The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-03-15
GARY INVESTMENT - IN LINE WITH PLAN MADE MONTHS AGO The Corporation May Invest
 S60,000,00O in Expansion f of Various Plants
SHOWS GPNWTH OF
 STEEL INDUSTRY
Since Its Formation the Steel COrpor- atiOn Has Invested Over Half Billion in New Plants.
 What This Means
By HOLLAND

What This Means
 \ By HOLLAND
 New York, March 14.-(Special. .)-Early | in January some persons who are in close K touch with the management of the United | States Steel corporation receive intima- tons that before spring set in there
 might be announcement of some of the
 plans which the engagement has in view N whereby it will be possible to meet for years to come the increasing demands for the products of this concern.
 As it was known that the management K would persist in it's determination not to accept orders for any kind of war muni-
 tions, the presumption was that the plans | had in view domestic industry and foreign | trade of a kind not associated with bel \ ligerency It was reasonable infer
 ence that among these plans were some E which would involve the investment of E a large amount of new capital in inn E provement and expansion of plants, pos | sibly in the building of new plants. Therefore when announcement was made a few days ago that the corpora
 
 \ 600 at Gary with which an adequate and modern plant for the manufacture of | tubes could be constructed, the intima- tions made early in the winter by some N of the management were recalled. This constructive work at Gary is, how ever, presumed not to be the only feature of the plans which the management of E this corporation have now worked out \ For it seems to be accepted as an accu- rate statement that the corporation will Y invest at least s5o0OO.OO0 and possibly ESQ., \ 100000 in improvements and expansions, or in the construction of new plants. WHAT THIS MEANS
 \ Information of this kind is spoken of as meaning quite as much, so far as pros- perity is concerned, as do the reports N which tell of the increase in orders. The management has always been very care full not to expand unduly its various, plants, or too soon. It has not undertaken work of this kind until it has been able fairly we'll to forecast the continued growth of business. So it is a reasonable inference that an investment of s5O,00O00O, and possibly $6O0OO,0OO, in constructive work reflects the well considered view of E the management that there is to be con tipued for some years at least activity in the iron and steel industry in the United States. If that is true of the iron and steel industry, it is an axiom of American trade business life that it is also true of other industries.
 FIRST PRINCIPALS
 To construct s25.Ooo,Ooo plant at Gary for the manufacture of tubes is to illus tra.te one of the fundamental principles upon which the organization of this cor poration was founded It also illustrates the philosophy which led the Steel corpor- i alton management to establish a city at the lower point of Lake Michigan and to I expend $150O0,000 at first and afterward l $25,000, GOO more in perfecting this plan. | When the Federal Steel company-or the Illinois Steel company-was reconsidering | reorganization, Judge Gary, Norman B. | Ream, Marshall Field and other men of 1 business authority in Chicago were per- | suaded that it was vital to the success l of the organization that certain manufac- | turing plants which possessed excellent 4 organizations should be taken in so that the products of the corporation could be 1 conveniently and at relatively low cost marketed in nearby manufacturing points in the west. That principle was discussed with J. P Morgan when the Chicago men,
 
 to consider the creation of a greater or | ganization than the Federal Steel con- l pany.
 It was accepted as sound, and that it was found to be sound was demonstrated when the Steel company management de- cided to invest $75,0OO.000 in the establish ment of a new steel making city upon the flats which faced the lowest point of Lake Michigan. For commodities manu- factured they could receive raw material from the Lake Superior mines at very low cost by water navigation and the plant itself would be in neighborly relation to many of the industries of the mid west thereby making a saving in freight charges possible. Now that the corpora ton has decided to build $25,O00000 tube manufacturing plant at Gary, it has, in that way made indirect announcement l ..t in its opinion the industries of the midwest and the Mississippi valley are to make new and great demands for this particular commodity. The plant itself will, it is said, be the finest plant of the kind in the world. That, however, is the characteristic of all of the large modern industrial plants. The new one at Duluth matches any sim liar plant in the world and is to furnish employment for a large number of hands One of the gold mining plants at Alaska is reported by MT. D. C. Jackling to be the best example of modern gold mining plants. And the plants established in Montana, Utah and Arion for the manu- facture of copper are unsurpassed by like establishments anywhere in the world. AN INTERESTING FEATURE TVecre 3 two incidental features asso- cia.sa s<i, this announcement which are of impc> ,tsnce. One is that the Steel cor poration has put into new construction since it began operations about $550 900, 900, an amount which will compare with the total of it's common stock. If it has put $55O,000,000 into new construction, then it is believed that there can no longer be any accusation that its stock is full of water. Then, again, the management of the corporation has intimated to it's friends that when the constructive work now de- cided upon is completed, the output an- nualy will be approximately 155O0, ,000 tons, and this is substantially twice the amount of the output of the company in the first year or two after it went into operation. That of itself tells story not only of the industrial growth of this cor poration, but of the increase in the iron and steel industry as whole in the United States.