no F. W. TAUSSIG 



them all was l^eyond the physical and nervous capacity of 

 any one man or of any small group of associates. But the 

 range of single management, the size of the unit, have en- 

 larged prodigiously. 



The iron trade has shown as markedly as any of the 

 great industries the signs and effects of these new conditions. 

 Not only has the size of individual establishments grown — 

 this is a phenomenon of long standing — but the number of 

 industries united in one organization has rapidly enlarged. 

 Iron mines, coke ovens, railways, steamers, docks, smelting 

 works, converting works, rolling mills, steel works, machine 

 shops — these have been combined into one imposing complex. 



While the Lake Superior ores have been by far the most 

 important source of supply for the iron industry, a large con- 

 tribution has come from another source, also — from the south- 

 ern states. 



In the region where the states of Tennessee, Alabama, 

 and Georgia adjoin, the conditions once thought indispensable 

 for a flourishing iron industry exist in perfection. Here are 

 great deposits of ore, easy of working ; and close by them great 

 deposits of coking coal, no less easily worked. Before the 

 civil war, these natural advantages were not utilized; the 

 regime of slavery and the lack of means of transportation pre- 

 vented any resort to them. But with the quickening of the 

 industrial life of the south, when once the civil war and the 

 trying days of reconstruction were passed, the mineral re- 

 sources of this region were developed on a rapidly enlarging 

 scale. Alabama, where the best deposits of coal occur, be- 

 came a great iron producing state; here again, though for a 

 less distance and on a smaller scale, the ore made its journey 

 to the coal. The large supply of labor at low wages has con- 

 tributed to the easy and profitable utilization of this source 

 of supply. The free negro has turned miner, and has proved 

 not only a docile laborer, but also — paid, as miners are, accord- 

 ing to the tonnage brought to the pit's mouth — on the whole, 

 an efficient one. The favorable natural conditions, when 

 once unlocked by the regime of freedom and the means of 

 transportation that came with it, doubtless constitute the 

 main basis for the growth of the Alabama iron industry. 



