The Washington herald., 1918-11-26


been halted in this country for the
last four years There will be a big
revival in this department as soon as
material can be obtained at anything
approaching reasonable prices.
Every branch of the metal trade Is
short of material. Millions of tons are
required
What is more significant is that
greater demand probably will be
made upon America for steel than
ever before.
Interesting situation.
The transfer of the Lorraine ore
nelds to France will create a pecu-
LARRY interesting situation.
When. in 1sTIr the Germans took
Alsace-Lorraine from France they did
not know the value Of the ore de-
posits, of Lorraine. Later they dis
covered their worth and the very
great development of the steel in
dustry of Germany was based upon
control Of this treasure house Of raw
material Perhaps 80 per cent of all
the iron ore used by Germany's great
steel mills has come from the Lor-
raine beds.
With Afsace- Lorraine restored to
France, the question arises as to
whether France will employ these
ores to the advantage that Germany
did. II France does make the most
of its chance il means the develop
ment Of a great steel industry, in
France and possibly the decline OF
Germany as a prime factor in the
field Of steel.
The French never have displayed
the power in mass production shown
BY the Germans. They are finer ar
tisans. more skilIful in many ways,
but their art has been in the refine
ments Of all classes of production,
rather than in volume of production
The war has made great changes
In the character of the French. 1t
has reused them to effort and power
such as the world never had sus-
pected they had in them.
They have shown a resourcefuIness
and adaptabiIity beyond compare.
Their opportunity is great now that
they have one Of the richest mineral
districts of Europe to exploit.
Never Fair Competitor.
Germany never has been a fair
competitor in the steel market. She
worked assiduously for years to
learn the methods of the steel max
ers of Great Britain and the trade
connections OF the great houses of
the Sheffield district Then she fmi-
tated the standard products of fa-
nous British houses and sold them
with British trade marks on them
to lower the prestige of the British
makers of steel goods. CoincidentIy
she put out German goods at bar
gain prices until she won a goodly
part of the trade away from the
British.
The Germans will be handicap
ped greatly now that they have
not the Lorraine ores to draw upon,
They may be able to purchase ore
from the French until the French
develop big steel industry of their
own but it is doubtful whether the
French, with the intensity Of feel
Ing that exists, or will exist for
years, will have any desire to hold
commerce of this character with the
Teuton.
The transfer Of the Lorraine ore
beds means much to France. 1t
means opportunity to the British
steel makers and to the thousands
of lines associated with the metal
industry. 1t means a new era for
Shefneld.
Ore Fields Valuable.
It means opportunity. too. for the
steel industry of America in all its
ranihed branches and these branches
are almost innumerable.
II is of immediate concern to the
metal people whose plants are scat
tered throughout all the Eastern ter
ritory north of the Ohio River and
east of the Mississippi.
Nothing in a material sense that
France gets out of the war is more
valuable than these ore fields. They
are as rich as those we have in Min
nesota, If not richer.
But the riches that are in the earth
mean nothing unless man uses them
to advantage.
Through the recovery of her lost
provinces France may rise to a great
ness surprising that she ever knew
"a greatness buiIded on industry, the
foundation and bulvark of peace and
prosperity.
Not only through the Lorraine ore
beds may France recover herself in
dustrially, but in Alsace are the won.
derful potash deposits of Freheld.
the richest in the world. Through
these deposits the Germans have DOM
Il