This does not mean that all the attacks on the big Corporation have been the work of demagogues. Some have been originated by men entirely sincere in their conviction that so great an enterprise was inherently dangerous to the well being of the country at large. But it was generally overlooked that the power to do harm implies an equal power to work good, and the question resolves itself in the final analysis to an individual one. What were the powers of the Steel Corporation and how were they used? The investigations, ending in the suit for the dissolution of the “Steel Trust” and its absolution by the Supreme Court, have brought to the light of day all the actions of the big company, have submitted them to the glare of pitiless publicity, and the vast industry has been judged not alone in the courts but at the bar of public opinion. What have been these investigations, why were they instituted and in what have they resulted? On June 18, 1898, an investigation into the question of trusts and their relation to labor and, in fact, their effect on the country generally, was decided on by resolution of Congress. A committee, known as the Industrial Commission, was appointed to make the investigation. This commission was composed of five members of the Senate, five members of the House of Representatives, and nine others, assisted by a large corps of experts in economics. The committee did not finish its work until the later part of 1901, its report being presented on December 5th of that year. So that the Corporation began its existence during the life of the commission and came in for a certain amount of study on its part. As the report, generally speaking, was an academic one and as it dealt very little with the Corporation, it may be passed over here. The first investigation bearing directly upon the methods or practices of the Steel Corporation was begun during the administration of President Roosevelt. James R. Garfield, appointed Commissioner of Corporations in the Department of Commerce and Labor when the department was instituted early in 1903, was instructed by the President to investigate various large corporations and in the course of this work he directed his attention to the steel trade. About 1905 Mr. Garfield began an investigation of the Corporation and the work was carried on until some years after he had resigned his post and become a member of the Roosevelt cabinet. The report of the Commissioner of Corporations on the steel industry was made by Herbert Knox Smith, who held the post under President Taft.