Business: Girdler Asserts

A long time it has been since any U. S. steelmaster strode to a rostrum, thrust out his chin and in so many words predicted a more glowing future for the industry than anything in its molten past. Last week’s steel production, 23% of capacity, was nothing to make steelmen loquacious. But in Manhattan the learned American Society for Metals heard from the lips of Tom Mercer Girdler, steelmen’s steelman and president-chairman of Republic Steel Corp., these words:

“In the face of all the discouraging elements in the present situation, I nevertheless believe and assert that thus far in the history of this country the potential markets for steel have merely been tapped. . . .

“Before many years have passed we will see a total annual production of steel that will surpass anything in the history of the industry.”

Last year the steel mills of the land poured 23,000,000 tons of steel, and production for this year will not be substantially larger. Tom Girdler’s statement meant that within a few years production would rise above the 1929 record of 56,000,000 tons. But by then, said Mr. Girdler, the country would be using steel “in a thousand ways that have never been dreamed of before.” No idle prophet, he declared that his optimism squared with “facts that have been proved in our research laboratories, and tested out, from the standpoint of consumer acceptance, by salesmen in the field.”

The bold, downright boss of the third biggest U. S. steel corporation is doing something more than talk about steel’s prospects. Now in the midst of a merger with Corrigan, McKinney and Truscon, he is supposed to have plans for further mergers under the hat that almost never leaves his baldish head, except when he sleeps and banquets. Topping all this activity is a recapitalization scheme which is intended to put Republic’s finances on a solid steel foundation.

His recapitalization plans brought Steelman Girdler smack up against the Securities Act, and last week he paid his respect to that and other aspects of the New Deal. “The New Deal may not be all right, but certainly it is not all wrong,” he remarked diplomatically. But: “Today no business is willing to spend a dollar except for immediate requirements. Those of us in the steel business cannot blame our customers, for we feel the same way ourselves.” His reasons: 1) fear for the profit system, 2) the Securities Act, 3) labor unrest, and 4) “I want to know what the Government is going to do with my dollar!”

Once over the hump, the steel industry will be in not only for new records but also for a new era: “Steel is no longer a standardized commodity like sugar, wheat or coal. We have entered into the age of specialized steels. In the future all steels are going to be tailormade . . . manufactured to order to fit the particular job for which it is designed. The outstanding achievement of the industry in this direction has been the development and perfection of a whole series of alloy steels—each alloy having its own particular properties and uses.”

If Tom Girdler’s predictions come true, none will benefit more than he. Republic is already the world’s largest producer of alloy steels.