The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1873-10-28
The outlook for Iron.

From the correspondence Of the aToh
Ags wemake the following extracts:
"Alessrs. Blakiston & Cox, Iron Mer-
chants, 1888 Walnut street, Philadelphia
under date Of Oct. 81, 1873, report as tol-
lows. There are no new features Of i'm
portance to note in this and near markets
Dullness prevails, and everything SCENT
flat and devoid OF interest. In Pig Iron
few sales are making, and prices are con-
fused. The larger and older furnace
companies are disposed to refuse the low
offers that are made them, while the new
companies, and some Of those whose Iron
is comparatively little known, seem eager
| 10 sell at ruinously low prices. We know
| of one Of these latter companies Offering
No. / Foundry at $35, delivered. That
they can Ill afford to sell OF this figure IS
shown by the following table, which we
received from one oi the Oldest furoace
companies, owning coal, ore and limestone
beds favorably located. Cost OF making
one tonlPig Iron:
Coal ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. ................Ss ~ 9,
Orc. .''''''''''''''''''''''''' a
Limeetone. '''''''''' ''''''''''''' ~
1M:s , cipcn,es inHdfie;, &C at works. 20
Coat a. works. ..................,..ss .ssl 90
Freight to and charges at shipping point a IN
(Hobokenl "......'....''''''''''.'" w ~
Selling expenses, taxes, 6c...........''" 70
Sss os
TotN..................... 70
Ali the furnaces have reduced wages,
some 10, 90 and even 80 per cent. All
tho large corporations will reduce to the
latter basis on November /. We know OF
seven stacks in the Lehigh Valley now
blowing out, In addition TO those already
out, several In number. The stock now
on hand Is large, but the production Is
being materially reduced.
From the Pittsburgh advices OF the
same paper, dated 18th October, we make
the following extract:
at Is possible, Of course, that there may
be chance for the better within the next
week or so, but 1t Is scarcely probable.
Some ot our most observant and most in.
telligent operators seem to be impressed
with the belief now that trade Is destined
to rule slow until about the 1st OF jan
uary, and they base this on the supposi.
ton that 1t will require that period OF time
for the country to recover fully from the
effects oi the panic. This has been hard
year on producers thus far, and 1t looks as
il 1t would 20 out considerable worse than
It came in; since the first of January there
has been q shrinkage OF from $40 TO $s0
per ton. 1t was claimed that nearly all
the Pig sold In This market prior to the
panic was at 9 loss Of from 81
10 So per ton to the market; now
It can't be sold at all, and the result will
by that the furnaces In the Mahoning and
Shenango valleys, our main source Of sup
ply, will have TO shut down; some OF them
have suspended already. Another bad
feature Tor producers Is, that notwith-
standing the heavy depreciation In the
product, there has been no reduction in
The cost of making 1t; fuel, orc and labor,
the three principal items, cost just as
much now, II mistake not, as they did
prior TO the decline In the product, and
they (the producers), as already intimated,
will be Obliged to suspend operations,
however unpleasant it may be. There is
SO little doing that 1t Is difficult to give
quotations. Choice Mill Irons are quota.
bio at $S9 to $3S, 4 months. A cash
buyer could do much better than quoted,
rates, but they are very rare indeed, and
there are but very few buyers on time, as
consumers generally seem 10 have re-
solved not 10 carry any more STOCK ior
the present than they can possibly help.