Chapter 9

Today we are talking about Chapter 9 of the book  "Regional Landscapes of the United States and Canada" by Stephen Birdsall.  

Chapter 9 is called the Changing South. Included in this region is Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Illinois and Missouri.

The book talks about "Pittsburgh Plus." Pittsburgh's United States Steel Company inflicted a new Pricing Policy. Birdsall writes, "Under this company policy, consumers of Alabama Steel paid the price of steel at Pittsburgh plus $3.00 per ton ($2.72 per metric ton) plus regular freight costs from Birmingham." This way it was cheaper for Atlanta firms to order steel from Pittsburgh. (p. 175)

Basically, the US Steel company made this "discriminatory policy" against TCI's Steelworks in Alabama after famous banker J.P. Morgan, who owned the US Steel Company, took control of TCI in 1907. The US Steel officials did not want to compete with TCI so they made it impossible for TCI to compete with them.