The Iron Age 1917-11-08: Vol 100 Iss 19

THE IRO} New York, November 8, 1917 ESTABLISHED 1855 ae a cK VOL. 100: No. 19 “a> Tee Plant of the Wickwire Steel Co. From Molten Iron to Wire Rods Under One Roof—Handling Without Railroad Switching—Blooming Mill a Feature HE new steel plant of the Wickwire Steel Co. T is now in operation. It comprises an open- hearth plant and rolling-mill machinery for producing wire, nails and tacks. From the stand- point of design it is especially noteworthy. The most noticeable features of the new mills are the compactness and the handling of all material from one mill to the next by overhead cranes without the » rs Ingots from the crane in open-hearth section just north of Buffalo, usual railroad switching and the roof of the iron to wire placing under ne necessary from molten rods. operations pig Special reference may also be made to the blooming mill, shown in the accom panying illustrations. Construction work on the expansion of the Wick wire plant, which is located on the Niagara River N. Y., was started in May, BS aT to the crane in the blooming mill ‘ ym for delivery heating furnaces 1109 1110 1916. The four open-hearth furnaces, gas producers, blooming mill, rod mill, wire mills, nail mills, etc., are now practically in full operation. An accompany- ing plan of the property, showing the arrangement of the mill buildings, indicates also the proximity to the steel plant of the two Harriet blast furnaces of the Wickwire company. The first steel was made Jan. 8, 1917, and the blooming mill started operating in July and the rod mill in August. The buildings were erected by the Lackawanna Bridge Co. There are four 60-ton open-hearth furnaces. They were designed and erected by Alex. Laughlin & Co. and are equipped with a Wallman-Seaver- Morgan low-type charging machine. There are eight Morgan automatic gas producers, coupled two to each open hearth, these producers were built by Morgan Construction Co., Worcester, Mass. A trav- eling bucket crane takes the coal from a bin under the cars, empties it into a bin above a crusher and aRPENTE wet " | | ( 100 200 300 400 500 ee i | = = — = - mil } wall F || OD \ s RAN \4 aract\ ; “ ' wtSTA =NERAL or \ Nees ae AD _ nal t pwe Ze - - : eer = ' \ | \ WN , oe ———— ¢ A N f Ze — ‘ ; 2 LE . - <= zo Pe | | STATE ff = zg ; = = J f —_——— as é ™ } | ; > —— = J f= ZZ sa SS | = — = ss — 4 E ——E R LE EZ EEA _ — ee — } t — —— SSS = ._ rages — 1 SS re \ \ Zz alien ae | — \ = — H - ZING ; i . 1, pvAN tM ¢ = i—— } iL ‘ ROD. MILL O44 at BED 1 ore ) $ t | BLOOMING be WATER SOFTENER PUMP =p le = L -—, fTTtiit , Littl F | |= aRiguerrine = —— | PLANT | t \ J \ a ' | ORE teneral Map of THE IRON AGE 4 conmaaae | | es 7 f . T = OOoT|_O poom| ENGINE ROOM ihe nil BOILER FOOM a “UNLOADING =“V1AGARA—=— Works of Wickwire Stee’ Co., Buffalo November &. also takes the crushed coal to the p: A 50-ton Alliance crane serves the c! re Ing floor and a 100-ton Alliance crane travels ov: he tan ing side. The furnaces are served bh 400-40 metal mixer built by the Variety I: & Stee Works Co. A 10-ton Alliance crane he same runway with the pouring crane sets molds strips and puts the ingots on a slide tt delivers them under the crane in the heating furnace byilg ing. There are two continuous heating furnaces charged by an overhead 10-ton crane. The heating furnaces were designed for the use of coke oven gas or producer gas, and at present are operating with coke oven gas. A hydraulic pusher delivers the heated ingots to the blooming mill tables. The blooming mill was built by the Uniteg Engineering & Foundry Co., and consists of three stands, two 32-in. two-high sets and one 24-ip These are driven by a 2200-volt alternating-curren: — PLANT ‘ FUTURE OH. PS SS lela i Th , | sie * r as ae ao OP a, é Ww # ke : . = Che bilvoming-mill consists of Chree tands, twu of S3Z-in. tw wo-high set. The stands are staggered and there is no revers he two larger sets, so the piece passes back and forth illvy looped twice in the repeater which serves the 24-in. stand views of the m’: ‘aken in opposite directk i ee we ae.” aN ; 1112 THE IRON AGE November 1917 4 hydrauli forces the pusher ingots into the blooming mill position of the General Electric motor of 1400 hp. rating. The stands are staggered and driven through a gear set so that there is no reversing. The piece to be rolled is delivered to a movable table and passes through one set of rolls to another table; it moves back and forth as in a three-high mill, only in a horizontal plane in place of a vertical one. The bloom is cropped at 4 x 4-in. size and then loops in a repeater through the 24-in. stand and is finished to 1%4-in. size with the second loop. The 1°4-in. bar is run out to a shear and cut to 30-ft. lengths on a hot bed that has its under the rod-mill crane. There is under construction a Morgan six stand 18-in. continuous mill to take 4 x 4-in. billets from delivery end the blooming mill and finish 1%4-in. bars for the rod mill and any merchant billet or bar sizes to 11% in., also sheet bars, etc. When this is com- pleted, the looping feature of the blooming mill will be discontinued. A Morgan continuous double-strand rod mill is installed, driven by two General Electric alternat- ing-current variable-speed motors of 1300 and 2400 hp. rating. This rod mill has new features in rod- mill construction, aiming at the production of a better rod than usual, more closely to desired sec- tion. It delivers the product to an inclosed con- veyor arranged so that the bundles are not exposed to the air, thus eliminating excessive scale and pro- ducing a soft rod. A wire mill with 300 wire-drawing blocks and the necessary equipment for finishing all kinds of market wire is just starting into operation. A nail mill is about to start with 70 nail machines, 24 barbed-wire machines and 50 tack machines. A number of other additions have been built, such as new machine shop, wood-working shop, brick sheds, dolomite burners, galvanizing and tinning build- ings, etc. The Youngstown & Suburban Railroad plans to erect a power plant at Southern Park, near Youngs- town, Ohio, and also an addition to its present power plant in that city. heating furnace ends to allow The ingots are arranged alternate! for the taper of each ingot Christmas Card Money for War Relief The following letter, which is being given wide cit culation, is signed by the Illinois Steel Co., Morden Frog & Crossing Co., American Steel & Wire Co., Universal Portland Cement Co., Lackawanna Steel Co., Carnegie Steel Co., Inland Steel Co., Chicago Railway Equipment Co., A. M. Castle & Co., The P. & M. Co., A. J. O'Leary & Son Co.: CuicaGco, Oct. 27, 1911 Dear Sir At this time of world war when money is so st to alleviate suffering, reduce hunger and care f he and wounded, it seems sheer waste to spend mo for suc! unnecessary and unproductive things as holida gr g cards A nuimber of companies and individuals, among tl undersigned, whose custom it has been to distribut cards, have decided not to do so this year, but instead t contribute the money to war relief organizations, whert will perform some real service As lack of time prevents a personal canvass of ! 8 producers and consumers, as well as business houses banks in general, this form of letter is substituted hoped the suggestions offered may meet with wide approva and be productive Of ‘generous results Contributions, should be sent direct (together with a Co} of this circuldr, if desired) to the American Red Cross, the American Fund for French Wounded, or any ot retiel organizations that may appeal to the giver What is called a modified welding process to repair broken aluminum parts, for example, has been ¢e veloped by the Aluminite Mfg. Co., Inc., 427 Fourt Avenue, New York. The edges of the metal to be co! solidated are cleaned, as with gasoline and a W! brush, followed by filing, and then a solder is appl with the aid of a blow torch to tin the surfaces to ™ joined. Finally the parts are brought together and ‘ torch used together with solder, which is introauce into the crack in a pasty form. The company a issued a sheet of directions which emphasizes that process does not subject the metal to excessive " strains. The Woodville Lime Products Co., Nicholas Bldg Toledo, will shortly place in operation a new Sv" crushing plant for the manufacture of dolomite Woodville, Ohio. This plant will have a daily cap! of 60 to 80 cars of dolomite. er 8, 1917 ‘internal Bar Cutting-Off Machine indling rounds, squares and any other shape that e contained within a circle 4% in. in diameter, a e Gorton Machine Co., Racine, Wis., has t a new heavy-duty cutting-off machine. It iilder’s standard internal tooth type of cutter blade e 10 cutters used being held in blocks which driven into pockets in the bore of the blade. ne is designed particularly for use in rolling ‘ar and locomotive works and by builders of eng { machinery. ide used is of chrome vanadium manganese h is heat treated and ground on both sides af utter pockets have been roughly milled out. These kets are tapered on one edge to correspond Ww t proug , a ner on the edge of the block, the cutters and ing centrally located by a system of tongues and grooves. It is pointed out that with this arrange- ment the cutters can be keyed in very rigidly without dis ¢ the blade thus giving the effect of a heavy ba irrounding the cutters and securely fastened around periphery to a heavy cutter drum. After the blade has been ground a light cut is taken to finish the pockets to the desired size. The cutters which are of high-speed steel are made alternately wide and nar- row, with the latter projecting a slightly greater dis- e toward the center of the blade than the wider ones. This arrangement provides for the cutting out the metal in the center of the cut by the narrow _ while the corners are cleaned up by the wide one. \n adjustable automatic power feed mechanism of ne gen is employed. This it is pointed out obviates the necessity for the reversal of any clutches when the op is ready to raise the cutterhead to position after finishing a cut. The adjustment of the cutter- head either up or down is controlled by the handwheel as the feeding pawls are automatically disengaged when the cutterhead is being raised, thus permitting v to be turned in the opposite direction. A THE IRON AGE 1113 ator to walk to the back of the machine to measure the stock that is being cut off. Where only a few cuts are to be made from each bar, the single roller stand can be provided. This is adjustable for height to com- pensate for unevenness in the floor of the shop to which it is fastened by bolts. Westinghouse Electric Employees Make Fine Record Setting as their goal subscriptions amounting to $1,500,000 of Liberty Bonds, the employees of the Westinghouse Electric & Mfg. Co., at the close of the campaign secured subscriptions amounting to $1,610, 000 or an over-subscription of $110,000 beyond the goal. The employees of the subsidiary companies sub- scribed approximately $620,000, and the company itself subscribed for $2,500,000, making a grand total for the company of about $4,730,000. An interesting fact in connection with this bond subscription is, that out of approximately 30,000 employees, 22,000 subscribed to bonds. With the hearty approval and co-operation of the management, the employees divided the immense works into 18 sections with a captain over each. They in turn, selected their own lieutenants and teams. This sales force, embracing many salesmen of experience, aggregated 400 employees and made an enthusiastic as well as systematic canvass of each and every employee of the company with the result as noted above. In many cases, the sections reported 100 per cent subscrip tions; in other words, every employee in the section subscribed. In some cases where earnings of the office boy or other employees were not large enough in the opinion of the committee for his department to buy a bond, the employees of this particular section contrib- uted and purchased a bond for him. The progress of the campaign was thoroughly advertised to the em ployees by means of large wooden thermometers in- stalled at the various entrances to the works, which ed Into the Bore of the Blade Are Employed Size of Material that Can Be x under the cutterhead serves as a counter- take the weight off the screw. In tests stock f with a feed of 1% in. per min. and a feed nin. or more can be maintained in regular lepending upon the hardness of the stock handled. . ‘-driven cutter grinding machine is provided ng the cutters employed. This is provided and loose pulleys and does not require a . A stock rack operated by a handwheel the side of the machine is furnished where e will be operated practically without inter- ‘he builder’s patented measuring device is is eliminating the necessity for the oper- rm in a New Internal Type Machine for Handling Any Shape or Containea within a 444-In. Circle were up each day to indicate the number of bonds sub- scribed to that time. Placards were also printed daily giving the total amount subscribed up to the previous day. The Bond Foundry & Machine Co., Manheim, Pa., announces that it has purchased the property and good will of the Queen City Foundry Co., Ashbridge’s Bay, Toronto, Canada, which will be operated as the Bond Engineering Works, Ltd. The new company will con- tinue the manufacture of gray iron castings for the trade, and also will make a line of power transmitting specialties. The new works will be under the manage- ment of H. M. Lee. Prospects for Machine Tool Exports Symposium at Convention Reveals That Amer- ican Manufacturers Ha ve Excellent Opportunity to Capture Foreign Markets After the War NE of the most interesting features of the annual @ convention of the National Machine Tool Builders’ Association at Hotel Astor, New York, Oct. 30-31, was a symposium arranged by C. E. Hildreth, general manager of the association, on prospects for the expor- tation of machine tools after the war. Russia, Belgium, France, Spain and South America were represented by able and carefully prepared addresses from men who are thoroughly in touch with conditions in each of those countries. The present large scale of production of machine tools in this country—estimated by Presi- dent J. B. Doan of the association to have reached in the past three years a total volume equal to the pre- ceding 10 years—makes the subject of post-war busi- ness of vital importance to all machine tool builders. R. Poliakoff, Mech.E., assistant professor of me- chanical technology, Technical Institute, Moscow, Rus- sia, commissioner of the Russian Government Pur- chasing Commission in the United States, spoke on Russia in part as follows: “In considering the prospects of exportation of ma- chine tools to Russia, we have to find out first if there are any such prospects. This is a most natural ques- tion, and it can be answered only in one way: in the affirmative, of course. Russia became acquainted with American machinery many years before the war broke out, has learned its value, and has acknowledged its superiority, as compared with similar products of other countries. It is true that the amount of machinery im- ported into Russia from the United States before the war was considerably less than the number of ma- chines imported from other countries, chiefly from Ger- many and England, but this fact is being accounted for by specific reasons—some of which are as follows: Russia’s Foreign Trade “In the last two or three years preceding the war, the imports of machinery to Russia amounted approxi- mately to $5,000,000, of which about three-fourths, to the value of $3,500,000, originated in Germany, about $1,000,000 in England, and about $1,000,000 in the United States. I do not deem it necessary to point out why Germany obtained the bulk of the business. {t has been explained on many an occasion, and it is being pointed out every time one refers to the past superiority of Germany in any line of industry—be it machine tools, or just buttons for ladies’ waists. How- ever, with reference to machinery in particular, we have to point out the following specific reasons: “While there cannot be the slightest doubt that in most cases the German machine tools were of inferior quality, they, however, served the purpose quite satis- factorily, supplying the ordinary user with a cheaper machine. Some places in Germany made a specialty of cheap lathes, for instance, as the Chemnitz districts in Saxony, which turned out lathes in big quantities and at cheap prices. If some of you ever happened to be in Chemnitz, you probably have seen these factories; employing cheap labor, getting their castings from an- other factory, supplying with beds a number of shops, ete.—circumstances which allowed the Chemnitz manu- facturers to sell a 16-in. lathe, with an extra treadle drive at $170 in Moscow, freight, duty and agents’ commission all included. “It is noteworthy that the types of the German machinery were so to say inspired by the United States products and in many a case they were an imitation, a copy, of the American machine, yet they were better adapted for the sale. An instance which I am going to cite now will make clear to you how this was attained by the German manufacturers. “Take a bolt and rivet forging machine of certain size, which is classified by the American manufact for making rivets up to say 1 in. diameter; the German manufacturer took this machine, copied it, but specifies that it is capable of producing rivets up to 1% in. o even 1% in., and so he was able to produce a which was considerably cheaper than the Americar machine of 1% in. capacity. But the German many facturer often turned out to be victorious also in the practice of using the machine. Why? Because 1%-in. machine is not always used to produce 1%-in rivets only, more often it is used for making rivets of smaller size, which work the German machine naturall; withstood all right, and if a breakdown sometimes oc curred to the machine when worked on 1% -in. size well, the metal might have been too cold or too strong so far as tensile strength was concerned, etc. ang finally the Russian user, not going too deep into the whys and wherefores, simply reinforced sometimes certain part of the machine which he found out to be too weak when called upon to work on the limit size and when this was done, the machine was all right. “You all know that the best German machine-too building concerns were manufacturing their machines on American lines; take, for instance, the firms of Ludwig Loewe & Co. in tools for machine shops; De Fries and Hasenclever in machines for forge shops Pittler, in automatics, etc., but naturally they produced them cheaper than the corresponding firms in the United States. They were all nearer, so to say, so far as means of communication and intercourse were con cerned, and naturally succeeded more easily in doing business with Russia than other countries, the United States included. ire or machine Neglected Export Business “There is one more reason which ought to be men tioned here; after all, taking everything into considera tion, you, American manufacturers of machine tools— at least the majority of you, to be just to the minority —did not look after export business, did not care much about the export trade, and in cases when you did care, you wanted the Germans to do all the bother for you, you only wanted to receive the checks. While thi may have been a good business policy in ante-war times, it cannot hold good now and especially after the war. Not having attended personally to the Russian export market, you did not get any knowledge of it and if you really now want to enter the field, you have to do so afresh, without any previous experience, this latter having been buried in the offices and heads of your former German agents. This was, so to say, your first pre-war mistake. Let us now see what happened during the war. “The war created, of course, an enormous demand on machine tools in all the warring countries, in Russis among them. The former supply of machine tools to Russia, i.e., Germany, having been cut off, all eyes and hopes were turned toward England, the ally of Russia. and the United States. England could not satisfy 4! the Russian wants, though she did satisfy many, and America was therefore called upon, but here again the American manufacturer made the same mistake which he had made before the war; he allowed a number of responsible and irresponsible persons to act for him and in many cases these persons did not act 4s thes should have acted. An Interesting Experience For example, promises were made which evidently could not be fulfilled under any circumstances. T° illus- trate: In May, 1915, a certain young Russian ceramic engineer applied to me in Moscow asking me 0 help 1114 N ber 8, 1917 , position in his specialty. At that time | had position for him in view. In July, 1915, I met bee the main promenade in Petrograd, and asked bit he was getting along. ‘Very well,’ he said. I | lathes.’ ‘Lathes?’ I was surprised. ‘What to do with ceramics? Whose lathes do you | he mentioned an American firm—which for tration we shall call East Kent. ‘I can offer ithes a month, delivery starting next Septem- few days later I went to London, came in th different dealers, and one of them offered 100 East Kent lathes a month, delivery start- September. One day I went from London to ( and visited there a certain manufacturer x) acted as agent for some American machine inufacturers and among his machines he offered Kent lathes at the rate of 100 per month rting next September. “T came to New York in August, 1915, called on a ert forwarding agent to arrange about some of our shipments. It turned out that he had in his office also . man who was selling machine tools, who offered me- vhat do you think?—East Kent lathes at the rate of 00 per month, delivery starting next September. | t order 100 lathes, but I ordered four to be de ed in October, 1915, and have not got them yet in ctopver, 1917. “Here we have a case where the manufacturer had early as many agents as there were units in the ad- vertised rate of his monthly deliveries, who all took ders for him without any chance of living up to the Will It Be Continued? The question naturally arises whether the same y will be continued after the war. There is not he slightest doubt that the demand for machine tools n Russia after the war will be very great. To under- stand this assertion, the following factors must not be ost sight of. First of all, the rehabilitation of the regions, the devastation of which was so thoroughly attended to by the Germans, will have to be carried out as quickly as possible when peace permits. Apart from this, another perhaps even more influential factor is ming into play during the present war as a direct result of the revolution. Whatever conditions exist ow in Russia, which are not as hopelessly bad as they re pictured by some sensation-seeking newspapers and ewspaper correspondents and so-called eyewitnesses, he country is undergoing a process of regeneration nd reconstruction which will result in a more demo- ratic level of life than that which existed heretofore, ind it can be accepted as an axiom—and statistics orove it—that in a democratic country the income per ipita and also the needs which incomes create are nuch higher than in a non-democratic country. ‘By what means will these increased needs of the intry be met? By importing everything she wants? ertainly not. This would be a financial fallacy, lead- ng to bankruptcy. The debt of Russia is now large ‘nough, and certainly it will be out of question for any of government still to increase it by allowing for- ‘ign goods to be imported in unlimited quantities, and this way still more to turn down the lever of finan ‘al stability. ‘To summarize: First, there is not the slightest ‘t that Russia can be a good market for American machine tools after the war; second, to avail them- 3 f this market, the American manufacturers must nterested in it; and third, provided such an interest exist, the pre-war business policy of the Amer- n machine-tool manufacturer will have to be changed, new policy substituted.” Prospects in Spain Forry ury S. Moos, M.E., member of American Machin ndicate, New York and Spain, spoke on Spain as follows: have been living in Spain for 12 consecutive evoting my time to the introduction of Amer- hinery, machine tools almost exclusively, car- n a continuous fight with the rest of your Euro- at mpetitors combined. It has been my experi- THE IRON AGE L115 ence while in Spain to find out that customers, when their orders are shipped promptly, their specifications carefully observed and their machines are above criti- cism, will pledge their loyalty and their trust with the man or the manufacturing concern they dea] with, and this to such an extent as to make it extremely hard to win them over to the competition. It is by no means unusual for a customer to continue placing his orders at a higher price and upon less favorable terms of de livery and payment than offered him elsewhere solely because he has learned to trust his man or manufac turer with whom he places his orders, knowing, as he does, that his confidence in him will not be taken ad vantage of and the higher price he may be called upon to pay he considers ample justification in return for assurance of fair treatment. “A great number of manufacturers have not paid much attention to the Spanish market, possibly be cause they thought Spain was prominent‘rather in pro. ducing beautiful black-haired girls, painters of fame high-paid bull fighters, olives, oranges and sardines more than prospective customers willing to spend their dollars for a high-duty lathe or a high-speed drilling machine Spain's Progress “The Spain of to-day is beginning to take a more prominent position in the world’s markets of machine tools than heretofore. With the outbreak of the war, the country has been suddenly cut off from its accus- tomed sources of supply, causing the paralyzing of its industrial life due to the disorganization of the mar- ket. Pretty soon, however, Spanish capital and in dustries began to realize to what extent they had been depending on the foreign markets and immediately steps were taken to readjust local conditions. Thanks to individual effort combined with the Government's encouragement, industrial life in Spain has now reached a degree of activity never known before, in peace times Spain’s neutrality is turning out extremely productive to its economical situation. During 1916, Spain’s for. eign commerce, showing a total of $540,000,000 for im- ports and exports, set a record for itself. The increase of activity along metallurgical industrial lines consti- tutes an important factor in the compilation of these figures. The national treasury found new strength by the unusual increase in value of the national monetary unit which, during the last years, had suffered from slow depreciation. The railroads immediately recov- ered from a period of depression while the merchant marine became so prosperous that the Government de cided to discontinue the subsidies granted in the past to encourage the successful operation of certain navi gation companies. Although in many instances fac- tories and mills suffered for lack of raw materials and necessary machinery, the higher prices obtained for the finished product resulted in larger profits. The Spanish industries gradually realized the necessity of freeing themselves of foreign market dependency and acted accordingly until at present Spain is manufacturing s score of products to which no thought in the least had been given until the country entered this era of pros perity Government Helps “While some suffering was caused by the highe: cost of living, sometimes resulting in strikes, the difficulties of the moment for the most part were suc cessfully solved by governmental measures coupled by private initiative. The transformation of Spain, set out to rank as a commercial and industrial power in the world’s market, cannot but be considered as a good omen for the future “Amongst the many, the Spanish Government has under consideration the establishment of a National Bank of Foreign Commerce, with a view of promoting the establishment of new industries and proposing to grant special protection and privileges to industries by advancing them funds up to 50 per cent of their capital invested, guaranteeing minimum dividends on the invested money, tax exemptions for a number of years, favoring import duties on raw material not pro duced in the country. imposition of low transportation charges, ete ae vag eee ss ees A aie fa eT Ns | eS 1116 “The steel mills of Altos Hornos of Bilbao can be favorably compared with the largest plants on the con- tinent, handling alone in the neighborhood of 3,000,000 tons of iron ore per year. “The shipbuilding yards of Spain on both sides of the peninsula are actively at work since the outbreak of the war, and they are continually enlarging their facilities and putting in new and additional equipment. The merchant ships now on the ways represent an estimated total displacement of 180,000 tons. “Several concerns in Spain are beginning on a large scale the building of ships’ engines—Diesel and in- ternal combustion—and inquiries for a large number of machine tools for such shops have recently come in. A new concern in the northern part of Spain specializes in the construction of steam and oil driven fishing ves- sels and has already placed substantial orders for machinery. “Spain started to build her railroads in 1840 and at the beginning of 1916 possessed 8700 miles of track. Up to 1915, the State had contributed $139,000,000 toward railroad construction. The street railways rep- resent some 600 miles of track. Heavier locomotives have now been acquired and many bridges are being strengthened to support them. Some rolling stock has been imported and Spanish car builders have been ac- tive in producing material both for domestic use and for export. “A prominent industry in Spain is the railway and tramway car building industry. There are five fac- tories in Spain, two of which are very important. The automobile industry in Spain is making a notable prog- ress. The largest factory in this line has bought in 1915 about $300,000 worth of American machinery, and recently there has been established in the center part of Spain a new company for the manufacture of motor trucks which, in the last few months, has placed orders for American machine tools amounting to close $250,- 000, and is continually purchasing new and additional equipment. Five aeroplane factories are working un- der contract for the Spanish and Allied governments. Entirely New Industry “As a consequence of the difficulties which a number of Spanish manufacturers have experienced in securing machine tools during the period 1914-1915 from the United States, an entirely new industry has been cre- ated in Spain. Before the war practically no machine tools were produced there and at that time only one concern had started to build a facsimile of a German lathe, while some other concerns were making wood- working machinery and two or three types of upright drills, a slow-speed hack saw, bench grinders and some power presses, also some tinsmith machinery, which to my knowledge, covered the Spanish machine tool in- dustry in toto. Conditions Changed “To-day conditions are sorhewhat different; there are now at least 20 firms, some of them employing as many as 500 and more men, engaged in the manufac- turing of a wide range of machine tools, principally up- right and sensitive drilling machines, screw cutting engine lathes, planers, shapers, etc., and at the present time all of these concerns are selling all they can pro- duce. If our manufacturers at home had been better able to pay more attention to these Spanish orders, early in 1915, when orders for machine tools were pour- ing in, and in a position to make deliveries, it is very likely that numbers of these Spanish enterprises now producing machine tools would not even had a chance to start in this new line. “The opportunity for American manufacturers to obtain a lasting foothold in Spain is greater now than it has ever been. Just consider that the considerable number of machine tools shipped to Spain in the last three years from this country alone is probably larger than the sum total of such machinery shipped into that territory during the 20 preceding years. With but few exceptions, these machines have established for them- selves and their producers a wonderful reputation which, let us hope, may be everlasting and serve as a THE IRON November AGE 1917 stepstone for what may justly be expect direction.” France Will Need America Roger P. Redier spoke optimistically of t} in France. “France has deeply bled herself,” he said: ife for the last three years has been but sacrifices over sacrifices of all kinds; she has voluntarily ypped everything that had not a direct connection with the war, she has seen nothing else but her ‘sacrifjeos for victory,’ and when victory comes, she will have ¢ ' a serious problem, and that is, to restore her « f. , iace onomic and industrial life. At the present time, most of her home trade and all of her export trade have gone and although the demand will still exist, it will require capital and labor to rebuild the business. essential factors will be scarce. “We shall then see an evolution, another way of handling the business; we shall see labor-saving ma chinery used where it was not before the war: we shal] see a better feeling among manufacturers that wil] encourage the development of the trade; we shall see I hope, associations like this one that have accon plished so much for their members through the ever lasting efforts of their officers; we shall see a new France, a new activity, no more easy-going. Franc: will become, and has to become industrially, a money making country. Both of these This Country First “This evolution cannot be made without the aid of America and of American machinery, because this country was the first to face the problem of an every day increase in the cost of labor, as well as a constant demand for larger production, and has become in the line of labor-saving devices, the master of the world. That France will enter the field of making machine tools I do not believe, because it would mean for her the loss of too much valuable time in experiment be- fore she could ever begin to compete in an already taken up market. France, to make money, to re-estab- lish her exchange, will have to export and to increase her export in goods for which she always had a world- wide reputation. She will have to create at home machinery for her special industry; she will have to rebuild and re-equip her destroyed factories, to rebuild her rolling stock as well as her merchant marine. She will have to organize herself, in one word, for the trade of export, for which she has never been properly pre- pared. All this will demand machine tools. “If the demand for machine tools exists, which it no doubt will, then the way of selling will surely change, and dealers on the other side will have to face another situation. Two Classes of Customers “There will be two classes of customers, the ones that have been engaged since the beginning of the war in manufacturing war material, and the ones less for- tunate whose factories have been destroyed or closed during the struggle. While the first class have bee! developing enormously, in certain cases passing from 4000 hands to over 20,000 hands, buying machinery !n large quantity, and enjoying a very prosperous trade, the other class will find themselves when peace 1s Te stored with empty shops; in most cases machines hav ing been requisitioned for Government purposes, 2n¢ their capital is in a very precarious condition. “The first mentioned class of customers, althoug” they will require machine tools of certain types stabilize their regular manufacture, will not be for 4 little while what we might call heavy buyers, and the attention of dealers will lean toward the other class whose needs will be greater and more general. There is no doubt that these customers in order to restart their business will require easy terms of payment, and will apply to the dealers for this; machine tools being the elementary first necessity in any manufacturing proposition. - “What will be the position of the dealer’ While on one side he will be anxious to do business and © push forward the machines he represents, on the ot! er 8, 1917 fn ted by his @ash resources, he will have to ask from his Manufacturers in the same form as have to help his customers, and whether you | this easy terms of payment, or consignment nes, it will mean credit. I have no doubt that srrancements of this kind which will mean a closer tion between manufacturers and dealers are or _and if realized, will certainly lead to the de- ve t of the trade and to the benefit of both nat vhich are already allied in arms and will also istrially. the beginning, however, a small cloud might jarken a little the blue horizon of the situation, and that is the heavy buying done by the American Gov- ernment for export to France for military purposes. The machines already bought aggregate, I understand, thousand, and are only the beginning. There .d reasons to believe that these machines will me home again ,and will be sold on the spot after the campaign, creating at that time a little dis- in the market. “But after all, we cannot really expect to supply the lemand twice.” After the War in Belgium G. Todd, of E. Isbeeque & Co., New York, spoke n Belgium in part as follows: “Belgium has never been a country which has pro- juced any great number of machine tools, even though t is one of the most industrious and densely populated untries on the globe. Aside from a few shops which produced heavy lathes for railroad work, which were not of a modern design, and two or three lathe con- structors, the country was devoid of machine tool build- To give you an idea of the industry of this coun- try, there are situated in the district of Liége alone 250 machine shops, including, of course, both large and smat “Now, dealing with the prospects of exporting Amer- ‘an machine tools at the present time, this is not juite as hopeless as most of the American manufac- turers think. While, of course, it is impossible to ship lirectly into Belgium, it does not mean that the Belgian manufacturers are just being idle, but there are at the present moment several large live inquiries for machine tools to be delivered as soon as ever circumstances per- In other cases certain Belgian firms are actually placing these orders, giving the American manufac- turers where necessary the deposits asked for, and upon elivery of the machines becoming due paying fully for them and storing them either at the manufacturer’s t or in a public warehouse in the large cities. “This, therefore, will partly answer the question which is uppermost for the moment in the American manufacturers’ minds as to whether the Belgians will any funds at their disposal after the war for the ment of the tools which will be necessary to re- their factories. “Again, most Belgian shops were never very well ‘ganized, and their equipment has been added to as nd when required, but, during this idle period the gians have rearranged their plants and also made ts by which they will become much more modern ‘ter organized immediately they can re-equip Germans Have Stripped Plants ther point which you are probably not aware of r the first two years of the war certain fac- Belgium were working, not at full capacity, keeping fairly busy, and were allowed by the Government to export their products to Hol- | other countries. This, however, has since been tinued, as the British Government would not full value which the Belgian manufacturers ‘or their goods to be remitted to Belgium. Also nans have now stripped every plant in Belgium machine tools they could find. ng with the situation after the war, there are > serious points which have to be considered. | as to whether Belgium will have her inde- estored, and I do not think there is a doubt THE IRON AGE 1117 in the mind of any gentleman Here present that this will not be fully accomplished with the assistance of the Allies. “Secondly, should the Allies find it necessary to blast their way through Belgium as they have had to do in the northern part of France to make the Germans retire, and should the Germans also pursue their tac- tics in Belgium as they have in France of razing every- thing to the ground as they retire, it is easily con- ceivable that no machines will be required immediately after the war. “This is looking at the situation in its gloomiest aspect and one which I do not think will be brought about, but think after the war we shall find Belgium in about the same state as it exists to-day. “Assuming this, I would like to have been able to give you gentlemen some statistics of the importation of machine tools from Germany, England and America for the two years prior to the war, but I regret to state that I have been unsuccessful! in obtaining these figures, due to the great difficulty in communicating with any Belgians who have these data. “However, one thing I can definitely say, and that is that there are absolutely no machine tools left in that country to-day, and they, therefore, must all be re- placed. In some of the large factories the Germans have taken as many as 1500 tools, and in some of the medium-sized factories 500, and so on all the way down to the smallest shops in which they have only taken two or three. Some persons assume that the Germans will be compelled to give these machines back after the war, as they have all been very carefully tagged and tabulated from the various works from which they have been taken. Personally, I think these machines will be useless after the war for performing any high-class precision work, as we all know the very intense usage which they have had during the war, and even the highest class of tools cannot stand up for any length of time against this rough usage unless they are prop- erly taken care of, which, of course, the Germans have not had time to do. Second-hand Tools to Be Plentiful “There will, however, be certain second-hand tools available in England and France after the war, and I would imagine that some of the best American tools which are shipped just before the conclusion of peace will find their way to a certain extent into Belgium, as they will have had very little wear and will be in first-class shape; but the earlier machines which have been delivered, I do not think will be in such great demand, as they will not be in a very good condition; also the Belgians do not look with favor upon the pur- chasing of second-hand tools, and I am convinced will prefer to commence over again with new machines. “Before the war the largest exporters of machine tools into Belgium were Germany, then America, then England, and then Sweden in a minor degree. “You will, therefore, see that the largest competitor will be eliminated, but the Germans no doubt will endeavor to find means of exporting their machine tools again to Belgium. The Belgians, however, will surely devise means to exclude German machines. “The Germans were exporting to Belgium both the cheap as well as expensive machine tools, but they were rather of the heavier class of tools than most American manufacturers make. They specialized a good deal in railroad tools, a sub‘ect which I intend to deal with a little later on. They had very low freight rates granted them by the government, which considerably reduced their cost of freight and enabled them to compete very easily against the American manufacturers. They also had the assistance of the banks, which enabled them to give very lengthy credits, which in some cases were entirely unnecessary, except for spoiling the market. “The English firms I think we shall find will be the biggest competitors against the American firms in the exporting of their machine tools into Belgium after the war, as they will be very much nearer the seat of action and have at the onset a great advantage over (Continued on page 1167) % z te Lf + ee eS Fee | gS EN, vip Se b- Phe epee ter ae oe) Keg pest Sage Sip Read ott Share Skilled Men Drafted for War Duty Many Industries Crippled and War Department Will Change Its Methods—Appeal for Legislation to Be Made to Congress—Interesting Statistics WASHINGTON, Nov. 6.—The announcement that the second call under the selective draft will probably be made early in the new year and will cover at least 600,000 men is causing no little anxiety among manu- facturers and especially among those who are pro- ducing war material either under direct contracts with the Government or as sub-contractors. Many com- munications received here reflect the fear on the part of these manufacturers that the new draft, if carried through on the same basis as the first call, will make serious inroads in the ranks of skilled workmen and will increase the difficulty of the labor problem, which is rapidly becoming acute. The declaration of Chair- man Hurley, of the Shipping Board, that the working force now employed in the American shipyards must be increased from 200,000 to 500,000 has brought out clearly the pressing need of labor in the shipbuilding in- dustry, while some official figures recently prepared show graphically the results of the indiscriminate drafting of men for the first division of the national army now training in cantonments. Fortunately, how- ever, it can be stated that the War Department officials are already convinced of the unwisdom of the methods pursued in the first call and will make selections for the second division on an entirely different basis and one which will, to some extent at least, conserve the supply of skilled labor, especially that required for the manufacture of war material. Skilled Men Drafted [he extent to which skilled workmen were drafted into the national army in the first call, regardless of the efforts made by manufacturers of munitions and other supplies for the Government to secure exemp- tions for valuable men, is being disclosed in reports re- ceived from the various training camps where a system of classifying all recruits according to trade or experi- ence is now being put into force. An elaborate card index system has been adopted under which no less than 49 occupations are listed, the data being carefully gathered by a personnel officer who utilizes the informa- tion for the purpose of preserving the equilibrium of companies and regiments in the matter of the distribu- tion of skilled workmen whose trades may be called into requisition by the exigencies of the service. As indicating the various fields of industry from which the selected men have been called, the registration for a single day at Camp Upton produced cards showing the presence of 26 machinists, 48 pipe fitters, 22 auto- mobile repair men, 37 carpenters, 22 draftsmen, five fire- men, 31 motor truck drivers, nine painters, 40 book- keepers, six tailors, two dentists, seven druggists, 10 musicians, seven barbers, two moving picture operators, 12 sailors, 26 cooks, 10 grocers, 22 stenographers, 92 clerks, and three nurses. It is evident from these figures that the 600,000 men composing the first draft of the national army include a very large number of skilled mechanics who are now sorely needed in the manufacturing industries tributary to the war and whose places might well have been filled by men whose withdrawal would have had little or no effect upon those lines of industry upon which the Government is now relying to speed up the war program. Not Enough Exempted It is now conceded in official quarters that the exemp- tion of skilled workmen in the first draft was by no means as extensive as it should have been. During the period of the sessions of the exemption boards throughout the country, the announcements issued by the War Department from day to day concerning the application of the draft rules deterred many managers and superintendents of munition factories and other manufacturing concerns having Government contract. or sub-contracts from making claims for valuable mep Officials of corporations hesitated to declare under oat} that any of their men were “absolutely indispnsa}|e’ and the rulings of numerous exemption boards indicate¢ that they would adhere to the principle that “no ma; is so valuable but that his place can be filled.” Unde; these circumstances, it is not surprising that whole com panies and regiments will prove to have been recruited from big industrial centers where the vital work for th: prosecution of the war was being carried on. Under the second call for recruits, the War Depart ment will follow an entirely different plan. The new method may or may not be based upon that adopted within the past 30 days by the Canadian Government which is just putting into force a new conscription law which became effective Oct. 15. If the expectations of the officials are realized, the new regulations will result in the drafting of men who can easily be spared by; their families and by the important manufacturing in dustries of the country. In selecting the first 600,000 men, the War Depari ment took them in the order in which their number: were drawn from the wheel in the lottery presided over by the Secretary of War. Only a sufficient number wer: examined to make up the first draft and less than one fourth of the total number registered were examined t secure the desired quota. Under the new plan to be pursued to obtain the second contingent, all the re maining registrants will be d