Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1903-10-15
THE STEEL SUPPLY
ANDREW CARNEGIE TALKS OF 1T
IN ENGLAND.
United States Steel Trust Has a Supply for
Sixty Years. With Careful Legislation by
the Republican Party the Supply Of
Carnesies May Hold Out.

NarneSies May HOId Out.
In an address delivered at Rarrow-in-
Furness, England, recently and relating
to the cost of producing steel billets IN
the United States, Andrew Carnegie
said:
"There have been made and sold with.
out loss hundreds OF thousands of tons of
four-nch steel billets at three pounds for
a penny. This was done dur
ing the day OF depression, when every
thing was at the lowest. Costs are sew.
eral dollars per ton higher today, during
this period of boom in America"
The Chicago Record Herald in its issue
of September 3. commenting upon Mr..
Carnegie's st .tement, said:
"If we turn this statement into terms
of American money We discover that,
according to Mr.. Carnegie, four.inch steel
billets can be made and sold at profit
at Pittsburg today for $l3 so per ton, plus
several dollars per ton Several in
this connection can hardly mean more
than three or FOUR Let us be liberal
and call it FIVE A profitable price for
the billets should therefore not be over
$3.50 per tor.
"When we turn to the Pittsburg price
quotations as given in the last number Of
the Iron Trade Review, we find tn It the
current prices for four-inch Bessemer and
open hearth steel billets range from $27
to $29 per ton. In other words, the pro-
ducers are making from $3.50 to <1O so
per ton more than they can possibly have
any good commercial claim to make.
And at that prices are off some $6 from
what they were last spring.
"Mr. Carnegie thinks that the day OF
cheap steel is over. 1T is doubtful he
says, If ever lower price can be reached
for steel. On the contrary there is every
indication that period after period the
price of steel is to become dearer, owing
to the lack of raw Materials He in
stances the unfortunate case Of the United
States steel corporation, which possesses
only sixty-year supply OF steel in its
mines.
"Most Americans will be willing to
take their chances With the supply OF
raw material 1t is when the supply OF
Carnegies is considered that pessmism
! to them justified"
So long as human nature remains I'M
changed "the supply of Carnegies" will
be practically inexhaustible, provided
there be political organization, like the
republican party, having the power and
the disposition to extend to individuals
the special privileges in the possession OF
which the Carnegies obtain riches be-
yond calculation.
Most Americans would, indeed. be
willing to take their chances with the
supply OF "raw material" And If power
full newspapers like the Record Herald
would abandon the support OF a political
organization that extends special pfivil.
eyes at the expense of the people, that
lakes ulOncy OtIt Vi tIic pOCkcuS OF tne
many to place in the pockets OF the few,
then there would be no justification for
ressimism even in the contemplation of
the "supply OF Carnegies."
AS long as the world stands there will
be men ready and wiling to take advan-
tage Of their fellows and to thrive by i'm.
position upon the public; and men like
Carnegie will grow rich and thrive, just
as Carnegie grew rich and thrived, SO
long as men like the editor OF the Record.
Herald content themselves with pro-
testing against lmpositions upon the PEG.
pie between election days while they go
to the ballot box and cast their vote for
the party that is responsible for those
impositions and boldly acknowledges it's
determination to pursue its evil course.