å£I)C toasljinqtoi Sunday, November 2,1980  
The truth about the American steel industry is too grim to talk about, at least during a presidential ctimpaign in the steel valleys of Pennsylvania and Ohio.</br></br>And thatÛªs why the Carter administrationÛªs steel industry recovery plan, worked out in dozens of difficult meetings between industry, union and government officials this summer and announced at a White House ceremony last month, is not a significant factor in the final weeks of the campaign.</br></br>The silence surrounding the steel plan helps explain why President Carter appears to be fighting for survival in the old Democratic steel towns like Aliquippa, Pa.; Gary, Ind.; and Youngstown, Ohio.</br></br>This yearÛªs recession threw another 90,000 steelworkers out of work, some temporarily, others permanently. Although that number is shrinking, as the industry begins a gradual pick up in activity, the recall is going slowly and the jobless steelworkers face a very uncertain future.</br></br>Its origins go back three years, to a Carter admin-, istration attempt to seek a consensus among the steel companies, labor, and the industryÛªs government regulator^ about the industryÛªs survival "in the 1980s.