At Corn Products Refining (CPR), stockholders so disagreed with one another that they threatened to undermine the merger itself. Its predecessor, Corn Products (1902–1906), nearly failed, and so might have CPR. For several years, from its organization in 1906 to perhaps 1915, CPR’s owners weighed paying dividends against funding factories. Because paying dividends chanced syphoning off sums needed for plants, this might cause facilities to deteriorate and workers to face threats like factory fires that often set off explosions. CPR President E. T. Bedford managed this test and strove to upgrade facilities, which, by design or not, helped improve safety. His efforts almost came to naught given CPR’s anticompetitive tactics, yet the court’s antitrust decision—although highly critical—inadvertently gave the merger the chance to enhance profits and safety.

在 Corn Products Refining (CPR)，股东之间意见分歧很大，以至于威胁要破坏合并本身。它的前身“玉米产品”（Corn Products，1902-1906）几乎失败了，因此可能需要进行心肺复苏。多年来，从 1906 年成立到 1915 年，CPR 的所有者一直在权衡支付股息还是为工厂提供资金。由于支付股息可能会抽走工厂所需的资金，这可能会导致设施恶化，工人面临工厂火灾等威胁，经常引发爆炸。CPR 主席 ET Bedford 管理了这次测试，并努力升级设施，无论有意无意，这都有助于提高安全性。鉴于 CPR 的反竞争策略，他的努力几乎付诸东流，