The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1874-02-07

:. :. : no
The Iron Trade, Present aud Future,
From the Cleveland Leader OF Wednesday !
The mere fact that on the Goth instan
a!general meeting Of Western iron manu-
faclurers was held at Pittsburgh, has beer
briefly announced. Concerning what was
said and determined on at that meeting
the telegraph has been 80 vague and in
definite that the purposes OF the confer
ence are as yet but very imperiectly
understood. The substance OF the press
report ol the meeting was that the manu-
facturers agreed that the business Of the
past year had been done on tue whole at a
loss. Owing to the high price Of ore and
labor, the constantly declining market and
the outbreak Of the panic just ut the time
that the heavy autumn trade usually be.
gins, had combined 10 make tue year one
OF uniform loss TO the iron business. A
few manufacturers with especial sdvan.
tages in respect TO ore supply, special
markets, &c, had perhaps squeezed
through with small profit, but the vast
majority were poorer at the end Of the
year than at its beginning, and several
had failed. n ~ b III.
Under these circumstances it was unsn-
imously decided that rates should now
be advanced sufficiently 10 prevent future
losses. The mill owners who have kept
their. furnaces alight for q year past
merely to keep their workmen employed
and their machinery from going TO wreck
through disuse, now feel that the market
has reached condition which should se-
cure them at least d visible margin ol
profit. It should be understood, more.
over, that all through the recent depres.
sion the iron makers have been paying
for labor higher rate than the
selling market Justified According to
the labor system now prevalent hi the
iron mills. the pay Tor pudding, rolling,
etc, is carefully adapted to the selling
price Of the product. Thus If mer chant
iron sells Tor &c. per ID. the different
kinds otlsbor involved in its mauufac.
ture are paid accordingly. II the market
advances or declines the labor scale ad-
yances or declines in proportion thereto.
Now the fact is that whereas the iron
market has been for months .as, low as
24c., the labor paid Is the one based
on market OF 33.l0c. The manufac-
turers are therefore entitled to au advance
oil fully half a cent in their selling rate
without any advancein in labor. This dis.
parity between the wages paid and the
prices received has been one OF the
heavy burdens Of the past year, and the
iron masters naturally think that 1t is
time that the normal relations between
receipts and expenditures be restored.
Does the present condition Of the iron
market justify this stand in favor Of
higher rates2 Let us see.
During the pastsix months the demaad
for iron in large quantities by Western
railroads and dealers has been almost
totally suspended. Consumption has gone
on steadily, although at a diminished rate,
and the large stocks OF iron in the hands
Of wholesale dealers and commission men,
as well as the working stocks OF railroads,
ioundries, ETC., have been exhausted. all
these must soon come into the leld again
as buyers. Meanwhile the iron mills of
the West, running on under bare poles, 30
to speak have turned their entire
product into the Eastern markets.
They have in this way taken control of
the Eastern trade, and driven English
iron entirely out OF New York and New
England. Labor in England costs nearly
as much now as 1t does in the United
States. Coal is becoming scarce and cost
ly there, and the British makes can no
longer compete with those Of the United
States for the American trade. Iron has
been sent from Pittsburgh to New York
during the past two months and sold at
$50 per ton less than It could be
imported. New York supplies the
myriad manufactures oil New England
with their raw material, and that heavy
and constant demand has come to be filed
at last mainly from mills west Of the
Alleghenies. The situation is therefore
plain. With the earliest impulse Of spring
the first of March is but
three weeks distsnt-there must come
sharp demand for iron from the West
where the surplus Is already exhausted.
The eastern demand will continue as long
as western iron Is cheaper than the i'm.
ported, and8we may be sure that the
Western mill owners, once In possession
Of the Eastern market as they now are,
will not suffer 1t to be taken away. Under
this double drain, East and West, there
Is positive assurance Of such recovery
In rates as certainly justifies the manuiac'
turers now in refusing to accept large or
dersfor their future products, except as
subject to the prevailing market at the
time OF delivery, The market cannot be
lower, and there Is every reason to believe
that 1t will be higher. The decision Of
the Pittsburgh convention was based upon
The facts abovestated. The past has been
. long, dark year for the iron makers.
They have sailed close TO the wind and
Kept their prows to the front. The signs
al Indicate that they are nearing smooth
sr waters and sunnler skies. ' n .A
Extreme Cruelty. ~