The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-10-24
Writes to Harding Urging Him to Take Some Steps to Show Light to the
 Federal Government
COSTING THE SOUTH MILLIONS BY DELAY
 IN HER DEVELOPMENT
Recent Discoveries of Ore Make Gov ernment Claim That Steel Corpora ton Is Monopoly Potently Un-
 tenable-Effect on Birmingham

uer the caption of Vast Ore Discove cries and Steel Developments of Late Years and Their Relation to the South and to the Suit Against the United States Steel Cor portion" which is of peculiar interest in Birmingham. It says in part:
 The purchase of the Pennsylvania Steel company by the Bethlehem Steel com pany, which it is quite certain will be definitely closed shortly. now develops a situation of worldwide importance. The Pennsylvania Steel company, we are officially advised, owns in Cuba about S00,000.000 tons of ore, or probably 30 per cent to 40 per cent more ethan the aggregate amount of ore supposed to be owned by the Steel corporation when 1t was formed.
 In securing the Pennsylvania and the Maryland Steel companies the Bethle- hem Steel company will at once. so far as its rank in the ownership of ores is Steel corporation stood at its organiza- tion, and it will easily take the lead as having greater gun-malSng and shipbuild- ing potentialties than any other com pany in existence. Of course. the Steel corporation has, since it was formed, en- larged it's holdings of ore in the Lake Superior district, and also by the pur- chase of the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad company.
 The Midvale Steel and Ordnance com pany, recently organized. has an option, SO MT. Corey reports, on 00,000,000 tons of ore. MT. James J. Hill and his in- terests control an aggregate supposed to amount to 500,000,000 to 6OO,000.0O0 tons of ore. and upon which the Steel cor poration once had an option.
 Claim Is Ridiculous
 These ore supplies, discovered and opened up since the organization of the United States Steel corporation, now make ridiculous the claim advanced by the government in it's suit that the Steel corporation had a monopoly of ores Moreover, the developments of the Bethlehem, the Midvale. Jones & Laugh lin, the Lackawanna Steel company and other iron and steel interests, make equally absurd. at the present time, even suggestion that the Steel corporation has a monopoly of the iron and steel production of the country.
 Even If there had been ground on which to attack the Steel corporation when it was formed, or when the suit was en- tered, there is absolutely no ground what ever today for maintenance of the suit for statements which might then have been made for political effect would today be laughed out of court by reason of these enormous ore discoveries owned by other companies and of the amazing de- velopment of other iron and steel in- terests.
 Notwithstanding this situation, the con. tinuaDce of the suit against the United States Steel corporation is halting the development of the souths iron and steel interests. Controlling the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad company, with it's magnificent resources in ore and coal and limestone-resources great enough to justify in the future the doubling and quadrupling of the Birmingham produc- ing plants-the Steel corporation has this suit remains unsettled, wisely util- iZe its Alabama resources in continuing the great developments projected and promised for that district.
 For theory which was unsubstan- tial when advanced and of which to- day it might be said in the light of the facts presented that it is ''the airiest bubble that ever found Judgment in an empty head" the pending suit, so long as it remains undecided, is costing the south tens of millions of dollars.
 In view of this situation, and believ- ing that if the suit were out of the way the United States Steel corporation would be compelled as a matter of jus tice to fulfill it's promises to the Bir- mingham district when the Tennessee property was bought, and because the situation itself justifles this development, the editor of the Manufacturers Rec ord recently wrote to Mir. w. P. C.. Harding of Washington, for many years president of the First National bank of Birmingham and one of the active forces in its development as follows:
 Letter to Harding
 October 16 1915. MT. w. P. G. Harding, Washington, D. c.
 Dear Mir Harding-Your intimate ac- quaintanceship with the Birmingham sit uation prompts me to bring to your at- tention, with the hope that you may be able to have serious consideration given to this subject by our southern sena- tors and by the administration, certain facts which demand earnest thought.
 The iron and steel business of the coun- try Is expanding with amazing rapidity Vast enterprises are under way, tens of millions of dollars are being expended, and still other millions are to be expend- ed for the enlargement of the iron and steel interests of the east and the west Immense machine shops and locomotive plants and kindred enterprises are being constructed in connection with this de- velopment of iron and steel, and due, in part, to the heavy war orders from Eu- rope. Let me give you a specific illus tration: As an outcome of the war or ders the Baldwin Locomotive company is building what President Johnson re- gently told me he thought would be the largest and most complete locomotive works in the world. For two years 1t will be used by the Remington people for turning out rifles. When this period Is over, or the war ends, the plant will be turned over to the Baldwin company, free of all cost and thus the company will secure this magnificent plant, which, as President Johnson said, his company had not expected to be in position to build for many years to come A similar illustration is found in Baltimore, where an old. very long established machine shop, employing about 1000 people, is now expending some millions in the building of immense shops. including g big build ir"s ba sed cr war orders When these orders have been filled. this company will ls,.<. equipped for doing an enor- nous business in iron and steel than would have been possible in 10 or 15 years under ordinary conditions
 The vast operations and expenditures of the Bethlehem company and of the Midvale company. the enormous plants that are being built in the west in con nection with iron and steel work, and the really stupendous automobile shops