GARY 



2397 



GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM 



later, when the so-called "steel trust" was 

 organized, there were many disputes among 

 the large stockholders. - The Carnegie and 

 F r i c k interests 

 were particularly 

 antagonistic, and 

 J. P. Morgan, the 

 great organizer, 

 wanted for the 

 executive a man 

 who was not 

 identified with 

 either faction. 

 Gary, of the Fed- 

 eral Steel Com- 

 pany, was not 



opposing any- EL BERT H. GARY 



body; he was Head of the greatest steel 

 thprpfnrp splpftpH company in the world, whose 

 Q output exceeds yearly the 

 to head the gi- combined production of all the 



, i steel companies of Europe, 



gantic steel 



merger, which was named the United States 

 Steel Corporation (which see). 



Judge Gary takes the non-militant idea of 

 industry. He believes in cooperation, not only 

 as between capital and labor, but as between 

 corporations and public interests. His first 

 big problem was with regard to the attitude of 

 the Steel Corporation towards its employees. 

 His solution was to invite the employees to 

 become stockholders. Stock was offered them 

 on easy terms of payment at less than the 

 market prices; about 23,000 responded imme- 

 diately, and the number steadily increased. 



When a boy he lived on a farm near Whea- 

 ton, 111., and attended a country school. Later 

 he attended Wheaton College and the Uni- 

 versity of Chicago, and at the age of twenty- 

 one began practicing law in Wheaton. When 

 the village became a city Gary was elected its 

 first mayor. At thirty-six he became a county 

 judge, later moved to Chicago and at forty- 

 seven was elected president of the Chicago Bar 

 Association. 



It has been said of Judge Gary that he is 

 not a mere captain of industry; he is called 

 a statesman of industry. Gary, Indiana, "the 

 steel city" founded by the United States Steel 

 Corporation, was named for him. 



GARY, IND., a city of Lake County, the 

 greatest steel-manufacturing center in the 

 world. It is twenty-nine miles southeast of 

 Chicago, on the southern shore of Lake Mich- 

 igan, and on the New York Central ; the Mich- 

 igan Central; the Pennsylvania; the Wabash, 

 and the Baltimore & Ohio railroads. The 



Elgin, Joliet & Eastern and other belt lines 

 connect these roads with each other and with 

 all others entering Chicago. There is also 

 electric service between Gary and Chicago. 

 The population in 1910 was 16,802; in 1916 

 the city claimed 40,000. Sixty per cent of the 

 inhabitants are foreigners, among whom thirty- 

 four nationalities are represented. The area 

 of the city in 1916 was over twenty-one square 

 miles. 



Gary was created in 1906 by the building of 

 the main plant of the Indiana Steel Company, 

 of the United States Steel Corporation. The 

 site offers the unexcelled advantages of a fine 

 harbor, the rail- and water-shipping facilities 

 of Chicago and a central location between the 

 great iron ore region of the north and the 

 inexhaustible coal supply of the south. The 

 greatest steel markets of the world are close 

 at hand; Chicago, one of the largest, is also 

 the nearest. Other giant subsidiary plants in 

 operation are the American Bridge Company, 

 the Universal Portland Cement Company, the 

 American Sheet and Tin Plate Company and 

 the Coke By-Products Company. A huge 

 branch of the Baldwin Locomotive Works was 

 in course of construction in 1917. The Gary 

 Screw and Bolt Works was one of the first 

 independent plants to be erected here. Among 

 other projected industrial establishments are 

 those of the American Locomotive Works, the 

 American Car and Foundry Company and the 

 National Tube (Company. 



The educational activities of Gary are as 

 unique as the industrial (see GARY SCHOOL 

 SYSTEM), and the school and other public 

 buildings are in keeping with the promise of 

 the city. Among these are a $250,000 Y. M. 

 C. A. building, the Gary-Carnegie Public Li- 

 brary, Mercy Hospital, the city hall and a 

 number of handsome churches, banks and ho- 

 tels. Gas from the blast furnaces and coke 

 ovens is converted into light and heat for the 

 city. The water plant, owned by the United 

 States Steel Corporation, supplies water from 

 two miles out in Lake Michigan. The city 

 contains two parks, Jackson and Jefferson. 



Until 1906 the location of Gary consisted of 

 sand dunes and marshes. In that year the 

 city was chartered and the Steel Corporation 

 began the building of sewers and of mains and 

 conduits for the distribution of water, gas and 

 electricity. The city was named in honor of 

 Elbert Henry Gary (which see). 



GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM. Under the lead- 

 ership of Superintendent William Wirt, a school 



