The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1883-03-19

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rapidly than We can open our coal and iron
to supply them. Why, we have one switch
belonging TO the Roane Iron Company ,ovel
which passed 81, 900 car loads Of material FOL
manufacture last year. lido not mean
that it all went to the Roane Company'f
furnaces. You see, We have in Chattanoo'
ga, on the line Of this switch, the biggest
tannery in this country, il not in the
world. Then the car shops are near the
Roane Iron Company's works, and also IN
extensive friedrich works These four
enterprises used up the $4,000 car loads oi
material.
"where are most Of the population
from?"
"Fully one.halt OF the white population
are from the North and West, but there
are no distinctions here. A man has bis
place in business, society and politics ior
what he represents in character and abil-
ity, no matter where he is FROM"
COMPETITORS IN LITTLE DANGER.
General Wilder, no doubt, says the best
words he can for his city and his section.
Thereis no doubt that they can and dc
manufacture good iron cheap, but the fact
that the cost OF producing 1t has increased
five or six dollars ton within the past few
years clearly demonstrates that the South
is not destined to reyolutionize iron man
ufacture or destroy the valuable plants Of
the iron masters Of Pennsylvania and the
North. Transportation and a market will
always be against the Southern manuiac-
turer. He has got to make iron much
cheaper than the Northern master or not
make It all. Every year the cost Of pro.
ducing iron increases.
have found any number Of iron men
who say that they made iron a few years
ago for 50 so or $40 ton. But they would
invariably explain that this was when labor
was seventy.five cents day, the ore was
picked up on the ground without mining
Tor it, the limestone was at the furnace
door, and then the interest on the money
invested and the wear and tear OF the plant
was not calculated. Labor is appreciating
every day, and the ore, coal and limestone
is getting deeper in the earth, further away
from the furnace, and, consequently, in
creases the cost ot product Taking the
statements OF several manufacturers into
consideration, l should say that iron is
made here, calculating the cost Of It as they
do in Pennsylvania, at from fourteen tc
sixteen dollars ton. BY the time 1t il
carried to market and sold, 1t has not
therefore, o very decided advantage ovel
that smelted in almost any Northern 10
cality. l do not suppose there would be
more than dollar ton difference.
TIE IRON MEN COMMENTED. ,
OF course that is, in a close market,
something Of margin, but it is serious
question whether, when the Northern fur.
naces are running at loss, no matter how
slight, the Southern manufacturer could
do little, II any, more than run his furnace
upon an even keel. The Southern iron in.
terests have been largely magnifed, so fal
us the cost OF production Is concerned.
There is no danger Of their paralyzing sim.
liar industries at the North. They are as
much interested in keeping iron at fair
price as the Northern manufacturers, and
have yet 10 find single-man or firm
who would care to try the experiment oil
selling iron at the lowest possible cost. In
other words, to test the question as to
whether he could sell his iron at profit
when the average manufacturer In the
North would be losing money.
do not mean TO intimate that the iron
interests here are not very great, and tha,
its possibilities are not magnificent The
people have a right to be enthusiastic over
them. Nature has combined in remark.
able degree all the conditions necessary to
the easy production OF iron. | doubt
whether any other section has been SO
layishly favored, but it will take a long
time to develop the industry. ] find that
the iron men here are contented with the
present outlook, and happy over the pros
poets Of great future. But have yet to
find one who believes his furnace, or all
the furnaces now built or likely to be
built, are going to crush the great iron in
terests OF Pennsylvania and the North, OIL
even monopolize the trade.