The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-11-28
SHIPBUILDING BY
 STEEL CORPORATION
Hr HnILAND


 When the keel was laid few days ago for a cargo ship of 9400 ton capaci- ty at the newly established shipyard of the United Stats Steel corporation on Haekensack meadows, near New ark, 1t was an event of such importance that representatives of various large subsidiary corporations were preesnt to witness this first demonstration of the great ship-building plans of the Steel corporation. Several hundred miles away on the shores of Mobile bay the steel corporation was, on the same day. occupied in establishing very large ship building plant, anu these two, one in the vicinity of New York and the other near the Gult ol Mexico. are to be regarded as lmpor tant from several points of view
 In the first place they tell impress sively the story of what combinations cooperation and coordination meah' Fifteen or 20 small ship building plants could not begin to turn out in a sln- gle year vessels which would De Wlthn the capacity of the Steel corporation plants to produce within a few months. For the Steel corporation has m addl- ton to abundance of capital, many y
 which may be called upon, on the ln- stant, to furnish it's proportionate part in labor and in manufacture TOT the construction of vessels of all kinds.
 Then again it is clear that the Steel corporation is beginning to build Ves- sels with an eye to the future as well as to present-day emergencies occa- stoned by the war. This can have only one meaning, and that is that the far ~( believe that after the war is ended our foreign commerce will be so greatly expanded as to make it vital that abundant ships be furnished as com merce bearers. Furthermore, the mana gers of the corporation apparently con- template a greatly enlarged use or na- tural and artificial waterways for the transportation of commodities because it is in contemplation to make steel barges even of 1000 tons capacity, or the kind which are adapted for use upon the canals. or which may be lowed upon the Mississippi the Ohio, the Ten nessee or other navigable waters
 THE HACKENSACK MEADOWS
 Heretofore the Hackensack meadows, so-called have been regarded as prac- tically worthless marsh lands They stretch for miles from that part Of New York harbor which runs northely from Staten Island, and have been of value only for limited use as frieghtcar yards Many have been the suggestions for the reclaimation of these flat and water-soaked lands. Newark has had in mind the improvement of them with intent, if that were done, to establish manufacturing plants upon them for navigable water bounds them, at least on the west. But all the estimates of the engineers have been so large as to make the cost of reclamation prohib- itive.
 Now comes the United States Steel corporation, and with the same clear vision which Justified the establishing of the great plant at Gary. which the lower end of Lake Michigan touches, they have selected the Hackensack meadows for what is to be probably as large a building plant as any in the United States, and perhaps the largest.
 The building of ships was not orgi- nally in the contemplation of those who organized the United States Steel corporation, or if these men had in the back of their heads any idea of that kind, excepting possibly the construc- tion of lake navigating vessels for the transportation of ore from Duluth to the various furnaces, they made no mention of it. The exegencies of the war and the increasing demands for ships furnished by the United States in suf ficient quantities favorably to effect the conduct of the war for the allies undoubtedly turned the managers of 1 the Steel corporation to ship construc- | tion.
 Mobile bay is prehaps better situated | so far as convenience and reduced cost | of production of ships are concerned | than are the Hackensack meadows for 1 Mobile is within convenient transpor- l tation distance of the Tennessee Coal and Iron plant In that plant. at Bir- | mingham, and it's vicinity the Steel cor poration has recently invested $11,- oOO,0OO of new capital for improve ments, and probably would have in- vested many millions more were not the suit brought by the department ot justice at Washington for the disso- lution of the Steel corporation still pending. For it is surmised that if the supreme court should order a dissolu- tion the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Rail
 road company would be torn away iron the control of the United States Stee
 corporation.
 The presumably great increase o1
 commerce between the United State!
 and South America, which will be ont
 of the results of the war; makes Mo
 bile bay an especially favorable poin
 for the construction of ships. Othe, cities in the south, notably Brunswick Ga, have admirable waterway facili ties for building many ships rapidly
 but when the steel corporations work
 are underway at Mobile the output o
 this plant will probably exceed that o
 any other southern ship construction
 plant.
 | Tho ct h> \,
 tablishing it's Hackensack plant for tn ville, Tenn, will arrive Friday to at
 tend the marriage of their great nice, Miss Mable Marler to MT. G. E. Taste
 Saturday afternoon at o'clock.