New-York tribune., 1918-05-03

Industries Must
Do Without Steel,
Replogle Asserts
Tells Manufacturers Com
mercialism Must Be
Sidetracked to Win
the War

The inside story of last weeks
epoch making conference between
Americas greatest iron and steel man
ufacturers and J. Leonard Replogle
director of steel supply of the War
Industries Board, at which the steel
men pledged support to the govern
ment programme and promised capac-
ity production of their plants for war
purposes, became available yesterday
for the first time. Mr.. Replogle ad-
dressed the meeting, which was held
here in New York, at great length, and
impressed the steel men with the
enomous task that has been set be-
fore them in furnishing the iron and
steel that are to be used in building
the American fighting machine.
GAS General Haig says, our backs
are against the wall,'" declared Mr..
Replogle, "and the Kaiser is not going
to wait, and we are not satisfied to
wait. If there is shortage of fuel,
if there is a shortage of ingots, it
must fall on the less essential product,
and the more essential and direct gov
ernment necessities must have such 81
degree Of priority that that material
must come. We do not like the eX
preston of doing your bit,' we want
point where doing our bit is satis-
factory.
Only War Work Counts
"rhis is crisis, and commercial
ism, gentlemen, must be absolutely
sidetrackcd. There is just one thing
that we have to DOWN the war, and
we must give them sufficient steel to
do that. That is your job and my job.
And l speak frankly to you because
those are my instructions. The gov
ernment will not tolerate any more
the procedure of some steel companies.
We have force Of men now checking
up on ingot production. We want to
know where every ton of ingots goes,
and where there may be a surplus of
ingot capacity or pig iron capacity.
And some of you gentlemen say we
have surplus of this or that and can
put that in this commercial order We
are going into your plants and take
that pig iron under government COM
mandeerng order, or we are going to
take that steel and give it to another
steel manufacturer who is short, if
that other steel manufacturer is work
ing on government material. That has
been determined absolutely. There is
TOO great percentage OF nOn-War ma
terial being produced"
"It is my firm conviction" continued
Mr. Replogie, "and it is proven fact.
there is surplus Of steel, that there is
q very decided and acute shortage,
which is delaying the war programme.
] do not say that in most lines there is
not sufficient capacity if that capacity
were fully utilized. If they had 100
per cent fuel and 100 per cent labor
conditions and 100 per cent transporta
tion conditions feel that in most lines
of steel products the war necessities
condition. We do not have 100 per cent
fuel, transportation or labor. and we
are not going to have. Transportation
conditions are not materially improving
in general way; some places they are
and other places they are getting worse.
And when we consider the situation as
it is today, with the wonderful weather
conditions and transportation condi-
tions, we are shuddering when we con-
template the winter season before us.
Great Building Programme
"The building construction and plans
of the United States government, Incl
dentally, are some 20 per cent right
now in excess of the total building con-
StIuCtlOH u INe OHlleU OCdteS LOT the
three-year period, 1915, 1916 and 1917.
The United States construction pro-
gramme alone, 20 per cent And that
programme is not designed-I mean
the 1918 programme-but they are ad-
vancing into 1919 and 1920. There was
just authorized yesterday the construc.
tion of the South Brooklyn warehouses,
for instance, at an expenditure of $45,-
100000, largely structural steel, but
even that job requires $4,000 tons of
steel. And that is only indicative of
millions of dollars worth of hospitals;
they are communicating summer hotels
and eliminating some of the work in
that way. But the United States con-
struction programme is enormous-I
think far beyond the impression of any
of you"
Mr.. Reprogle said that on steel
plates, which supply one of the most
important products now being turned
out, the mills have, on the basis of the