Steel is one of the most versatile of materials. It can be made hard enought to cut glass, or pliable enought to serve as a paper as a paper clip or the sheet used for springs of automobiles or typewriters, or rigid, for the wheels of rail cars. It can be drawn into wire a thousandth of an inch thick or fabricated into giant girders for bridges and buildings. It can be made resistant to heat, rust and chemicical attack. The basic materials from which steel is made -- iron ore, bituminous coal and limestone -- are abundant.