The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-01-28
Wonderful Strides
BY HERBERT N. CAssoN


 In the Munsey Magazine for February,
 1907. Copyrighted by the Frank A. Nun
 sey company.
 Birmingham and Pueblo-the iron cities of the far south and the far vest It is In here that we discover the latest and most sensational development in the world of iron and steel
 If there be any American playwright who Is planning to write the Drama of Steel, he will probably find more mate rial in this chapter than in any of those which have hitherto been printed. While the story of Pittsburg and the United States Steel corporation has been one of Buccess-of almost monotonous success there has been in Alabama and Colorado B vivid alienation of light and shade of marvellous victories and equally mar vicious defeats; and in Colorado. at least, there has also been an element of trag- edy which is not found elsewhere.
 The situation in Alabama and Colo rado is strikingly similar. In both states the steel makers had first to conquer a wilderness. They had to create an in- dustry from the ground up. Nothing was feady-made. When the first Birmingham furnace was built there was no Birming- ham; and the great Pueblo plant, now quite encircled by the city. was originally lonely object inA desolate waste on which no living creatures except the prai- rie-dogs had ever been able to make a home.
 Another coincidence is that while na- fi1rQ hae Pueblo, such an abundance of the many materials that the iron makers need, the one item of water seems to have been overlooked. The rivers are small, ex- Eept during the spring freshets; and in Pueblo the rainfall is seldom more than fourteen inches a year. The Colorado men, because of their experience in irri- gation, have recently solved the prob lem by spending nine hundred thousand dollars on a forty -three-mile conduit; and if Birmingham carries out it's present plan for a thirty-five-mile conduit neither city will need to fear thirst in the flu lure
 These natural obstacles have been trou blesome enough, but the steel kings of both states have had other enemies. They have battled with labor unions, as Prick did in Pittsburg, until there was nothing left to oppose them.
 There is not a union man in my en- ploy," said both John A. Topping and P. J. Hearne. the two great generals of the iron and steel armies in Alabama and Colorado.
 The legislature in each state, too, was nt first hostile The oo1-pora ffo,S were regarded by the politicians as 'big game that could be hunted in and out of season by any one who had a fancy for the sport.
 Both Topping and Hearne, so it hap pens, are from Wheeling. Both were high in the service of the steel trust, and resigned to take up pioneer work in the south and west. It is also true that sev- eral of the same capitalists have been active in both states. John W. Gates and I1. J. Berwind, for example, were among the first eastern men who invested money in the two places. And at the present time both states are linked together by E. w. Oglebay of Cleveland who is director in the Colorado Fuel and Iron company and also one of the "big four" In the Tennessee Coal and Iron company; and by F. J. Hearne, of whom we have already spoken, president of the former