Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1919-01-11
France As a Steel Competitor.

That France will supersede Ger
steel manufacturers in the American
market is the belief of many who are
studying the situation. The capitula-
ton of Germany on November 10th
found its armies in occupation of an
important part Of the Department of
Meurthe ct Moselle in which is To-
Gated the celebrated Briey basin. This
territory having been evacuated by
= -'-----'r--~ .~~.ui es to France one
OF the richst and most extensive iron
deposits in the world. which extends
into the Alsace-Lorraine provinces
wrested from France in the Franco
Prussian war and to be restored by
the peace treaty now in process of
framing. or the 100000 tons of
iron ore produced by France III 1913.
the Department Of Meurthe ct Mos
ellie supplied 20.0OO.00O tons. 1t also
supplied nearly 10 per cent of the
100000 tons Of pig-iron produced by
France that year. so per cent Of the
4.42S.000 tons of steel ingo,s produced
in 1912, and 81 per cent of the $780,
1912. There has been considerable
damage done to the furnaces and
mines on the part of the Huns, but no
permanent destruction appears to
have been wrought. and it Is merely
a matter of a few months when the
output of these mines will be sub
jected to the intensive application Of
the French factories. which have or
ganized not only to supply to the ex-
tent of their power the requirements
Of France for economic rehabilita-
ton. but to expand the export trade
in steel manufactures of that coun-
try.
One Of the first detectives of the
German armies, with the outbreak of
the war. it will be remembered was
possession of these vast ore fields,
and to the fact that Germany was
successful in achieving this objective
was due much of her military sue
cess thereafter. Germany we'll knew
the value of iron in the winning of the
war. and it was not until the vast re-
IF Typttod
thrown into the balance against her
that she acknowledged the loss of her
evil cause. Nevertheless. shorn as
she was of the rich deposits of the
Rricy. France produced 100 per cent
more pig iron and steel manufactures
in 1916 than she did the year before,
n fact which moved The Iron Age.
perhaps the most authoritative
periodical on the steel trade in this
country. to declare in 1916: Thus
thcrc bids fair to be a greater French
steel output after the war. to be
added to the increases in Germany
and Great Britain
a man who has for years studied
the iron and steel trade in connection
with the tariff. remarked at that
time that in normal times. the big
steel business OF Germany. England
and France Is in export markets. OF
course n large proportion Of their
iron and steel industries recently
have bccn devoted to the manufacture
of war material. But their mills car
and will Immediately return to the
business Of export when the war
ceases. while the American indus
tries must inevitably experience q
severe eating down Of their export
trade" That his forecast was sound
10 indicated by the figures showing
our export trade Of manufactures Of
iron and steel for the nine months Of
the culrent year ended September,
the most recent available which show
nQOn&4o The increa0e In tia valua