(2 of 2)
Mesta's head is Lorenz Iversen, one of the ablest steel machinery engineers in the U. S. A Danish farm boy turned machinist, he went to sea for two years before migrating to the U. S. After working in a New Jersey shop, he went to Germany for further technical training, returning to a job in Mesta's drafting room in 1902.
In his upward climb to Mesta's presidency, Engineer Iversen became a shrewd salesman with all the hitting power of a forging press. Not only can he sell his steelmaking machines to ordinary prospects. At least once he sold a buyer who had already let the contract to a competitor. He still speaks with a strong accent and lives in Pittsburgh's safe and solid East End. Sixtyish and no socialite, he is fanatic on the subject of personal publicity, has never permitted a photographer to enter his home or office. Perhaps the only picture of Lorenz Iversen in existence is one snapped at a gay, informal supper party at Pittsburgh's University Club, which he lately joined (see cut).
Currently the whole machinery industry is mildly prosperous. Orders for machine tools, with which other machinery is made, rose from 62% of the 1922-24 average last July to 119% by the year end. Second-hand machinery, always a curse on the industry during depressions, has been disappearing. In January there was a notable pickup in the demand for used steam shovels. A bright spot in new machinery is the traveling crane trade. Higher labor costs have sent businessmen into the machine market but the rise has largely been the result of better business sentiment, heartening industrialists to the point where they will step out and buy modern equipment.