Approximately two years were spent by Mr. Garfield in this investigation. Some years later, testifying under oath, he stated that the management of the Corporation had put no obstacle in the path of the investigation, but that on the contrary Judge Gary had ordered that all information he demanded be given. Further, Mr. Garfield said that the head of the big company had asked him to inform him if anything contrary to law was discovered during the investigation as it was the desire and intention of the management to meet the law fully and to correct any abuses if they existed. Mr. Garfield, apparently, could find no cause of complaint, for he reported to the President that he had discovered nothing that necessitated that the Department of Justice be informed with a view to instituting proceedings. Further, Mr. Garfield declared, in questioning competitors of the Corporation, steel consumers, and railroad traffic managers, he had found no indication of the crushing of competition which would have been revealed by complaints of competitors as they had been in the case of other “trusts,” no signs of discontent among consumers, and no evidence of rebating, used by some big concerns as a powerful weapon in eliminating competition. On July 1, 1911, the report of Mr. Smith was submitted, through Secretary of Commerce and Labor Charles Nagel, to President Taft. Mr. Smith’s report was an exhaustive and complete study of the Corporation. One may find fault with his conclusions, but the work is without equal as a compendium of facts and statistics regarding the Corporation. [Illustration: (_Upper_) Ore Boat Unloading] [Illustration: (_Lower_) An Ore Train] In some respects the Smith report was unfavorable to the Corporation, although the Commissioner made no claim of suppressed competition. His criticisms were leveled principally at the big company on the two points of over-capitalization and the matter of the Hill ore lease. [Illustration: Ore Boats at Duluth Docks] Mr. Smith claimed that the tangible assets of the Corporation at the time of its organization were $682,000,000 against which $1,400,000,000 of securities were issued. At the end of 1910, he said, tangible assets had increased to $1,187,000,000 and securities issued to $1,468,000,000. As already pointed out Mr. Smith’s calculations did not allow fully for ore property values, worth hundreds of millions.