(4 of 4)
Much as the late, great Carnegie picked Charles M. Schwab to manage Carnegie Steel, so the present, great Schwab picked Eugene Clifford Grace to be Bethlehem's bright, particular star. Born (1876) in Goshen, N. J., President Grace held a boyhood job of clerking in his father's grocery store. At Lehigh he played four years of Varsity baseball, captained teams that won from Yale, Pennsylvania, Harvard. Is still a baseball enthusiast. From Lehigh, Mr. Grace went to Bethlehem, ran a crane for $1.80 a day (12 hours). His first big job (1905-06) came when Mr. Schwab sent him to reorganize the Juragua Iron Co., a Cuban subsidiary. Then came many an advancement, culminating (October 1917) with Bethlehem's presidency. Tall, slender, impeccably attired, President Grace is known in non-steel circles as a collector of paintings and of golf-trophies. Of the Triumvirate which now directs the destinies of U. S. Steel Corp., the board chairman, J. Pierpont Morgan, is concerned with European reparations; the president, James A. Farrell, is concerned with the making of steel and the administration of 'the company, leaving the chairman of the finance committee. Myron Charles Taylor, most active triumvir. Long known as a "sphinx," never given to the interview habit, Financier Taylor genuinely possesses that dislike of publicity, that distaste for public display which, is so frequently attributed to tycoons in general. The door of his office is lettered simply "Mr. Taylor." Recent events, however, have made it difficult for Mr. Taylor to escape the public eye. When (TIME, March 4) Guaranty Trust Co. and National Bank of Commerce were combined, Guaranty & Commerce Stockholder Taylor was chiefly credited with having brought the merger about. When (TIME, March 4) the U. S. Steel bond redemption plan was first announced, to Myron C. Taylor went praise for having completed what the elder Morgan began, and for having made U. S. Steel completely Morgan, completely non-Carnegie. Last week Mr. Taylor went to Hamilton, N. Y., attended a special convocation at Colgate, became Dr. Taylor with an honorary law degree.* Speaking, Mr. Taylor talked not of steel, of success, of finance. Instead, he quoted St. Paul: "Ye men of Athens, methinks ye-are in many ways too superstitious." He added: "So if today St. Paul came to America and viewed the activities going forward in this great land of ours, he might well say: 'Ye men of America, methinks ye are in many ways too materialistic.' . . . The generation of middle-aged men . . . are perhaps on the whole too shackled to the creations which they have developed to rid themselves of ... their burdens. . . . But the generation to which you belong has every advantage, because you not only inherit the fruit of those immediately preceding you, but also, the accumulated effort and knowledge and experience of all humanity since the beginning of time. In the words of John Ruskin: 'All history is open to you; all high thoughts and dreams that past fortunes of men can suggest.' "
* He is a Cornell graduate (1894).
