In its answer to the Government’s charges, the Corporation claimed that, far from restraining competition, it had fostered it, and the majority of its competitors themselves swore to the truth of this defense. The United States District Court, before which the suit was first tried, pointed, in summing up, to facts and figures of the growth of competitors which fully and completely substantiated the Corporation’s claims. These figures showed that the Corporation’s business from 1901 to 1911, in which year the suit was brought, had increased over 40 per cent., but that in the same time the Bethlehem Steel Co. had shown a gain of 3,780 per cent. in business, the La Belle Iron Works of 463 per cent., Jones & Laughlin Steel Co. of 206 per cent., the Cambria Steel Co. of 155 per cent., the Colorado Fuel & Iron Co. of 153 per cent., the Republic Iron & Steel Co. of 91 per cent., and the Lackawanna Steel Co. of 63 per cent., to say nothing of the rise and expansion of entirely new companies, such as the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co., during the same period. For many years, ever since the period of consolidation in manufacturing and other industries began, big business had been viewed with suspicion and something of hatred by the mass of the people--and by no means without cause, in many instances. There was no question that the powers that controlled more than one great industry used their resources to crush competition and, too often, their money and influence for political ends. No argument is necessary to convince the unprejudiced mind that such acts were inimical to the good of the nation. It was perhaps natural that the stigma that attached to some as a result of this was used by demagogues and others, often sincerely enough, against big business in general as an aid to themselves politically. In short, “Smash the trusts” was for years the great vote-getting slogan, and unfortunately, is so still to some extent. Small wonder then that the Steel Corporation, the largest and most powerful of all the so-called “trusts,” was a shining mark for these attacks. Small wonder that the man in the street, looking to his leaders for guidance in such matters, was easily persuaded that the giant company was necessarily a menace to the body politic. Apparently this it was that Judge Gary foresaw when he insisted that the organization at whose helm he stood must so conduct itself in all its dealings with competitors and the public that it could at any time show clean hands; could prove that its power had been used not destructively but constructively for the good of all affected by its actions--and this means the entire population of the United States. He has said publicly either in a public address or when testifying that these policies were justified on two grounds either of which is sufficient, namely: first, because they are right, and secondly, because they will pay in the end.