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REAL ESTATE
AND
i^ BUILDERS
NEW YORK, JUNE 19, 1915
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THE INDUSTRIAL FUTURE OF THE BRONX
Remarkable Revelations From the U. S. Supreme Court Concerning
the Advantages We Have Here For Iron and Steel Manufacturing
BY CYRUS C. MILLER
/^^ KEAT evfiits are happening in the
^"^ industrial world which will aftect
strongly the future of the Bronx. Here¬
tofore the principal industry of the bor¬
ough has been the erection of buildings
—some for business, but largely for
dwellings for its citizens who labor out¬
side of the borough. A new industrial
idea of enormous value to New York
is progressing among capitalists, name¬
ly, the location of iron and steel in¬
dustries around New York harbor. For
this the Bronx is peculiarly adapted.
The building industry of the Bronx is
bound to go on; but, in addition to its
activity in dwelling houses, it will ex¬
pand so as to include industrial build-
in'gs and plants. The population of the
Bronx has grown very fast to over
700,000, because people have come there
ihe (Jccisiun ot the L nited vStule^
District Court for the district of New
Jersey, in the case of United States of
America vs. United States Steel Cor¬
poration et al., was of far-reaching im¬
portance, and especially to the Bronx.
In its opinion dated June 3. 1915, the
court concludes that the Steel Corpora¬
tion is not an illegal combination, be¬
cause the steel and iron business is not
and cannot be monopolized by it. The
court comments on the strong competi¬
tion which the Steel Corporation has
and will have to meet:
Tidewater Advantages.
"Turning first to the Atlantic sea¬
board we find the Bethlehem Steel Com¬
pany, the Pennsylvania Steel Company
and the Maryland Steel Company. The
two latter companies are here referred
to only to note their tidewater location
niarkt'ls. riic pruuls show that llic com¬
petitors of the Steel Corporation have
abundant ore supplies, cheap water
freights and a great accessible surround¬
ing market. The proofs further show
that with the enlargement of the Erie
Canal system Lake Superior ore will be
canal-freighted from Buffalo to New
Vork at 28 cents a ton less than the
same ore is rail freighted from Lake
Erie ports to the Pittsburgh district.
"Wilh the enlargement of that canal,
the proofs are that blast furnaces are
now planned for location on seaboard
waters in New York harbor limits. Lake
Superior ores of the same metallic unit
grade as the Brazilian would, in the view
of the Michigan Tax Commission, cost
$7.00 a ton delivered at the Atlantic
seaboard, as against ore of $3.00 from
Brazil. As to the Cuban ore, the total
THE E.-\ST IJKOXX WATERFRONT. SHOW'lNCx A SECTIO.V OF THE INDUSTRIAL RAILWAY PliOPOSED
WHEN BOROUGH PRESIDENT.
HON. CYRUS
MILLER
to establish homes and bring up their
children.
More Industries Needed.
Its industries, however, have not
grown so fast, and its residents spend
time and vitality in traveling elsewhere
for their daily work. An all-around de¬
velopment of the borough demands the
establishment of industries within easy
distance of its dwellings. Its natural
facilities for such industries are not to
be excelled in any city of the United
States. Its miles of Irontage on the
navigable waters of the Hudson River,
Harlem River, East River and Loiig
Island Sound; its many lines of rail¬
roads, and its nearness to a large market
and full labor supply give it advantages
over any competitors in the matter of
location of such industries.
These railroads must be connected by
an industrial railroad running around the
southerly and easterly shores of the
Bronx on which freight brought into the
borough on any railroad or steamship
line may be transferred to any other
line.
The Barge Canal, to be opened in the
near future, and the Panama Canal, now
in operation, hold out promises of fu¬
ture industrial development of the
Bronx which are almost inconceivable.
as an advantage which the Steel Cor¬
poration with its inwardly located works
does not possess. Their ore supplies are
drawn from the great Cornwall ore beds
of eastern Pennsylvania and from Cuba,
where they have inexhaustible supplies
of Bessemer ore which can be worked
by steam shovels and are close to tide¬
water.
"Three matters have impressed us in
reference to this seaboard competition:
First, that the Eastern seaboard iron
atid steel competition of the Steel Cor¬
poration has an ore supply wholly inde¬
pendent of Lake Superior; second, that
their location near the seaboard gives
in many cases substantial freight ad¬
vantages over the Steel Corporation;
and, thirdly, that the greatest advance
in ore and steel production in the past
ten years has been made by the sea¬
board competitor of the Steel Corpora¬
tion, the Bethlehem Steel Company.
* * * The market reach of basic iron
and steel plants is measurably restricted
to its own district by freight limitations.
The supplies from which steel is made
and the basic articles into which it is
turned are of such bulk and weight as
to thus localize or restrict their markets.
"Freight changes forbid such heavy
product being hauled to far-removed
cost will not in any case exceed %1.2^
per ton. This means that the ore reaches
Philadelphia (or New York) at a net
cost of 4 cents per unit of iron. It is
the cheapest ore in the world delivered
at eastern Atlantic ports or in German
or English ports."
A Relocation of Steel Industries.
These quotations predict a relocation
of the iron and steel industries of the
East, with their attendant industries,
such as hardware, machinery, tools, rail¬
road supplies, stoves and the like. This
is of the greatest importance to the
whole city of New York, as it means
participation in the world's business in
iron and steel. They should come to
the Bronx, where every facility is ofifered
them.
Four elements must be considered in
the economical manufacture of iron and
steel. The business must go where
tliese elements can be had most cheaply.
(a) Cost of iron ore.
(b) Cost of coke.
(c) Cost of limestone.
(d) Cost of distribution of products.
Success in producing high-grade iron
cheaply depends upon the ability to pro¬
cure the different kinds of ores neces¬
sarv for mixtures at low prices. A com-