For years the Steel Products Co. consistently contended against these obstacles, gradually introducing its products into one market after the other, until it eventually attained the point where the quality of the goods it sold was recognized and business could be secured without concessions in price from the levels charged by European competitors. Although in its effort to gain a foothold in foreign markets the Corporation was compelled to offer steel, at first, below domestic prices, this condition did not continue as long as is generally believed. For many years prior to the outbreak of the war prices secured on foreign business were practically the same as those obtained on domestic, more in the case of some products, less in others. In 1911, for instance, the average mill price received by the Corporation on rails exported was $27.32 compared with $28.00 in the home trade. Rail exports for the year were valued at $11,377,000. A concession of 68 cents a ton does not seem extravagant in view of the large volume of business obtained. In 1918 average price realized for nails for export were $17.49 a ton, and in 1919 $10.02 a ton, higher than the average received on domestic shipments. The European war, of course, changed the export situation for the time being completely. The British navy stood between Germany, the largest exporter, and her foreign markets. Belgium’s mills were seized and in some cases destroyed by the invading Hun. England, of necessity, had to turn the mass of her steel output into shells, guns, and other war materials. There was but one country that could supply the hungry world with steel--the United States. And to it every consumer turned. From almost complete indifference the American steel trade turned to enthusiasm regarding foreign business. Steel export companies sprung up like mushrooms anywhere and everywhere. So great was the need of foreign buyers of steel, that any one, with or without capital, could become a broker in the metal, and was sure of getting all the buying business he could handle. The trouble was to get the steel. Most of the export firms and corporations that sprung up at this period will eventually disappear. Many of them have already done so. But there are a number, backed by conservative and financially strong interests, that are in the business to stay, and practically every American steel manufacturer, either directly or through one of these agencies, to-day exports part of his product and expects to continue to do so. The steel trade at large now realizes, what the Corporation did from the beginning, that a permanent export business is of major importance in assuring stability in trade conditions.