district was upon the point of failure. This firm held a large
quantity of the stock of the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company. The
Steel Corporation had been urged to purchase this stock in order
to avert the failure. The heads of the Steel Corporation asserted
that they did not wish to purchase this stock from the point of
view of a business transaction, as the value which the property
might be to the Corporation would be more than offset by the
criticism to which they would be subjected. They said that they
were sure to be charged with trying to secure a monopoly and to
stifle competition. They told the President that it had been the
consistent policy of the Steel Corporation to have in its control
no more than sixty per cent of the steel properties of the
country; that their proportion of those properties was in fact
somewhat less than sixty per cent; and that the acquisition of
the holdings of the Tennessee Company would raise it only a
little above that point. They felt, however, that it would be
extremely desirable for them to make the suggested purchase in
order to prevent the damage which would result from the failure
of the firm in question. They were willing to buy the stocks
offered because in the best judgment of many of the strongest
bankers in New York the transaction would be an influential
factor in preventing a further extension of the panic. Judge Gary
and Mr. Frick declared that they were ready to make the purchase
with this end in view but that they would not act without the
President's approval of their action.

Immediate action was imperative. It was important that the
purchase, if it were to be made, should be announced at the
opening of the New York Stock Exchange at ten o'clock that
morning. Fortunately Roosevelt never shilly-shallied when a