Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1883-03-14
formulating I'm the South.

fore the Southern people than this: Can
iron be made in the South cheaper than in
Ohio or Pennsylvania? Can it be made
enough cheaper to overcome the difference
in TRANSPORTATION to the large markets of
the country? IL these questions can be
authorltatively answered In the affirmative
the prosperity of Tennessee, Georgia and
Alabama is assured, and the death knell OF
the iron industries of Ohio and Pennsyl.
yania will soon be struck. The question,
however, relates more to the difference
between the cost OF iron in West
Virginia and in the South; for iron can be
made in West Virginia at 81 ton, and il
the far South is to become the center OF the
iron trade it must make cheaper iron than
can be made in West Virginia, where iron
is now made cheaper than in Ohio or Penn
sylvania.
We need not cite the fact that
West Virginia Furnace Men
are erecting furnaces at or near Birminy-
ham. All such facts need not be turned 10
account. At the correspondent Of the Lou
isvlle Courier Journal, sent 10 Investigate
the question, very properly says, there is
no mystery about making iron. The ele.
ments that enter into its production are
well known. He then proceeds to state the
frozen facts.
What are they? The Alice furnace sold
its iron last year at siI25 net, and i'm
mediately began to erect another furnace.
President Hillman of the Alice company
stated in recent communication that it
cost his company, including all his ex-
penses, $l2.42 ton to make iron last year.
And yet this company used the old ovens,
instead of Whitewell stoves which effect q
saving in coke Of nearly one-fourth. The
correspondent OF the Courier-Journal
furnishes the following figures relative TO
the cost of a ton Of iron, gathered from the
best Birmingham authorities.
One and on e-third tons of coke, sS.I5,..... 1 90
One ton limestone. "
Labor, etc.,. o w
Total 50
These figures would jRst about meet the
figures from the Alice furnace if it had in
use Whitewel. stoves.
"The Real Contest"
SAYS the correspondent of our Louisville
contemp porary, as far as the control OF the
American market is concerned. is between
Alabama and Pennsylvan ia, the south and
the east, and not between American iron
and English iron. The price OF iroI to-day
is below the tariff price, 81. / mean
redu ction of the tariff on pig iron from
s. to IS would not have any except g
moral effect on the American mar
kets. AS have shown the product OF
the furnaces in this district will be-
fore the year is out be trebled. For this
extra production a market must be made,
either by an increased demandor by price
which will close some of the high priced
furnaces in the east In view OF this ap-
preaching conflict IL is we'll to know how
the cost OF iron in the South can be still
further reduced. The only two items to be
considered are the ore and the coke. In the
estimate above made / have allowed sixty
cents freight on two tons OF ore, which,
when farmers are located near the mines,
is eliminated. ...'.....
Ii May BE Possible,
when the Gilchriest process of making steel,
or the Bull process either, Is introduced, to
use only red ore, thus red scing the cost
from 81 80 to $l.40, but this is too long q
dip into the future. At the mines, and by
that mean two or three miles from the
mines, ore ton Of red ore and one ton oI
brown will cost sl70.
Coal is now sold in Birmingham at Sl.3i
long ton, which includes freight and profit
for the coal com pany. ltis estimated safel
that coal can be mined for 81 ton by th,
owner Of the mine. 1t takes II tons t:
make one ton OF coke, and the cost Of man
ufacture will be so cents. II il costs mort
than that nov il can be reduced. Tha
makes the cost at the mines $220, One ani
ene-third tons makes the coke 1892. II, a
IL claimed, 2,400 pounds will do in time
this estimate will be reduced to s2.34, bu
il is doubtful il this coke will make tor
OF iron with 2, 400 pounds, and will aliov
therefore one and onethird tons. The es
innate of future cost is as follows:
Two tons Of iron
One and one-third tons coke, g O..-...-...-.
One ton limestone
Labor. etc-.-...---.
Total