Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1885-05-06
TUE STEEL CRAZE
Which Has Taken Possession of all
the Land.
Iron to be Permanently RELOCATED to
Z a Back Seat---lron Nails
Drug in the Market.

uf.scturers ana mill owners generally have
in the permanency of the recently inaugu-
rated and all but universal rage for steel,
we print the following interview from yes
terdays Pirsburg ConmerciaLGszette:
THE steel age has become fact so sud-
denly that it has dazed some Of the manu-.
facturers," said one of tie largest nail man
uiacturers in the country last night at the
MenoDgaAela House. "A year ago steel
nails were regarded as chimera By nearly
every manufacturer in the Union. The
cost Of a steel plant, with the risk conse.
quent upon the experiment, was such as to
deter nearly all of them from going into the
steel business. One or two manufacturers
had the hardihood, however, TO build the
plants and theresults Of their rashness have
revolutionized the manufacture Of naiis in
the whole world. In single year iron
nails have sunk from a place of years of
popularity TO level where they are drug
on the market, and in many instances are
rusting to-day in warehouses. | say that
this is the history of less than twelve months.
A year hence do not think solitary Eeg
of iron nails will be made on this side Of
the Mississippi. Nearly all of the Ohio
Valley manufacturers are making steel nails
now, and the Eastern manufacturers are
fastening to follow them. Western mon
are hesitating only on the question of the
plan they shall adopt, but this is only mo-
mentary. A year hence steel plants will De
well nigh as plentiful as blast furnaces, and
much more prolific Of profit. 1t is not the
matter of nails alone that is compelling this
haste.
Steel is to replace iron in all Of its uses:
Wherever iron is now used for structural
purposes steel will take its place. For
years hammered iron has been regarded as
indispensable for certain uses in the make
up of locomotives. A firm in the Ohio
Valley day or two ago sent tens of steel
to the largest locomotive works in the
country to be used to the exclusion of iroa.
Steel bridges, steel horseshoe nails, steel
horseshoes, steel engines, steel everything
will be the rule hereafter On account Of
this substitution all active manufacturers are
making ready for the inevitable, and it is
only now question OF rapidity Of change
with them. BlaSt.furnaces Thereafter make
Bessemer iron instead Of the:pig iron. The
Iron Age will take place in history beside
the Stone Age, and hereafter will be only
reminiscence. A few mills within hun.
bred miles Of Pittsburg are still making
iron rails but it is only to clean up their
yards in order that they may 20 to work on
steel Immediately. One iron mill not far
from this city has over 60 600 kegs Of iron
nails now on hand; another one has about
$4,000 kegs, and one or two others have
large quantities. A mill at Terre Haute,
Ind, has so OOO or 10000 kegs Of iron nails
There is no demand for them. On the
other hand meme of the steel nail factories
have 10000 kegs Of nails on hand. There
is what | call a steel craze in the land just
now. The nail in all particulars is satisfsc.
tory. The opposition to i! 10 all fudge and
nonsense originatediu envy and fostered by
jealousy. Steel is superior to iron in any
particular, and for practical purposes it is
so far abtsd ss to stand in contrast and not
in Comparison
Sitting near the oracle was General
William H. Powell, of the Western Nail
Works, of Belleville, ILL.,, probably the
largest nail mill in the country at the pres.
emit time. He did not hear what had been
said, but when the matter of steel universal
ity was mentioned to him, he said 81 am
thoroughly impressed with the belief that
steel is here to stay. am in Pittsburg
now for the purpose of concluding arrange
mepts for the erection OF one OF the Ciapp-
Griffith steel plants at my mill in Belleville,
and / think will finish this week. Some
months ago, in connection with the Terre
Haute, Centralia and Belleville Works, we
initiated movement looking to the leasing
of the Vulcan Steel Works Of St. Louis,
in which TO manufacture steel blooms,
but we only could not agree on some OF
the preliminaries, and the matter fell
through. l then concluded to build one
for myself, and before year shall have it
in operation. said nearly year ago that
when should 60 into the steel business it
would be in such way as to make it
cheaper than competitors farther east. AT
pref ent have l54 nail machines. In the
event that my plant produces l25 tons per-
day, shall pvt in machines enough to cut it
up. We are near to the reproducing dis
tricts Of Missouri, and are an advantageously
situated with reference to the Lake Superior
Ole beds as Eastern manufacturers. We
get all the coal we need at very low price
for mining and the difference in the prices
per ton for coke is only IS cents, so that
from all stsLdpoints we shall be able to
compete for the trade. | shut the Wheel
ing and Pittsburg districts practically out
of the St. Louis market in the competition
for iron nail trade, and it will be as easy in
this instance. In my opinion, the matter
Of locality will not control the sale Of nails
as formerly. We shall all be on an equal
footing and the matter of price will decide"