The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1876-01-22
THE IRON TRADE.

Commenting on the recent failure OF
the Tredegsr Iron Works, the Pittsburgh
Dispatch publishes very careful resume,
derived from reliable sources within its
reach, of the present condition and future
prospects of the iron trade, from which
We gather the following information:
1t is the opinion of several gentle
men interested largely in this trade, that
there is not a firm in that entire region
that is paying expenses, and one went
even SO far as to say that during the last
ninety days 'the bottom had fallen right
out, and, by its own gravity, the iron
trade had fallen of to nothing"
The Iron and Steel Bulletin is also
quoted to show the same condition OF
affairs. That journal has been in COM
munication with a large number of
owners, and received the statistics from
all sources in every important non dis
trict in the country. and the conclusion
arrived at is that the production of last
year was 620,727 tons less than 1874.
At the close Of the past two years there
was not more thaH one-half of all the
furnaces OF the country in blast, "but
during the whole of 1874 the number of
furnaces in blast was much greater than
during the whole year of 1875. At
the commencement of the former wear
there were tour hundred and thirteen
furnaces in operation, while at the com
mencement of the latter year, there were
not more that three hundred and sixty
five. and one month the number was re-
duced to sixty-two. A number OF new
furnaces were started in the summer and
autumn of 1875, but the average of the
year shows that there was about one
hundred less in operation than in the
previous year. The quantity of iron pro-
duced was, of course, proportionately
less.n
The effect had not large nnmber of
furnaces "blown out" would have been
very disastrous, for the reason that prices
declined heavily during the past year
besides there being large supply of
iron on hand at the furnaces and in the
the hands Of agents. If, says the paper
from which we quote, 1.-The furnaces had
continued TO produce rs large quantities
rs they did IN previous years, prices
would necessarily have gone much lower
while heavier stocks would have been
carried into the present year There Is
never any activity ir falling market
because dealers and consumers buy only
such quantities as supply present and
pressing demands from hand to
mouth Ifthe furnaces had continued
to produce as largely in 1875 as they did
in previous years, the consequences would
have been disastrous in the extreme, and
proprietors would have been reduced, in
the great majority of cases, to a state of
bankruptcy.
Taking into consideration that not
more than the one-half of the furnaces
were in blast during the past year; that
iron has sold lower than the cost of pro
duction, that the consumption was much
less than it had been for the three years
previous; that almost million of tons of
pig iron were carried over into 1876, and
that many failures occurred among the
furnace owners in 1875, the year which
has just Closed, may well be olassed
among the most disastrous years that the
pig iron trade of this country has ever
known.
Notwithstanding this depressing show
ing, however, the Dispatch has high
hopes of the future. 1t thinks the
country has bright prospect ahead, and
when the day OF prosperity does return,
it will surely attend The iron business.
1t reasons that the large network of rail.
roads traversing this country in every
section will require to be kept in repair;
old rails will have to be replaced with
new; even steel rails will have to be re-
aid sooner or later, and while the dull