The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-10-23
RY WILL T. STEPHAN.

" 1s
 Birmingham, Oct. 22.-tSpecial Cor respondence)-steel is made success fully in only two places in the soutn And both places are Alabama towns Gadsden and Ensley, with Ensiey the more important steel manufacturlng center of the two and deteef making Is a millionaire business.
 Even Birmingham has no place where steel Is made regularly and prohtabiy. There are a couple of small open hearth furnaces for steel making in the plant of the Birmingham Rolling Mills. put they are not operated regularly and at this time they have been suspended TOT some time. In the mineral districts or Tennessee, of Georgia. of Virginia of all Southern States they are not making steel as they are here at EnSley.
 And as yet the industry is in the first flush of dawn. The full day IS yet to come. The noon day may, and not doubt will. be as brilliant as the white light of prosperity which shines over that wonderfully rich steel max ing district about Pitssbarg. Nature has better equipped the Birmingham district than she did the Pittsburg dis trict for steel making. The man who doesn't know may think that odd. and he may doubt 1t when he recalls the vast fortunes that have ben piled up by the Carnegies. the Phipps the Schwaos
 
 that knows tells you that Birmingham district has the better and the more convenient supplies than has Pittsburg and her surrounding territory. The ores are right here. They do not have to be hauled hundreds of miles or ship ped across the big lakes. The big plant of the Tennessee Coal and Iron Com pany is within eight miles of the furth- est bit of its raw material when this raw materials lying dormant in its native hill side.
 Recognizing these conditions nearly fifteen years ago President Milton H. Smith started a movement for the frs. steel mill and pushed it to success in due time.
 In convenience to raw material no section of the country Is so rich or so well supplied as the Mineral District of Alabama.
 One of the men who knows Is c. H. Shuier a pioneer in the steel business of Alabama and who unless one misses his guess will be one of the first of the Alabama steel kings, for Alabama is going to have them just as Pittsburg has them now. Mir. Shuler was in the steel business in Chicago. He knew its possibilities before he came south ward. He knew. too. enough of what was essential to it's success. to thoroughly investigate the mineral pos abilities of the Birmingham district be- fore he moved South the enormous in- vestments that he and his brother had in steel working plants in and around Chicago.
 Alabama Steel and Wire Company.
 The Shutters own the immense plant of the Alabama Steel and Wire Com pany at Ensley. The plant is not to be confused with the huge plant Of the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company which has been previously described
 --wAN at iron ore.
 The Shuler plan there turns the steel into finished articles of commerce, such as barbed. wira, wire of various sorts, rods. staples and things of that char acter. But the Alabama Steel and Wire Company which is in truth the firm of the Shuler Brothers few months ago completed a big plant at Gadsden similar to the works of the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company here CT material and turns out billets of steel. These billets are sent across the mineral district and to the finish ing plant here and turned into wire, nails and other things.
 Mfr. Shuler knowing conditions here and everywhere in the United States where steel Is made points out the Euperiority of the Birmingham district over other steel making sections.
 why are conditions more favora- Dle 10 SLeel <AAdOdIld Ludu even in Pennsylvania" was the ques- ton asked MT. Shuler
 There are no long railroad hauls here such as the Pennsylvania manu- facturer is compelled to use for his raw material. The raw material about here Is in sight. The furtherest haul is perhaps only eight miles.
 Moreover, the Pennsylvania steel manufacturer is forced to get his ore from the lake regions. It Is necessa- rily sent by water transportation. The lakes are not always open for navi- gation. There are certain seasons of the year when the ice closes lake nav, igation. This means if it means any khIn9 that the Pennsylvania people