Business & Finance: Eaton’s Girdler

When in 1914 Tom Mercer Girdler went to work for the Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. he had reason to be pleased. For famed in Pittsburgh are the Joneses and the Laughlins, controlling the greatest “family” steel company. Hard-swearing, wearing his hat at all times to be ready for emergency mill calls, Mr. Girdler in turn pleased the Joneses and the Laughlins. So well did he please them that when last year they heard outside interests, represented by Cleveland’s Cyrus Stephen Eaton, were seeking General Manager Girdler, they made him president of Jones & Laughlin.

Until last week the Joneses and the Laughlins must have thought they had outsmarted Financier Eaton, for as soon as Mr. Girdler was made president he bought a $140,000 home in Sewickley, smart suburb, began to make his name known to other Pittsburgh families than his employers, seemed definitely settled there. But last week he resigned from Tones & Laughlin to be “actively engaged in the development of plans affecting the iron and steel industry.” It was evident that the Eaton interests had. won, especially when two days later R. J. Wysor, general manager and assistant to President Girdler, also resigned.

Just what position Mr. Girdler will hold in the Eaton “interests” is as doubtful as what companies Mr. Eaton intends to put in the long-discussed super-steel-merger. Mr. Eaton, working with William Gwinn Mather and Otis & Co., sponsors of Continental Shares, Inc., is supposed to control enough steel companies to enable him to form a single unit that will challenge Bethlehem’s position as second biggest U. S. producer. Until plans for this consolidation are completed, it is probable Mr. Girdler will advise the Eaton group on technical matters and stock activity. Chief companies with which Mr. Eaton is identified include:

Republic Iron & Steel. Usually mentioned as the likely nucleus for the merger. A $10,000,000 expansion plan begun last April. Both William Gwinn Mather and Cyrus Stephen Eaton are on the board of directors.

Central Alloy Steel. Big producer of specialty steels (Agathon Nitralloy, Agathon Alloy, Toncan, rust resisting iron, Enduro Nirosta [stainless steel]). Recently (TIME, Oct. 21) announced plans to acquire the Interstate Steel Co. of Chicago.

Inland Steel. Second largest in Chicago district. Plans to merge with Youngstown Sheet & Tube suddenly dropped.

Youngstown Sheet & Tube. Third largest producer, making mostly pipes, sheets and tubes for the oil and automobile industry. Three-fourths of the plant and most of the directors located in Youngstown, Ohio. Twenty per cent stock dividend paid Oct. i.

Otis Steel. In business 55 years, a practically self-contained unit. Automobile manufacturers largest customers.

Wheeling Steel. Plants in West Virginia and Ohio. First dividend on common stock since 1921 was paid in September. Owns 40,000 acres of coal land.

Donner Steel. Buffalo company making mostly special steels. Control was bought this summer by Mr. Eaton who paid $35 per share for the stock held by President William Henry Donner. Later the same offer was made to the minority holders. Company recently lost a patent suit to the Witherow Steel Corp. Eaton interests are now reported seeking control of Witherow.