The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1872-05-31
Tie FutnraofIron.

The Future Of Iron.
| Unless the present scarcity and
/ high prices of iron are the temporary
effect Of causes which may be speed
/ lily removed, they must operate as q
serious check to the prosperity and
| progress of all civilized nations. The
rapidly increasing demand for and
consumption of this metal, in its va
ried manufactured forms, has al
ready been brought to halt, and
enterprises of great public utility,
and even of national Importance, are
now awaiting further developments
upon this subject.
This enhanced cost falls with the
most severe and paralyzing effect
upon railroad building enterprises,
and hence indirectly upon the gen
eral interests OF commerce and pro-
ductions so largely dependent upon
transportation faculties. Unfortu-
nately, this large advance has come
upon us Al time when the railroad
system of our country is being ex-
tended at the rate of some seven or
| eight thousand miles a year, when
new building projects were about to
be entered upon IN nearly every
State and Territary IN the Union,
and when vast railroad schemes were
being natured In South America,
Russia, Egypt, India, China, and 9th
er non-producing countries, which
have just begun to develop their ma
terial resources. and need iron to do
it with IN immense quantities In ev-
| cry possible utilized shape.
At the present ratio OF Increased
/ consumption, in this country, on the
score of railroads alone, we should
want rails enough to lay fifty thous-
and miles of additional track during
the next five or six years, to say moth
ing Of the requirement of iron for
rolling stock, machinery, and indus
tries dependent upon or growing out
of this increase of railroads.
Where is all this iron coming
from? and if the present demand so
much exceeds the supply and forces
up prices to so high range, what
may be expected of the prospective
demand, which promises to be much
larger in proportion than other pros
pective, or even possible increase of
production2 With all che old mar
kets of the world askingfo great
er supply of iron products, and new
ones constantly opening, car, we rea-
sonably hope to meet this demand
upon a basis OF values which will en-
able consumers to take and pay for
what they want? The alternatives
presented in this case are very plain
and positive either production
must be enlarged or consumption
curtailed; since the present relations
of supply and demand cannot be long
continued without rendering iron a
luxury rather than a necessity.
Il is difficult to perceive how the in
creased. supply, requisite to keep
prices within bounds, can come from
Europe, who Just now seems to re-
quire about all she can make for her
own use, and has every year less and
less to spare for the outside markets
of the world. The growing scarcity
and higher prices of coal and ore, the
enhanced rates of miners wages,
and the reduced hours of labor IN
Wales and Scotland, are significant
facts, which all point to limited ex-
port movement and high range of
prices in the future. 1t is very evi-
dent that the cost of production there
is not likely to be reduced" with
mines growing deeper and more diff
fcult to work, and operatives elamOr-
ing tor more pay or deserting for
other fields of labor.