The Washington herald., 1919-01-03
STEEL WORKS
WILL PROSPER
Five Years Of Business Pre-
dicted, According to
Holland Letter.

Everyone VINO Knows Juoso Na- -
chairman of the United States Steel
Corporation board. and also those who
have read his published communica-
tons. speak Of him as confirmed
optinist- He sees only the bright
side. although his understanding OF
conditions which caused some to en-
this time much comment has been
occasioned by Judge Gary's view, re-
Gently published. that for the next
fve years, at least, abundant pros
perity Is to be the experience Of the
steel industry. So IL Is reasoned that
II the steel industry faces demands for
its products which can be met In no
other way than by operating the
plants to full capacity, then other in
dustries will inevitably be favorably
affected; for It Is reasoned that II Is
as true today as IT ever was since the
United States became a great pro-
Queer Of steel products that steel fur
nishes an excellent barometer OF trade.
Nevertheless Judge Gary does have
some apprehensions as he looks fur
ther into the future than the next
I'VE years. He is reported to speak Of
apprehensions only to his intimate
friends. He is quoted as having said
that the probabilities are strong that
the time Is near at hand when per-
haps the most serious problem for the
. steel industry to solve will be caused
by the relation Of efficiency to pro-
duction. Judge Gary does not refer
10 the efficiency of the skilled arti-
sans. Some who have talked with him
say that he is convinced that the skill
ed artisans and the foreman and other
subordinates who direct the work car
ried on by the skilled artisans are
as efficient as II is possible for men
to be.
Efficiency to Decrease.
Recently Notwithstanding the pros
perity which has been the expert
ence of the steel corporation for the
past four years, various evidences
have been furnished which caused
apprehension that possibly the eff
cheney lof those who direct this and
other steel Industries may show a
great falling of compared with that
which prevails at the present time.
When the steel corporation was or
ganized thirty-two independent
corporations, which as a whole were
engaged in all branches of the steel
industry. were absorbed by the
parent company. In almost every
instance the chief executives OF
these companies were men who had
been trained in the steel industry
from its basic point upward. while
1 IL is true that Judge Gary himself
was not thus trained, nevertheless
as receiver Of one of the great
steel corporations Of the West and
because OF his earlier association
with the Federal Steel Company he
gained great experience and learned
much of the actual science and art
OF the manufacture and production
of steel.
sehunb as Master.
\ Charles II. Schwab, whom Andrew
/. Carnegie called the greatest master
tof steel manufacturing in the world,
who began his career in the steel busi-
mess as an humble artisan, who wore
a red shirt and overalls, was chosen
as the first president Of the corpora
tion. Mr.. Schwab had just received.
as one Of the two men who assisted
the underwriters in floating the enor-
nous capital stock of the steel corpo-
ration, S7.5OO,OOO as his commission.
And this was the first real capital
that came to Mr.. Schwabs hand. The
man who succeeded him as president,
Mr. Corey, was also trained from
the ground floor up in the manufac-
\ ture OF steel and the president at this
time, Mr.. Farrell, had similar train
ing
Now these pioneers are somewhat
disturbed as they observe that many
Of the younger generation Of execu-
tives have not acquired practical
knowledge Of the steel industry. Yet
many Of them are already placed in
positions of some executive authority
and by and by it may be that all OF
these positions will be held by men
who never stood in front of the blast
furnace or aided in converting iron
pre- into steel. These men seem not to
be taking intense interest in or con-
centrating their minds upon the busi-
ness OF producing steel.
No More Suggestions.
Some years ago, after the steel
highly successful. going concern. It
Hvas the custom to invite suggestions
from the employees OF methods by
which improvements could be OBJ
tanned. 1t often happened that as
many as thirty suggestions a month
were handed in by employees. Some
OF these were accepted. and when
ever a suggestion was found to be
Wood and worth using then that work
\ man who made the suggestion found