The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-09-26
BY Vim SWEENEY
Times Special Writes

Times Special Writes
PITTSBURGH, Sept. 26.-The
United States Steel Corp. IS making
ready for bitter battle for business
Opening guns were sounded re-
Gently in Pittsburgh at luncheon
attended by such figures as Myron
C. Taylor, chairman of the board;
William A. Irwin, president; Juniu3
S. Morgan, senior son of J. F.
Morgan; Andrew w. and Richard
K. Mellon; Senators Joseph F.
Guffiey and James j. Davis, and ex-
Senator David A. Reed.
Announcement of new blood" in
the person of Benjamin F. Fairless,
former Republic Steel official, as
president of the merged Carnegie
Steel and Illinois Steel corporations,
declaration of intention to spend
sl40000,0O0 for plant Improvements,
statements by Mr.. Taylor about
steel at the crossroads" and opti-
mistic predictions from him about
the industry were features of the
meeting.
Glaring weaknesses, evident but
long ignored, came into full view
in the skinny days since 1929. Each
succeeding year of the depression
magnified them. The corporation
dug into its surplus to keep going.
Placed on Defensive
Competitors with only fraction
Of the corporations capacity, but
with more mobile organizations,
spotted the weaknesses and hoped
to the attack. The giant was on
the defensive Less quickly, but
eventually, did stockholders size up
the situation. and they wanted to
know why. There was tolerance in
the first depression years, for 1929
had seen the corporations greatest
record in peacetime-a profit of
$197 100000.
But one by one other steel opera
tors began to show profits. There
was business, but United States Steel
was not getting it. Stockholders
began to ask embarrassing questions.
Had they asked enough they would
have found, as some of the corpora
tons chiefs had, that the lusty or
ganization founded by j. P. Morgan
35 years ago was turning infirm.
For one thing the Is subsidiaries
with 143 works spotted over the
United States were poorly co-ordi-
nated-gaping at some ends, over
tapping at others. Then, too, the
company'S finishing mills were
geared too much to the heaviest
steel-rails. plates, forgings, wheels
and the like-in market which was
buying light products.
Heavier SteelS Hit
Heavier steels had been the life
blood of United States Steel, but
there was little demand for them
after the depression hit Of all the
steel turned out in 1905 one-fourth
of it was in rails. Heavier sheets
and plates keep pace with rails.
Jump now to 1915. Demand in
rails had dropped one-half. In
1882 less than per cent of all the
steel produced went into rails. A
sad story for many of the corpora
tons mills.
But what about the other steels?
The sky-scrapper steel fluctuated
little except to go up in the COS.
But something had happened to
that line on the chart which rep
resented the lighter steels-stripS,
sheets and the plate.
The answer in the automobile
market, which now uses one-flfth
Of the total steel output, and in the
demand for containers and for a
thousand and one steel gadgets. In
1892, when the bottom seemed to
have dropped out of everything, the
demand for lighter steel was god
send.
1t kept E. T. Weir'S National
Steel i'll the black throughout the
depression, with operations never
dropping under so per cent. If
some of United States Steel's sub
salaries had been on their own, in
stead of tied up with a weakening
giant, they could have shown profits.
But the huge corporation, with too
much dead wood, showed more red
ink.
Personnel Is Affected