The age-herald., 1897-08-01
JOHNSON TALKS STEEL,
 zg AIabama's Governor Grows En- thuSiastic on the Subject. GREAT WILL BE BIRMINGHAM An Interesting Chat on Subject Which Is of the Utmost Importance to This Sec
 tion at the Present lime.

Gov. Joseph F. JolrnaHon came up from Montgomery yesterday to spend Sunday.
 Always intereslaAd i'm developments in Alabama, he talked enthusiastically on the subject of tho new steel era of Bir- mingham.
 That our pig iron nd Birmingham could be converted into steel and made a commercial success, with sufficsnt capi- tai, has nloe been doubted by the iron masters of this district for many years," snid the governor But for she panic of 1898 large plaeIy would have been erected here several years since. Arrang gements had been male to that end by gentlemen who had mastered the subject.
 "The pr1sent plant, erected by the Blr- mingham rolling mlll is in no $ nlse an experiment.. I. was constructed after a nosa lSainIenIt alld thorough examination of other steel planlts, alnd in the light of successful experience i'm the conv of similar ilon into stei;l. Had there been a Ileasorlable doubt as tb the outcome, Gse Intelligent management directing that coinpony could have done all Itlle eXper- nltntlng required at a flactioll of ths cost they are incuIuing. They have erected and firash.ed one furnace, which is now in successful operation, and turning out on a single shift twenty-five toms of slte4l pen day, That has stood the severest physical and anyEtical tests. Their sec oIid furnace will be completed by uhe 1st of Seppambe1 and the two will have capacity, run on full time, of 125 to 150 tolrls per day. Their rolling mill is now being ovelrhauld d, stock taken, and being put in complete repair, and now and inn proved machinery being put In to handle tlhe product of th,ir s eel furnaces When fin full blast the steel furnads and rolling mill will employ about 1900 skilled me oihalhcs. whose wages will average about s per day. The rollIng mill will rtsurne operations in about ten days.
 II do not think that amy che need ap- pr.neluE That there will be any failure Eo make good merchantable steel at cost that will leave comfortable margin of profit to the manufacturers.
 There are many who can remember that when. the attempt was first made to convert our Red mountain ore intobig with coke from this district, that it was proclaimed, at home and abroad, that it could not be done. It was said that the ore must have a large mixture of the brown or soft ore, and that it would otherwise be understandable, and that financial disaster was inevitable.
 After the iron was successfully made, it was then said that 1 ( field of useful ness was so oircumscribed that only a limited market could be found. In spite of these prophesies furpace after furnace was erected our iron met the Pennsyl- vania and Ohio pig in many markets and drove them from the field, and is now finding markets in England Germany, Italy, Spain and other foreign countries It has met the distrust and disaster pre- dicted in it's beginnings and has estab- lished the fact that for general mill and foundry purposes it is as good as any in the world and produced at a less cost than at any other point in the world.
 "I am satisfied that our experience in the manufacture of steel will follow the same lines and attain like results; dstrust and prejudice will have their brief day of opposition, obstacles will be overcome, the cost of production di- unfinished, and the market will in the end only be limited by freight charges.
 Tt is quite likely that within a de- eade the entire product of our furnaces will be converted into steel or manufac- tured here at home.
 Tt is the law Of evolution and the law of business that has evolved the steel plant.
 This law will continue in operation: The production of steel will be the prolific parent of many small industries. Ev. ry article of general use and consumption into which steel and iron and wood enters, will 1irld here the point of lowest cost for their raw ma atediais and the cheapest fuel anywhere in the United States; agricul- tural implements, wagons, buggi-s, car riages, bicycles, tocls nails chains tacks, horseshoes and numberless other artic es will here be manufactured. In these days whsn the fraction of a cent often deter mines the market capital will not be slow to find the point where the raw materials are cheapest.
 The same laws that are bringing the cottcn mills to tE'a cotton fields will brng these other manufacturing establish msnts to the Birmingham district. The effect on the values of coal an1 iron lands and city ard suburban property n be calculated by others as accurately as by myself I believe, however. that the indications named will secure a healthy and steady and persistent growth both in poulation and values. and will create an ever increasing demand for the produc of our gardens ard orchards and fields.