Birmingham state herald., 1895-12-21
is: "can steel be made

to be answered is: Gan steel be made successfully here?"
 He had never until recently understood why the Henderson mill had been unsuc- cessful. He had heard it was due to financial troubles He had learned lately that the mill only turned out steel ingots, it being the only one in the United States that sold it's product in ingot form. All other mills made billets He said he didn't see the necessity of discussing why certain companies do not go into the steel manufacturing business. We can't expect men now engaged in making steel to come here, but rather we may ex- pect them to fight us. This was our ex- perience in making pig iron. At first we were opposed by pig iron manufac- turers of other sections, but finally they had to recognize us, and then to purchase our product. So we can't expect help from old capitalists, but we must look to younger blood. Carnegie once had little or no credit. It is an open secret that the manufacturers of the west and throughout Pennsylvania were men un- der 50 They had the courage and the perseverance to make a success of their business. They began on small scale and built themselves up, and that is the way to succeed.
 He thought it should be made known to the world that in this steel mill bus mess that no axes were to be ground, and that no particular spot had been se- lected on which to locate 1t. A short telegram sent out a few days ago had arrested the attention of a steel manu- facturer of Pittsburg, Pa, from whom the mayor received a letter yesterday re- questing full details of the steel mill plan.
 He suggested that if the Commercial club could interest some man of skill and tact, together with representative of the club and one from the city of Bir- mingham, he believed something tangi- ble could be effected. He wanted an ab- solute demonstration that steel can be made successfully here, and this done he didn't think the three men above alluded to would experience any trouble in in teresting outside capitalists. This ques- tion of getting up contributions Of land, he said would be a good thing, but al present he thought a committee should be appointed to investigate and ascer- tain what can be done in this direction.
 It is a known fact that we have the material here to make steel; that we are making pig iron cheaper than any other district on the globe, and that Carnegie is making steel from our pig iron. Let us get up the proof and place It betore the people of the country by putting 1t in the public journals, even if we have to pay for it.
 Cant. w. H. Graves indorsed what both Mayor VanHoose and Dr. Phillips had said. He thought if steel was ever made here the beginning would necessarily be on a small scale. He said for two years steel was made at the Henderson plant and sent to the Bessemer Rolling mills, where 1t was rolled. That steel was sold to consumers just as fast as it could be made. None of it was ever rejected.
 MT Nails. who was present, said he had used Henderson steel in making boilers and it gave better satisfaction than any steel he had ever used. The Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad company exper- imented for two months with the Hen derson mill and they had been entirely satisfied with it.
 The Messrs. Enslen, who own the Hen derson plant had -informed Captain Graves that Chicago parties would be here at the close of the holidays to see about starting it. They have had an agent here for several weeks inspecting the plant and prosecuting other investi- gations.
 The North Birmingham Land eapa,-c had been asked tc~r7onate ten acres of land rom the mill lot. A :ll:eieman here from Chicago had informed him that by pro- cess recently discovered the low sili- con iron turned out at the Sloss furnace could be converted into soft steel at a cost of $1 per ton. He said with the