Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1879-10-17
Enplandls Distress.

The occurrence so early in the au-
tumn of intense distress on no small
scale in and on the borders of Cleve-
land is one of the fullest proofs that
could be given of the deep depression
in the manufacturing trade of the north.
For years the Cleveland and Durham
iron manufacturing districts have been
prosperous and that prosperity and the
high wages it allowed the payment of,
drew very large supplies of labor from
the agricultural districts near and from
places much more remote. The in
crease in the demand for and in the
production of iron swelled the inquiries
for fuel and for limestone to be used as
q fux in the blast furnaces; and with
these the shipbuilding industries were
largely stimulated; while the outcry for
greater facilities of traffic also created a
large demand for labor. One by one the
chief trades of the district have been
adversely affected since the year 1873.
The dullness has most affected the iron
rail trade; but in turn it has extended
to the pig-iron industry, to iron ship
building, to coal-mining, and naturally
to the smaller but important subsidiary
llldNlobl uDOh IlCOOs
For a time the declension in the
demand for malleable purposes was
met by increased shipments; but ulti-
mately it was needful to restrict the
production of pig-iron, because stocks
in the hands of makers and in warrant
stores had risen to 337, 900 tons, where
as IN 1873 the stocks so held were less
than fourth of that amount. For a
time, also, as prices of manufactured
iron fell, there was an increased use of
plates and angles in the shipyards; but
the prevalence of low freights for so
long period has at last affected this
demand also, and the tonnage of iron
shipbuilding now in course of construc-
ton at the northern ports is lower than
for several years. As trade has fallen
the traffic of the district has naturally
dwindled also, the receipts of the North
eastern railway having for several sue
cessive half-years exhibited the highest
decrease among the British railways.
With the exception of the steel manu-
facture, all other industries have felt
the dullness in the great mineral trades
of the North, and in nearly every in
stance diminished labor requirements
have been the result. At the present
time, so far as careful inquiry can elicit
the facts, there are eighty-six blast
furnaces idle out of the 165 in the
northeastern district; out of 2,140 pud-
ding furnaces attached to the rolling
mills and forges in the district, 1,090
are now entirely idle, while a portion
of the remainder are working irregu-
larly. The tonnage of vessels built at
the northeastern ports does not appear
to be likely TO prove more than half of
what it was in the briskest year; the
production of ironstone has fallen off
more than 100, 900 tons month. and in
the allied industry of coal-mining the
most recent returns show that for last
year the production of minerals was re-
duced by rather over 1,000,0 900 tons. 1t
is evident that these great industrial
changes must have largely lessened the
number of workmen employed, and it
has been computed with some reasona-
BILE ground that during the last three
years the number of persons employed
in the mines in metal smelling and
manufacturing, and in the carriage of
the products, has been reduced by 29,-
900 persons. The rates of wages natur-
ally fell. The earnings of the iron
miner fell from Is. per day in 1873 on
the average to under As. at the present,
and the average employment per man
per week also fell, and is at some of the
chief mines from four TO five days per
week. The wages of the coal-miner
have fallen sixty.eight per cent. in Dur
ham in the last five years, and in the
manufactured-iron trade the puddler
who had lbs. Sd. per ton now has only
Is. per ton, while other branches of la
Dor have knewn corresponding reduc.
tions. These have left the workmen
naturally less able to withstand the
shorter time and the occasional want
of work. And, when the great strain
has at last come, it is not TO be won,
dered at that the pauper roll has beer
greatly swollen by those who could find
no work, and whose savings and pos
sessions have only kept the wolf from
the door up to the present time.
The greatest distress is naturall,
found in these districts where works
have been recently closed-at Middles
borough, the great ironmaking centre
where the closing of the Britannia
works, the rolling mills of Jones Broth
ers q Co., have thrown large number
out of work, since the relief fund of las
winter was closed with its funds ex
hausted; at Stockton, where the stop
page of the Moore and West Stockton
| rolling mills this gummar hos Ann,