Moving Metal

Bill Gimbel’s first big initiative was Reliance’s diversification into aluminum and magnesium products, advertised here on the side of the new Reliance warehouse in the mid-1950s.

remained the same. Roe intended to devote all of his time and effort exclusively to sales. In his place, Roe announced, “Bill Gimbel will assume the management of the office and warehouse and will exercise control over all commitments, requisitions, and orders involving expenses.” As Roe made way for Gimbel, the steel market weakened. Reliance’s primary supplier, Kaiser Steel, had already dropped its prices. As a rule of thumb, high basic steel prices meant higher margins for distributors; lower prices meant belt-tight- ening time. As Reliance faced diminishing receipts, it had no choice but to drastically reduce inventories—this was prob- lematic since buyers were increasingly opting to secure all of their metals needs from a single supplier. Caught in this downward spiral, Reliance reached its nadir by summer. Sales

ning inventory. Gimbel was rewarded with a promotion to Aluminum Products Manager and took responsibility for building up that line of business. President Harry S. Truman’s surprise reelection the next month created some uncertainty for Reliance’s business pros- pects. During his campaign, Truman had proposed, among other things, new economic controls, higher corporate taxes, a repeal of the anti-union 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, and an increase in the minimum wage. But Truman’s “Fair Deal” sounded like bad news for metals companies like Reliance. Neilan predicted that a recession lay on the horizon. It struck in February 1949 and lasted for eleven months. On February 14, Jack Roe informed employees that, although sales had fallen off and income was diminishing, expenses

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