When
the Civil War began, we imported all of our steel rails. But by 1900, we were
producing ten million tons of steel. This was the work of Andrew Carnegie who
said: “The old nations of the earth creep at a snail’s pace. The Republic
thunders past with the rush of an express” in his Triumphant Democracy of 1885. He cultivated talent and promoted
only by merit while vastly improving the chemistry of steel making. His
Homestead (Pittsburgh area) works employed 4,000 that made three times as much
steel as the 15,000 at Krupps’ Essen, Germany mill. The price of steel rails fell from $160 a ton
in 1875 to $17 a ton in 1898 with other steel prices dropping in sync.
Everything went down in price, the standard of living rose and we celebrated
with the first steel skyscrapers.
U.S. Steel, the successor company to Carnegie, was de-listed from the Standard and
Poor’s index of America’s 500 largest companies in 2014. Today, China makes 50%
of the world’s steel, increased from a 13% share in 1996. But about 40% of
their production is over production to provide employment and prevent social
unrest. They dump this overproduction on world markets at very low prices. The
US Commerce Department responded with tariffs. The Chinese answer was to change
the labels and export to us from Viet Nam. But, in Carnegie American fashion, U.S. Steel developed a real - not government involved - competitive response with a
new super steel. The Chinese hacked the research and are probably developing it
now. Is it ironic that we cede our jobs to the Chinese, then borrow from
them to feed our unemployed? Or is this part of how the insidious globalists
achieve power over us?
When
speaking about these factual matters, Donald Trump is vilified in the media as a
nationalist with the ring of a Hitler. The globalists will say anything. They
are afraid. But we need not be, if we can win in November and Make America Great
Again.
End
notes: Ten people died in a bloody labor strike in 1892 at Carnegie’s Homestead
works. The history books teach this as a story of evil capitalism and a turning
point in developing the labor movement. But others say that there was never a
valid strike vote, and that radical union leaders intimidated the steel workers
into this confrontational situation. I
don’t know the truth, but I’m confident that any scholar looking for grant money
will have difficulty finding it. And if they did, it would probably destroy
their career.
As
in everything in life, it’s a two-edged sword.
I recall the jokes popular during the 1890’s about two Irish immigrants
named Pat and Mike. While walking home from work one day, Mike asks Pat: “Have
you seen the new free library Carnegie built here?” Pat answers: “No, I haven’t
had time. I work 12 hours a day at the steel mill.”
Copyright
2016, Mark L. Bennett
People forget many companies from China came to the U.S. and bought up our Steel Mills in the mid to late 70's. They disassembled them, shipped them back to China and made them more efficient. People so soon forget these events due to so many distractions. I told my school friends in history class that this was another sign in the decline of our economy. They laughed told me I was crazy. I do not see many laughing now.
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