Dust Storm

Inland Steel Co.'s Board Chairman Edward L. Ryerson was fed up. He thought that there were too many politicians in Washington trying to blame the steel industry for the steel shortage. Last week at a meeting in Chicago of the American Society for Metals, Ryerson let go with a counterblast of his own: "For anyone to suggest that the steel industry should arbitrarily be required to increase its capacity by 20 to 30 million tons during the next two years ... is to suggest a program ... so unrealistic that it is sheer nonsense . . . Our industry is an early target of an obvious campaign that will lead to socialization of American industry ... a fight that will come to other industries unless we win."

Ryerson barely had time to settle back in his chair when the steel industry's biggest customer, General Motors Corp. President Charles E. Wilson, flung his words right back in his teeth. Said Wilson: "The steel industry has expanded its capacity by only eight times since 1900, while the oil industry has expanded 30 times, the electric power industry has expanded its output by 70 times, the automobile industry about 2,000 times . . . [Steel executives] ought to get the dust out of their eyes and go ahead with the rest of industry."

To Ryerson, Wilson's complaint seemed downright ingratitude, especially since Inland will be expanding production 20% by 1952. "The automobile industry [which buys 20% of steel's total output] has no cause for complaint," he replied. "It has had steel enough to set production record after production record. It is the steel industry that made possible all the expansion in other industries." Nevertheless, if more steel users joined Charles Wilson in needling the steelmakers, steelmen might decide they could expand faster after all.

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