Once in harness again Schwab threw himself heart and soul into the steel battle. He found Bethlehem Steel in a rundown condition and for years he poured into it his personal fortune and all the money he could borrow. Although himself the largest stockholder he steadfastly refused to consider dividends until the company was firmly established financially and the result was that, before the European war broke out, Bethlehem was solidly on its feet and showing large earnings. These were enormously enhanced during the war years, when the stock sold as high as $700 a share. To-day Bethlehem is the second biggest steel company in the world, its plants having a capacity of 3,250,000 tons of steel annually. Although for many years a competitor of the Corporation of which he was once president Schwab is still a firm believer in the future of United States Steel and the value of its securities. On one occasion he told the writer: “It is a wonderful concern. There isn’t anything like it in the world, nor could its plants and organization be duplicated at any cost. The future will show how well, how securely, its foundations were laid.” GEORGE W. PERKINS George Walbridge Perkins, chairman of the Finance Committee of the United States Steel Corporation from November, 1901, to February, 1907, and an active member of that committee and of the Corporation’s directorate till the day of his death, June 18, 1920, was an unusual figure in American business--a man who, working his way from the bottom of the ladder to an eminent position while still comparatively young, gave up active money making while still under fifty and devoted his life to the betterment of social conditions. The world does not know how to judge Perkins. There are many who believed that his withdrawal from active business and his self-submergence in social work was a cloak, and this belief was undoubtedly strengthened by the fact that Perkins, in appearance, was a typical, cold-blooded financier. His was neither the look nor the manner of an idealist, a reformer. But the record of his life from 1911, when he resigned from a partnership in the great House of Morgan, is ample answer to all doubts of his sincerity. Perkins’ friends and admirers can point with confidence to this record in the impartial court of history. Perkins was born at Chicago in January, 1862. He began his business career in the humblest capacity, that of office boy, in the branch of the New York Life Insurance Co. in his home town. Later he became bookkeeper, then solicitor, manager of agencies and, still later, vice-president. Finally, when only thirty-eight, he was elected chairman of the Finance Committee of the company.