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“TRIBUTE TO US STEEL'S 100TH ANNIVERSARY” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1712 on Aug. 3, 2007.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TRIBUTE TO US STEEL'S 100TH ANNIVERSARY
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HON. ARTUR DAVIS
of alabama
in the house of representatives
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Mr. DAVIS of Alabama. Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate US Steel on their 100th anniversary of production in the State of Alabama.
In 1907, the United States was in the midst of a ``financial panic'' that threatened the future of the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company (TC&I) and the jobs of thousands of people employed by the company in Alabama. The United States Steel Corporation (US Steel), the Nation's first billion dollar business enterprise, agreed to purchase a majority of the capital stock of TC&I, preserving thousands of Alabama jobs. President Theodore Roosevelt and the U.S. Justice Department gave their approval on November 4, 1907 for the merger of US Steel and TC&I to help restore public confidence in the Nation's economy, thus ending the financial panic.
Soon after the merger, US Steel significantly expanded iron and steel production in Alabama, creating thousands of new jobs, and initiating social reforms for company employees, such as: building new homes for workers, establishing community schools, and building the Lloyd Noland Hospital.
US Steel was the first steel company in America to embrace collective bargaining in 1937 by recognizing the Steel Workers Organizing Committee which became the United Steel Workers of America. The steel produced at US Steel by its Alabama employees built the ships, tanks and other military armaments that defended the United States in two world wars, as well as in the Korean War and Vietnam War.
In the past 100 years, generations of Alabama residents--estimated to exceed a million people--worked at U.S. Steel mills, coal and iron mines, barge rail lines and other commercial facilities.
US Steel continues to create quality family-supporting jobs, with health care benefits for some 2,500 skilled employees in Alabama. These employees work at plants and offices including the Fairfield Works, the largest steel making plant in the South; the Fairfield Works Seamless Pipe Mill; US Steel Realty, a major land developer in the Birmingham area; and US Steel's Transtar subsidiary that includes the Birmingham Southern Railroad, Warrior & Gulf Navigation Company, and the Mobile River Terminal at Mobile.
Despite the fierce competitive challenges in a global steel market, including unfair competition from heavily subsidized foreign steel producers, US Steel has continued to make job-creating and job-
retaining capital investments in Alabama.
US Steel has a long history of supporting philanthropic and community projects to enhance the quality of life in Alabama such as the Red Mountain Oak in Birmingham, which will be the largest urban park in America. This project represents a contribution from US Steel exceeding
$10 million.
Madam Speaker, I wish to officially mark the centennial observance of the United States Steel Corporation in Alabama. I congratulate the company for 100 years of steelmaking and job-producing commercial activity in my State. Through its 100 years, US Steel and its skilled employees have made a tremendous contribution to the State's economy, and to Alabama's future as a major manufacturing center in America.
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