To the management of the Corporation, and particularly to Judge Gary, who was responsible for, and had accepted the responsibility for, its actions good or bad, the decision was more than gratifying. Its effect was not merely sentimental, however. The decision, freeing the Corporation from the stigma of illegality and, by inference, endorsing its policies, left the big company at liberty to develop and expand within the legitimate lines it had always followed. For nine years the Corporation had been hampered by the shadow that was hanging over it. It was prevented from engaging in new enterprises that might have been favorably considered by its directors as any plans for future development might at any time have been brought to nothing by an adverse decision. It is yet too early to see any direct result of the new freedom, but it is a safe presumption that, now enjoying it, the Corporation will not fail to make use of it for the financial gain of its stockholders and for the economic good of the United States. [Illustration: A Trainload of Ingots in Molds] CHAPTER XII QUESTIONS OF POLICY Almost since the date of its organization the activities of the Steel Corporation have been guided by a definite set of policies. At the beginning, when the Corporation was going through what might be described as its “tooth-cutting” period, this was, perhaps, not the case, as there was, as suggested elsewhere in these pages, a lack of concordance on its Board on many questions, particularly in regard to relations with competitors, with employees, and the general public. But the policies advocated from the very beginning by the chairman eventually were accepted in full by all concerned, and they have for many years ruled the Corporation’s actions. [Illustration: Ingot on Way to Rolling Mill] Broadly speaking, the Corporation’s policies might be divided under five heads--relations with competitors, prices, publicity, relations with employees and, finally, with stockholders. No better proof can be offered of the wisdom and success of the big company’s methods of treating its competitors than the fact that, in its hour of trial, when the Government of the United States was seeking to disintegrate it, its competitors, the men who met and fought it for industrial success, came forward practically in a body to its defense and testified that its dealings with them and with the public had always been fair and honorable. The era that preceded the birth of the Corporation was one of unrestrained, bitter, and often unfair, competition in the steel trade. Too many manufacturers then worked, to paraphrase a well-known piece of advice, on the principle of: “Sell steel, honestly if you can, but sell steel.”