Daily Republican., 1881-06-10
FRIDAY, JUNEIO. 1881.
The Iron Glut.

The Iron Glut.
The recent ripple in iron. circles and
the cause of the blowing out of several
furnaces in Pennsylvania is to be ac-
counted for more by over production OF
the raw material than from any other
cause. The Iron Age, which is good
authority on such matters, has been
giving the subject considerable Thought
and this is the conclusion it arrived az
The production has exceeded the con-
sumption. The raw material is coming
forward faster than it can be worked
I'D. and though the demand for manu-
factured iron is greater than the supply,
the unequal balance cannot be adjusted
because the resources of our present
iron works are insufficient. The Age
says "The manufacturing capacity OF
the country is taxed to its limit and
every piece of machinery used in Shap-
ing or working iron is driven to the
breaking point. We cannot place an
order for locomotive to be built under
a year, for a cupola to be erected within
six months, Or for tools to work iron eN'
cept at the convenience of manutactur-
ers who are now months behind their
orders"
This statement by the Age should al
lay the fears of the people who were eX-
ercised on account of the blowing out
of a few furnaces. The suspensions
have not been caused by panic, but
simply because one department of the
iron industry has got ahead of the 9TH
er and had to stop while the other
caught up.
The situation, however, is full of un-
easiness TO furnace men more than to
others, as it means that they must re-
duce the production of the raw mate
rial. AT the same time it is an invita-
tion for the building of more manutac-
turing establishments. If by an iron
protective tariff foreign competition is
to a great extent shut off, it becomes
the producers of the raw material and
the manufacturers to adjust their bal
ances. If more locomotive works, are
needed they should be built Six months
is too long to wait for the filling OF a
locomotive order or the manufacture of
a lot of machinery. But even it this
was to be done we would still have to
suffer on year or perhaps two years
before they could be made available,
and in the meantime the furnaces and
forges must go on stacking iron or to
sell itEt unremunerative prices. This
unpleasant lookout for the producers Of
the raw material has induced the blow
Ing out of several furnaces, and it is
said that more are to follow. 1t is a
cheering aspect of the situation how
ever that this does not indicate any de-
cline in the prosperity of the country.
If anything it rather indicates the op-
posite. 1t shows that we need more
machine shops, more shops of all kinds
where iron is used in the manufacture
of materials. There is plenty Of bust
ness for everybody, but we have been
going ahead faster in one direction than
in others, and there must be an adjust
ment of different and corelative depart
ments of the iron trade
Free trade principles had nothing to
do with the late depression in the pro
duction of the raw material only 50 far
as the free trade principles 50 boldly
announced by the Democracy at the re-
cent Presidential election had a de-
pressing effect. Nobody cared to invest
a fortune in fitting up iron works which
a Democratic government might close
up by free-trade tariff before they
were fairly in operation, and those built
since the late election have not yet been
in operation long enough to make an
impression and relieve the demand for
machinery. The people who would
have built shops and factories waited to
see which party would come into pow
CT, and in the meantime the furnaces
already built turned out more iron than
the present manufactures could work
up. The iron outlook is not SO bad but
it might be much worse, and if the
Democratic party and tree traders are
kept under all will come right by and
by.
IT IS GENERALLY understood that
Eanarol Grant il hasten iup IN to A /