It was right after the first great shock of the panic of 1907. The country was still trembling from the effects of the great financial disaster, and no man knew surely whether the worst had been passed, whether financial and industrial chaos had been staved off, or not. The storm clouds had not passed away, and the men engaged in the steel and iron business, truly called the barometer of trade, having on more than one previous occasion--many of them, at least--seen a similar situation lead to years of distress and of prolonged industrial depression and unemployment, in a word to what the trade knew as soup-house days, had especial reason to be fearful of what the immediate future held for them and the concerns with which they were associated. Nor were these panic fears confined to the steel giants alone. In fact, the smaller manufacturers, the jobbers and the retailers, having generally smaller resources, were in much worse case. Most of these latter were piled up with heavy stocks of steel which they had purchased during the boom in the earlier part of the year, and a sudden drop in steel prices would have meant not alone the wiping out of all hope of profit, but certain bankruptcy for a large percentage of them. To the head of the biggest of the steel producers, then, all eyes were turned. Judge Gary was deluged with letters from all quarters asking him to use all his power and influence to help weather the financial tempest. Naturally, it was very much to the interest of the Steel Corporation, as well as of other steel manufacturers, to do all that was possible to prevent the failure of the steel middlemen. Not only would bankruptcies have meant the drastic cutting down of accounts due, perhaps their total loss in some cases, but each failure would have meant the loss of a customer. These things the steel men knew from past experience. One thing above all others seemed to be needed, the great essential in panic of every kind--that those concerned should keep their heads, should remain cool and face the danger steadily, and with the strength of unity. A leader was needed, and a strong one, and Judge Gary, head of the Steel Corporation, was looked upon to assume the post, which he did. To Judge Gary it seemed that the first and essential step was to bring the steel producers together and to explain the situation to them, pointing out that the only hope of salvation was in coolness and unity. So he wrote a letter to practically all the large steel producers inviting them to a dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria, in New York, on November 20, 1907. The response was unanimous, and on the evening of that day there gathered around the table in the ballroom of that hotel the representatives of concerns producing more than 90 per cent. of all steel made in America, as well as the representatives of some Canadian companies. At the proper time the host explained the object of the meeting. What he said can best be related in his own words: