The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1853-04-27
Hlsrrllauruus.
From the Railroad Times.
The Advance in The Price of Iron.

Inc Advance In The Price OF Iron.
The sudden and great advance which
has recently taken place in the price of
railroad IRON, is Il circumstance of UNI
sual Importance to various interests Of this
c"uu ry. In less than venr the price of
railroad iron in Great Brtnin--which is the
principal seat of its manufacture and its
controlling nrarii"t--has advanced from f5
or $25 20 9lO per ton. There is every
reason To h"ijcvr that ii will continue 10
rise, and not stop short OF fl2 or el per
ton. Six years ago iron went up in much
! the same way, rising in very brief period
from Go t" fl2 per ton. This advance
then was produced is it is now, by the
projecting and constructing of great
number of railroads, with the essential
difference the main at that period WAS con-
fined chiefly to England, whereas now it
Is dltfu>cd over many countries, raging
most vaster aggregate Of projects. The
railroads in progress which produced the
great advance in iron in lS47, did not en-
coed 5000 miles in aggregate length,
though It much larger amount WAS proiec.
ted, and afterwards partially abandoned
lii" inv">tmcm of capital int these British
railroads caused the most disastrous COM
mercial rcyul,ion ever cyperinced in Great
Britain. 1t ruined many hundreds of her
richest merchants, and produced a long
continued pro$traton of every industrial
| Interest, from which it required years of
patient labor and economy to recover
From the bcs, information accessible 10
the public, it appcars 10 be Quite certain
that there are now in progress, and actual
course of ofconstruction,in Europe and Amer
ica, at !ca>, twenty thousand miles of iron
! rairn:,,l. besides n vast amount of rroicc.
ted railroads not vet begun, which we do
not take in account. OF this amount OF
railroad in progress, 5000 belongs To Eu
rope, and $4,000 at least, to this country,
exclusive OF more than 100 miles now
constructing in Canada. We have seen a
list male out Of the railroads now under
way in each Strtc, which amounts in the
aggregate to more than l3 900 miles, and
which list has unders,atcd rather than
ovcr>tntcd the truth, for in this State,
aI"n" it omits 90 miles of railroad in ac-
tual constitution, and has made similar
omissions AS to other States. However in
credible the aggregate may appe rat first
sight, il is impossible for the most careful
scrutiny to make any deduction from
it -.
R.i'r,nI> require ut least one hundred
m,c> ., ,rvu f,r a singlc track, and Of the
roa Is ia progress IN Europe 100 will be
iouh.r rack roads. |: follows from this
lhat ;l.c railroads. now in course of con-
>lrurtiom in Europe AMI America will re-
qnire lnr thcir completion no less than
Two millions and four .rndred thousand
tons of non. To make this quantity will
occupy all the rolling mills in the world,
which are engaged in the manufacture of
railroad iron, at least six years--those of
Great Britain furnishing thrce-fourths,
and the United States. France. and Bel
GUM the remaining fourth. The best
authorities do not estimate the largest
na.:tily ofrailroad iron in any one year