From this it would appear that the proposal to merge all the larger steel and iron companies of the South never developed beyond the nebulous stage. However, a consolidation of the two largest of these concerns, the Tennessee and the Republic companies, had been definitely decided on. The two concerns were controlled by the same financial interests and their managements were practically identical. While it is not unlikely that some of the directors of the companies, among whom were John Warne, or “Bet You a Million” Gates, looked upon their investment therein first and foremost as a speculation and would, in consequence, have regarded favorably the opportunity to sell out at a fair figure, there were others who had implicit belief in the possibilities for the expansion of the steel industry in that section and considered that they had in their hands the opportunity to build up a southern steel empire. The amalgamation of the two companies, naturally, would have been the first step to this end, and, as has been stated, it had been decided on and its consummation was being delayed only until what seemed to be a favorable time should arrive. But their dream of empire was doomed to disappointment. Another reason advanced for the Steel Corporation’s supposed anxiety to get its clutches on the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Co. was that the latter concern owned ore mines estimated to contain some three quarters of a billion tons of iron ore, besides coal resources placed at two billion tons, as well as limestone and other raw materials necessary in the manufacture of steel. The company also enjoyed the undoubted advantage of having both its coal and iron in the ground within a twenty-five-mile radius of its ovens and furnaces--it was “sitting on its raw material”--whereas the steel mills in the North were great distances from their raw supplies--Pittsburgh, for instance, depending for its ore on the vast iron ranges of northern Minnesota. The proximity of its mines is, of course, a material advantage to the Southern company, as transportation charges on raw material play a very important part in the cost of steel making. It is perhaps not so generally known that this advantage is to a large extent counterbalanced in other ways. Were it not for the saving thus gained it is questionable whether it would be possible to manufacture steel commercially in the South.