Japanese Strip

At the turn of the century a Yale psychology professor named George Trumbull Ladd delivered a set of lectures in Japan which revolutionized its educational methods. He was the first foreigner to receive the Third and Second Orders of the Rising Sun. When he died, half his ashes were buried in a Tokyo Temple and a monument was erected to him. This gave his son, George Tallman Ladd, an unbeatable commercial entree in Japan. When he went after Japanese business for his United Engineering & Foundry Co. in 1934, 150 priests performed ceremonies over his father's tomb.

United Engineering & Foundry rivals Mesta Machine Co. for the position of largest U. S. maker of steel mill equipment, has assets of $15,500,000 and a 1938 profit of $3,192,000. It built the world's first semicontinuous strip mill for American Rolling Mill in 1926, claims to have produced more of this revolutionary steelmaking machinery than all its competitors combined. President Ladd, a curt, crisp oldster who likes deep-sea fishing and gardening at his estate in Coraopolis Heights outside Pittsburgh, got his job in 1928, immediately began centralizing United's plants and invading foreign markets. He consolidated seven U. S. plants into four, set up affiliates in Canada, England, France, sold complete mills to Russia, Japan, England.*

In 1936, to fill rush orders from Japan and Russia, United bought a creaky mill at Wooster, Ohio at a bargain price, was all set to abandon it this year when Shibaura Engineering Co., Japan's largest electrical manufacturer, decided to build a rolling mill machinery subsidiary. Hard-headed George Ladd promptly sold them the Wooster mill and last week he announced that it was being shipped, lock, stock & barrel from Wooster to Yokohama, Japan where it will be operated by Shibaura-United, capitalized at 16,000,000 yen ($4,000,000) and 49% owned by United.

Japan has several lumbering German-made rolling mills of the type outmoded by the U. S. continuous strip process, and it has one 43-in. continuous hot and cold strip mill (not yet operating) sold it by United and Mesta Machine. But it has no way, except by U. S. purchase, of replacing any parts in this continuous mill or of building another. In theory, its new purchase from United will end some of these deficiencies. Actually Japan will still depend upon the U. S. for tailor-made ball bearings and high-grade forgings which are beyond Japanese imitative technology. In this country the Wooster plant could turn out $3,500,000 worth of machinery a year. Asked what its Japanese capacity would be. President Ladd snapped: "About half what it had in Wooster because they don't know how to run it."

-The English mill at capacity will be able to turn out 600,000 tons of strip a year. But this is not enough to meet the armament demand. Last week England bought 100,000 tons of U. S. sheet steel for air-raid shelters.

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