The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1907-09-12
! P(lTiCl| Comment.


comes the call for additional workers.
At Gary. Ind. the largest steel mills
in the world have been opened. They
belong to the United States Steel Cor
poration, which produces about half OF
the American steel output Gary is
the town which the steel trust has been
building Many millions of dollars
have been expended in getting iron and
steel works established at that point,
and many more millions are to be In
vested there in the .rext year. The
United States produces 40 per cent OF
the worlds iron and 40 per cent of its
steel. And yet it can not entirely meet
the home demand. Iron and steel fur
nished a considerable part of the $74O,-
100000 of manufactures which were
exported in 1907. but they also figure
in the imports with some prominence
Notwithstanding the expansion in the
number and the capacity of the iron
and steel works of the country, they
are unable to supply all the orders
which are pouring in, and thus the for
upon by American consumers.
Cripple Greek has sent out call for
miners, but it is unable TO get as many
as ii wants. The reason why it can
not get as many as II would like to
employ is that Nevada and the rest of
the gold fields in the United States are
sending out their demands for addi-
tional workers. In the coal and iron
mines of the East and the Central West
there is q shortage of workers, and
like story comes from the copper, lead
and zinc regions In most Of the i'm
DOrtant minerals the United States has
a long lead over any other country. 1t
stands second In gold production, hav-
! ing only the TransvaaI ahead of it, but
| it is first not only In iron and steel,
Dut In coal. copper and other minerals
For the calendar year 1907 our aggre-
gate mineral product Will be over
! 81, OO0,0OOOOO, or more than double
hat OF 1899. We furnish much more
than half of all the worlds copper, and
also more than half of its petroleum,
another industry which is calling out
FOR more workers. AS the demand for
all the minerals is increasing, the pro-
auction of 1908 is expected to pass far
beyond 190I's record. The old days
when the United States was third or
fourth in the list in coal, iron and
steel production are not far behind us
In years, but the extent of our lead
| this
The earlier reports of crop failures
are shown by the later returns to be
baseless. Not only will we have full
average yield of the cereals, but cot
ton Will be above the mean of the past
| five or six years. The appeals which
the harvest fields are sending out for
additional workers show that the grand
aggregate of all the crops will not be
much below the record figures of 1906.
The United States produces fifth of
the worlds wheat and three-fourths of
the worlds corn. The aggregate value
, of its products of the soil in 1906,
which was rearly S7,0O0O00,0O0, was
far ahead Of that OF any other two
countries in the world. From present
indications the 1906 figures will be
closely approached In 1907, and may be
equaled. With the farms, the factories
and the mines bidding against each
other for workers, the condition Of the
wage Garner is especially happy. Al
though the immigration was 100000
in 1905, 100000 in 1906 and nearly
100000 in 1907, the West and the
South are calling loudly for more
"help." While the average employer
would prefer American workers to all
sorts of newly landed aliens, the latter
can find employment in the Mississippi
Valley and throughout the South, at
good wages. immigration bureaus
| from many of the States west of the.
Alleghanies and below the Potomac and
the Ohio are offering inducements for
| the immigrants to come I'm their di-
rectiOn, but the labor shortage still
persists. This condition shows the
folly Of the predictions that business
| IS on the decline. The railroads are
hauling more goods than they did a
year ago, which means not only that
the people are buying more, but that
the mills and the mines are producing
more If this Is adversely, the country
wants all OF it that 1t can get.-St.
Louis GlObe-Democrat.