[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 127 (Friday, August 3, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1712]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                TRIBUTE TO US STEEL'S 100TH ANNIVERSARY

                                 ______
                                 

                            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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