Evening star., 1942-09-08
Grim Warning Calls
For Au-0ut' Steel
Scrap Drive
Quick Use Of Metal
indicates Desperate
Need for War
BY JAMES NARROW and GEORGE
ZIELKE,
Wide World Business writers.

BY JAMES NARROW and GEORGE
ZIELKE,
Wide World Business Writers
NEW YORK, Sept. 8.-The Gov
ernment's grim warning that short
age of scrap may hamstring the
steel mills-and therefore war pro-
duction-should get action from
you today If time has any meaning
Scrap you turn in today could be
on its way to shipyard within
two weeks as part of steel plate
for a victory cargo ship that is
needed to pump supplies into dis
tant battlefelds.
II you are a homeowner. a farmer
or a plant manager or anyone at
all with scrap lying around, then
the weekend statement of Army.
Navy and War Production Board
leaders that the need for scrap
is immediate and desperate was
meant for you.
r. w. Wolcott, president of the
Lukens Steel Co. and chairman of
the American Industries Salvage
Committee, said steel mills now
have on hand only two weeks supply
of scrap.
He warned that production this
year would be S million tons less
than capacity because of the in
adequacy of scrap supplies.
Huge Reserves Needed.
The American Iron and Steel
Institute believes as many as eight
to 10 million tons of iron and steel
scrap are lying dormant in homes,
farms and Industrial plants
throughout the Nation. The ma
tional salvage campaign is seeking
to recover them for the mills.
Suppose you are housewife and
you have steel hamper, an old
rusty one In which you kept the
family clothes. You don't need it,
perhaps. You turn it in at sal
wage depot in the neighborhood.
There 1t is put in pile with other
waste material from homes, farms
and plants, and is picked up at reg
ular intervals-possibly within a
couple of hours after you have
dropped it Thereby a scrap dealer
who hauls 1t away.
The dealer takes it to his ward
prepares" the scrap by separating
the alloy steels from the ordinary
steels which are in the hamper, and
congresses the lighter pieces into
compact bundles about 2 feet square
The hamper will be in one of those
bundles, perhaps along with scraps
Of sheet steel from an industrial
plant. The dealer can finish his part
of the operations within two days
including the time needed to load
the bundled scrap into a railroad
car.
Emphasizes Need.
Emphasizing the terrible scrap
need of the mills upon which this
country's war production depends,
the institute says:
When the scrap arrives at the
steel plant Tin the railroad car that
brought it from the scrap dealers
Yard 1t is used promptly.
Nowadays most steel plants op-
crate on practically a hand-to-
mouth basis as far as scrap supplies
are concerned.
$50 very likely the bundle of scrap
containing your hampeD will be
loaded directly from the railroad car
into steel furnace Charging box
The furnace boils for about Il
hours to remove impurities from the
scrap 1t received in a bundle-abou
so tons Of scrap are used in each
furnace load-and to cook its batch
OF assorted materials into a heat
Of fine, new molten steel which i
poured out to solidify in huge block.
OF metal called ingots.
There follows a series Of opera
tions-taking perhaps eight or nine
days-to turn the ingot into a plate
which is sent off to shipyare
within IA days after you had drop
ped the hamper at the salvage yard
Serves as an Example.
The shipyard is used here as ar
example, just as the hamper was, tt
describe the journey of scrap meta
from the time it Is turned in BY
you till 1t is transformed into new
steel at the mill and sent to its
final destination.
The steel industry has been turning
out 100000 tons of plate a month
The industry in the first half OF
1912 increased its capacity 628, ,35(
tons through construction of new
furnaces and enlargement of others
Since the outbreak of the wal
three years ago the steel industry in
this country has increased its an
nual capacity by almost 5000 ,OO(
tons, equivalent to building here
within that time more steel ca
pacity than Is available in all Japan
Present American steel capacity
exceeds by almost so per cent, the
Iron and Steel Institute figures. the
total in all Axis and Axis-domi
mated countries.
But the accent there is on "ca.
pacity." 1t means this country!
steel mills could outproduce-if they
had the materials-by so per CEN
all the steel mills of the Axis ane
Axis-dominated countries, but
One of the prime materials mos
needed is scrap. Lacking that, pro