The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1951-04-19
How Steel Will Serve

Charles NJ. Fritz" White, presi-
dent Of Republic Steel corporation.
was on the air recently with a radio
broadcast produced by Americas Flu
ture, Inc. His broadcast was in the
form of an interview by Bill Slater,
master of ceremonies, on the pro-
gram "Americans, Speak Up!
Since Mr.. Whites home was for
n.erly in Oakland, he is well known
here and excerpts from his broad
cast are given below. Mr.. White is
son of Mrs. Charles f. White, Liberty
street, and the late Mr. White.
american steel companies can
now turn out IA million more tons
annually than were required in 1914.
the biggest year in World War II.
With present capacity slightly over
l04 million tons per year. this is rs
percent above our 1914 output. BY
the end Of 1852, present expansion
plans will provide % percent more
annually than was made in 1914"
In terms of military equipment?
According to the American Iron and
Steel Institute, Just one days output
of American steel companies could be
worked into these finished products:
an aircraft carrier and two heavy
cruisers; 500 airplanes: 1000 anti
aircraft guns; 500 tanks; half a mil
lion 3-inch shells; 1000 howitzers;
and 5000 aerial bombs, and there
would still be enough left over for
such indirect military and essential
civilian purposes as 1000 freight
cars; 1000 trucks, two cargo ships;
two tankers; $4,000 automobiles;
1000 houses; 10000 refrigerators;
and 10000 stoves. There would still
remain $4,000 tons for miscellaneous
purposes"
Comparing with steel behind the
Iron Curtain. About three tons of
steel are poured in the United States
to one ton in Russia and all the
countries she controls. Add to ours
the steel making capacity of all non
communistic countries and the ratio
is tons of non communist steel to
ton of communist steel. But our steel
industry since the war has been pro-
ducing to satisfy the pent-up con-
sumner demand, while the Russian
steel industry has been pouring its
production into tanks and guns"
"The military advantage of big
steel output depends on what we do
with the steel. 1t would be extremely
dangerous to let ourselves be lulled
into unpreparedness simply because
we can produce these huge quantities
of steel. We must prepare in ad-
vance"
Mr.. White felt that a reduction in
civilian goods was certainly ahead,
but the extent of it was unknown,
but that civilians would have to make
sacrifices in living standards. II hope
the sacrifices may be small. 1t is i'm
portant that they be kept to mini
mum and only temporary" The
reason? "When you have shortages
you have increasing pressure for con
trolls, for rationing, for price fixing
and other interferences which can be-
come permanent encroachments on
the traditional freedom of Ameri-
cans. Even in recent years of peace
some Americans have been agitating
to make such controls permanent.
What a disaster it would be if, in
protecting our freedom, we invite
long-range controls and let them be-
come a permanent part of our
philosophy of government"
Problems in meeting high demands
for military and civilian steel in
Guided critical shortage of alloys, and
the need of development of new
sources of supply. He asserted trans
portaton had become more of a