1970 are scheduled to be at 32 times the 1950 rate. Yet today they are buying ore delivered in Japan for less than our freight cost alone a few years ago. This change in the cost of raw material is only one of the things that the Japanese have going for them. They have deepened their harbors to receive large vessels, modernized their receiving facilities, built new mills highly automated with high efficiency blast furnaces, oxygen converters, and they enjoy relatively low labor costs. They have concentrated their investment in steel-producing facilities and largely left the mining investment to others. Today the Japanese steel industry is more than a producer of domestic supplies. Now they are making steel at a rate equal to almost five times their peak World War II production. One out of every 7 tons goes abroad, with the U. S. purchasing better than 1/4 of their steel exports. In addition to the quantities of basic steel, countless tons of products containing steel are finding their way to foreign markets at competitive prices. If you see cause for alarm in this development, wait 'til you shake your head. There is every indication that the cost of iron ore to the Japanese could go still lower, for vast reserves are being offered to Japanese mills from Australian sources from mines under development largely financed by American and British capital. In an effort to secure a contract from the Japanese mills each group seems deter-