THE ROMANCE OF STEEL

Taranaki Daily News, 14 January 1922, Page 12

THE ROMANCE OF STEEL

THEBE ARE PLENTY OF USES FOR STEEL. FUNDAMENTAL TO ALL INDUSTRY. London, Nov. 18. “Steel stocks were sold heavily on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday following the announcement of the naval reduction plans. The shares of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation, one of the largest armor plate manufacturers and shipbuilders in the country, fell over four points. Other steel shares declined up to two points.” “That Mr. Hughes's proposals will involve, according to estimates, a saving of fifty millions a year to home taxpayers* makes a strong appeal to shipowners and other business men at Liverpool from the economic standpoint; but objection is raised that if carried into effect they will create a good deal of unemployment in the Mersey district owing to the discontinuance of naval construction work at the yards of Cammell Laird and C.” —Daily Telegraph. “I regard the advocates of wasting money on battleships as lunatics. Why is the country’s purse controlled by lunatics? The four ships it is proposed to build will, with accessories, cost 100 millions. The Government say it will give eniplovment. So would building roads or railways.” —Admiral Sir Percy Scott. “Mr. W. L. Hichens, chairman of Cammell Laird and Co. (Limited), discussing with an Evening Standard representative the effect the adoption of the American proposals would have upon the armament firms and their employees, said: “ ‘So far as armor plate works are concerned, such works are very large and costly, and they serve no other purpose at all. If they are not required for armament work, it would be necessary to scrap them at a very heavy expense.’ ” ROMANCE OF STEEL. Even if some of the big armament firms have to close their yards as the result of the suggested scrapping of big battleships, tlyere are still plenty of useful uses for steel.

“The time is propitious to tell the story of iron and steel,” writes Lloyd Parsons in the World's Work. “How they have been the world's principal civilisers. How their possession and use have turned the fortunes of nations. How their victories in peace have been no less important than their victories in war. How the production of iron and steel lias largely determined the positions, in order of importance, of the leading nations of the world. Many people regard iron as the only accurate barometer of trade. If that is true, i\e must find a study of iron and steel interesting in our present day of industrial depression. “Few people have properly grasped the vast political significance that is attached to the control of mineral wealth bv the various nations. It is on the minerals that our modern industrial life is founded. The products of agriculture duplicateiitrV eTn ? e - vea * n BUC " cessive seasons, in accordance* with the laws of nature; but in the mineral kingdom. any growth tlqijt takes place is too slow to be of benefit to us, so we must consider that ore deposits once mined and used.are gone for eVer ’ WHY THEY WANT IRON.

“Germany's growth and power were due largely to her possession of the iron deposits of Alsace-Lorraine. Now that these great beds of iron have been returned to France, it is likely that the power resting in their possession Will also pass to the French. Wherever we turn in the world we shall find tnacommercial domination is based ownership of minerals, and of these none except coal is so fundamental as iron. If we had a better understanding of the international importance ot iron we should see clearly why Japan seeks control in China, and way Britain is ambitious to expand commercially in Brazil. “Great Britain's maritime supremacy dates from the time she became supreme in the construction of iron ships. America's rise to leadership in recent years has resulted from her pre-eminence in the production of iron and the jpannfacture of steel. What will the future unfold? Wil! the United States be tne chief source of supply for the hundreds of millions of people who are just awakening to the call of civilisation in the thickly populated but industrially undeveloped regions of China, India, and the whole continent of .frica? In orde.” to -forecast the future, we must analyse the present. UNLIMITED RESOURCES. “Twenty-five years ago Andrew Carnegie thought the end of the great iron and steel industry of the United States was in sight. Now we recognise that there is practically no limit to the world's resources of iron ore. Few elements are found in greater abundance or in more varied associations than this metal. It is conservatively estimated that one-sixth of the whole content of this globe is iron. Astronomers report that the average weight of the earth is much greater than the weight of the surface which we can sec. They explain this inequality by the presence, .ienr the centre of the earth, of vast masses of metal, a large proportion of wlucn is iron. “Recent surveys throughout the workl show two centuries’ stock of iron in si«rht. The total ore in Europe and North and South America amounts tn 31 800 000,000 tons, of which the equivalent iron is 14,310.000.000 tons. Assuming a pig-iron productior. of "0,000,000 tons a year, this ore is sufficient to last 200 years. However, if we figure that the consumption of iron will continue to increase at the same rate as in the past, our supplies of the grades of ore now utilised would probably be exhausted in a century.

REAL IMPORTANCE OF IRON. “Not one person in ten recognises the real basic importance of iron air 5 ! steel in the industrial life of the workl. If we link up iron and steel here in the United States with al] of their associated industries, wo shall find we have a. business second to none, America s present normal output of iron and steel is practically equal to the production-of all of the rest of the world combined. In 1020 we exported approximately 1,100.000,000 dol. worth of iron and steel products. Twenty-eight States in this country at present contribute to our total produeion of iron ore. The annual value of our pig-iron i« greater than that of any oilier single mapu fact prod product. IRON AS A BAROMETER. I“This brief survey of what might bt termed our basic manufacturing indus try will indicate to many why the stee

business is frequently spoken of as the barometer of industry. “Iron is the foundation rtf all our mechanical and manufacturing industries. It is an accepted principle that where industries are greatest the suffering which results from industrial depression is most severe. When prices go up, iron is generally the first ro advance. At least for a generation shrewd business men in this country have closely watched the rise and fall in iron prices in order to determine thd trend of prices in all otb 'r industries. Hundreds of business me.«. follow the rule of buying heavily and selling sparingly when iron commences to advance, and of reversing the process when iron and steel prices start to fall."