Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1883-05-18
TIE FUTURE oFwHEELING'sI Iron
INDUSTRIES

AnDAS hAE~o
There is a good deal of quiet discuss
ion nowadays about the present aud
prospective status of the iron Industries
of our city, and indeed, of the future OF
iron making in all northern localities
that have heretofore been regarded as
the eenterS of the iron trade.
1t is argued that the iron trade OF
Wheeling is not what it once was; that
our manufactures no longer control the
nail market Of the country; thai the
s.Nail City" no longer furnishes the
principal part of the nail product Of
the country; that fierce competition
from every section is eurtailing both
the sales and profits of our mills, and
that fat dividends will not hereafter be
so frequent as in the past.
These speculStions are based chiefly
upon the assumption that the South
ern States are about to monopOlize the
iron trade. The failures. suspensions
and disputes between masters and work
men in Pennsylvania, West Virginia
and Ohio are accepted as sign that
iron making is about to leave these
States and seek cheaper and better
fields.
There can be no dispute about the
fact that some of tho Southern States
are becoming formidable competitors
in he iron trade. II they can make
pig iron for Sll per ton in Tennessee,
Alabama and Missouri, as alleged,
there is no reason why these States
should not become interesting fields for
the prosecution Of this Important bust
ness, and there will be no surprise to
see Eastern capital moving South and
West to embark in the business.
A view of this matter from South
ern standpoint is very well set forth in
the following comments of the BaIti-
more Sun:
"Now that the Southern manufac-
turer finds himself able to hold his
own in the home market against the
competition OF the New Englander as
well as the foreigner, he loses interest
in the doctrine of protection. Having
cheap material and cheap labor, he
could produce his wares at u profit were
the whole tariff swept away. As long
as the market for coarse cOttons and
pig Uon is not glutted he makes q big
profit; and when the over production
of the Northern manufacturers causes
| prices To drOop and the mills of that
| section TO close, he will still sell at
| handsome profit. This state Of things
NAV continue until the Southern mills
| become so numerous rs to OverStock
| the United States with their products;
| that is to say, until the Eastern
! manufacturer of wares similar to
those produced in the South is driven
/ to the wall. Then from the South as
| well a. the North the cry for larger
market is likely to prevail, and, freed
| from the demOraliZing influences of a
high tariff, our producers will compete
side by side in all the martS OF the
world Till then the Southern manu-
facturer can afford to be amused at the
workings of a tariff which shuts his
! competitors in a narrow field to al un-
| equal contest. 1t was anticipated in
/ some quarters that, with the develop
! ment of her industries, there would
I grow up in the South sentiment fav-
Orable to the doctrine of protection. In
J the early days of Mr.. ARTHUR'S adj
ministration this was very confidently
| counted on as promising career for
| politicians of certain order. But it
! has not happened to the extent antic-
| ipated
The gist of this whole matter is found
! in the fact that the largely increased
| growth of iron manufactures in the
past few years, not in the South alone,
but North, East and West, is cOmpell-
ing a readjustment and new deal
among iron manufacturers. They have
this matter of competition and over
production to meet and to deal with.
The country has not grown fast enough
for the iron industries. There are
more of them than can live.
The smaller ones, and those producing
at the least net profit must 60 to the
wall, and until this adjustme.,t is made
and the product is reduced to proper
! ton with the demand there will be
more or less arrangement in the trade.
1t will he many years in the future,
! if ever the time comes, when our
Wheeling manufactures will not be
allie to compete with the product of
other sections. But the time may not
be far distant when our manufacturing
facilities will have to be improved;
when we will have to draw on the re-
sources of our own State and section,
and when railroads will have to be
built to give our mills more direct and
economical access to their sources of
supply as well as to the marts Of trade.