STEEL INDUSTRY

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 60, 4 December 1920, Page 9

STEEL INDUSTRY

CHALLENGE TO AMERICAN OCTOPUS

BRITAIN'S STRONG POSITION

Can British steel interests hold their own? Tho giant Am'erican Steel Trust, now forming; a triple alliance with huge German and) French interests, has opened an ! attack throughout Europe and other overseas markets. Millions of pounds are involved, and the -welfare ot thousands of British "workmen hangs oil the issue, for steel is the keystone of industry, and Great Britain is essentially industrial.

The American attack has already opened. says the "Evening Standard." Large contracts with- Germany havn been completed. Powerful leaders in the steel industry in France have invested heavily in Germany.' ■

British steel manufacturers were invited recently to join this international pool, with the American Steel Trust B3 the lever. Relying on themselves, they flatly refused to be attracted bv tho American steel octopus. . Tho gigantic struggle now proceeding is the result. ■ . Great Britain has met tlie attack with a' barrage of organisation and business astuteness that has made the Yankee steel field-marshals halt for reinforcements. and the-question. of the moment is—Can Britain hold her own?

.- Jlr.' Alexander Richardson, M.'P., editorial director of '"Engineering," member of the council of the Institution of Naval Architects, and' vice-president of the Junior 'Institution of Engineers, when interviewed as to the British prospect, against tliis powerful combine, said: "Steel interests in Great Britain are well posted on the activities of. the Aine-. l'ican Steel Trust, and they have .been quietly at work for some time, preparing to meet foreign competition, whether from America, or any other quarter. "In engineering circles, considerable apprehension w;as felt prior to the war owing f.o the increasingly, large quantities of steel that were being imported from the. United States and Germany, with the result that ninny English furnaces had to close down—and nlso to tho fact that England had become so 1 dependent on" foreign ore. "German output increased from 169,000 on* ln W'O.to over 1!),000,000 tons in 1013, as against our output of 256.000 1913 ln 18 '°' aP<J SOIUe

as ,)ot,ran I],e United Mates and this country here still more staggering as the American only pro85MPffiS,. fc ."" to, Britain, was fast being taken awav, nnd More the war we had dropped back olJt Pi 5 ' PF? d «c i »R only 8 per cent, of the worlds output, while 68 per cent, was produced from roreißii ore.

"During the war pig-iron and semifinished steel had to l-e iniD.irtoiij as overy effort was made merense our finishing mills for fi'.e production b f wai materials, the result being tfcnt the capacity of the finishing mills i S grater to-day than it has ever fccen , n the past, and theso iiiills jits the eiiual of any in. the world. The United States steel companies have the advantage of owning large quantities of ore, and they have developed their furnaces to 'such an extent that they are able not only to keep their mushing mills supplied, but to have a surplus over for export.' . ''The loading British steelmasters weru quite alive to this situation, and immediately the war was over they began to take steps to regain a leading placa m the steel trade, of the world. "The first fundamental was iron oro; the second to discover where that' or& could be smelted at the lowest possible coat, so as to give them both oro for their-furnaces in England, and iron and steel, pig-iron, slabs and billets, to make up their -deficiency, in order to keep their finishing mills fully employed. "The largest commercial deposit ot iron ore. in the world was oitnod by the Dominion Steel Corporation and tho Nova Scotia Steel and Coal Co. in Canada. These companies also owned probably the largest single coal propcrtieu in the world, and, further, very large eteel_ works, with ample: Tooni for expansion, situated on ono of the fiJofit harbours in the world. .

"With true British trade astuteness, the plans of some'of the largest'steel masters of this country were kept very secret, but I know that they have obtained tile control of -these properties through a new corporation called tho British Empire Steel Corporation.

"The foresight and ability ehoivn ih obtaining the control against American interests, who wore also making every endeavour to do so, will have a nioie far-reaching result for the nteel inter- : ests of this country than tho public can readily grasp.

"Through this ncn corporation wo now possess unlimited and unrivalled supplies of raw materials within tha Umpire,. and I have no hesitation in expressing my firm belief that the British steel interests, through their foresight and sound business ability in securing ithls great Canadian property, will be able to meet any foreign combination that may be made between tho United States Steel Trusts and I'rench and German interests.