New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-04-13

n trafiic. But there is already apparent apo,h.,
important change in the Pittsburg region wh,.I
the high price Of coal and the uncertainty NJ sn,
ply owing to controversies between the mrn...
and the operators have doubtless accelerated ;.
some OF the journals appear quite nnner,us a.
counts OF the transfer Of large lnanrsa,.
turing establishments at Pittsbu.g frn,n a..
use OF coal to the of natural gas as e.,
In some of the largest works, the gas las no,, -
introduced and used long enough to show ,b.t -
important saving in tie cost of fuel is tins e,s,,.s
Meanwhile in the Eastern markets the bltnm,n.s-
coal producers seem 10 be still gaining on .,s -
thracite producers, although the price ua.nod q
some excellent qualities of anthracite coal b..
been much reduced. The aggregate producto, !.
coal in the United States in 1854 is reckons "a :.
9s,651, S07 gross tons, an increase Of 2.77e 40,
tons over 1888. or less than three per cent m.
production in Great Britain in 1884, aocor,li,c !.
an official statement was 160044, 175 gross ton,
decrease of 1893 l52 tons in comparison w,,s
1883.
IRON AND SrEEI--rhe disappointment bo.....
the iron and steel workers of the Pittsburg dst,..
did not themselves propose a reduction in wage. =.
had been expected, finds expression 10 a numb,
Of earnest articles in journals devoted 10 tbat;,
terest urging that the manufacture in that distro,
must be seriously Frustrated, unless a rate q,
wages can be agreed upon more nearly in accord
with those paid at Eastern manufactures. by wa,
of contrast, it is noticed that the workers IN
great establishment in Sheffield, England
recently announced to the employers that
having observed the great dificuItis.
with which the firm had to cootend
and wishing to do their part to tide over the hard
times they proposed to work one week without
any pay whatever, since their agreement with
other workers would prevent their acceptins
any reduced wages. Already the effect at Pitts.
burg has been TO discourage the manufacture and
q number of establishments have already procured
the necessary machinery for the manufacture Of
steel instead of ron including some of the largest
concerns in tho district. On the other hand the
fact that considerable orders from the West hays
recently been accepted by Eastern mills
indicates that the establishments of the
Pittsburg district are even now losing business
TO some extent because they are unable TO reckon
upon a good understanding with the workers in
future 1t is estimated that the capacity Of all
IRON furnaces now in blast throughout the country
is Is 900 tons weekly of bitumnobs and coke iron.
20 900 tons OF anthracite iron, aud 1000 tons Of
charcoal iron. making a total Of only $4,000 tons
According to the same estimate. 40 per cent 10
capacity of the coke furnaces in the country are
now in blast only 40 per cent Of the anthracite
furnaces, and only 80 per cent Of the charcoal
furnaces The market for refined iron has recently
seemed little firner aud the movement Of pig iron
at the low prices prevailing has been sluggish, 10
that MANY believe little increase in the demand
will presently cause considerable advance u
price.