Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1879-04-15
PITTSBURGH PRODUCTS.
why Manufacturers can Find
no Market for Them-Their
Claims About High Rates and

no Market for Them-Their
Claims About High Rates and
the Results.
From the Pittsb9ryh Sunday Leader
Yesterday afternoon Leader reporter,
wilhelm conversation with well known
iron manufacturer. CHANGED to touch
upon the continued depression IN the
iron trade and the causes OF the COM
paratiyely dull market that so welgnts
Pittsburgh.
at is very ugle fact" was the re,
ply, "and one that We might just Us wen
stare full in the face. The cause Is the
high rate OF wages our manufacturers
are compelled to pay. 1t IS not only
the case with iron manufacturers, out
with the glass trade, the coal men ana
the coke operators, Pittsburgh manu-
facturers are paying fIom 333 to Oh per
cent more wages for the same class Of
labor than manufacturers OF other cities,
especially in the east"
Can you show an instance OF where
this is the case?
Zone instance? Plenty of them. Take
pudding according to card rates. We
must not pay lower than s. per ton. In
New England no mill pays more than
$500. In Philadelphia, as the result oil
last falls strike but $3.50 is paid for boil
ing. Now these are the extreme De-
tween the two prices. Not less than
3 80 or over $3.50. Mills in the various
sections OF the East pay different prices,
S2.75, $500, 1925, $40, and $3.50.
Pittsburgh paws $500, and this more
than carries out the assertion that we
are paying 335 per cent. more than they
are. One-third OF $3.50 would be d; ~.
Add that amount to $500 makes
$3.50, and this is 20 cents less than
the price paid here. $3.50 is the
price paid for pudding; some mills get
il for that. You must add 100 per cent
10 that to get the Pittsburgh price. In
the West there are mills making all
sorts OF lodges to bid to undersell us.
There is the industrial copartnershlp
system, another plan, where they make
2,740 pounds TO the ton. And worst oil
all there is the store pay or truck sys-
tenn. The company stores are formed;
the men must trade in them; it is not
at all unlikely, in many instances it is
sure, they pay twenty per cent more
| than the market price for what they buy;
and now, under the circumstances, !
ask you, how is it possible for Pitts
burgh to pay five dollars for pudding
and 90 into the market and compete sue
cessfully with firms that do business in
that way? We can't do it"
THE NAIL TRADE.
"The nail trade of this city," said the
/ asShnWE
at a glance what we are suffering. Pitts
burgh, last year, with 40 machines,
| didn make more than two-titths OF her
capacity. Why? We could not com
pete with the eastern market.
We ought to make $1,000 to ~
| 600 kegs of nails week. Instead OF
that, the average has hardly been more
| than 5000 kegs, and the strangest part
| of this is we are not supplying our home
market TO any extent. You will hardly
| believe il when | assert that large por-
! ton of nails sold in Pittsburgh by her
! iobbing trade comes from the Shenango
! rolling mills. The reason OF this Is
! the ShenangO mills are making more
nails than any other one concern IN the
| two valleys, and they have been favored
hy their workmen in the most abOmina-
| BILE way OF truck stores. They get no
money, but must take orders on the
store for what they want to eat and
wear, and then take notes for what they
! don't trade out. Some Of our Pitts
burgh nail manufactures have not
turned wheel for eight months, and
vet they put the Shenango mills nails in
! their warehouses every day, and must
| do it, as they cannot manufacture in any
way To compete. The retail grocer can
! sell a single keg of the ShenangO nails
at less price than the Pittsburgh man
uiaCturers can cut them"
GLASS.
You said all branches of manufactures
were affected, how about glass?
an tell you about glass. 1t Is al
most an assured fact that the New Jer-
sew glass houses are sending their pro-
ducts right through Pittsburgh to the
| largest cities of the West, and under
selling this city, the very headquarters
| of the glass trade. This all comes from
lower wages and the same old complaint,
company stores and store orders for
labor. while we pay cash.
| THE COAL TRADE.
"You want to know about the coal
/ trade. "Well, the price OF digging at
certain points in the West, where the
coal comes in competition with Pitts
burgh is u cent and half to two cents Il
bushel, while the coal is no easier
mined, il as easy rs ours, nor are the
seams any thicker. There again does
Pittsburgh pay at least fifty per cent.
higher for labor than her competitors. y
Have you presented these points to
your iron workers?
"Time and again. They answer, We
must have our price. The iron, the
nails, the glass must be made some
where, and where it is made we will go.
We will follow where the trade goes.
This may be true Of some wOrkmen, but
can capital follow? Can our city debt
be paid if the market for our products is
to 20 elsewhere? Can our heavy taxes
be borne and thirty-three and One-third
per cent. higher wages be paid while We
see our market 20 elsewhere"
The reporter gave up" each and
every one OF the several questions, while
the manufacturer insisted that not only
the iron workers but every citizen OF
Pittsburgh should be- alive to these
facts and avert what certainly was an
impending danger.