The age-herald., 1899-11-05
COLONEL SHOOK COMPARES BIRMINGHAM AND
 PITTSBURG AS IRON AND STEEL CENTERS

ture must be carried to a finished state. Unfortunately for the south, in the past, we have been content to convert our coal into coke, and with coke and ore, make and sell pig iron. Until within the past few years, practically the entire product of the furnaces of the south has been shipped north to be manufactured and made ready for the consumer. l am very glad to be able ito say that this condition of affairs is changing rapidly. The first large steel mill has now approached completion It takes what, in the past, has been the fn- ished product of the Birmingham district, to-wit, pig iron, and carries it a little near CT to the finished product, to-wit, bilets, blooms and slabs. Already arrangements have been made by which one-third or the product of this immense plant will be taken in the form of billets and converted on the ground into rods, and these into wire and nails. This is carrying the product to the finished state. The building of this steel works has stimulated the opening up Of the rolling mill at Bessemer, which Will take the bfllets and convert them Into bars, and sheets, ready for the consumer. These will, in turn, make room for other manufacturers, who can come to the poiilt where the cheapest steel is made ana get the materials for manufacturing lheir re spective products. While 1t IS true that Pittsburg has accomplished largely her present position within the last twenty years, 1t is also true that for more than fifty years, it has been a noted center Tn this country for the manufacture or 1foh products.
 Birmingham has not had the beneht or age and experience. You have to LOOK back but a few years to mark the begin ming of the manufacture of iron In the BIT mingham district, when Col. J. w. Sloss, T. T. Hillman and H. F. DeBardleben embark ed in the iron business. Colonel Sloss punt Eureka, TOW Oxmoor and Hillman and De- Bardleben built the Little Alice.
 These three men were the pioneers in the manufacture of coke pig iron in Jefferson county, and to them great credit IS due. Only about twelve years ago was the de- velopment of the manufacture of pig iron Ill this district largely increased, when Ma thaniel Baxter, Jr., James Bowron, Ihom- as Seddon, Samuel Thomas and Joseph Woodward, commenced the construction of the plants which today form the nucleus or the four great manufacturing companies In the Birmingham district
 This great work, prosecuted under great difficulties, without large capital, without experience. and without skilled labor, has been successfully prosecuted by the man agers of these respective companies, untii today it is admitted that the practice in the Birmingham district is equal to that or any other section in the world. It Is true that the product of all these plants was sold in the open market forge and foundry
 irons and could only be marketed where this chara cter of iron was used. At the same tipae, a revolution in the Iron traue was going on. Steel was superceding iron; the BeSSemer converter was replacing the pudding furnace; to such an extent was this being carried that at one time 1t looked like the market for forge and foundry irons was practically gone. During these dark days when steel was fast supplanting iron in every section of the country, when II was barely. possible to sell the product of the furnaces at more than cost G. 5. Me- Cormack, present general manager Of the Tennessee Coal Iron and Railroad com pany, quietly and without ostentation or ceremony decided that he would make basic iron, a product suitable for the manu- facture of open hearth steel It was no sooner decided than commenced. The re- suit was that one furnace at Alice was put on basic iron. thorough knowledge or what he wanted, competent men to carry out his instructions, and careful selection of the ores, cokes and limestone, not only made 1t possible, but easy, to make the highest grade of basic pig iron, and thaf best suited for the manufacture or open hearth steel. From the day that the Dur den was changed and the furnace was put on basic iron to the present time, 1t has run continuously upon this class of pro- duct Other furnaces have been put on until today about 500 tons of basic iron are produced daily in this district.
 This fact makes a distinct epoch in the history of iron making in Jefferson county, Alabama, the credit of which IS entirely due to MT. Mccormack
 Today, with competent men, properly se- lected materials and sufficient equipment, there is no reason why every ton or ron manufactured in Jefferson county cannot be made of a quality suitable for the man ufacture of basic open hearth steel. This is especially fortunate for the south, for the reason that this character of steel Is the coming product. While Bessemer steel in the past has been the principal product of this country today there is not a single new Bessemer plant being erected in the United States, while there are per- haps fifty open hearth furnaces going up.
 The further fact that Birmingham can make basic pig iron at practically the same cost at which 1t has made ordinary forge and foundry irons, demonstrates, without argument, that it can make basic open hearth steel relatively as cheap, and as much cheaper than any other point in the United States, as 1t can make pig iron cheaper.
 The argument is sometimes made that Birmingham is dependent upon one indus try for success If this were true, it would not affect the possible future of the district for Pfttsburg has been dependent upon one industry for its great success with only half the necessary raw material with which to manufacture it. Birmingham, however, is not dependent upon the iron industry alone. From the forests of the south mill lions of feet of lumber are now being ship ped through Birmingham annually to be manufactured in the north into cars, agrl- cultural implements, furniture and every other conceivable thing in which wood en- ters All these things can be manufactur- ed at Birmingham cheaper than any point north of Birmingham.
 So that 1t has combination of wood and iron, both cheaper than any of it's sister states or cities north of 1t, and transporta- tion facilities for getting in it's raw mater ial and out its product equal to any other section.
 The Alleghany Mountains shut Pittsburg in from cheap transportation to the Allan tic seaboard. Birmingham has practically a down grade, both to the Gulf and South Atlantic ports, so that its products can not only be marketed in this country, but in all other countries, at less cost to the manufactprer than the products of Pitts burg.
 Notwithstanding the environments of Pittsburg and the disadvantages under which 1t labors account of its remote ness from tide water, it's lack of ores and its rigorous wnters,e 1t is today market