The Portland daily press., 1886-08-17
IRON ANpsTEEL PRODUCTION.

The remarkable progress which this coun-
try has made in the manufacture of iron and
steel under the impulse given by the war
and the wise fiscal policy embodied in our
tariff laws. has been brought to public atten-
ton anew by pamphlet published by Mr..
]. M. Swank, the General Manager OF the
American Iron and Steel Association. Dur
ing the last hundred years nearly all the
civilized nations of the earth have MADE
marked progress in the manufacture OF iron
and steel. In the United States the last
twenty-one years have witnessed the most
remarkable strides. The statistics of the
manufacture of pig iron, the raw material
from which nearly all finished iron and steel
is made, show that during this period
the increase, reckoned from the production
in each country for 1865, has been 456 per
cent in the United States. compared with 76
per cent for Great Britain, 237 per cent. for
Germany, Ga per cent. for France, 152 per
cent. for Austro-Hungary, and 50 per cent.
for Sweden. In 1871 Great Britain made
half of all the pig iron used in the world;
since then her proportion has steadily de-
clined. In1S95 Great Britain produced seven
and a quarter million tons, the United States
a little over four million; it is estimated that
within the next five years, if no unwise
changes are made in our tariff laws, the
United States will be producing as much pig
iron as Great Britain. At the present time
the United States produces more than any
other nation except Great Britain.
In this country twenty-eight States and
Territories produce pig iron. The growth OF
the industry is marked by certain significant
circumstances. Pennsylvania furnaces make
about half of the pig iron made in the whole
country, and since 1880 her annual output
has shown no marked increase or decrease.
From 1880 to 1884 Maine produced between
three and four thousand tons yearly, but
in the latter year the Katahdin Iron
Works, which were destroyed by fire,
ceased operations, and no pig iron was
produced in the State. In 1885 the
works had been rebuilt and 44O tons were
produced, This year the production will be
much greater. But for the last six years the
production in New England has declin ed
about 60 per cent, in the Middle and Western
States 1t has been about stationary, while in
the Southern States the increase has been
nearly 81 per cent. In Virginia the increase
from 1880 to 1885 was AT per cent; in Ten
nessee it was 1877 per cent, and in Alabama
1914 per cent. The South is just beginning to
awaken to the possibilities which lie before
it as manufacturing region. Nine new
furnaces are now in course of erection in AL
ALBANIA and other Southern States, and it may
be mentioned as natural, accompanying
circumstance, that this year several Southern
men were found among the supporters of
our protective policy when Mr.. Morrison
led the attack against it in Congress- Dur
ing the last twenty years industrial progress
has centered in the North, but the outlook at
present indicates that for the next twenty
years the most remarkable development is to
be expected from the South. 1t is signif-
cant fact that foreign iron manufacturers in
looking for possible competitors in this
country, have shown most anxiety concern
ing the South, where the cheapness of labor
promises product that may even compete
in foreign markets with the products OF Eng
I'LL.