Bethlehem Economizes

Many have wondered in recent months whether the Bethlehem Steel Corporation, in absorbing Lackawanna Steel and Midvale Steel and Ordinance, "bit off more than it can chew." Earnings of the greater Bethlehem have not been impressive, and evidences of an extreme policy of economy have abounded. The most recent instance has been the retirement of three high-salaried Bethlehem executives--Archibald Johnson and H. S. Snyder, Vice Presidents, and W. E. Tobias, General Manager of Purchases. All three men have been with the company for years, and will be retained "in an advisory and consulting capacity." Several of them became independently wealthy through holdings of the original Bethlehem stock during the War boom. But the intensely competitive character of the steel industry today precludes heavy salary overhead to even so large a company as Bethlehem.