Evening star., 1948-07-12
Steel and Soviet Power

In the current issue OF oIeelWdySj>> q
bi-monthly published by the American
Iron and Steel Institute, there is neatly
arranged set of comparative figures that
ought to be kept in mind by anybody who
undertakes the hazardous task of trying
to evaluate Soviet power vis-a-vis the
power of the United States.
The first group of these flgures-Wh1cn
are not new but which have received in
sufficient public attention-covers the goals
set by Generalissimo Stain for the amount
of iron and steel production he wants the
Russians to achieve by 1850. The goals
are as follow: Iron ore, 100000 tons;
coke 3O,OO0,O00 tons; pig iron, 19,5O0,0 900
TONS and steel, 25,4O0,000 tons.
In relation to American production,
these objectives are Lilliputian. Indeed,
nearly all of them were exceeded in this
country as far back as thirty-flve years
ago. At that time we produced 60,600, 900
tons of iron ore, 100000 tons of coke,
31,500,OOO tons Of pig iron, and 25,2oo,ooO
tons of steel. In short, in 1918, we had al
ready achieved considerably more than the
Russians are supposed to achieve by 1850.
AS for our current output, it dwarfs the
professed 1850 objectives of the Soviet
Union. Thus, our actual total production
last year added up to 1O4, 100000 tons OF
iron ore, 72,90O,O00 tons of coke, $4,000 900
tons of pig iron, and 84,700,000 tons of
steel Our American capacity, in other
words, already doubles land more than
trebles in some categories) the capacity
the Russians hope to attain two years
from now.
In terms of power and assuming that
the Soviets have not published fake hg-
ures to mislead us, this is fact Of very
great significance. For in the modern
world, in this highly chronological age of
the machine, the strength Of any nation
must be measured largely by its capacity
to turn out iron and steel-absolute es-
sentials in the production of motorized
land vehicles, guns, ships, planes, tanks,
A-weapons, and the whole vast complex
of things needed to maintain military Sc
curity or wage war in the era OF the atom
and supersonic fight.
OF course, it would be reckless in the
extreme to take complacent view of the
comparative American-Soviet figures and
conclude from them that Russia would be
a pushover in case of war. Prudence Sug-
gests, for one thing, that we reckon with
the possibility OF phony Kremlin' stats
tics designed to lull us into a false sense
of security Above ALL it is important to
remember that the Stain dictatorship
runs the U. S. S. R. on the basis of
guns before butter economy. That is to
say that while we channel the bulk of our
steel into consumer goods, the Russians
do without such goods land hence have
one of the lowest living standards in the
world because most of their steel goes
into military production.
Such reservations to one side, however,
the fact remains that our output is vastly
greater than Russia's. Moreover, coupled
with the actual and potential production
| of the Ruhr, of Britain and of France, it
gives to the free Western world q power
resource overwhelmingly superior to that
of the Soviet Empire. In the recent war,
the Red Army, despite It's immense size
| and courage, might have gone down had
it not been for our lend-lease aid. If it
could not equip itself adequately then,
would Russians present steel capacity be
enough to support 1t If the men Of the
| Kremlin forced an armed conflict on
coalition of the West?
To ask this question is not to dispute
| the fact that it would be dangerous to un-
derestimate Soviet power. It Is merely to