Pioneer of Progress

[Music] foreign this village blacksmith was behind america's dramatic pioneer days expansion from his smithy came horseshoes and wheel rims of iron and later of steel the prairie schooners that opened the continent rode on the blacksmith's products the pioneers who voyaged out across the plains depended only on themselves they relied on their own faith courage and resourcefulness but still steel axe heads to hack out clearings in the forest for their homes was their great ally the pioneer's axe conquered the forest and made of it a place to work and live steel saws cut the forest into logs and steel tools shaped the logs into boards to make dwellings for the pioneers steel plows turned the earth into farmland to feed the country's growing appetite but ours was a horse and wagon civilization until a new pioneer the iron horse came snorting and popping across the prairie to increase the rate of america's progress a hundredfold the railroads flew across the land a network of steel rails that bounded into one nation more prosperous than anyone had dreamed any nation might be [Music] today steel and the industry that produces it continue to serve the pioneer spirit thousands of steel products pour from america's mills modern pioneers opening new frontiers frontiers which offer greater happiness security and prosperity for our nation america's steel industry is big business its 253 companies make half the world steel yet it is small business too for it's owned by more than a half a million people one of every 255 americans owns steel stock [Music] about the same number over 650 000 work in this industry and they're among the world's best paid workers earning two and a half billion dollars a year [Music] the making of steel is a complicated highly skilled process using the talents and crafts of hundreds of thousands of people in this open hearth furnace the raw materials steel scrap and pig iron which was made from iron ore are blended into steel along with these ingredients there was a carefully measured quantity of limestone to change the metals impurities into slag which will later be drained off the molten steel is cast into inguts these weigh about six tons but size varies in different plants depending on what is to be made from them removed from their molds the inguts are placed in a soaking pit this is an oven which equalizes the ingots heat bringing the entire chunk of metal to an even and very high temperature the buggy carries the white hot ingots to the rolling mill to be formed into useful shapes and sizes american mills can produce more than 110 million tons of this metal a year the ingot arrives at the rolling mill in its white hot malleable form it will be squeezed and kneaded back and forth through a series of rolls and then into a wide variety of plates beams pipes rails bars and other marketable shapes the men who guide the ingot through the rolling mill are typical of the industry's most highly trained technicians operation of the mill might appear entirely automatic but no mechanical device can take the place of skill experience and judgment or steel making is more than a business it is an art gradually the steel is shaped into new forms this is a section of railway track and like every steel product it must be flawless in form and quality and must meet rigid specifications for that's the rule in a free competitive society good workmanship means good business and competition guarantees the highest standards of production americans today are pioneers though we travel in express trains instead of covered wagons no uncharted territory remains but there are other frontiers and we conquer them in the pioneer way through our own initiative and resourcefulness and steal even more than it was for the pioneers is our ally steel girded buildings open new frontiers in the sky bridge is made of it span all rivers and bays and steel machinery helps bring our mineral wealth into use the ships that sail our waterways helping to make the united states a world leader in commerce and industry are ships of steel it's used for farm equipment to help make us the best fed nation in the world and our farmers the most prosperous [Music] steel vehicles carry us through the streets of our busy cities cities whose very backbone and framework are of steel when an american goes on vacation he's likely to set out across the country in his own car the car he drives is of steel the concrete highway is reinforced with it from steel comes the weapons to keep our country free in the traditional american way our nation's steel companies help america handle not only the defense needs of the moment but those of the future [Music] this voluntary production means that our fighting men wherever they may be have the best equipment that mill engineer and technician can make [Music] steel keeps america safe now and a freely growing and developing steel industry guards our future as surely as these big guns guns of steel guard the freedom and security of america and the entire free world [Music] as our needs increase new mills and furnaces are constructed these mills provide a vast livelihood for countless thousands of other workers and businessmen a man who makes conveyor belts for ore mines a bookkeeper in a great lake shipping company or a clerk who'll someday sell a shiny new refrigerator of steel recent expansion and improvements privately financed have given us greater production than all of russia's full total the increased production from our new plants alone is twice that of britain's entire output three times that of france [Music] in steele's laboratories scientists continually develop new and better products billions of dollars of private capital are spent in the search for new uses for steel better and safer ways of making steel new ways to expand its production to keep it not merely equal to but ahead of the nation's ever-growing demands the gigantic electric steel making furnace is an example of the endless research in this furnace are manufactured the highest grades of steel for automobiles aircraft ball bearings surgical instruments the ingredients to be melted are dropped into the top of the furnace now the heat has to be increased in some cases up to 3 500 degrees fahrenheit for this enormous heat the furnace uses enough electric current to light a small city from three electrodes tremendous man-made short circuits leak to the metal below [Music] the skill and judgment of the melter are all important in a job like this a special instrument is used to judge the molten metals quality it's pronounced okay while developing and expanding methods of making steel the industry scientists also have made steel making safer thanks to their research hazards are minimized in handling even liquid hot metals like these and steel is now one of the safest industries for the men and women who work in it in this wire manufacturing plant steel is rolled into a rod and drawn out into wire from it will come an infinite variety of steel products ranging from cables holding up a great bridge to a tiny pin whatever the final product the wire is checked to make sure it fits specifications precisely a tin plate mill makes steel and turns it into tin plate for what are popularly known as tin cans the so-called tin can a product that has revolutionized american living actually is only about one percent tin the rest is steel so it's more correct to call it the steel can the cans from pressed flattened steel coated with a thin layer of tin use up three-quarters of america's tin plate production and the united states produces more than half the world's tin plate we also are the world's best tin plate customer buying more of it than the rest of the world combined steel racing along here at 30 miles an hour is made into 20 billion cans for food alone each year many more cans are needed for oil tooth powder paint and other products steel cans have sent american products all over the world the gleaming tin plate is cut into convenient sheets and before these are sent out to be made into cans they're subjected to a thorough examination a few moments ago we saw battleships bridges and skyscrapers in smaller ways too steel carries on its pioneering job ways that bring it into the home and the life of every one of us cookie cutters pie plates humble but essential articles stainless steel hands doing a job that only steel could do go to work in the modern processing of food helping to raise our nation's health standards steel comes into every home pioneering new ways to make life easier and better each steel company buys with the others for the patronage of the best customers in the world the men and women of america a steel hairpin for example making for a woman's happiness every one of us every day uses steel in hundreds of ways and we start using it almost from the instant we're born [Music] america's free competitive economy depends and thrives on a free competitive steel industry from a razor blade to a skyscraper steel builds our nation steel from a hypodermic needle to a pipeline that stretches out across the country steel from a whirling egg beater to an enormous suspension bridge steel from a needle in the hands of a woman to the hull of the world's fastest ocean liner steel from the ticking mechanism of a watch to the framework of the world's tallest building steel pioneer of progress in america's past enriches our nation now and new frontiers for america's bright future [Music]