Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: [v. 95, no. 2466: Articles]: June 19, 1915

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REAL ESTATE AND i^ BUILDERS NEW YORK, JUNE 19, 1915 imimi!iiiiiiiimiiiiniiiiiiii;iiiiiliiii!iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiffliii^ wiiMwt:iiiaaMaiimiM!«Hi iKlili 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-