The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-07-08
THE HUM OF INDUSTRY IN THE SOUTH
Well KnouDn Steel Authority
 Reads Informing Paper On WorLds War Time Production

William B. Weston, well-known sales manager of certain subsidiaries of the Steel corporation, read an important paper recently before the Engineers club of St Louis It was a valuable contribution to industrial literature. Ex- cerpts follow:
 Steel in war time is used for many pur- poses-for guns, military railroads, with their tracks, cars and locomotives; it is used in trench constructions, wire en- tanglements, Qualifications and muni- lions. 1t is used in the building and repair of vessels and in construction of plants and machinery for manufacture of equipment and supplies. Steel con- surned in the manufacture of farm im- plenents, flour milling machinery and other equipment necessary to produce food for the armies at the front is also considered as war material. Nearly 100 per cent of the steel production of the warning countries is thus used either di- xectly or indirectly for war purposes.
 Is frequently asked why steel is so Important that it is barometer for all varieties of trade; why, when the steel ibusfness Is good, other industries are prosperous, and why, when it is de- pressed, a like condition exists in every other trade, whether seemingly depend- ent upon steel or not. It is not merely "a coincidence that when steel mills are busy general prosperity must follow. tTwo factors determine this condition nnen and materials
 l. Because of the many and varied fn- sdusties involved in the production of steel the wages of a larger body of men are affected than in any other line or manufacture. The United States Steel corporation alone employees 25O0OO men, The effect of prosperity or depression on the habits and conditions of so vast a number is too obvious to discuss in detail. A single example will suffice The steel mills create heavier tonnage for transportation by rail than any other industry, and the railroads in their turn are the largest employers of labor 1n the United States So this one artery alone of our vast economic system is de- pendent for it's healthy circulation on the condition of the steel industry
 9 aTo produce steel it is necessary to gather supplies from various parts of this country and even outside of the United States, such as ore, coal, coke, limestone, dolomite, fire-brick, canister, Atilolls1ISAueSe, SpleSel. nl1Ii supplies, besides many other articles. For exam ple: The principal products required to make carload of pig iron are one and one-haf cars of coal to make one car load of coke; one car of coke, when made, to one-half car of limestone and two cars of ore; total, five carloads to make one carload of pig iron.
 The demand for a grade of steel better for certain purposes than could be pro drced in the open-hearth furnace and Bessemer converter developed the process of manufacturing steel in electric fur naces, which product is called electric steel. The quality of this steel is very pure, because the electric current car ries no injurious elements to the molten steel, and it therefore offers greater re- sistance to shock and fatigue than steel made by the older processes. The con- struction of the electric furnace is we'll adaTted to adding alloys, such as man. ganese, silicon, chrome and nickel, which increases the tensile strength and hard ness. Electric steels are now employed