The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-09-01
EDMONDS TALKS ON
 ALABAMA'S FUTURE What Entrance of Steel Corpo-
 ration Means
SURE TO BRING OTHERS
Has Attracted Attention of World in Such Way That the States Future Industrial Greatness Is
 Now Assured

Richard H. Edmonds of Baltimore, ed- tor of the Manufacturers Record, and recognized as the leading authority on southern resources and southern statis- tics, is making a trip of observation through the sou&h. He spent Monday iu Atlanta and came from that city to Bir. ningham to spend few days MT. Ed monds said last night:
 No one can make a personal study of what has already been accomplished by the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad company since its purchase by the United States Steel corporation, and of what work 1t now has under way, and also study the plans the Steel corporation in building through its subsidiary, the American Steel and Wire company the great rod and wire mill-without realizing that after many years of waiting this district is at last to have a development commensurate with its natural resources.
 "The morning of the announcement of the purchase of the Tennessee company by the United States Steel corporation I wired to some Birmingham friends that this would prove to be one of the epoch ' not only of Alabama, but of the whole south. That prediction is being full filed
 T believe the Tennessee company has already spent. since it was purchased by the Steel corporation, some $7,O0O,O0O or $S,OO000O In modernizing it's plants and putting them in shape to do business. The work now under way, including the building of the wire mill, will, am sure, result in an expenditure of upward of $10,O00,000 before 1t Is rounded out and when all of this has been accomplished the company will then just be in shape for the real broad development of the fu- ture. By that time the developments of the south will have gone forward at such a rate as to create an corresponding market for iron and steel; and with the growth of demand it is inevitable that the Steel corporation will undertake to meet the situation by other and still vaster expenditure.
 The Raw Material
 Judge Gary has stated that the Ten nessee company owns In this district 700,- COOL 900 tons of ore. When the Steel corpor- ation was organized it was estimated that its total holdings of ore were about 60O,- 100000 tons, or less than the company acquired in the Birmingham district when 1t purchased the Tennessee property. At its organization 1t had very much less coal than the Tennessee company owned. Thus, in the purchase of the Tennessee property it secured more raw material than 1t owned at its organization. For the utilization of its ore and coal In the north it had several hundred million dollars invested in plants, and since its organization it has, I believe. expended over $2O0 900 in the building of new plants and the improvement of existing ones. It Is true that these vast expendi- lures were made because the local de- mand for iron and steel in the north and west justified such an immense produc- ton.
 Tt is reasonable, however, to count that an organization which does things on such gigantic scale elsewhere will do the same character of work in this dis trict where 1t has such vast stores of raw material, just as rapidly as the consump- tive requirements of the south Justify. provided the necessary labor can be found.
 Prior to the purchase of the Tennes- see company by the Steel corporation many people, in the north and west, lacked faith in the mineral resources oi the district. Many time I was asked If Alabama had the resources claimed for 1t, why didn't Carnegie invest in this state; and the same question waD many times asked, after the orga 1izatior of the Steel corporation, as to why it hnd not come into Alabama
 Questions Forever Answered 'These questions have now forever been answered. The Steel corporation is in Alabama with an investment of about $50, ,000, ,000-owning coal and iron ore in such great quantity that 1t must, of necessity, continue its development oper- ations indefinitely in the future to keep pace with the growth of the south. Through this organization the district gets the benefit of the highest skill that can be found in the metallurgical world; and thus not only the Tennessee com pany but the whole district, shares in the benefit of the scientific work of de- velopment now under way and which will be continued in the future. More over, the whole financial and metallurgi- cal world has a faith in Alabama which 1t never had prior to the coming Into the district of the Steel corporation. It Is now universally accepted that this dis trict has the advantages which have been claimed for 1t; and that its development will be on a scale in keeping with its resources The early struggles of iron and steel making in Alabama are but a counterpart of what the iron and steel interests of Pennsylvania had to pass through in their early development, and up to 1880.
 Some years ago MT. John Fritz, the great engineer. who was one of the lead CTS in the iron and steel development of Pennsylvania. told me that prior to 1860 the banking fraternity of Pennsyl- vania had so little faith in the iron in- dustry of that state that bankers pre-