The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1913-10-31

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THE EARTH AND THE IRON THEREIN
How long will it be before the United States
Steel corporation owns the earth, as that term is
applied to the iron mining and steel manufacture
ing industry-and what is to become Of US then?
Assuming that the Hill interests and the steel
corporation are still one and the same thing, and
there is good for that belief it will not be
so very long.
The cancellation of the Hill leases closely follow
ed the Stanley investigation. Why? Students Of
the iron mining and steel manufacturing business
believe that it was made necessary as a .shrewd
business move because of the activity Of the gov
eminent inqusitors. 1t would never do to let the
people or the government know that while the Hill
leases were controlled by the United States Steel
corporation it meant substantially that Steel con-
troled IS per cent Of the available raw material
Of the iron and steel trade to say nothing of trans
portation systems both rail and water from the
mines to the mills.
Are we having staged for our benefit spec
tacle? It would appear So Are the Hill inter-
ests and the United States Steel corporation a
house divided against itself merely on the face of
things yet standing firm upon common founda-
ton. 1t looks very much that way
None of the Hill mines are for sale at any price,
We are told that the Hill interests are going into
4 the business of mining iron and manufacture
ing steel independently. But are they? We shall
see. 1t is difficult to understand why they should
and the parting Of such old and fast friends is truly
perpexing. Few Of the men who are familiar
/ with the past and the future prospects of the
business believe the purported estrangement is
the genuine thing.
In the government suit for the dissolution of
the United States Steel corporation much stress
has been laid on the testimony of expert witnesses
who testified that independents controlled IS per
cent of the ore lands on the Mesaba range. That
would be interesting if true But the Hill inter-
ests are figured as independents. If they are we
have nothing more to fear from this octopus of
steel, but are they? Who knows?
If they are not then the Independents control
but Is per cent of the material supply of the
steel trade This does not include the holdings of
the Mahoning Ore & Steel company which is ap-
proxmately per cent
, In the dissolution suit good many experts of
whom have had little knowledge before are
getting into the limelight. They are all busy
engaged in trying to convey the impression that
the holdings of the steel corporation are insight.
fcant What be the common end they are
striving to attain in creating sentiment before the
court of inquiry?
The holdings of the independent operators on
the Mesaba range with the exception of the Ma.
honing property at Hibbing are the holdings the
corporation did not want at the time they were
acquired. The corporations holdings will average
or per cent better in natural iron than those~ot
the independents The corporation can put its
ore on the cars at an average of at least so cents
per ton less than the independents, because of it's
open pit mines and because also of it's large under
ground mines which permit of more inexpensive
pnlnlng. With these advantages amounting to at
least dollar or dollar and half a ton in the
production OF pig iron, where would the independ-
ents be in case of close competition, with the
freight rates and the price that is paid at lake
ports left out of consideration.
1t Is undoubtedly true as number of the wit
nesses have testified in the dissolution suit that
there are still to be developed large ore reserves
IN the United States, Cuba and South America. but
1t is also true that no furnace concern could live
on todays prices OF pig iron and use the grade of
IRON ore most commonly found in these reserves.
Ana the independent operator, because of his al
most equal pig iron capacity and having only about
ID or 10 per cent of the merchantable iron ore will
be the first man forced to resort to the purchase
and use Of this low grade ore, or the hirh
grade Chilean ores with the increased cost of trans
portation assuming that it will ever be possible to
bring it through the Panama canal Just what
will become of the independents then.
Only short time ago we'll known practical
mining firm took over a lease that had been for
feited on a mine located not far from VIRGINIA.
The property has an average grade of metallic ore
for this range and considerable Bessemer ore The