem- 
 orial Hospital, Braddock General Hospital, Homestead Hospital, 
 Trustees of Princeton University, President and Fellows of Har- 
 vard College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the So- 
 ciety of the Lying-In-Hospital of the City of New York. 
 
 Although circumstances required Mr. Frick to reside 
 elsewhere much of the time, he retained his citizenship 
 of Pittsburgh and never lost interest in the community 
 which had contributed much to, and had profited no less 
 from, his success. Not even his splendid donations to 
 educative and humanitarian services will live longer in 
 the grateful recollection of his former neighbors than a 
 relatively trifling but very fine act done by him in 1915, 
 
 353 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 when the Pittsburgh Bank for Savings closed its doors 
 and he promptly telegraphed to his bank to advance 
 hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay depositors in 
 full, ‘‘so that the children shall not be deprived of their 
 Christmas funds.’’ 
 
 ‘‘He was always on the look-out for a chance to help 
 anyone in distress without being detected,”’ writes his 
 private secretary as of that time, who still recalls a few 
 of innumerable instances in these words: 
 
 To go back to the days of horse cars: One day, in coming to the 
 city, he found himself without the necessary carfare and accepted 
 the loan of a nickel proffered by a workingman who was sitting 
 beside him, asking him to stop in the office, and when he came, he 
 received a five dollar bill, not by way of charity, but as an expres- 
 sion of appreciation. Perhaps in referring to this side of Mr. Frick’s 
 nature, I should have first mentioned the long list of persons to 
 whom he sent monthly checks in such a way as not to make them 
 feel they were under any obligations to him for the money. 
 
 Another thing that impressed me was his sympathy for the sick 
 and afflicted. 
 
 In coming from the club one day, he saw the Mercy Hospital 
 ambulance pulling off the tracks, with iron tires on the wheels. 
 When he reached the office, he immediately asked his bookkeeper 
 to telephone the hospital to have rubber tires substituted, and 
 send the bill to him, which was done. 
 
 Another time, in walking along the street, he found a poor 
 family being forced from their home, and their belongings piled 
 on the sidewalk. Upon making inquiry into the cause of the trouble, 
 he learned that their rent had not been paid. A check for the amount 
 was promptly sent to the landlord, and the furniture was replaced 
 in the house, which continued to be a home. 
 
 A blind man, living in McKeesport, wrote Mr. Frick about a 
 broom machine (giving him the name of the manufacturer) the 
 possession of which would enable him to make a comfortable liy- 
 ing. Mr. Frick, finding the man was what he represented himself 
 to be, took the greatest pains to look into the merits of the machine 
 
 354 
 
Benefactions and Bequests 
 
 and receiving a satisfactory report, he had one sent to this man 
 and later had a most satisfactory letter from him, telling how he 
 was providing for his family,—not charity, but a chance. 
 
 At a time before the Salvation Army came into its own, and 
 when it was not receiving much sympathy and financial support, 
 one of its workers came into the office for a contribution which 
 was not only cheerfully given, but the amount of the check was so 
 large as to almost stagger the recipient. Mr. Frick always appre- 
 ciated the work done by the Salvation Army. 
 
 Two elderly women, who would have spurned the idea of charity, 
 but who were obliged to make a living, appealed to him to take 
 some of their fancy work, which was the only thing they were 
 able to do. This he did, paying a good price for something for 
 which he had no use, as it was not suitable for his own home, and 
 at times was put to it to know what to do with it as he soon found 
 he had become a regular customer, but he never failed to make a 
 purchase. 
 
 I regret not being able to recall more of the kind and generous 
 acts of Mr. Frick, for they were many, but what always impressed 
 me most was the spirit in which everything was given. 
 
 Proud of his thriving city, Mr. Frick could always be 
 counted upon to aid any movement to make it appear as 
 prosperous as it really was. The William Penn hotel was 
 built largely with his money, but his most impressive 
 contribution to the material splendor of Pittsburgh was 
 the great ‘‘Frick Buirp1ne’’ and the “‘Union Arcade,”’ 
 two of the most striking and artistic structures of their 
 kind in the world. The site which he deemed most suit- 
 able for the building bearing his name was occupied by 
 the big St. Peter’s Episcopal church, but by paying a hand- 
 some sum for the land and moving the edifice, stone by 
 stone, and re-erecting it ina superior location, he accom- 
 plished his purpose, as someone remarked at the time, ‘to 
 the glory of God and the satisfaction of all concerned.”’ 
 
 6 ae) 
 
XXV 
 Personality 
 
 R. Frick’s most splendid inheritance from 
 
 a long line of outdoor-bred ancestors was 
 
 an exceptionally rugged constitution and, 
 
 when he had mastered for the time the con- 
 
 genital infirmities of his youth, he grew to bea powerful 
 
 man physically. His shoulders were broad for his medium 
 
 height, his chest was very deep and the lines of his torso 
 
 were hardly less classical than those drawn of Hercules 
 
 by a student of the master Lycippus in the famous mar- 
 
 ble statue in the Vatican. But one may well doubt that 
 
 the great god matched him in nimbleness of movement; 
 he was quick as lightning. 
 
 The physical attractiveness of his boyhood ripened 
 into a highly distinguished appearance in his later years, 
 never failing, greatly to his annoyance, to draw the at- 
 tention of onlookers when he passed along a street or 
 through a railway station. Not that he was shy; he was 
 fully composed under all conditions; he was simply, in- 
 nately, modest. But his squarely moulded head and finely 
 chiseled features, illumed by a pair of twinkling, though 
 scrutinizing eyes, combined to make of him a notably 
 handsome man. And he always dressed the part, usually 
 in dark blue cloth with a hairline stripe and without a 
 suspicion of jewelry showing. 
 
 356 
 
Personality 
 
 His voice was low, soft and melodious and was never 
 raised. Whatever annoyance or resentment he ever felt 
 appeared in the expression of those eyes, which could 
 become ‘‘very steely’’ very quickly. Invariably courteous 
 to a degree, his minor manners were, as the discerning 
 and somewhat critical Professor Sargent of Harvard re- 
 marked once upon a time, “‘literally exquisite, without 
 a trace of affectation’; that isto say, in familiar prover- 
 bial phrase, he was, beyond compare— 
 
 “‘suaviter in modo, fortiter in re.”’ 
 
 His habits were methodical, punctuated by frequent 
 manifestations of impatience at unnecessary interruption 
 of routine; and he was never idle for a moment, nor even 
 still except at such times as when, having finished the 
 morning’s dictation, he would thrust his hands into his 
 trousers’ pockets, lean far back in his chair, half close 
 his eyes and engage in the silent meditation allotted for 
 the day; only to flash into action at its close in putting 
 the determination reached summarily into effect. Even 
 while holding this favorite posture of apparent repose, 
 he personified power—under restraint. 
 
 Paradoxically, his notably quick mind did not respond 
 readily to wit; he hardly ever laughed; his real delight 
 lay in humor, the subtler the better, which never failed 
 to elicit that ‘‘slow, understanding smile,’’ for which 
 the equally reticent General Grant became noted, and 
 was beloved by his friends. | 
 
 The two men were much alike. 
 
 When finally the opportunity came to heed rare Ben 
 Jonson’s advice to ‘‘Recreate yourself; go, sport!’ Mr. 
 
 357 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 Frick experienced much difficulty in learning how to 
 play. Asked once upon a time what was the secret of his 
 success, he replied sententiously: 
 
 ‘Work and sleep. My alarm clock is always set eight 
 hours ahead of the time I go to bed and I have trained 
 both body and mind to relax. But hard work is the thing. 
 During my first six years with the Steel company I reached 
 my office every weekday morning between seven and eight 
 and never left till six. I walked enough to keep fit and 
 became actually robust. In fact, if I hadn’t been pretty 
 husky when assaulted I probably shouldn't have got off 
 as well as I did. Carnegie often remarked to me, “You 
 certainly do get work out of those fellows.’ I did, too. 
 It was the force of example. When they saw what their 
 Chairman was doing they all followed suit gladly and 
 enthusiastically. So we got on very well.”’ 
 
 ‘Follow suit,’’ a term used in playing certain games 
 at cards, was familiar to him. Beginning with dominoes 
 when a boy, he stepped up to Authors when at school, 
 then to high-low-jack, euchre, penny ante and finally 
 short whist from which, following the trend of the time, 
 he passed on to Bridge and Auction, which became and 
 remained his favorite indoor sport, although when “‘a 
 fourth’’ was not available he seemed quite content with 
 Solitaire, which he would play by the hour. 
 
 The necessity of obtaining outdoor exercise when he 
 dropped desk work in New York presented a problem. 
 Coming from inland, he first tried yachting and liked it 
 so well that he had plans drawn for a novel creation of 
 his own designing but, before beginning to build, his 
 
 358 
 
WITH HIS SECOND GRANDDAUGHTER 
 
os viet 
 
 vs 
 
 -. 
 
 a} 
 
Personality 
 
 restless spirit revolted at enforced confinement, and bore- 
 dom did the rest. 
 
 His real hobby was speed, terrific speed, which came 
 as a reaction from years of patient drudgery and as a re- 
 vival of the impatience of an inherently eager disposition. 
 Motoring he found delightfully exhilarating unless ham- 
 pered by road regulations, to which ultimately, after 
 securing the most expertly daring chauffeur to be found 
 in France, he paid little heed. Nevertheless, with the 
 multiplication of cars, came more and more ‘‘jams’’ and 
 greater necessity for hateful ‘crawling along’’ until final- 
 ly automobiling, as a pastime, was perforce abandoned. 
 
 Paradoxically, the need was supplied by the outdoor 
 sport which calls for more pensive deliberation than any 
 other ever devised. Golf held no appeal whatever to 
 Mr. Frick; it was ‘“‘too slow’’ and must be “‘very tedious” 
 and seemed, in Mr. Roosevelt’s phrase, rather ‘“‘namby 
 pamby for live men’’; but he had always walked for ex- 
 ercise, and one afternoon, following luncheon at a club, 
 he was tempted to follow a match, chiefly from a sense 
 of duty. Like many another, amused at first, presently 
 he bécame sufficiently interested to ‘‘try a shot,’’ with 
 the result that invariably attends a successful effort. He 
 tried another and a third, which he missed entirely, but 
 he persisted doggedly until, with his fifth stroke he 
 luckily dropped a long putt and won the hole. 
 
 That settled it. From the moment the ball struck the 
 tin, he was a golfer, and his interest never after flagged. 
 A very few lessons sufficed. He watched others closely, 
 developed his own methods, practiced assiduously and 
 
 359 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 becamea very fair player, especially in foursomes, which 
 he preferred for their wider opportunities in both com- 
 petition and betting. He was always eager to play, rain 
 or shine, would accept or give any odds proposed and 
 was never satisfied without ‘‘double or quits’’ on the last 
 hole. Wherever he played, he “‘joined the Club”’ and at 
 the last was ‘“‘at home,”’ on five links about New York, 
 three near Pittsburgh, two adjacent to Pride’s, at Sunning- 
 dale, England, and La Boulie and St. Cloud in France. 
 
 His play was characterized by the same concentration 
 that he applied to business, hardly exceeded by a Travis, 
 and in quickness of stroke he was like a Duncan, al- 
 though by stern determination he finally schooled him- 
 self to a certain deliberateness on the greens. Elsewhere, 
 do his best, he could not overcome the urge of his temper- 
 ament; he fairly raced around a course, uphill and down- 
 dale, particularly at his favorite Myopia, where he en- 
 joyed special privileges, and where all stood aside when 
 the good-natured warning was passed forward, ‘‘Look 
 out, Mr. Frick’s coming!’’ But he never broke a rule, 
 flouted “‘etiquette’’ or failed in courtesy. His indignation 
 could be aroused only by a suspicion that his antagonist 
 was ‘‘letting up’’ on him. Once he hinted as much, only 
 to hear the grave response: 
 
 ‘Tam playing badly today, I know, but I don’t let up; 
 I never did.’’ 
 
 “Neither do I,’’ he rejoined quickly, ‘‘and I don’t like 
 others to do so. It was my mistake. I am sure you didn’t. 
 I’m sorry Ispoke,’’—and stepping across the tee, he held 
 out his hand. 
 
 360 
 
Personality 
 
 Writing to Mr. Frick from Murray Bay in 1914, to 
 thank him on behalf of the trustees for a ‘‘ generous gift’’ 
 to Hampton Institute, ex-President Taft added slyly: 
 
 I hope that Myopia Links still give you the pleasure you used to 
 derive from them when I was at Beverly. These links at Murray 
 Bay are by no means so difficult as you may judge from the fact 
 that I have been around once in 82 and once in 83. But I get much 
 enjoyment out of them nevertheless. 
 
 Mr. Frick read that portion of the note aloud at lunch- 
 eon. 
 
 “Eighty-two and eighty-three!’’ Pretty good, Ishould 
 say. And I used to wonder why I couldn’t beat him. I 
 ought to. I am eight years older than he is. I wonder if 
 he would have mentioned the scores if they had been a 
 hundred and two and a hundred and three. I guess he 
 would. There’s nothing small about Taft. I must get a 
 game with Mr. Rockefeller. He is ten years older than 
 Iam and I may havea chance.”’ 
 
 And he got his game some time later,—at the same 
 country place at Pocantico where he had induced Mr. 
 Rockefeller to sell his ore properties to the Steel Corpo- 
 ration in 1901. Asked when he returned how the match 
 came out, he replied: 
 
 “Oh, Mr. Rockefeller was most polite; he always is. 
 He said he felt sure I wasn’t quite ‘on my game’ today, 
 and asked if he was not right?’ 
 
 ‘And what did you say?”’ 
 
 “I said ‘Yes’ and added ‘I never was.’ That brought 
 a good laugh but he was not to be outdone. 
 
 ‘“*“Oh, Mr. Frick,’ he said, ‘I shouldn’t say that, at 
 least of any other game I have ever known you to play.’ 
 
 | 361 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 ‘So we were both pleased and satisfied, even though 
 he did pulla funny little alphabetical game on me, played 
 on the table after luncheon, that I couldn’t make head 
 nor tail of.”’ 
 
 The outbreak of war, involving cessation of his annual 
 trips abroad, prolonged Mr. Frick’s stays at Pride’s and 
 multiplied his opportunities to engage in his favorite 
 pastime. 
 
 ‘Golf in the morning,’’ was frequently recorded as 
 many as six times a week in his daily memoranda, which 
 also were enlivened by specific entries indicating his 
 boyish zestfulness, such as, for example: 
 
 Played with Helen at Tombstone Tournament with Miss Eleanor 
 Sears and Harold Vanderbilt and came in third best. 
 
 Played eighteen holes with Helen against Bryce Allan and Miss 
 Holmes and won, four up. 
 
 Played Mr. Parker and was beaten. 
 
 Played Charles Winslow even and won two up and one to play. 
 
 Played Judge Moore six up and five to play. Went out in 49. 
 Bogie beat me coming in. 
 
 So pages were filled in Summer and, less profusely, in 
 Winter year in and year out, from Dixville Notch to 
 Palm Beach, with “‘Auction in the afternoon”’ a frequent 
 accompaniment. 
 
 And yet beginning with 1914, the first Winter in his 
 new mansion at No. 1 East 7oth Street, to which he had 
 transferred his office from downtown, the number of calls 
 received was amazing,—marked, however, more by fre- 
 quency than by diversity, as he had few close friends. — 
 
 He loved to give small luncheons, with attractive 
 women included, and large dinners to ‘‘interesting”’ men 
 
 362 
 
Personality 
 
 rather than exclusively to business associates. An ad- 
 mirable host, he attended to every detail, arranging the 
 placing of guests and personally distributing their cards 
 to avert possibility of error. 
 
 Always in his box if he liked the opera and never if he 
 did not care for it, he was almost equally fond of amus- 
 ing plays and hardly ever missed one that had been 
 recommended by a person of like taste. A few of his 
 favorite organ selections were “‘Largo,’’ ‘“The Pilgrims’ 
 Chorus,’ ‘‘William Tell,’’ ‘“The Rosary’’ and Gounod’s 
 “Ave Maria.”’ 
 
 Odd items appear in the memoranda, jotted usually 
 by his secretary but occasionally by his daughter: 
 
 At Sherry’s Gin 1912.) Mr. Grier bet (me?) $50,000 to $400 that 
 if Roosevelt gets both Republican and Progressive nominations, he 
 will be elected. 
 
 In Pittsburgh (1916) attended Chamber of Commerce dinner, 
 met Senator Warren Harding of Ohio; he looks like fine Presiden- 
 tial timber. 
 
 Movies taken of Mr. F. playing cards. Very lifelike. 
 
 Had ten young farmers from Montana on their way to the war 
 at Thanksgiving Dinner. Splendid chaps. 
 
 Hereafter when I purchase anything from (naming a certain pic- 
 ture dealer) it will be entered in this diary on the day I buy it. If no 
 memo is entered it is understood that everything left is on approval. 
 
 Dr. Pritchett lunched with others and showed up Wilson's char- 
 acter. Mr. F. drew out others but did not express opinion. 
 
 Stopped at Baltimore and saw the Walters Collection. 
 
 Will Hays called. Contribution. 
 
 Mr. F. left Pride’s for New York with Mr. Grier. He had refused 
 to take an overcoat but found one in the car and threw it out of 
 the window to tease his daughter. 
 
 Although a ‘‘great reader’ in his youth, Mr. Frick 
 seldom opened a modern novel in his late years, but took 
 363 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 pleasure from such books as the ‘Sayings of Marcus 
 Aurelius,’’ the ‘‘Memoirs of Cellini,’’ the ‘‘Autobiog- 
 raphy of Benjamin Franklin,’’ biographies and quota- 
 tions which he made freely from the Bible and Shake- 
 speare, much to the edification of his surprised hearers, 
 but when he happened upona volume typified by William 
 GeorgeJordan’s‘‘Self Control :Its Kinship and Majesty, ’ 
 he would buy many copies and send them to his friends. 
 
 He had all of the daily newspapers brought to him 
 but only glanced through them, noting the conspicuous 
 headlines and the topics of editorials, but paying scant 
 attention to financial pages whose information he re- 
 garded as based upon gossip and untrustworthy. But two 
 widely diverse public journals he was never without: 
 Mr. Barron’s News Bureau, containing market reports, 
 and oddly the New Yorx Wor tp, his most savage critic 
 during the Homestead struggle and continuously an ad- 
 vocate of distasteful public policies, “‘in order,”’ he re- 
 marked, ‘‘to get the other side.’’ He was greatly annoyed 
 once by the appearance of a cartoon in the PrrrssurcH 
 Leaver portraying himself. 
 
 ‘This won’t do,”’ he ejaculated, “this won't do at 
 all; go find who owns this paper and buy it.”’ 
 
 But realizing quickly that he had spoken impulsively, 
 he was relieved when the secretary returned and reported 
 that Mr. William Flinn, the Republican leader, whose 
 feelings also had been hurt, was arranging to purchase 
 the paper. 
 
 “That's much better,”’ he said, ‘let Flinn do the worry- 
 ing, it is no business for me to get into anyway.’ 
 
 364 
 
Personality 
 
 And this reflection fixed his policy. Replying to a sug- 
 gestion from President Ripley of the Atchison railway 
 in 1916, he wrote: 
 
 I carefully note your valued favor of the 25th. I have made it a 
 tule never to make an investment in a newspaper. It is a great 
 detriment to the newspaper itself to have a man who is supposed 
 to be worth considerable money to have an interest in it. 
 
 But he proved himself to be a competent editor at that. 
 Abhorring notoriety, he never gave interviews for pub- 
 lication, but once while in Pittsburgh he broke his rule 
 and spoke freely to a reporter, with the understanding 
 that he should have the privilege of editing the copy. 
 The reporter wrote painstakingly a full column and sent 
 it to his office. Presently it came back, without a word 
 of comment, reduced to exactly ten lines. 
 
 Atanother time, when the stock market was distinctly 
 bearish and Mr. Frick was conferring with the equally 
 uncommunicative Mr. James Stillman in the National 
 City Bank, a financial writer whom both respected per- 
 sisted in seeking their opinion of the situation and, after 
 waiting an hour, he received this card: 
 
 The U. S. A. is a great and growing country. 
 | (Signed) Jamzs STILLMAN 
 Henry C. Fricx 
 
 This is confidential and not for publication unless names are 
 omitted. 
 
 He wrote but two letters in his whole life for publi- 
 cation. One was addressed to the representative of Mayor 
 Hylan, who had asked him to serve on a committee ap- 
 pointed to erect in France a monument in memory of the 
 soldiers from New York City who had served in the war. 
 
 365 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 Mr. Frick felt that he would do himself injustice if he 
 should decline such a request without presenting his 
 reasons for doing so, and these he set forth with such 
 clarity and restraint in a communication, which not 
 only breathed his intense nationalism but outlined his 
 
 ’ é¢ 
 
 broad conception of America’s “one great compensation” 
 for its sacrifices and voiced his earnest hope for great good 
 to come out of it for his country, that a better illustra- 
 tion of his soundness of thought could hardly be found. 
 
 From a sense of duty, hoping that his views might 
 bear some influence in the direction which he considered 
 both right and patriotic, he sent his letter to the [r1s- 
 UNE, which published it as follows: 
 
 My dear Mr. Whalen: New York, Dec. §, 1918. 
 
 I beg that you will express to His Honor the Mayor my sincere 
 appreciation of his courtesy in asking me to serve as a member of 
 the committee to superintend the erection of a monument on a 
 battlefield of France to commemorate the valorous deeds of the 
 soldiers from New York City. I need hardly say that I am in full 
 accord and sympathy with the admirable impulse which actuates 
 His Honor in this matter, and it is for that reason I wish you to 
 assure him that most reluctantly I feel obliged to decline the com- 
 mission which he has so graciously proffered me. 
 
 There occur to my mind two general objections, not, of course, 
 to the laudable spirit of the undertaking, but to the carrying out 
 of the project itself. The first is one of practicability. An example 
 such as this, set by the foremost municipality of the Union, would 
 be followed inevitably by hundreds of other cities and towns. It is 
 altogether probable, moreover, that the citizens of Great Britain 
 and her colonies, Italy and Portugal, would take similar action in 
 recognition of their brave sons who no less splendidly fought and 
 died in the great common cause. 
 
 Might not such happenings, arising from the requests from 
 thousands of segregated communities for suitable sites, prove a 
 
 366 
 
Personality 
 
 source of infinite embarrassment to the authorities of France, who 
 naturally would be desirous of pleasing all and treating all alike? 
 Then, too, in our own country, would not the natural rivalry be- 
 tween towns as to which should furnish the best monument and 
 obtain the best site be likely to engender bitterness unbecoming a 
 great nation which put forth its best efforts as a unified force? And 
 would it be fair to smaller and poorer communities, which may 
 have suffered greater sacrifices proportionately, to overshadow their 
 modest shafts with great monuments such as opulent cities like New 
 York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh would surely erect? 
 
 All of our soldiers in this great war fought, as I understand it, 
 as a national army for their common country. New York fought 
 for Wyoming and Wyoming for New York; Texas for Wisconsin 
 and Wisconsin for Texas—one for all and all for one—a mighty 
 Union, solid as a rock in defence of national freedom. Ought we 
 who remained at home, even in praiseworthy endeavor to prove 
 our undying gratitude, do anything that might tend in history to 
 apportion the credit between even states, to say nothing of in- 
 numerable towns and villages? 
 
 I cannot think so. Indeed, I do not hesitate to say that, grateful 
 as I am to the brave men from New York or from my home city, 
 Pittsburgh, I am no less, and perhaps ought to be more, grateful 
 to those equally courageous who went from far-off Kansas and 
 Utah to safeguard the lives and properties of those of us who live 
 on the seaboard. : 
 
 My second point in what I am confident His Honor will accept 
 as a most friendly remonstrance is this: The one great compen- 
 sation of this war for America has been the unifying of our country 
 at the very moment when we were drifting dangerously apart, 
 both racially and sectionally, and segregating ourselves uncon- 
 sciously into classes. The common peril brought us together, until 
 now I, for one, really feel that we are more nearly ‘one and insepa- 
 rable’ than ever before. 
 
 Let us hold to that, and, above all, do nothing that might by 
 any possibility revive the. prejudices which formerly prevailed to 
 no small degree against the people of this imperial city, who now, 
 all must admit, have proved their patriotism. 
 
 I most heartily approve a movement to commemorate upon the 
 battlefields of France the splendid deeds of the splendid sons of 
 
 367 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 America, and I am only too glad to accord to Mayor Hylan the 
 highest credit for having originated the thought, but my con- 
 viction is so strong that it should be a national movement for our 
 own sake, and conducted through a national agency in considera- 
 tion of both France and our other allies, that I find myself unable 
 to accept the honor conferred upon me. 
 
 Again begging you to extend to His Honor assurances of my 
 deep appreciation, and with hearty good wishes, I remain, my 
 deat Mr. Whalen, faithfully yours, 
 
 H. C. Frick. 
 
 The effect of this communication, couched in terms, 
 characteristic of the writer, so gracious that the Mayor 
 could by no possibility take offense, was instantaneous. 
 Many who had received like invitations politely declined, 
 several who had already assented withdrew their accept- 
 ances and the project was abandoned, to the great elation 
 of Mr. Frick who, while disclaiming more than a mod- 
 est part of credit for the result, exclaimed gleefully, “Now 
 doesn’t that just show that, if I had been thoroughly 
 educated, I might have accomplished something with 
 my pen?’ 
 
 It was this sense of regret, almost of resentment, of 
 which, in common with most men in like circumstances, 
 he was conscious,—unduly so, because in his early years 
 he had trained his mind for all practical purposes so 
 thoroughly that his letters reveal exceptional proficiency 
 in clear, concise and well-defined expression. Neverthe- 
 less there can be no doubt that the educational advan- 
 tages conferred by his bounty upon thousands of boys, 
 girls and young teachers was attributable in large meas- 
 ure to cognizance of his own early handicap. 
 
 368 
 
Personality 
 
 ‘Don’t tell the little girls fairy tales, teach them real 
 things,’ was a constant admonition. 
 
 His well-considered judgment of relative values of 
 methods appeared in the following striking response to 
 a query from Princeton: 
 
 New York. February 19th, 1916. 
 The Daily Princetonian, 
 Princeton, N. J. 
 Gentlemen: 
 
 In reply to your Mr. Robert Cresswell’s letter of the roth inst., 
 as to my Opinion on‘’whether a man is benefited or handicapped for 
 a business career by a college education,’’ I would say that it de- 
 pends largely upon the man. Some men are spoiled by college; 
 others pass through college with gain. Whether, in the latter case, 
 the gain outweighs that which they might have obtained by spend- 
 ing the same time and effort in business is an open question; my 
 Opinion again is that it depends upon the man. 
 
 Looking at the matter broadly, it seems to me that the chief 
 gain of a college education, is not the education itself, but the 
 friendships made. On the other hand, to weak natures, this is its 
 greatest danger, and in individual cases explains the prejudice 
 which you concede exists against colleges. 
 
 The fact that the college system is being called into question is 
 an indication of some inherent weakness in it; and I have long 
 felt myself in agreement with William George Jordan, the author 
 of Mental Training, 2 Remedy for Education, who, in this and 
 other writings, holds that the weakness of our whole system of 
 education, including that given in colleges, is that it is based on 
 information, not inspiration. He claims that it stuffs the mind 
 with undigested facts, but does not develop power. And it is be- 
 yond question that our schools and colleges rarely produce men 
 with minds trained, clear, efficient, with power to concentrate, 
 ready on the instant to be applied to any problem. 
 
 What our colleges give, few men either remember or use in bus- 
 iness or in life; it is, as Jordan says, constant mental feeding with- 
 out developing the basic mental powers all men need in their daily 
 living. They need trained senses, keen observation, clear thinking, 
 
 369 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 rapid reasoning, active, alert memories, trained imagination, ex- 
 pression in language, mental efficiency of every phase, so that the 
 mind is as ready as the hand for every motion of which it is capa- 
 ble. In business life men gain these powers somewhat and some- 
 how, and the measure of their attainment is the measure of their 
 individual success. 
 
 If Jordan is right, no school, or college has for its ideal the direct 
 practical development of these mental powers, as physical exer- 
 cises develop the muscles of the body. If the schools and colleges 
 did give this, as they should, and as, in the future, under some 
 better system, they will, the world would be transformed. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 H. C. Frick. 
 
 Many offers to confer upon him an honorary degree 
 came to Mr. Frick from universities and colleges but he 
 declined invariably upon the ground that he did not feel 
 that he had done anything to justify acceptance of the 
 honor. He recognized the propriety, however, of being 
 chosen a Fellow in Perpetuity of the Metropolitan Mu- 
 seum of Art and greatly appreciated a unanimous tender 
 of a Life Trusteeship of Princeton in response to the plea 
 that his business experience would be of value to the 
 university, but he took care to seek confirmation of the 
 Board’s stated reason by writing to President Hibben: 
 
 Will you kindly send me a complete financial statement of Prince- 
 
 ton University, as I think I should become aware of its financial 
 condition before I qualify as Trustee. 
 
 At the time of his death Mr. Frick held life member- 
 ship in sixty-seven clubs and associations, with those 
 prefixed ‘‘National’’ and ‘“‘American’’ predominating. 
 As early as 1872 he joined the King Solomon Lodge of 
 Free and Accepted Masons of Connellsville and won the 
 
 37° 
 
« 
 
 MUOA MAN LAYHULS HLALLNAAAS LSVA ANO WAGCWAN 
 
Personality 
 
 prescribed Scottish Rite and Commandery degrees before 
 1880, when he became a life member of the Order of the 
 Knights of the Red Cross, of the Knights Templars and 
 of the Knights of Malta. 
 
 Although he became a communicant of the Baptist 
 Church at the age of eighteen, he was never a strict sec- 
 tarian, later in life attending the Protestant Episcopal 
 Church, whose form of service appealed more strongly 
 to his sense of dignity, harmony and beauty, and con- 
 tributing generously to the support of both, as well as 
 to the Lutheran Church of his parents. He was devout 
 rather than pious—apparently agreeing with Southwell 
 that— 
 
 Bare communion with a good church can never make a good 
 man; if it could, we should have had no bad ones. 
 
 Hence his gifts to the two undenominational Young 
 Men’s and Young Women’s Christian Associations and 
 uncounted sums to the Salvation Army. 
 
 Mr. Frick’s deep tenderness for children was revealed 
 constantly in his daily life. His attitude towards them 
 was more than kind, more than affectionate; it was, in 
 the words ofa gentle lady who had been watching the ex- 
 pression of his eyes and the lightness of his touch when 
 at rest with his grandchildren, ‘‘positively reverential.” 
 
 Not that he was averse to play! Far from it! He was 
 always ready for a frolic and never hesitated, upon call, 
 to “‘leap frog’ or even to swish down the sliding board 
 and land, amid gales of delight, with ‘‘an awful bump.” 
 But when all had tired and clambered upon his knees 
 and snuggled close to his breast, there was something 
 
 3 371 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 akin to awe in his loving observance of their tousled 
 heads, and he would sit moveless so long as they could 
 keep their eyes closed in pretense of sleep. 
 
 This arousal of the unsuspected emotional side of his 
 nature undoubtedly sprang from the first grievous trag- 
 edy that entered his life. He could never wholly appease 
 the intense sorrow which nearly overwhelmed him at 
 the passing of his little daughter Martha at the age of 
 six in 1891. Asked timidly twenty years later if the re- 
 port published at the time that her apparently living 
 image dazzled his vision while he lay in his office dazed 
 by theanarchist’s assault upon him, was true, he simply 
 nodded affirmatively and bowed his head, and unfailingly, 
 on the morning of August 5th of each year thereafter, he 
 remarked quietly to his family, ‘If Martha had lived, 
 she would have been (so many) years old today.’ And 
 when he paid in advance the full amount of the deposits 
 of thousands of children in the bankrupt savings bank 
 in Pittsburgh, an engraved portrait of Martha appeared 
 upon every check. 
 
 That his firstborn girl baby held to the end first place 
 in the shrine of his heart there can be no question, but 
 ample room was left for those who followed and to them 
 also, notably his grandchildren, Adelaide, Martha and 
 Frances, he was passionately devoted. And when word 
 came on October 18th, 1919, that Henry Clay Frick, 
 2nd, was born, he lost not a minute in writing and dis- 
 patching to the mother this pretty and gleeful letter: 
 
 372 
 
Personality 
 
 Saturday 6 P.M. 
 Oct. 18th, 1919 
 One East Seventieth Street 
 Well done, Dear Frances! 
 
 Heartiest congratulations! You have your wish, and I have mine, 
 for now that the youngster has come and proved a boy, I will con- 
 fess that I, too, am especially gratified and pleased. Not that a 
 granddaughter would not have been welcomed as heartily as be- 
 fore—for we should have felt that you were multiplying our hap- 
 piness by four instead of three—but as Burns says ‘‘A man’s a man 
 for a’ that!’’ and a mother of three girls is justified in her wish for 
 a son. 
 
 I send a cordial welcome to the boy, who has thus early shown 
 great discrimination in the selection of his parents—to say noth- 
 ing of his grand parents. 
 
 Best wishes for your early convalescence. 
 
 Affectionately 
 Your Devoted 
 Father 
 
 The next day but one, before going to inspect the new 
 atrival, he remarked to his wife, according to the Diary: 
 
 You were saying how pretty the baby is; I want to know if he 
 has a good head? Does he have it all back of his ears or is it above 
 his ears? She replied: ‘“‘When I come to think of it, his head is just 
 like yours’’! He laughed and, upon returning from the hospital, as- 
 sured Mrs. F. that she hadn’t said a word too much about the baby, 
 that he was a fine little chap and really had ‘‘a splendid head.”’ 
 
 Returning from a business meeting in Pittsburgh, where 
 he told an inquisitive reporter that the only ‘‘new busi- 
 ness enterprise’’ he had on hand, or should undertake, 
 was on Long Island, and on November 2nd he brought 
 the four children together in their home, promising to 
 pay another visit in a few days. But on the 4th, follow- 
 ing a luncheon which he gave in honor of Senator James 
 A. Reed, the Missouri ‘“‘Irreconcilable,’’ he became ill 
 
 373 
 
Frick the Man 
 
 of ptomaine poisoning and a cold, which brought on an 
 attack of his lifelong malady, inflammatory rheumatism 
 threatening his heart, and on the 7th, after participating 
 in his last meeting of the Steel Company’s directors in 
 his house, he was put to bed, where he remained until 
 the 19th, when he was permitted to come downstairs 
 and ‘‘sit with my pictures.’’ 
 
 This proved to bea fatal error. His pledge to visit his 
 grandson was uppermost in his mind and he determined 
 to keep it, regardless of the stern injunction of his phy- 
 sician that under no circumstances, should he leave the 
 house. 
 
 On the next day but one he ordered his car to go to 
 Long Island. The horrified nurse quickly informed his 
 wife and daughter and the three united in pleading en- 
 deavor to dissuade him from undertaking the trip, but 
 he would not listen. Off he started, followed furtively 
 by his distracted daughter and nurse. The trip required 
 an hour or more but he reached his son’s house in happy 
 mood and good condition, remained for half an hour 
 petting and playing with his grandchildren, and returned 
 home proud and satisfied. 
 
 But complete exhaustion soon followed and an urgent 
 summons quickly brought the doctor, who prescribed 
 restoratives but notified the family upon leaving that he 
 would no longer attend a patient who had disobeyed his 
 orders. Another physician was called in but he could not 
 gain the confidence of the sick man, and wife and daughter 
 renewed their fervid appeals to his predecessor to resume 
 charge of the case, but in vain. 
 
 374 
 
Personality 
 
 Mr. Frick showed signs of a gradual though slight 
 improvement during the succeeding eleven days and gave 
 no cause for apprehension when, at five o'clock on the 
 morning of December 2nd, as had frequently happened 
 in the night, he summoned his nurse and said quietly: 
 
 ‘Please give me a glass of water.”’ 
 
 The response was prompt and, taking and holding the 
 glass without effort, Mr. Frick drank the water and, 
 thanking the nurse, resumed an easy position and said: 
 
 “That will be all; now I think I'll go to sleep.”’ 
 
 A few moments later, the nurse tiptoed into the room 
 and, hearing no sound, stepped noiselessly to the bedside 
 and looked down upon a pallid but wholly tranquil 
 countenance. Thus quietly and peacefully the spirit of 
 Henry Clay Frick passed into the haven of intrepid souls. 
 
 375 
 
Index 
 
 Assott, WitttaM L., 103, 106-8, 253-4. 
 Atpricu, Sen. Netson W., 294-8. 
 ALEXANDER, JamEs W., 278-80. 
 
 Attizs’ Bazar, 316. 
 
 AMALGAMATED AssocraTION OF IRON & 
 Sree, Workers, 106, 108-29, 133-4, 
 140, 148-54, 164, 172, 177. 
 
 AMERICAN AMBULANCE HospiTat IN 
 FRANCE, 315. 
 
 AMERICAN FEDERATION oF Labor, 176. 
 
 AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 5. 
 
 ANCESTRY, I-II. 
 
 ARBUCKLE, Mr., 180. 
 
 ArmoreD Motor Squapron, 315. 
 
 ARNOLD, BENEDICT, 3 
 
 Art Cotuector, H.C. Frickas an,331-43. 
 
 AtcHison, Topeka & Santa F£, 277,281, 
 365. 
 
 ATTEMPTED AsSASSINATION, 136-45. 
 
 Atwoop, ALBERT W., 274. 
 
 Bacuman, Simon, see Alexander Berk- 
 man. 
 
 Baxer, Gzorce F., 209, 274, 316. 
 
 Batrimorg & Onto Raitway, §2, 277. 
 
 Barron, Cuartzs W., 275. 
 
 Barucu, Bernarp M., 319-22. 
 
 Beat, Mr., 2.44. 
 
 Berrter, Anna, (Wife of Henry Over- 
 holt), 5-6. 
 
 BENEFACTIONS AND BEQusstTs, 343-55. 
 
 Betcian Retizr Funp, 315. 
 
 BzerKMAN, ALEXANDER, 135-9, 142, 144- 
 5,176, 188. 
 
 BrssEMER Org, 187-8. 
 
 Brratu or H. C. Frick, 11. 
 
 BispHaM, GzorGE T., 2.43. 
 
 Brackpurn, WIiLu1AM W., 103. 
 
 Braing, James G., 97, 146. 
 
 Bratz, WittiaM G., 25. 
 
 Buss, Corne.ivus N., 279, 298. 
 
 Boarp oF Parpons, 176. 
 
 Bonaparte, C. J., Attorney General, 
 306, 311. 
 
 Borg, Henry B., 103. 
 
 BorNnTRAEGER, Henry W., 103. 
 
 BoswortH, Mr., 233. 
 
 Boynoop or H. C. Fricx, 12-28. 
 
 Brappock Figetp, National Guards at, 
 133. 
 
 BRraNDEGEE, SEN. F. B., 325. 
 
 BrasHEaR, JoHN A., 346-50. 
 
 BrasHear, Mrs. Joun A., 350. 
 
 Bripcez, James H., quoted, 77-8, 122-3, 
 2.30. 
 
 Bryan, WILLIAM JENNINGS, 294. 
 
 Bucks County Muiuitta, 5. 
 
 Burrincton, JupGE JosEpH, 346. 
 
 BurLEIGH, CLARENCE, 243. 
 
 Byers, A. M., 191. 
 
 Byers, J. FREDERICK, I9I. 
 
 Cameron, Sen. Donatp, 292-3. 
 
 C. G. C. Co. & Hutcuinson, 80. 
 
 CapitaL AND Lasor, 147, 161-2. 
 
 Carirauist, H. C, Fricx, a, 269-88. 
 
 Carneciz, ANDREW, 74-108, 127, 139, 
 148-268, 271, 273, 296, 358. 
 
 Carnzciz, Mrs. ANDrEw, 88, 89. 
 
 Carnecigz Brotuers & Co., Lrp., 77-8, 
 87, 93, 97, 100-2, 240. 
 
 CaRNEGIE Company, THE, 257-9. 
 
 CarneciE Putpps & Co., 97-8, 101-2, 106, 
 219. 
 
 CarngGcigz Street Co., History of —by 
 J. H. Bridge, 77-8, 122-3, 230. 
 
 Carnegotg Steet Co., Lrp., 102-5, 124, 
 133-4, I40-I, 151, 155, 173, 175-210, 
 218-57, 291. 
 
 CarNneGtz, THomas, 76-9, 83. 
 
 Carnzaig, Mrs. WILLIAM, 74-5. 
 
 Carter, Szen. Toomas H., 157. 
 
 Cuasz Nationat Bank, 344. 
 
 Cuicaco & NorTHWESTERN RaiLtway, 
 277,281. 
 
 Cuitps, Miss Apgiaipeg, see Mrs. H. C. 
 Frick. 
 
 Cuitps, Asa P., 73. 
 
 Cuitps, Mrs. Asa P., 88. 
 
 Cuitps, Miss Martua H., 88. 
 
 Cuutps, Oris H., 103, 125. 
 
 Craze, BE. L., 100, 
 
 CiarKsON, JAMES S., 157. 
 
 Cray, Henry, Il. 
 
 Cremsen, Mr., 216, 221, 233, 255- 
 
 CLEVELAND, PresipENT GroveER, 146, 
 157, 178. 
 
 Crews & Co., Henry, 46. 
 
 Coxz, Beginning Business in, 29-43. 
 
 CotzMaN, WILLIAM, 77. 
 
 Commerciat Trust Company OF Paita- 
 DELPHIA, 278, 280. 
 
 ConcGrEssionaL InvesTIGATING CoM- 
 MITTEE, 107, 205-7, 243-5. 
 
 377 
 
Index 
 
 CoNNELLSVILLECOKE, §0-I, 53,62, 65,72. 
 ConTINENTAL CONGRESS, 2. 
 
 Cooxe & Co., Failure of Jay, 46-7. 
 Corey, James B., 42-3, 66. 
 
 Corzy, W. E., 275, 299. 
 
 Cortetyou, Grorcs B., 298. 
 Cortissoz, Roya, 332-5. 
 
 Cummins, SENATOR, 282. 
 
 Curry, Henry M., 103,105 ,171,216,248. 
 Curtzer, T. Dg Wirt, 282. 
 
 Cycrops Mixx, 213. 
 
 Datg, Ricwarp C,, 243. 
 
 Daze, Scorr & Gorpon, 243. 
 Davipson, DaNIgL, 63-4. 
 Davipson, Dr. Witu1aM M., 348-9. 
 Deatu or H. C. Frick, 375. 
 Dempsey, Huau, 175. 
 
 Dick, Samuet B., 198. 
 
 Ditton, Patrick R., 103. 
 
 Dixon, Dr., 58-9. 
 
 Dotan, THomas, 157. 
 
 DugQuesnz STEEL Company, 100. 
 Duqussng Works, 110, 165, 172, 175. 
 
 Fart, E. 'T., 275. 
 
 Epcar THomson Works, 77, 110, 165, 
 574,397 
 
 Epmunps, Grorce F., 293. 
 
 EpucaTIoNaL Funp CommIssION, 345-9. 
 
 EpucationaL Institutions, Gifts to, 
 34475 350. 
 
 EicutH PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT, 2-3. 
 
 Exvxtns Act, 301. 
 
 Evxins, STEPHEN B., 149, 153-7. 
 
 EquiTaB_e Lirg AssuRANCE SOCIETY, 278- 
 80, 299. 
 
 EquiraBLE Trust Company or New 
 York, 280. 
 
 Equity Surt against the C. S. Co., Ltd., 
 by H. C. Frick, 243. 
 
 Escu, Joun J., 282. 
 
 Fercuson, E. M., 64, 78-9, 87. 
 
 Fgrcuson, Watton, 78-9, 87. 
 
 Firra AVENUE RgsiDENCE, 362. 
 
 First NationaL Bank or New York, 
 326: 
 
 Fisk & Hatcu, 46. 
 
 Frnat Dramatic Break between H. C, 
 Frick and Andrew Carnegie, 227-36. 
 
 FLEMING, JOHN C., 103. 
 
 Frower, Governor Roswe tz P., 209. 
 
 378 
 
 Frinn, Wixi14M, 364. 
 
 ForziGn Revations, Committee on, 317. 
 
 Foster, Joun W., 148. 
 
 FRANKLIN NaTionaL Bank oF Puita- 
 DELPHIA, 278, 280. 
 
 Free TRADE, 146-7. 
 
 Freer Museum, 334. 
 
 Frencu Artists, Families of Disabled, 
 316. 
 
 Frick AND Company, 36-7, 40-3, 48-51, 
 56-66. 
 
 Frick Buitp1nG, PrrrsBuRGH, 270, 355. 
 
 Frick, Mrs. Cuixps, 373. 
 
 Frick Coxe Company, THE H. C., 78-92, 
 102, 180, 185, 199, 203-4, 212, 221-9, 
 233-7, 246, 256. 
 
 Frick CoLLEcTION, 331-43. 
 
 Fricx, ConraD, I-2. 
 
 Fricx, Dantz1, 4, 12. 
 
 Frick, GgorGE, 4. 
 
 Frick, Miss Heten C., 202. 
 
 Frick, Henry Cray, Ancestry, I-11; 
 Birth, 11; Boyhood, 12-28; School- 
 days, 13-19;Startsto work, 19; Interest 
 in reading, 21, 70, 364; Games played, 
 22; Attends Otterbein College, 14-15, 
 23; Goes to work in Pittsburgh, 24; 
 Typhoid Fever, 27; Enters Overholt 
 Distillery as bookkeeper, 27; Begin- 
 ning Business in Coke, 29-43; Frick & 
 Co. organized, 36; Rechristened **H. 
 C. Frick & Co.’’, 64; Reorganized as 
 The H. C, Frick Coke Co."’, 78; First 
 loans from T. Mellon & Sons, 35, 38- 
 43; A Triumph of Faith and Courage, 
 44-64; Death of Grandmother, 58; In- 
 flammatory Rheumatism, 58-64; Panic 
 of 1873, 44-66; Interlude, 67-75; First 
 holiday in Europe, 71-2; Meets Miss 
 Adelaide Childs, 73; Marriage, 74; 
 First meeting with Andrew Carnegie, 
 74; Enter the Carnegies, 76-92; Coke 
 Strike of 1887, 83-6; Resigns as Pres. 
 of Coke Co., 85; Offers to sell his in- 
 terest in Coke Co., 87; Takes his fam- 
 ily to Europe (2887), 88-9; Visits 
 Andrew Carnegie in Scotland, 89; Re- 
 elected President of Coke Co., 89; 
 Coke strikes of 1889 and 1890, 90-2; 
 “The Man”’ in Steel, 93-105; Chair- 
 man of Carnegie Bros. & Co., 93; Ac- 
 quisition of Duquesne Steel Co., 100; 
 
Index 
 
 Steel Company reorganized as Carnegie 
 Steel Co., Ltd., 102; Increases his in- 
 terest in steel, 103-5; Chairman of Car- 
 negie Steel Co., Ltd., 105; Homestead 
 Strike, 106-86; Birth of Son, Henry 
 Clay, Jr., 129; Attempted Assassina- 
 tion, 136-45; Death of infant son, 141; 
 Politics, 146-59; “The Laird”’ and ‘‘the 
 Man," 160-74; Victory’s Cost and 
 Gain, 175-86; Visits Cluny Castle, 183; 
 Mr. & Mrs. Carnegie visit Frick Home, 
 183; Oliver and Frick, 187-99; Moore 
 Syndicate, 200-17; Receives his Resig- 
 nation, 218-26; Sale of Peter’s Creek 
 land, 218-20; Mr. Carnegie must apol- 
 ogize, 219-20; Final Dramatic Break, 
 227-36; Wins the Fight, 237-57; Iron- 
 clad agreement, 238-57; Brings Equity 
 Suit against Carnegie Steel Co., Ltd., 
 243; U.S. Steel Corporation, 258-68; 
 Moves to New York, 269; A Capital- 
 ist, 269-88; Public Affairs, 289-312; 
 Union Steel Company, 273; Director 
 in various Railway Cos., 277, 281; 
 Equitable Life Assurance Soc.,278-80, 
 299; The Patriot, 313-30; An Art Col- 
 lector, 331-43; Paintings purchased, 
 337-43; Benefactions and Bequests, 
 344-55; Personality, 356-75; Music and 
 the Theatre, 363; Choice of books and 
 newspapers, 364; Declines Honorary 
 Degrees, 370; Made Fellow in Perpe- 
 tuity of Metropolitan Museum, 370; 
 Life Trusteeship of Princeton, 370; 
 Masonic Lodges, 370-1; Religion, 371; 
 Last Illness, 374-5; Death, 375. 
 Frick, Mrs. Henry Cray, (Miss Ade- 
 laide Childs), 73-4, 88, 140, 143, 169. 
 Frick, Henry Cray, Jr., Birth, 129, 
 Death, 141. 
 Frick, Henry Cray, 2ND, 372-3. 
 Frick, JoHANN NicHozas, 1, 3, 6. 
 Frick, JOHN, 2. 
 Fricx, JoHn W., 4, 10, 23, 32-5, 40. 
 Frick, Mrs. Joun W.., 4, 10-13, 35,38, 40. 
 Frick, Miss Marta O., 11, 27, 30-1. 
 Fricx, Swiss family of, 1. 
 Fuuuer, Dr., 58-9. 
 
 GarDNER, CONGRESSMAN, 207. 
 Gary, EvpertH.,245,260-8,273-4,303-9, 
 311, 319. 
 
 Gates, Joun W., 293. 
 
 Garter, Mr., 216, 221, 233, 255. 
 
 GuapsTonE, Mr. & Mrs. Lincoin, 96. 
 
 Gotp Nore SynpicaTE, 315. 
 
 Gotpman, Emma, 136, 145. 
 
 Go tr, Interest in, 359-62. 
 
 Gompers, SAMUEL, 132, 176. 
 
 Goop Tempiars, INDEPENDENT ORDER 
 OF, 21. 
 
 GRANDCHILDREN, 372-3. 
 
 Grant, PrestDENT Uxysszs S., 44, 46, 357: 
 
 Gray, Cot. Josepa H., 117-20. 
 
 Gronna, Sen. Astz J., 317. 
 
 HarpinG, PresipDENT WaRREN G., 292. 
 
 Harriman, Epwarp H., 279, 298. 
 
 Harrison, PrestpeENtT BENJAMIN, 146, 
 149, ISI, 156-59. 
 
 Heinpe, Capr., 117, 119-20. 
 
 Hiau, Rev. J. C., 21. 
 
 Hitizs, Cuartss D., 310. 
 
 Hines, Wacker D., 281-8. 
 
 Horrman, J. ODGEN, 103. 
 
 HomestTxEaD, 106-86, 188, 294. 
 
 Howes & Macy, 46. 
 
 Hucues, Cuartes Evans, 299, 311-12. 
 
 Hypg, James H., 278-80, 299. 
 
 Hyzan, Mayor Joun F., 365. 
 
 Inxino1s StzzL Company, 184, 202, 293. 
 
 Incatts, Metvitzez E., 279. 
 
 Inst1ITUTE OF Min1nc & METALLURGICAL 
 ENGINEERS, 196. 
 
 INTERLUDE, 67-75. 
 
 InTerRsTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION, 300-1. 
 
 IRoN-cLAD AGREEMENT, 238-57. 
 
 Istum1aAN CANAL ComMISsION, 298. 
 
 Ives, BRAYTON, 279. 
 
 Jackson, Presipent ANDREW, 8. 
 Jzrrzrson, Presipent THomMas, 162. 
 Jounson, Joun G., 243, 249. 
 Jounson Museum, 333-4. 
 
 Jonzs, Mr., 96. 
 
 Jonson, BEN, 357- 
 
 Keene, JAMEs R., 271. 
 
 Ketiocc, Frank B., 307-9. 
 
 Kunz, Capt., 117. 
 
 Kioman BRoTHERSs, 213. 
 
 Knicuts oF Lasor, 83, 108, 175-6. 
 
 Knox, PHILANDER C., 290-2, 307, 310- 
 II, 317, 326, 328-9. 
 
 379 
 
a 
 
 Index 
 
 Knox & Regp, Messrs., 117, 233, 243, 
 2.49. 
 
 Labor AND CaPITAL, 147. 
 
 Lazor, Knights of, 83, 108, 175-6. 
 
 La Fottertez, Sen. Rosert M., 317. 
 
 **Larrp’’ AND THE ‘‘Man,”’ Tue, 160-74. 
 
 Lang, Sen. Harry, 317. 
 
 Lauper, GEORGE, 103, 105, 152, 158, 
 165, 169-72, 203, 205, 212, 221-3, 231, 
 2335 28N) 
 
 LeaGue or NATIONS, 324, 327-30. 
 
 Lepyarp, Lewis Cass, 303-5, 351. 
 
 LzisHMAN, JOHN G. A., 103, 105, 137-8, 
 142, 171, 185. 
 
 Lenox Lisrary, 270. 
 
 Liperty Loans, 316-17. 
 
 LincoLn, ABRAHAM, 9. 
 
 Literature, H.C. Frick’s interest in, 21, 
 70, 364. 
 
 Lovyjoy, Francis T. F., 103, 105, 203, 
 216-17, 221, 241, 247-9, 255. 
 
 Lyncu, Mr., 233-4. 
 
 McApoo, Witi1aM G., 281. 
 McCreary, SHERIFF, 117, 123, 129-31. 
 McCook, Wits F., 243. 
 
 McCormick, Sen. J. Mepitt, 329. 
 
 McE.tpowney, Mr., 316, 317. 
 
 Mackay, Cor. AENBAS, 2. 
 
 McKintey B11, 147, 294, 297. 
 
 McKinzey, PrestipeENT WILLIAM, 290-1, 
 2.94. 
 
 Macrum & Car tiscg, 25. 
 
 **Man”’ in STEEL, THE, 93-105. 
 
 Marxtg, Carr. C.C., 52, 59, 62. 
 
 Marxiz, Corneuia, (Mrs. Abraham 
 Tinstman), 60. 
 
 Martin, Mariya, J., (2nd wife of Dan- 
 iel Frick), 4. 
 
 Martin, Sen. THomas S., 317. 
 
 Masonic Lopes, 370-1. 
 
 Metton, ANDREw, 38. 
 
 Matton, ANDREW W., 69-73, 180, 186, 
 256, 265, 269-70, 273, 289-90, 293, 324, 
 326-29. 
 
 Metion National BANK OF PiTTsBURGH, 
 278, 281. 
 
 Mgtuon, RicHarD, 71. 
 
 Meztton & Sons, THomas, 35, 48, 54. 
 
 Metton, Jupcr THomas, 38-43, 47, $4; 
 66, 69-70, 289. 
 
 380 
 
 MENNONITES, 5, 9. 
 
 MercanTILE Company oF New York, 
 280, 
 
 Merropouitan Museum or Art, 370. 
 
 MILHOLLAND, JOHN E., 150-3, 156. 
 
 Mixxer, CaTHering, (1st wife of Daniel 
 Frick), 4. 
 
 Moore BrorHers, 207. 
 
 Moorg & Scutzy, 302-6. 
 
 Moore, Jupce W. H., 204-15. 
 
 Moors SynDICATE, 204-15. 
 
 Moreganp, Mr., 233, 255. 
 
 Morean, Cot. A. S. M., 29, 60. 
 
 Moraan & Co., A. S. M., 43, 59-60. 
 
 Morean, J. P., 261-8, 271-5, 302-6. 
 
 Morean & Co., J. P., 258. 
 
 MorGan SYNDICATE, 95. 
 
 Morrison, THOMAS, 99, IOI, 195, 216, 
 227, 233 iee, 
 
 Mors, J. C., 135, 293. 
 
 Morton, Levi P., 148. 
 
 Most, Joun, 136. 
 
 Mount Prieasant Water Co., 87. 
 
 Myers, JosEPH, 33-4. 
 
 Nasu, Auenis, (Widow of Martin Over- 
 holt), 5. 
 
 Nass, WILLIAM, §. 
 
 Nationa Bank OF THE COMMONWEALTH, 
 46. 
 
 Natronat Crry Banx or New York, 
 278, 281. 
 
 NaTionaL GuarDs OF PENNSYLVANIA, 
 131-2. 
 
 Nationat Tung Company, 258-9. 
 
 New, Joun C., Consul General, 149-56. 
 
 Newspapers, Selection of, 364. 
 
 New York Centrat Raitway, 46. 
 
 Norprum, Capr., 120. 
 
 NorFroLK AND WEsTERN RaILway, 277. 
 
 Norriz Options, 194. 
 
 Norris, SENATOR, 317. 
 
 Nort Carcaco Roriinec Mitt Co., 87. 
 
 Norrsern Paciric Ramtway, 46. 
 
 Oats, CHAIRMAN, II3. 
 
 Osservatory aT WesterN UNIVERSITY, 
 349- 
 
 O’Donnett, HuGu, 111-12, 118, 122, 
 148-56. 
 
 OtrverR AND Frick, 187-99. 
 
 Outver, Henry W., 188-99. 
 
Index 
 
 Ottver Iron Mininc Co., 188, 193, 197, 
 199. 
 
 O'Mara, SupeRINTENDENT, 143. 
 
 OrtErseIn CoLiece, 14, 23. 
 
 OveruHoLt, ABRAHAM, 4, 6-9, 13, 16, 27- 
 8, 35, 38, 40, 276, 345. 
 
 Overnott & Co., ABRAHAM, 2, 7, 36, 48. 
 
 OverHott, ANNA, 27. 
 
 Overnott, Anna Bertier, (Wife of 
 Henry Overholt), 5-6. 
 
 Overnott, Aucnis, (Widow of Martin 
 Overholt), 5. 
 
 OvzrHoLt, BENJAMIN, 34. 
 
 OvernHott, CurisTian, 6-8. 
 
 Overnort, Curistian S., 19, 23-4, 31, 
 35> 58-9. 
 
 Overnott, Exizasetu, (Mrs. John W. 
 Frick), 4, 10-13, 35, 38, 40. 
 
 Ovezrnxott, Exizasets S., (Wife of Chris- 
 tian Overholt), 7. 
 
 Overnott Estate, 35. 
 
 Overuxott, Henry, (Son of Martin), 5-7. 
 
 Overnott, Henry, (Son of Henry and 
 Anna), 6-7. 
 
 Overnott, Henry S., 27. 
 
 Overuo it, Isaac, 13. 
 
 OverxHotLt, Joun S. R., 30-1, 36-7, 40. 
 
 Overnott, Katuerine, (Wife of Chris- 
 tian S. Overholt), 23. 
 
 Overuott, Maria O,. Frick, (Mrs. John 
 S. R. Overholt), 11, 27, 30-1. 
 
 Overnott, Marta S.,(Wife of Abraham 
 Overholt), 7, 9-11, 24, 27, 57-8. 
 
 Overnott, Martin, I, 4, 5. 
 
 Overnott, Martin S., 19, 23, 31, 35. 
 
 OvernHott, Sarau, 6. 
 
 OverHo tT, SusANNA, 5-6. 
 
 PAINTINGS PURCHASED BY H, C, Frick, 
 337-43- 
 
 Paumer, Witt1aM P., 103. 
 
 Panic oF 1873, 44-66. 
 
 Parpons, Boarp or, 176. 
 
 Park, D. E., 100. 
 
 Park, Witu1aM G., 100. 
 
 PaTTERSON, ALFRED, 64. 
 
 Pattison, Gov. Roser E., 129-33. 
 
 Paxson, Carer Justice, 125. 
 
 Payne, Cox. Ottver H., 303. 
 
 Pzacocx, ALEXANDER R., 103, 203, 216, 
 221. 
 
 Pzarson, Rev. Dr., 27. 
 
 PenxertT NisILists, 136. 
 
 Penn, WILLIAM, I. 
 
 Pznn Horst, W111, 355. 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD, §0, 76, 95, 97; 
 197, 277, 281-2. 
 
 PEprer, SENATOR, 329. 
 
 Personauiry or H. C. Frick, 356-75. 
 
 Puituips, Dr., 5, 8-9. 
 
 Purpps, Henry, Jr., 76, 78, 84-6, 89, 93- 
 5, 98, 103-5, 152, 158, 165, 170-1, 203, 
 205-17, 221, 231-2, 240-2, 247-57. 
 
 Puipps, Lawrence C., 103, 105, 216, 218, 
 e202 55: 
 
 Puozse Brasnear Cxvs, 348. 
 
 PINKERTON Guarps, 114-16, 118-23. 
 
 Pinkerton, Rosert A., 114-15. 
 
 PirrssurGH, Brssemer & Laxg Enrig 
 RaILroaD, 198. 
 
 PirrssurGH, SHENANGO & LaxeE ERIE 
 RaiLroap, 198. 
 
 PITTSBURGH STEAMSHIP Co., 199. 
 
 POLDI-PEZZOLI, 334. 
 
 Poxitics, 146-59. 
 
 Porter, JOHN A., 109-10, 117, 119-20, 
 125, 134. 
 
 Powper-y, T. V., 176. 
 
 PrIDE's CROSSING, 269, 319, 346. 
 
 Prince, Frepericx H., 198. 
 
 PrinceTon University, 344-5, 369-70. 
 
 PRINCETONIAN, THE Dality, 369-70. 
 
 PROTECTION, 146-7, 296-7. 
 
 Pusuic Arrairs, 289-312. 
 
 Pyne, Moszs T., 345. 
 
 QUAKERS, 5. 
 Quay, Sen. M. S., 157, 292-4. 
 
 RgeaDiNnG RartroaD Co., 277, 281. 
 
 Rep Cross, 317. 
 
 REDMOND, GzorGE F., 273. 
 
 Rzep, Sen. James A., 373. 
 
 Reep, Jupcz James H., 207, 243-4. 
 
 Rep, E. H., 63. 
 
 Rep, WuirELaw, 148-56, 158-9. 
 
 RELIGION, 371. 
 
 Resignation, H. C. Frick receives his, 
 218-26. 
 
 Riptey, E. P., 365. 
 
 Rust, JoszPH, 29-31, 36-7, 40, 48, 60. 
 
 Roserts, Mr., 95. 
 
 RockEFELLeR, JoHN D., 188-99, 261-68, 
 
 309, 361. 
 381 
 
Index 
 
 RocKEFELLER, JOHN D., Jr., 263. 
 
 RopcGers, Capt., 117, 120. 
 
 RoosEVELT, PresiDENT THEODORE, 292, 
 298-301, 305-10, 313, 359. 
 
 Roor, Ex1av, 306. 
 
 St. Pzrer’s Episcopan Cuurcn, Prrts- 
 BURGH, 355. 
 
 SALVATION ARMY, 355, 371. 
 
 SARGENT, Pror., 357. 
 
 SCHALLENBERGER, LioyD, 23. 
 
 SCHOONMAKER, SYLVANUSO., 150,270,317. 
 
 ScuwaB, Cuarues M., 99, 177, 181, 195- 
 6, 203, 216, 218, 221-2, 231-2, 235, 
 241-2, 247, 249, 251, 2§5-7, 259-61. 
 
 Scorch aND Iris SETTLERS, 2, 38. 
 
 Scort, THomas A., 50. 
 
 SHERMAN Law, 301. 
 
 Smmpson, JAMES H., 103. 
 
 Sincer, WittraM H., 103, 105, 216, 221. 
 
 SNowveEN, Mayj.-Gen. Gzorce R., 131. 
 
 Sprinc House, Tue Litttz, 10-11. 
 
 STANDARD Mines Property, 87. 
 
 STANDARD O1t CoMPANY, 304, 307-9. 
 
 STANLEY, CHAIRMAN, 205-6, 311. 
 
 Sraurrer, Rev. ABRAHAM, 7. 
 
 Sraurrer, ExizaBetu, (Wife of Christian 
 Overholt), 7. 
 
 SraurreEr, Rev. JouN, 7. 
 
 Sraurrer, Maria, (Wife of Abraham 
 Overholt), 7, 9-11, 24, 27, 57-8. 
 
 STILLMAN, JAMES, 365. 
 
 Stone, SENATOR, 317. 
 
 Srrixzs (1887) 83-6; (1889 & 1890) 90-2; 
 (Homestead) 106-86. 
 
 Swank, Mr., 297. 
 
 Tart, PRESIDENT WILLIAMH.,292,309-10, 
 325, 327, 361. 
 
 Tarirr Bit, New, 296-7. 
 
 TENNESSEE Coat & Iron Co., 302-6. 
 
 THaw, WILLIAM, 349. 
 
 THORNTON, ARTHUR, 133-4. 
 
 TinstMAN, ABRAHAM O., 27, 29-31, 34, 
 36-7, 40, 48, 57, 60, 63. 
 
 TinstMANn, Mrs. AsprauaM O., 60, 63. 
 
 TinsTMAN, Jaco O., 32, 35, 57: 
 
 TriumpH oF Faira AND CouraGE, 44-64. 
 
 Trusts, Warfare on, 302-4. 
 
 382 
 
 Union Arcabe BuILpING, PiTTsBURGH, 
 
 355- 
 
 Union Iron Mitts Co., 213. 
 
 Union Paciric RamroaD, 44, 277, 281. 
 
 Union Steet Company, 273. 
 
 Union Trust Co. or Pirrssurcu, 46, 
 278, 281, 316. 
 
 Unrrxp Coat & Coxz Co., 87. 
 
 Unitep Statss STEEL CorPporaTION, 196, 
 214, 238, 258-68, 271, 273, 281, 303-4, 
 306, 310-11, 319-22. 
 
 Unirep War Work, 324. 
 
 Van Buren, Prestipent Mart, 9. 
 VANDERBILT, GrorGzE W., 270, 
 VANDEVORT, JOHN W., 103, 247. 
 VARDAMAN, SEN. J. K., 317. 
 VoicHT, SCHOOLMASTER, 13-14. 
 
 Wa xer, JoHN, 84-6, 89, 180, 196, 219, 
 230-1, 233-4, 236, 246. 
 
 WaLLacg COLLECTION, 332, 334. 
 
 WatTeER, J. BERNARD, 196. 
 
 WaNAMAKER, JOHN, 149, 153-7. 
 
 War aGainst GERMANY, DgcLARATION 
 OF, 317. 
 
 War Inpustrizs Boarp, 319-22. 
 
 WASHINGTON, GEORGE, 2, 231. 
 
 Watson, D. D., 243. 
 
 Wayne, GENERAL, 3. 
 
 WesteRN UNION, 46. 
 
 WestERN UNIVERSITY, 349. 
 
 WetHE, PRESIDENT, 123. 
 
 WHaten, Grover A., 366-8. 
 
 Wuic Party, 9, 11. 
 
 Watney, Mr., 47. 
 
 Wurtney, A. R., 227, 230, 241, 256. 
 
 WickersHaM, GrorcE W., 311. 
 
 WILL AND BEQUESTS, 352-3. 
 
 Witson, ANDREW CARNEGIE, 234, 246. 
 
 Witson Tarirr, 182. 
 
 Witson, Presipent Wooprow, 313-14, 
 318-22, 325, 327- 
 
 Woop, Genera LeonarD, 326. 
 
 Wooster, COLLEGE OF, 350. 
 
 WriGLey, SUPERINTENDENT, I34. 
 
 Youno Men’s Curist1an Assn., 371. 
 Younc Women’s CurisTIAN ASSN., 371- 
 
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