The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1884-05-28
IRON AND STEEL.
Tho Foreign Trade KovicwCd-OveH.pro
h.S VI. duCtiOn and Depi essiOn, n n n

PHILADELPHIA, Pa, May 27.-ln his re
view Of the foreign iron and steel trade To-
1888 and part Of 1884, Secretary Swami
shows from statistics and quotations from
foreign trade journals that the tendency ts
restricted production and lower prices o.
iron and steel which Was SO marked in thlt
country all last year and still continues, Il
reflected in the same indus,ricu In Europe,
though not always in the came degree, no,
from entirely the same causes, Mr.. Swank
saye:
"ln this country we have had natural
reaction from extraordinary activity, a
great ahrinkage in the building OF rail-.
roads, and u capacity for the production Of
iron anu steel that has been in excess Of
the country's wants and that has brought
low mud still lower prices. In Europe
there has been the Same natural reaction
and the aamo excess Of capacity over do.
mand, but there has been no notable dc.
cline. In railroad building. In Great
Britain, which produces as much
iron and steel as all the rest
|ot Europe, there has been a cessation
tpf the abnormal demand from tho United
States for iron and steel which began In
1879 and only recently came TO an end.
there has also been in tho same country an
over.production Of iron ships. Since the
beginning Of the present year the dullness
In the European iron trade, cspec tally in
that OF Great Britain, has become more
and more pronounced, and today the
taunt Of over.production because OF our
protective tariff TIM. has 30 frequently come
to us from beyond the Atlantic Is heard
only from doclrinatres in our own country,
There is over.production Of iron and steel
and OF other. manufactured products in Eu.
rope, and 1t Is frankly admitted by, Euro.
penn journals and set forth in the reports
Of American consuls.. ~ l,.,.,, y
BRITISH IRON TRADE -; :, - '.-t..'
r"Conccrning the British iron trade in
1888 the. London lronJ Journalaaya:'T The year
which has Just closed upon US cannot be
considered as having proved satisfactory
one to the iron and steel trades Of this
country Its opening was marxed by a
feeling peryading all branches much less
sanguine than had been experienced dur.
ing preceding years, and ut its close has
been characterized by depression only
less pronounced than that which prevailed
prior to the revival that sat in about the |
middle Of 1876. The decline in priceo was
steady, and may be said to have been un.
interrupted, any little momentary rise |
which may have occurred having been
only as a ripple upon the receding tide
! ut is apparent that there is depression
in the iron and steel industries OF Europe
as great, at least, as that which our own
country has experienced in the same |
period. Production, it is true, has not
seriously declined in Great Britain and on |
the continent, but prices have seriously de.
clined, as the result wholly OF increased
capacity and overproduction. The outlook
for the maintenance Of all European coup-
triea OF the rate OF production that prevailed
in 1883 is unfavorable. As misery is said |
to love company, our iron and steel manu-.
facturers can comfort themselves with the
reflection that their situation to-day ia no |
worss than that OF their European compe.
titors. The whole truth, however, is that |
the whole world is Just now making more
iron and steel tllan it can use."