mined to outdo the other by cutting each other's throat in the Japanese market and offering ore at fantastic bargains well below prevailing prices. If this were not enough, we have even seen the paradox of a U. S. steel producer accusing the Japanese of "dumping" in the West Coast market and at the same time selling them iron ore pellets from their U. S. mines at prices in my opinion below that which competition justified. The Japanese mills, buying in concert through their 10-mill committee, are having the time of their lives watching the rest of us commit financial hari-kari. The independent iron ore producer operates in an economy that is half-slave and half-free but he has prospered in the past decade because of the tremendous growth in his market. Whether he can long endure depends in part on how well he can meet the challenges that are combining against him. Like the Japanese 10-mill committee, the steel industry in the U. K. and in the Ruhr each buys as a unit and thu brings great pressure to bear on the individual producers. The independent has limited access to the U. S. market because the major steel companies depend on captive mines for the bulk of their requirements. It's a little like the Congressman who was defending himself against the criticism of the NAACP for referring to Negroes in a speech. He explained that no offense was intended, that the word