Central and South American Trade as Affected by the European War
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James Augustine Farrell, Sr. was president of US Steel from 1911 to 1932.
Background
He was born in New Haven, Connecticut, the first of four sons and second of six children of John Guy Farrell and Catherine (Whalen) Farrell.
His father, an Irish Catholic, had come to the United States in 1848 from Dublin.
When James was sixteen, his father was lost with one of his ships, and the boy had to leave school and go to work as a laborer in a steel wire mill in New Haven.
Education
Hoping to advance at the Pittsburgh Wire Company to salesman, Farrell studied at night both to improve his education and to learn every aspect of the wire-drawing trade.
Career
Following family tradition, he was by turns a merchant, sea captain, and shipowner, and James early acquired a lifelong love for sailing ships.
When James was sixteen, his father was lost with one of his ships, and the boy had to leave school and go to work as a laborer in a steel wire mill in New Haven.
Nine years later, in 1888, he moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he worked for the Pittsburgh Wire Company, again as a laborer.
Both sons became prominent in the shipping business as executives of the Farrell Lines. Hoping to advance at the Pittsburgh Wire Company to salesman, Farrell studied at night both to improve his education and to learn every aspect of the wire-drawing trade.
Although sources differ, it appears that the company made him a salesman about 1889, and within three years promoted him to sales manager with offices in New York City. Farrell's success was attributed to his thorough knowledge of customers' needs.
Though an excellent conversationalist, he was a "teetotaler" and never entertained clients in saloons or clubs; but he gained a wide reputation for honesty and reliability.
In 1893 he became general manager of Pittsburgh Wire, and during the business panic of that year he managed to keep his firm solvent by seeking out foreign markets, as yet a relatively untapped source. Farrell's knowledge of foreign markets proved the key to his advancement.
In 1899 Pittsburgh Wire merged with the American Steel and Wire Company of New Jersey, and he became head of foreign sales; when this company was in turn absorbed by the newly formed United States Steel Corporation in 1901, Farrell received a similar position in the parent organization.
Two years later he was named president of the U. S. Steel Products Corporation, a subsidiary formed to coordinate all foreign sales.
In eight years in that post, he tripled the company's export business, sharply cut the cost of foreign trade, and purchased a fleet of ships to transport the growing variety of steel products.
So successful was Farrell that in 1911 the banker J. P. Morgan and Elbert H. Gary, chairman of United States Steel, selected him to replace the retiring William E. Corey [Supp. 1] as president of the company.
He held that office until 1932, during which time he increased steel output from 6, 000, 000 to 29, 000, 000 tons.
After the death of Judge Gary in 1927, the company's operations were divided, with Myron C. Taylor as director of financial affairs and Farrell as both head of operations and chief executive officer.
Farrell was a prodigious worker and a firm believer in the American success credo.
His testimony during the federal government's 1913 antitrust suit against U. S. Steel demonstrated his remarkable memory for details.
An internationalist in foreign trade matters, Farrell was chairman of the foreign relations committee of the American Iron and Steel Institute from 1910 to 1932 and for many years chairman of the National Foreign Trade Council.
He apparently opposed trade unionism, however, and during the famous steel strike of 1919 refused to negotiate.
In his retirement he divided his time between New York City and Rockledge, his estate in South Norwalk, Connecticut, where he pursued the hobby of sailing, the only pastime he had ever enjoyed.
He died of heart disease in New York City at the age of eighty-one and was buried at Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Hawthorne, New York.
He was a member of two foreign orders of merit, and as a leading Catholic layman was twice decorated by the Vatican.
Views
Despite his position, Farrell lived without ostentation and enjoyed privacy. His laboring background made him comfortable in the presence of workers, and he was sympathetic to their needs. He early advocated the adoption of workers' compensation benefits and pension funds and the improvement of working conditions.
Quotations:
"Every American boy, " he once said, "by strict application can master the techniques of any business, and has the same chance to do the same thing that I have done. "
In a 1932 speech, Farrell said:
"West of you lies the Orient with the teeming millions of hard-working thrifty people, the great majority of whom, unfortunately are still existing on a standard of life materially below that of some of their neighbors. It is apt to be forgotten. .. when viewing the current cessation of trade, that the Pacific area is perhaps the most rapidly developing market in the world. Even during the decline of the past two years the interchange of goods between the countries bordering on the Pacific has continued to increase in volume, even though declining in value. All other trade areas have declined in both volume and value.
It is significant to note that this growth of trade was not accompanied by a corresponding increase in population. It was, however, accompanied by a striking development in communication and transportation, the constant companions of commercial progress. "
In a 1932 speech, Farrell said:
"West of you lies the Orient with the teeming millions of hard-working thrifty people, the great majority of whom, unfortunately are still existing on a standard of life materially below that of some of their neighbors. It is apt to be forgotten. .. when viewing the current cessation of trade, that the Pacific area is perhaps the most rapidly developing market in the world. Even during the decline of the past two years the interchange of goods between the countries bordering on the Pacific has continued to increase in volume, even though declining in value. All other trade areas have declined in both volume and value.
It is significant to note that this growth of trade was not accompanied by a corresponding increase in population. It was, however, accompanied by a striking development in communication and transportation, the constant companions of commercial progress. "
Membership
Farrell resigned his executive positions at U. S. Steel in 1932 but remained a member of the board of directors until his death.
He was a member of the National Foreign Trade Council.
Connections
On June 11, 1889, he married Catherine McDermott, who bore him five children: John Joseph, Mary Theresa, Catherine, James Augustine, and Rosamond.