The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1877-04-23

The New York Tines Of Saturday pub.
ll'hSs an interesting review Of the iron
business in tie ShSnango and Mahoning
valleys-tho 1.-TWO Valleys as they are
called by the iron mon Of Wheeling and
and Pittsburgh. Thee two valleys have
81 furnaces between them, 80 in the She.
mango and % in the Mahoning. OF the
former only 8 arc in bllIt, aud Of tho lat.
ter only II; or, in other words, IS per
cent Of the shensngo furnaces are out Of
bias! aud 90 pOr cent Of the Muhoning.
According to this review, 1t is costing
SIT 10 to make ton Of iron at these fur.
nace', worth when made only about $40
on the ground, This shows an apparent
profit OF 81 % per ton, but 1t rather
nominal than real, as much of this iron
is sold on time and no allowance is made
for repairs, taxes, interest, and wholesale
renovation every three or four years, and
also occasional bad debts.
A number Of the furnaces are run sim.
ply because they cannot afford to stop.
Thsir condition Is thus described:
There are many furnace and mill men
in every iron district Of tho country who
cannot stop their mills or blow out their
furnaces, because such step would force
them into liquidation. BY putting out
new paper as last az they can take up the
old, they manage to grub along, always
hoping that the times must turn, sooner
or later, and trusting then to make good
those losses which they are now only GOV.
sring by credit. II they stop running,
they must prepare to take up their in
debIeduess. This they are utterly unable
to do; naturally, then, they will run till
a turn OF fortune comes 10 their relief, or
they are compelled to stop. 1t Is the
needy position OF this class Of men which
Is such an incubus on the iron market
today. They are compelled to press
sales in order to keep their financial
wheels running. They pay high wages,
becsUEc their men know their weakness,
and that inability to resist a demand
which, II re.uscd, will be followed by a
strike, They have to submit to all sorts
OF shEyes in pTicea OF ores and materials,
and to exlorlionatG charges for interest,
discount, etc. lmportunate sellers, they
hang like u dead weight on the market
price OF iron. They are insolvent; they
know it, and they will not give up the
fight. Now, their creditor5 are equally
well aware Of their insolvency, but they
argue ont the position in this way
Thee men owe us so many thousands OF
dollars Ii We drive them 10 the wall
we shall not get 20 cents on the dollar.
/! we carry them while longer, their
Indebtedness cannot grow very last at
these prices, and things may improve, in
which case NO will, IN all probability,
come out without the loss OF n dollar"
Thus they are allowed to peg along on
sutrancei but they are, nevertheless, n
sad drag on the iron business generally,
and rtaudin the way Of the thoroughly
solvent iron master who would start his
mills and furnaces tomorrow but for
thi. outat elbows competition. This
state Of things is to be found, to Il greater
or lesser extent, in every iron district.
Mr.. Fayette Brown IA gentleman vol
known to Wheeling iron mem is quoted
as saying that he looks upon this as the
bottom year in prices. 10 Clocks Tor an
improved order OF things with the begin.
Mug next year" Mr.. Refs, OF Refs,
Brown & Bergen, says he does not in
tend to run any ofthc mills or furnaces
with which'he ia connected until there is
profit, "Wo nro among those who can
asord TO wait" said he.
The correspondent Of the Times con.
cludes his review a. follows:
On the whole, it slemJ TO me that the
iron interests Of the Shenango and Ma.
honiug Valleypare intrinsically as sound
ss they are in any other section; the
building Of too many furnaces being epi.
demic all over the country. The owners
Of the mills and furnaces generally speak
encouragingly OF the future. They say
that they regard this as being the turn
ing point in the depression which has
weighed their business down for three
years, and that they think the hour Of an
amended state Of things is at last at hand;
that they do not anticipate making more
than fair business return for some years
TO come. They do claim most energeti.
calIy that they can compete with Pitts.
burgh or any other district in the manu-
faclurc Of the beat iron; that they have
shown this before, and that they arc only
hiding their opportunity to show it again.