Moving Metal

declared war, and California was now a redoubt of the Pacific Theater. From December 18 to 24, Japanese submarines prowled the West Coast hunting American commercial ships—sinking two, damaging two, and killing six merchant seamen. On February 23, 1942, came the “Battle of Los Angeles,” when a Japanese submarine shelled an oil field, touching off an air-raid panic that attracted more than 1,400 rounds from the home guard the next night. Concerns about invasion only grew in California after Allied forces lost ground in the western Pacific in early 1942. No one in Los Angeles knew what might come next, least of all Tom Neilan. But he understood that steel products would be required for the American war effort, so whatever plans he may have had to get out of the business quickly he put aside. “Now is not the time to get out,” he told his family. Both Neilan and Reliance were in for the duration. Neilan’s commitment bore fruit when Uncle Sam handed Reliance a virtual golden goose in the form of a priority allo- cation for steel. President Roosevelt had created a number of new federal agencies to reorganize the American economy and to convert and mobilize the country’s civilian industries to wage total war against the Axis Powers. One of these new agencies was the War Production Board, established on January 16, 1942. Its mission was to allocate scarce defense-related materials, establish production and distribu- tion priorities, and prohibit nonessential production. Metals were vitally important—especially steel—and so the War Production Board took complete control over which com- panies could receive raw steel and steel products, and to whom, where, and when they could sell it. A priority alloca- tion from the War Production Board was highly coveted within the industry since it guaranteed not only a steady stream of

moving as the business grew. With a $50,000 line of credit secured from Farmers & Merchants National Bank and its first supplier in place, Reliance Steel Products Co. was in business. Neilan’s luck was holding, for this was indeed a good time to begin a new venture. Even before World War II broke out in Europe in September 1939, the U.S. government had begun to mobilize for defense, financing major military and industrial construction projects throughout the Los Angeles area. By the end of the year Reliance had sold some 1,600 tons of steel rebar and was poised to sell even more in its second year as the defense build-up escalated. The management of the company was not as stable as its business, however. Chad Calhoun was not at the March 12, 1940, Board of Directors meeting—he had already sub- mitted his resignation. That day Tom Neilan became Reliance Steel Products Co.’s second President. He selected another business associate, 37-year-old Charles “Jack” Roe, to be the new Vice President. Roe had first come to California in the 1920s as a purchasing agent for oil companies drilling and pumping in the state. It was in this capacity that he first met Neilan and quickly became his right hand man. The grounds for Calhoun’s move are not known, but the differences do not appear to have been minor; one document referred only to “certain controversies with Chad F. Calhoun.” It took most of the year to settle matters, but by October, Calhoun had agreed to sell his 350 shares back to Reliance for $7,000. Harold Ridgway and Jack Roe promptly purchased them— 187.5 shares each—and Roe replaced Calhoun on the Board of Directors. Over the next year, Reliance’s business continued to grow modestly, but the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, changed everything. The United States

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