UNITED STATES TRADE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 166, 13 July 1918, Page 5

UNITED STATES TRADE.

IRON" ANT) STEEr; INDUSTRY. XaiuralJy the entry of flic I'nHcd States into the great European war has enormously increased the demand for iron and eteel goods in America. The : position is .well outlined in the following j; extract from John Dun, Son and Co., I Lt<L, of New York, received under date I of June Ist; from their Australasian! agents, Messrs. Brown and Dureau:—J! '"Shortly after our last report was writ-' ten <the relations of the Government [. ■with the producers of iron and steeli reached a crisis, .and at a meeting at : which all the important manufacturers were -represented, the Government virtu-i ally threatened that unless there was better co-operation and its needs were ■ taken care of more promptly it would I .take over and operate the" entire industry as a- Government enterprise. The manufacturers at once agreed that as long- as necessary they -would turn over to the Government 100 per, cent, of their production, and for the last three weeks practically all of the iron and steel pro-! duced in this country has been applied; to -war purposes. Opinions differ as to> how -long this state of affairs will con-1 tinne. Some think that ei.vty days will! see a sufficient Government supply in ! most lines to enable the mills to turn their attention to other business, but the war requirements are growing so rapidly that all conjecture is likely to be wrong. We cannot believe, however that the war at this stage will take 100 per cent, of the country's production for the balance of the year, (but -there is nothing I certain even as to this." ]