The Prescott daily news., 1915-11-16
"NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS" IM- POSSIBLE OF REALIZATION UNDER EXISTING IRON AND
 STEEL CONDITIONS

 the South, the Manufacturers Record reports ''the entire iron industry of the South is being pushed to the linn it of present producing capacity, with a further. advance reported in prices of pig-iron. A number of furnaces, long idle, are being made ready to blow in as quickly as possible to take care of this heavily increasing con sumption of pig-iron.
 But as yet the iron and steel inter ests of this section have not advanced in proportion to the amazing increase in producing capacity throughout the West and the East.
 "The present production of iron in the United States is exceeding 100000 tons a day, and of this the South is making only about 10 per cent, due to the fact that iron and steel develop ment in the South has not yet kept pace by increased capacity with the progress of the West.
 About 90 per cent. of the iron and steel industry of the United States is now dependent wholly on Lake Super for ores, while limited production on the Atlantic coast looks to foreign ores for its supply. This condition is at tracing very general attention, and many letters to the Manufacturers Record indicate that the people of the entire country are waking up to the danger of passing the entire iron and steel industry and all kindred inter ests upon the Lake Superior district, which, in the event of war, might be immediately captured and thus cause an instantaneous suspension of the en- tire iron and steel industry of the United States, except for the limited amount of about 10 per cent. pro duced in the South.
 ''In view of this situation and of the vast supplies of ore and coal in close proximity in the South, many of the foremost iron and steel men and cap- italists are beginning to appreciate this situation as first outlined in the Manufacturers Record a few weeks ago, and are recognizing the supreme necessity for the protection of the en- United States, as we'll as for general National Preparedness, of concen- trating larger efforts upon the utili- zation of Southern ores, which would not be affected in the event of war, as might all foreign and Lake Superior ores. It is becoming universally rec ognized, since these facts were first brought to public attention, that the situation is one fraught with very grave possibilities to the whole coun- try and which demands immediate at tentiOn on the part of the iron and steel leaders of the United States as well as upon the National Govern ment. Special reports from New York show that the matter is attracting very great attention among the lead ing financial interests of that city"
 Among the industrial enterprises reported to the Manufacturers Record from various parts of the South for the week are the following: Bibb Manufacturing Co.,. Columbus, Ga, is preparing to build an additional mill to be equipped with 18,O00 spindles. The Sylvan Cotton Mills, Shelbyville, Tenn, is having plans prepared for a mill of 10000 spindles as an addi- tion to it's present plant. c. H. Mil Ter, Chattanooga, Tenn, and associa- tes are planning to build a cotton mill The Avondale Mills, Birmingham, is reported as to build three-story mill at Sylacauga, Ala, and to equip it for manufacturing waste product from the three mills owned by the company at Birmingham and Sylacauga.
 ". R. Bonsal Company has been in corporated at Hamlet, N. C., with $20O,0O0 capital stock to mine and handle sand, gravel, etc.
 The South Florida Farms Go. of Miami, Fla, has awarded contract for the construction of 100 miles of canals and laterals to drain 100000 acres of land in Lee and DeSota coun- ties.
 The Fisheries Company, Aransas Pass, Tex, proposessto spend S100,000 to enlarge it's plant for the manufac- ture of oil and fertilizer from fish,
 J.. J. Kane, Galveston, Tex, who was