United States Steel: A Corporation with a SoulCotter, Arundel
History
United States Steel: A Corporation with a Soul
Cotter, Arundel
United States Steel Corporation
And here it might not be out of place to remark that the situation
as it then existed presented the peculiar spectacle of a government
depending to a large extent upon the loyalty and coöperation of a
business organization, and availing itself of the use of its resources,
financial and other, while this very government was attempting in the
courts to destroy this same corporation. We also saw the Government’s
attorneys demanding that the Court which had to make the final decision
in the matter put the proceedings over until after the war. In a sense
the Government did not dare go ahead with the case as, had the Court
granted its petition and ordered the Corporation dissolved, the result
would have been a disaster greater than the loss of a battle to the
Allied arms.
The Government, it has been suggested, availed itself of the strength
and resources of the Steel Corporation. Two instances of this will
illustrate how. Tin plate, the steel product used to make cans for food
and other perishable goods, needs in its manufacture a large supply of
pig tin and of palm oil, neither of which products is obtainable in the
home markets. Tin plate was declared a war essential and supervision
of its output taken over by the Government which found itself promptly
faced with the necessity of securing a steady supply of both pig tin
and oil. But the difficulty was met by putting the matter in the hands
of the Corporation which, subject to arrangements with the British
Government which controlled the output of these two products, took full
charge of importations, arranged a steady supply, and financed the
operations out of its own exchequer, distributing the oil and tin to
other manufacturers at actual cost.
And then there was Neville Island.
After the United States entered the war the Corporation’s output of
war steel increased enormously. From April 1, 1917, to the end of
December of the following year it had exported to the Allies 7,292,950
tons of steel and supplied the United States Government and munition
manufacturers here with 9,104,440 tons, making its total of war steel
16,397,390 tons.
So many and so varied were the Corporation’s activities in the war that
only the briefest synopsis of them can be given here.
Of equal importance with steel, as a necessary adjunct to modern
warfare, are the chemicals that go into the manufacture of
trinitrotoluol and other explosives, gases, etc. And the Corporation’s
contribution toward the winning of the war was no less important in
this particular than was its output of steel products.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account