The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1879-08-20
WEDNESDAY MORNING, AUGUST 20.

trade never precedes, but follows revival OF
general business Iron is needed to carry out
the revival. When an era of prosperity begins.
when trade revives, and great enterprises are
planned, iron is needed to carry on the work.
Hence the revival of the iron trade is proof
positive of genuine revival OF business gen
orally The evidence is this: Every iron
works that kept at work during the period of
depression is now overrun with orders, is work
ing at its full capacity and unable to fill its Or
ders Others that had to stop operations are
now going to work again. The raw material
for making iron ores, pig and scrap iron has
advanced from 10 to % per cent. Coal alone
has not advanced. The reason is unusual. 1t
is because the producers have capacity for
putting coal on the market far in advance of
the demand, and not warranted by the condi-
ton of things. Hence coal can't go up.
"Gray forge pig iron, the standard pig iron,
has advanced from $14 to S17 a ton, and there
is a demand for all that can be made. But the
price will not go up much higher, for the rea-
son that, if the price goes up, then foreign iron
will be placed in the market. We are now
importing iron in the form of steel and iron
OANt
has stripped the country of the immense stock
of old rails that had accumulated in the era of
depression. Old rails are used, you know, for
working over, and are made into new iron.
Most of the material used on the elevated
roads is made from old rails.
''The only question is whether the prosperity
will continue. 1t is bound to continue I
think, but we shall have no era of high prices;
simply healthy remunerative business, with
moderate prices. that will enable consumers to
go on with their enterprises This is true
prosperity. High prices check progress We
have got to that stage when everything will go
on without an era of high prices. l said that
many iron works were again, beginning opera
tions. This relates primarily to blast furnaces
But the furnaces that are again going into
blast are those that can make iron cheaply
Those that from their situation or other causes
cannot make iron for less than SIS ton cannot
go into blast. This country can now produce
about 1000 tons Of pig iron; 100000 of this
can he made under S15 a ton; the other 2,000,-
600 cannot be made for less than 800 Now pig
iron can't go above $50; when it does the inn
porter steps in. Why, / can import first grade
gray forge iron for $40, paying duty of 81.
So you see gray forge iron can't go above $40.
"Now word about the duties on iron On
pig and scrap iron, steel rails, and many kinds
of manufactured iron they are excessive 81 is
too much to pay on pig iron. But they have
conferred one great benefit. 1t is, that in this
era of depression they have prevented this
iron of other countries could be flung Had
the duties been low enough, the importations
/. of iron would have destroyed our business and
closed those establishments that have just been
able to keep above water, and are now ready
to reap the advantages of this renewed pros
perity Duties, in my opinion, ought only to
take effect in periods of extreme depression.
Then they protect onr home industries. But
there should be n sliding scale, and with the
return of prosperity, the duties ought to de-
crease, and when iron is worth $40, then they
should be taken off entirely. Thus the con-
sumner will be protected, and will be able to
buy his iron at reasonable price.
"But, as 1 said there is no doubt that we are
beginning an era of healthful prosperity
Nothing can check it. We are the granary for
the world. Our crop this year is enormous.
5000 miles of railroad. This year it will be
1000. Many iron manufacturers that were
able took advantage of the period of depression
and rebuilt their furnaces. Under the most
improved plans IRON can be made as low as 1913
ton. The profit of "a on ton is not great
but it is remunerative, and so the outlook is
encouraging"
Reports from all parts of north New Jersey
indicate most pronounced revival in the iron
trade. Mines, furnaces and FORCES which have
been idle since the panic of 1878, are re-opened
and work pushed, the forces being kept on in
many of them night and day New mines are
opening and new furnaces built, notably at
Chester and Fort Dram. Boonton is the only
town in this region largely interested in iron
which seems permanently crippled. Its fur
naces, FORCES and rolling mills, in which mil
years, and are likely to remain so but at all
other places, from Philipsburg eastward to
Dover, there is a demand for ores such as has
not existed since 1873