His success in keeping unionism from Aliquippa was regarded by steel executives as one of the major factors in swinging the pivotal Pittsburgh district against union organization. Girdler operated then much as he is doing today. He kept Aliquippa model company town. He met his employees individually. He barred outsiders. No labor trouble disturbed his routine. Production mounted. Girdler got his first reward by becoming vice president in charge of operations. Later he became president. In 2 years he is credited with increasing the company's earnings by about $5,000,000 and earning $600,000 for himself in salary and bonuses. Aliquippa, however, remained the apple of his eye. From his Pittsburgh office he kept a supervisory eye on it. Even after leaving Jones & Laughlin he sent his men to the scene when labor trouble threatened. Only last month when Jones & Laughlin held its plant elections, resulting in a C. I. O. victory by a count of 17,000 to 7,000 and a signed contract, Girdler sent armed men to his old bailiwick. When his emissaries were detected electioneering, Girdler blandly explained they were "observers." He laughingly referred to them in discussing with the writer his industrial philosophy and in confirming the major points presented to him by the correspondent about his activities at Aliquippa. He even added a few anecdotes of his own for good measure. * * * An elaborate system of espionage permeated not only the plants but extended into the schools, churches, lodges, and even the homes. Nothing was too small to pass unnoticed. The most inocuous remark was apt to be carried to the boss, perhaps twisted in the telling. A check was put against a man's name at the first offense, but if too many checks accumulated he was likely to find himself out of a job, perhaps run out of town. An efficient deterent against undue activities was found through the development of a company police force. It was drilled to an efficiency unsurpassed by any units of the coal and iron police now legislated out of existence. It enjoys hearty cooperation from the city police. Incoming trains were met. Organizers, suspected organizers-in fact, any one who didn't look right-were taken into custody, sometimes beaten, put on the next train back to Pittsburgh. If anyone in town talked too freely he was likely to find his home raided and to be given short shift. Those deviating from the established order were branded trouble makers or agitators the convenient term communism hadn't come into use then. Numerous more indirect devices besides stool-pigeons and police kept the employees in line. Most of the houses are owned by the company, sold on longterm payments. A prospective home owner would think twice before risking his job and his investment. A tight political machine was created. Every Beaver County office was determined in advance. Every man's vote was known. Foremen even passed out marked sample ballots. Extra company undercover men flooded the river town. The official policemen were provided with steel helmets and riot sticks, with which they felt ridiculous when it became obvious union organizers still shunned the place. CHURCH INQUIRY FIND TERRORISM During the 1919 strike, which never affected Aliquippa so far as production was concerned, a commission of inquiry of the interchurch movement was examining the strike and the status of civil rights in western Pennsylvania. It stated as a prevailing custom in the steel area that "American citizens, whether strikers or not, were met at the railroad station by special deputies of the company, searched, beaten, placed under arrest, fined without provocation." Mr. Girdler, have you any comment to make on Mr. McCulloch's testimony? Mr. GIRDLER. Why, in the first place there are a lot of things about this article I like and some I do not like. He says that I am younger than my years-I like that. In a good deal of the stuff you have read, I don't think Mr. McCulloch said that he got that information from me, because he did not. Senator LA FOLLETTE. I think his testimony will show, Mr. Girdler, that he said he discussed the main points of the article with you. What he had observed, and offered you an opportunity to comment or criticize the material that he intended to use for publication, or words to that general effect. Mr. GIRDLER. Mr. McCulloch discussed the whole situation in Aliquippa when I was there, and he discussed some of the situation since I left there. He told me that he found two kinds of people in Aliquippa, the kind that did not like me and the kind that did. There is a great deal in this article that I have not the slightest doubt that Mr. McCulloch got from people in Aliquippa, but there is a great deal in that article that I have no knowledge of or ever had any knowledge of. Senator LA FOLLETTE. I am not saying Mr. GIRDLER (interposing). The reason Aliquippa was referred to as the "Siberia of America" was because it was not a popular place for professional union men, and that was because of the men themselves who did not want professional union men there. The reason it was called a model steel town was because it was a model steel town, with the best of housing and living conditions of any steel town in that section or most any other section of the country, paying the highest wages and providing the most for the people that lived in the town. He refers to a political machine in Beaver County and in the town. That political machine got worse and worse and worse until I think it had a lot to do with the troubles that Aliquippa had after I left there. Senator LA FOLLETTE. Mr. Girdler, I do not think that the article will show any indication that these facts were a matter of your knowledge other than the statement that he conferred with you about it. The only question that I should like to have you answer is whether or not he discussed the main substance of this article with you and whether or not you pointed out any inaccuracies in the article to him, or whether, as a general proposition, you approved the material which he had gathered as being accurate or at least as material to which you had no information to furnish him that would alter the material. Mr. GIRDLER. The things that I know about, that he wrote about in that article are very accurately written. The things I don't know about, I don't know whether they are accurate or not. I suspect that some of them were very highly colored by the people that told him. Senator LA FOLLETTE. Did you make any such comment to him at the time? Mr. GIRDLER. We had a long discussion; we talked for a couple of hours. Senator LA FOLLETTE. Mr. Patton. Mr. PATTON. I asked him if he ever saw the article. Mr. GIRDLER. I saw it after it came out in the paper, I didn't see it beforehand. Did you show me any notes at that time? Mr. McCULLOCH. I just talked. Senator LA FOLLETTE. Did he discuss the substance of the article with you? Mr. GIRDLER. He discussed a great many things with me, I don't know what the substance of the article is, it has been so long since I read it. Glancing over it, it seems to refer a good deal to my profanity, maybe you would call that the substance, I don't know. Senator LA FOLLETTE. No; I think you know what I mean by "substance." Mr. GIRDLER. No; I don't know what you mean, Senator. Senator LA FOLLETTE. I will clarify it for you. I mean, by substance, the main statements which appear in the article; in your 2hour conference with him, did Mr. McCulloch or did he not indicate to you the material which he had gathered and the nature of the article which he intended to publish? Mr. GIRDLER. Well, I say he talked to me for a couple of hours about what he had found in Aliquippa and I don't remember that 2-hour conversation in detail or what he considered the main part. I don't know what was the main part. If I would read this article I would be able to tell you what I thought was the main part of the article or the substance of it. I don't know; I have just been glancing at it while you were reading. Senator LA FOLLETTE. In the course of your conversation with him, did he inform you or did you become aware that he had obtained information concerning espionage and surveillance? Mr. GIRDLER. Oh, yes; he talked to me at great length about what he had been told over there. Senator LA FOLLETTE. What reply or comments, if any, did you make concerning those points? Mr. GIRDLER. I haven't the least idea what comment I made at that time, Senator. Anything that he talked to me about that I thought was probably correct, I told him so, and the parts that I thought were not correct, I told him so. Senator LA FOLLETTE. Did you or did you not indicate, as Mr. McCulloch testified, that it was nearly a perfect picture, or words to that general effect, with a few additions? [Laughter.] Mr. GIRDLER. I don't remember the additions, but I thought Mr. McCulloch's conversation with me indicated that he had a very fine grasp of the situation that existed in Aliquippa during my time and since my time. Senator LA FOLLETTE. Did you ever see the article after it was published, Mr. Girdler? Mr. GIRDLER. Oh, I think so. Senator LA FOLLETTE. Did you ever issue any statement concerning it? Mr. GIRDLER. I don't think so. Senator LA FOLLETTE. Or any denial or factual statement in relation to it? Mr. GIRDLER. No, I don't think I ever made any statement about it, I don't know that there was any denial to issue because I don't know that in this article there is any statement that Mr. McCulloch made that I would take any exception to. I don't know that there is or I don't know that there isn't, I don't think so. I didn't tell Mr. McCulloch that I sent armed men to Aliquippa to observe the Jones & Laughlin election. I don't know whether he thinks I told him that or not, but I didn't tell him anything of the kind. I didn't know the men had gone to Aliquippa until after I picked up a paper one morning and saw that they had been there. Some of those men were men who still owned their homes in Aliquippa. Senator LA FOLLETTE. Yes, we have taken testimony about that from some of the men who went there, but did Mr. McCulloch, for example, mention the fact that he had gotten information that men Mr. GIRDLER (interposing). I don't know whether he did or not. Senator LA FOLLETTE. You may be excused, Mr. McCulloch. Mr. GIRDLER. Senator, I wanted to make a remark. Why didn't you read some of the good things? Senator LA FOLLETTE. The entire article will be printed in the record. The material which I read from had to do with the general subject matter which this committee has been investigating for some time. If you should like to read some portion of it Mr. GIRDLER (interposing). I don't want to read it. Mr. GIRDLER. I just wondered why you read those particular things and not the rest. Senator LA FOLLETTE. I have given you the reason. Now, Mr. Girdler, after you left Jones & Laughlin and the Republic merger was consummated and the company organized, did you employ people who had been associated with you in Aliquippa? Mr. GIRDLER. I took Mr. Wysor, who was general manager of Jones & Laughlin when I was president. I took him to Cleveland with me, because he thought well of the same idea that I thought well of, that of the forming of a large midwestern steel company. I took with me a young man who had been a sort of a secretary to me over there, and he stayed with me as my secretary until he was killed in an automobile accident about 2 years ago. Those were the only people I took from Aliquippa. Senator LA FOLLETTE. Mr. Williams. I can excuse you, Mr. White, and make some room for these other witnesses. Mr. WHITE. If you don't mind, Senator, I would like to sit down here near Mr. Girdler. Senator LA FOLLETTE. That is perfectly all right, but I need some room for some other witnesses on the stand, and I am asking you to move back so that they can be accommodated as to space. TESTIMONY OF JAMES L. WILLIAMS-Resumed Senator LA FOLLETTE. Mr. Williams, you testified-order, pleaseon page 14598 of the transcript, that you were employed at Aliquippa during the period when Mr. Girdler was superintendent there. In what capacity were you employed? Mr. WILLIAMS. I did not testify to that, Senator, when Mr. Girdler was superintendent of the Aliquippa works. Senator LA FOLLETTE. In what capacity was Mr. Girdler there when you were there? Mr. WILLIAMS. President. Senator LA FOLLETTE. When did you first go with Jones & Laughlin at Aliquippa? Mr. WILLIAMS. In May of 1925, I believe. Senator LA FOLLETTE. Had you ever been employed there before? Mr. WILLIAMS. No, sir. Senator LA FOLLETTE. Where had you been employed prior to that time? Mr. WILLIAMS. Cambridge Glass Co. Senator LA FOLLETTE. When did you go to Republic? Mr. WILLIAMS. In September of 1930, I guess; 1930 or 1931. Senator LA FOLLETTE. To your knowledge, did Mr. Girdler have anything to do with your securing employment with the Republic? Mr. WILLIAMS. No, sir. Senator LA FOLLETTE. Did you have anything to do with his employment at Republic, Mr. Girdler? Mr. GIRDLER. No; I did not. I told you the only two, to the best of my recollection that I took from Jones & Laughlin, was Mr. Wysor, who is now president of the company, and Mr. Fording, who is now dead, and who was my secretary. Mr. WILLIAMS. Mr. White was superintendent of the Aliquippa works when I left there. Senator LA FOLLETTE. Did Mr. White have anything to do with your employment with the Republic? Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes, sir. Senator LA FOLLETTE. What did he have to do with it? Mr. WILLIAMS. He employed me. Senator LA FOLLETTE. Mr. Torbic. TESTIMONY OF JAMES S. TORBIC-Resumed Senator LA FOLLETTE. Mr. Torbic, you testified on pages 17219 and 17220, that you were employed by Jones & Laughlin. Were you employed at the Aliquippa plant? Mr. TORBIC. Yes, sir. Senator LA FOLLETTE. And you had done general police work there according to your testimony? Mr. TORBIC. Yes, sir. Senator LA FOLLETTE. Also, according to your testimony, you went with Republic shortly after the merger. Who, connected with Re |