The Chattanooga news. [volume] (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 1891-1939, 1919-08-28
TO FIGHT HIGH
RATES ON STEEL
Southern Manufacturers 0p-
pose Buying Steel at
Pittsburgh Prices.

Chattanooga and other southern
manufacturers who use large guam
titles of steel in their products are
making preparations to present to
the federal trade commission in
Washington plea to abolish the
system which forces southern buy
ers of steel to pay freight from Pitts
burgh when the steel actually comes
from Birmingham, and to pay the
Pittsburgh market price when Bir-
mingham makes steel at a consid-
erably lower cost,
Manufacturers claim that tina
Pittsburgh base system is arbitrary
and unfair, that it gives unjust ad-
vantage to manufacturers in the east
and works against those of the south.
They point out that the public has
a direct interest in that the ultimate
consumer always pays the bill. The
matter applies to every purchase of
steel, implement or other article, from
a hoe to steel range and buggy
and wagon business of the south.
A letter setting forth the exact sit
uation has been sent out by the South
ern Metal Trades association, which
has offices in the Gambler building, to
all its members and others who may be
interested. urging that they lay their
complaints before the federal trade
commission at Washington, and il is
likely that the association as a body
will press the matter there, says Thurs
days Atlanta Georgian. Elliott Cheat
.t.,I
with the department Of justice, is rep
resenting large users of steel in this
case. and cooperating with w f..
Dunn, Jr., secretary of the southern
Metal Trades association
Under the existing arbitrary system
a steel producer in the Birmingham
district in selling to a manufacturer
in Atlanta charges him the market rate
In Pittsburgh. and adds to this the
freight from Pittsburgh to Atlanta. But
he makes the steel in Birmingham at
about 30 per cent. less cost than it
would be in Pittsburgh. ana he pays
the freight only from Birmingham to
Atlanta. The difference in freight is
$500 "A ton No real defense of this
pittsburgh base" ever has been set up
before the federal trade board.
Birmingham to Aid.
Even the manufacturer in Birming-
itltl tfic HufliG NJ SAl IfNA'piit ~
X OcffSrTed. He pays steel Factory
there the Pittsburgh price and the
freight from Pittsburgh. though the
producer pays only the switching
charge on the freight car from one
plant to the other inside the city
or its suburbs. The Birmingham civic
organizations are joining actively in the
fight for abolishing the Pittsburgh base
system.
Atlanta firms using steel in manufaC-
turing goods cannot compete with
firms nearer Pittsburgh. in the CinCin-
natl district. for instance. because they
have the lower freight rate, yet these
firms can send their statesmen into At
lanta territory and undersell them.
The western fabricators of rolled steel
have formed an association and filCi a
petition with the federal trade commits
sion seeking the relief of Chicago and
the commission has asked that the
southern steel producers be also cited
as defendants. intimating that if Chi
cargo is entitled to relief, Birmingham
and the south should have the same
Base" Rate Not Legal
The manufacturers will probably
make the contention that there is
neither law nor reason for fictitious
base" price, and that steel should be
sold independently in each producing
section, and the buyer should pay only
the actual freight rate involved.
Public hearings on the question are
expected to be held in Washington
within a short time