The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1872-09-04
acknowledgement
ri. prospect. OF Trade, Especially
Inv Iron.

lTOns
writer IN the New York Herald takes
na allowing view OF the prospects FOL
,,,ds, There are, however, some facts
"1Icb arc not quite SO hopeful and insptr'
t,g All over the world there has occur
rsI within the past decade a singular but
an ppdeniable risoin prices. The causes
S tbl, rise are uncertain, but the effect ol
ts Of course, adverse to the true inter.
81, of trade. Some have accounted Tor II
Sy pointing 10 the enormous yields Of the
nsE gOld countries--mOTe especially Cali
orpis and Auslralia-which arc Sill
nOqnng their aureate treasures into our
I,D and, indeed, for that matter, rs the
hi published statistics show, in q larger
rdIune than ever. Others, but for the
ms, part of the old fogy species, say that
4 bss come about in. consequence OF the
wisl liberation Of the laboring people ol
Europe, and the success which has crown.
"a their efforts 10 force the moneyed
classes to give them higher wages. But
whatever may be It's cause, the fact re-
mains the same, and its truth will scarcely
he challenged BY any one who can carry
back bis memory for a generation. One
result OF Il Is that we seem great deal
richer than VIC are, and that, conse.
cnently, with higher incomes, we are, in
l,ct, less able TO be customers than we
were before. The worst Of the matter Is
ths, this tendency is unceasing in It's on.
ward advance, and that within the past
year il is more decided than ever previ.
ously. Allthe manufacturers in England,
will whom We do our largest trade, com.
plain bitterly Of their inability to supply
ibe markets ol the world with their pro.
ducts at figures that will tempt large con.
sumption. Coal too, the great factor in
nearly all manufacturing industries, has
begun to rise rather more than other sta
pie nGCessaries, and this, coupled with the
triumph Of the prOletariat class in almost
all their recent struggles for less work
and more pay, and the prospect Of their
success in the future for even more seri-
Gus demands has, OF course, somewhat
depressing influence. There Is one speci-
men trade which shows these last facts
at work in a marked degree. This Is the
iron business. A moments glance ut the
dependence Of all sorts OF manufacturers
upon the Cheapness Of this article, and al
the iDnumerable way into which it enters
into articles OF use and comfort, will con.
vince us that It cannot be high without
raising the value OF almost everything
else bought and sold, in a greater or less
degree. The price Of iron, too, it may be
said also, Is best estimated by the price Of
Dig iron, which islron in its most element
ary manufactured state; and pig iron has
advanced almost 50 per cent. in two years.
Railroad iron has advanced nearly 100
Per cent. 1t is now quoted in England at
Gll los, and as late as April, 1871,
II was only - los, while within
two years it has been cheaper still
Indeed, asall large dealers in iron and
hardware concur in bearing testimony,
there has been IN average advance IN
every kind of iron Of from IS to 100 per
cent 1t is the belief, however, Of very
good authorities that prices, at least in
Iron, are now at flood tide, and that they
will now flow back again, at least for u
tlme, to lower level. Pig iron is now
about Sjia ton, and there is no doubt
whatever, that no matter how high may
be the rates Of labor just at present, iron
can be manufactured rcmuneratively at
considerably lower rates. Strikes and
high coal are all very well TO talk about,
but their influence, so lar rs 1t is now re-.
heCted in prices, has been greatly exag-
geraled. The consequence nf the
present feeling is that the iron bus.
'ness IS now very dull. People en-.
gagei in trades depending largely upon it
are living, as the saying goes, from hand
TO mouth; they buy just enough to last
mem over from week to week, and from
DAY to day, if possible, but will not ven.
lure upon large stocks Most of them,
100 when the bull movement, which has
now, as il is believed, eliminated, first set
H. hAu pretty heavy stocks, and they are
now realizing upon these by gradually
working them oil. The importers, indeed
are dong sadly little, aEd complain more
man any one else OF the folly of high
prices, and try 10 speak as hopefully as
PosslDie OF probable speedy fall. When
Ills al! may take place, however, it is i'm.
possible TO predict; it may set in at once
rapluIy, and it may be postponed until
ne1I spring. The consequence of the
present state Of things Is simply that the
iron business is very dull"