The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-06-12
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS
Steel.
 ss The romance of steel.
Steel.


 
 After the visit of the finance com mittee of the United States Steel cor poration I am convinced that the great est glory of the steel age is yet to come, and Birmingham is going to play big part in it.
 MT De Jarnette,- the polite clerk at the Tutwiler, was right in saying on the night of the arrival of Judge Gary and his party that the hotel housed the representatives of more wealth than John of old saw in his famous vision.
 It has been truly said that the writer who describes the wealth of the United States Steel corporation is confronted by this startling truth: That he can not avail himself of the language of myth or poetry, the riches of Croesus, the gold of the Spanish galleons, the diamonds of Golconda, "the wealth of Ormus and the Ind" What are these in comparison with the totals in an an- nual report of this company?
 
 And so MT. De Jarnette hit on the only simile applicable. Bible readers will recall that St. John, in the won derful apocalyptic vision with which the New Testament concludes, sees the New Jerusalem" of the far future, in which perfected humanity shall dwell, he pictures 1t as city of pure gold. We are reminded, however, that this was heaven, not earth
 Nothing terrestial, whether past or present, fact or imagination, equals the wealth of this single American cor poration, which has already spent $32, 100000 in the Birmingham district and whose chairman of the board, Judge Gary, quietly announces, as if 1t were mere bagatelle, that his committee had decided to spend at once on fur ther improvements the sum of s11,- 0OO0O.
 Do you who live here realize what this means to Birmingham? I am afraid that only few have grasped its sig nifcance. It means that the dominant men in steel, upon, whom the government Is now leaning heavi- ly for it's needs to wage al organized nation in the world, have successful war against the best reached the conclusion that to supply Uncle Sam they must develop their Alabama holdings.
  Prophets looking into the hour when armed Europe would rush into the old, undying game of warS foretold that the three decisive factors in the conflict would be men, money and steel. And when George w. Perkins stated that this district meant to the United States what the northern iron regions of France now held by Germany meant to her, I knew that he spoke the sober truth. He was also right in saying that it was no time for boasting, but Amer tca's entry into the war meant that Birmingham was coming into the greatest era of her prosperity.
 
 would indeed be sorry to know that our prosperity should always hinge upon cruel war. but the men be- hind the great steel corporation are men of peace. not captains of war. but of industry, and that as far-seeing men they are getting ready here in this district to be able to say when swords are sheathed and commerce restored, "The world Is our market"
 Steel is a,basic industry in America It's products enter into every tool and structure and means of traffic in civil ization and long after the last shot has been fired and the last shell ex- ploded, the ironclads scrapped, and the navies of the world converted into channels of trade, Birmingham will con- tinue to be the Magic City, for we have at our doors the iron, the coal and the rock out of which steel can be made cheaper than anywhere else in the round world. Herbert N Casson says: "In fact, na- ture has made Alabama as handy as pantry for the men who want to make iron and steel. There is one spot espe- cia]ly which appeals to the imagination of all steelmakers who visit the state. Not far from Birmingham, on the top of Red mountain, you can stand on a vein of iron ore "A feet thick. On your right are the vast Warrior coal fields. On your left are the Coosa and Cahaba coal fields In front of you are the level val
  Aux all the ore in the world; and all around the railroads and mines are the greenish yellow fields of cotton to SUD- ply the toilers with clothing and with food. What could nature do more, un- less it made greenbacks and preferred stock grow on trees?
 -@ Abram s. Hewett. who had a wider range of vision than any other iron and steel man of his generation, was the first to discover the riches of Alabama. More than a half century ago he secured an option on farm which lay where the sky scrapers of Birmingham stand today, 1 and had the whole district examined by experts. Then came the civil war and his capital was diverted to other chan nels But here is what he said shortly before his death "The two great centers for dominating the iron and steel of the world are to be the Lake Superior region with it's Bessemer ores on the one side, and Alabama, with it's basic ores on the other. Alabama. with it's abundant stores of iron and coal and limestone in such close proximity, bids fair within the next quarter of century to dominate the who know, come into our midst and now men like Gary. Prick and Perkins. men who know come into our midst and tell us the same thing, and go a step further, saying we are going to spend vast sums to improve our investments
 
 Judge Gary, on one occasion, in speak ing of the late MT. Morgan, said: "The keynote of his success was confidence in the future of the United States. His father who uttered him in the knowledge