The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-07-30

CdHlAOL 0bSAAu SAAC oAh VII o~AJ ng something worth saying, then must hey give way to those who can. A clear sain to the people of the United States!
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 WHAT IT MEANS TO BIRMINGHAM
 What does the removal of the Pitts ,urg plus differential on steel mean to Birmingham? That is the question which isebeing asked by the people of his community. First, it may be well o refresh our memories as to the amount ,f the handicap the practice has placed lpon the industry locally. According to he recent brief of the Associated States Opposing Pittsburg Plus:
 A striking illustration that Pitts
 burg plus is an artificial and man.
 made device and not the result of
 economic law, is afforded by the
 case of Birmingham. Birmingham
 is admittedly a point of surplus pro-
 duction, as it produces much more
 steel than its normal trade territory
 requires. Nevertheless, steel is mo-
 where sold Birmingham plus"
 Were Birmingham unable to supply
 the normal requirements of its trade
 territory, then-according to the
 theory of the mills-purchasers of
 steel in that territory should and
 would be obliged to pay the Pitts
 burg mill price, plus the freight from
 Pittsburg. However, Birmingham
 purchasers do not pay the full
 Pittsburg plus. The United States
 Steel Corporation is admittedly in
 complete control of the Birming-
 ham situation, since it controls al-
 most all of the steel production
 there. As sort of special conees-
 sion to Birmingham by the corpora
 tion, the full Pittsburg plus of
 S11.6Ois not charged, but steel is
 sold at the Pittsburg price plus an
 arbitrarily fixed differential of $5
 per ton.
 Thus consumers of steel made in Bir- ningham have been paying five dollars ton above the price at Pittsburg, all hough it has been admitted by Judge Sary on the witness stand that the Bir- ninghame district produces steel at a much lower cost than Pittsburg. In- Iced, according to MT. Elliott Cheatham if Atlanta, spokesman for the Southern Association of Rolled Steel Consumers, md for the Southern Association of Steel Tabricators, Judge Gary stated to the Fed ral Trade Commission in July, 1918, that Birmingham could produce steel twen- y-six per cent. cheaper than Pittsburg. !"
 Therefore, by restoring to Birmingham ts legitimate competitive advantage, the Federal Trade Commission has not only 1t a stroke wiped five dollars from the price of Birmingham steel to the dis 5rict's consumers, but has also made pos ,ible a further reduction in price due 70 the lower cost of production. What his means to Birmingham's fabricators md manufacturers of steel products can carcely be over-estimated. Chicago au- horities maintain that the abolition of plus will cause the immediate investment of two hundred million dol- ars in steel manufacture in that field. nasmuch as Birmingham is potentially arger and more important field than Chicago, why is it not reasonable to sup ,ose that in the course of a few years lot only two hundred millions, but twice wo hundred millions will be newly in- ,ested here as a result of the reduced ,rice of the product to consumers?
 It is not only the community in gen. ,raI through increased payrolls and in creased business that shall benefit, but here will also inevitably be reduced price on all articles into the manufac- ,ure of which steel enters. The wage earner who builds home, or who pays axes on public buildings or in any other way is called upon to contribute to con- ,truction in which steel enters or to buy articles made wholly or in part of steel, will enjoy lower price than could exist under the system of paying a tribute to of five dollars per ton plus whatever difference there is in cost of production at Birmingham and at Pitts burg. As Senator Underwood has re- marked: Abandonment of the Pittsburg plus basis will, in my opinion, prove a decided stimulus to the progress of the district.
 By enabling Birmingham to compete in it's own proper field of the South and Southwest, the abolition of the consum- ers' tax on steel will develop an increased demand for steel to be fabricated at plants within Birmingham's trade area which are yet to be constructed. Why should there not be fabricating plants throughout Alabama where there are suitable conditions, and especially at Mo- bile, which lies so favorably situated for export to Central and South America, the Pacific coast and the Orient? In this connection, Mir. W. E. McCollum, secretary of the Western Association of Rolled Steel Consumers, whose able dis cussion of the effect of the commissions order on Birmingham appeared in yes terday's Age-Herald, declares:
 Tboro aro roarv, ooints ;1 tha