The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-08-28
Supplies in New York and
Adirondack Region Prac-
tically Inexhaustible
SOUTH CAN FURNISH
SUPPLY FOR YEARS
View Presented By Abram S. Hewitt
on Loose Talk in Connection
With Country's Raw
Materials
By HOLLAND

New York, August 27.-(Special "A
year or so after the late William H. Bar
mum retired from active politics. his ca
reer as United States senator having
ended and his service as chairman of the
national democratic committee having
been finished, he occupied himself in d
study of the Iron ore resources of that
part of the United States with which he
was familiar Senator Barnum accumu-
lated his fortune as manufacturer of
iron and steel products. He possessed
great furnaces in the northwest cerner of
Connecticut He was familiar with the
iron ore resources of the upper Harlem
valley and also of northwestern Connec-
ticnt and the adjacent country.
His investigation justified Senator Bar
mum in saying that he believed that the
iron mines of upper New York and the
upper Harlem valley were practically in
exhaustible. He meant by that word to
convey the idea that at the rate of in
crease in American iron ore production
it would be many years before these mines
would be exhausted
The apprehension which George G..
Wickersham, then attorney general, con-
fessed taht he felt when studying the
question of the alleged monopoly of the
production of iron and steel products in
the United States was due to the fear
that either an existing or some future
corporation might come into possession of
practically all of the available iron ores
of the United States and thereby establish
a monopoly. This statement has been re-
garded by many persons as one OF the
most plausible arguments in justification
of governmental action in support of the
Sherman antitrust law The fear has
been sincere that some time in .the fu-
ture capital in abundance will be pro-
vided whereby the ownership of the great
iron mines OF the United States could
pass into the control Of a single corpora
tion.
One of the expert authorities on iron
ores and mines in the United States testi-
fled before a special master, Henry
Brown, in the proceedings which the gov
ernment is now prosecuting for the disso-
luton of the United States Steel corpora
tion. The expert testified that the iron
ores of the United States are practically
inexhausble. He meant by that precise
ly what Senator Barnum did when he
stated that the iron ores of the Adiron-
dack and the upper Harlem valley are
xhaustibe-namely. that production
can continue upon an increasing scale
for many years before these mines are ex-
hausted.
The Point of View
The governmental agitation to prevent
the formation, organization and operation
of any corporation whose intent was to
secure monopolistic control of the iron re
of the United States has been of great
educational benefit. 1t has served to teac
the people what the magnitude of the
iron ore deposits of the United States real
ly is. A government commission recently
reported that in New York state alone
there probably lie beneath the surface
iron mines of almost inconeevably great
extent and richness. Some. of them would
require a great deal of surface excava-
tion to reach. These are in the central
part of the state. The Adirondack ores,
which can be conveniently shipped by
means of Lake Champlain, are of such
magnitude that 1t has sometimes been
said that Notwithstanding the long con-
tinued working of these mines neverthe-
less they have not begun to yield a tithe
of their crude wealth.
Mr.. Hewitt's Prediction
Among the other very great develop
ments in the south of the natural re
sources that of the exploitation of a
The experts and the governmental an.
fhorities are inclined to the opinion thai
even If there Were exhaustion of the
mines in the northern part of the United
States within the next 20 or 30 years the
iron ore resources of the south are ca.
pable of such utilization as will enable
these mines to make good what is lost ir
the north.
In the South
1t was nearly 80 years ago that the late
Abram S. Hewitt ventured to predict t.
a great group Of iron and steel manu-.
iacturers of Great Britain that the Unit
ed States was bound within a generation.
time to leap ahead of Great Britain il
dron and steel production and would bs
enabled to do that because of the almos
exhaustible amount of iron ore boil
of high grade and of low quality, which
lay beneath the soil of the United
States. Convenience of transportation
neighboring mines of limestone and 9th
er ingredients used in iron and stee