The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1886-10-25
BESSEMER FAMINE,
pRoFIEAp1R EIE1D ZOE oAPITAI.
"cOld Short" on the Outlook for the BsISs-
msr Steel Industry-The Results of
Competition With Natural Gas
Industries Flookipg Here.

Mr.. P. H. Moore, in his weekly letter 10
the St, Louis Age Of Seet, has the follow
points Of interest;
The famine in the Bessemer bloom and
slsb trade is but very slowly abating, and
II 1t holds to the present proportions
a short time longer l will have to reCant
my recent counsel and include the steel
bloom and slab business among those oc-
equations offering the strongest induce
ment for further expansion and the In
ye6tmept Of capital and enterprise, The
supply has never been in exCtsa Of legiti-
mate requirements or, strictly, in Just
proportion with them, but for the purpose
Of Tending oil incorporate %exlentton or
OVERRIDING conservative Mentors have dis
courages the excitement Of competition,
It seems now that it is measurably
underdone and open for the employ
ment Of prudent, temperate enterprise.
In the Wheeling district there are four
Bessemer steel plants aud one building,
the Jefferson; n more company disCon-
nscted with any mill or factory annexea Ia
being organized, with very able business
ability and experience at it's head.
The East aud West are acknowledging
iealty 10 the natural gas Of this region,
Compelled by their inability to compete
with upper Ohio Valley manufacturers,
by reason Of the great economies gained
in the use Of this natural fuel, they are
one by one submitting to the inevitable
and are preparing to move TO the gas ter
| ritory. Disstop, the saw manufacturer,
Of Philadelphia O, Fl, Robson & Co.'s
large hutteTine factory, OF Chicago, and
the Hemingway Glass Works, Of Ooylng-
ton, KY, lead the van this fall, and the
procession has only started. It is be-
coming q settled conviction that tbs great
fuel supply Ia not only here, but that II Is
In practical potency, restricted to this
region. 1t is claimed that Mr., Dlston will
gain economies amounting to $4,000 by
this removal, 1t IL also generally con-
Cedsd that the gas supply will be perma.
nent, at least none OF the youngest Of
existing generations will see Its failure,
These cities, within this territory, occupy
a very favored poaition, and 1t 'behooves
them TO take prudent advantage OF 1t at
once-to make hay while the sun Shines
without vain glory, however, for "let him
that thinketh he standeth take heed lest
he fall" There Is a large territory In.
Cluded In this gas belt-sixty miles long
from Wheeling to Pittsburg, and about
the same width, starting from Wheeling
50 tho wcPtern limit. There pre- some
outlying points, 1t ig true, In Pennsylvania
and Ohio, but at Pittsburg and Wheeling
the grand triumvirate OF advantages
csnter-natural gas, perfect water and rail
facilities for transportation, and that In
failing substitute, should the gas aupply
weaken, the most magnificent bitumin0us
coal measures in America, with
seams 81 to s feet thick cropping
out everywhere on the tanks oil the hills
! and in the curves Of the v~alleys-coal
that impaired to both Pittsburgh and
| Wheeling their super eminent prestige as
iron, steel, glass and pottery producing
cepters-aR grand q heritaGe So natural
gas. The AIting oil resIdeipes, factories
and public buildings with natural gas
equipments has created quite a scramble
In Wheeling with the aCC0mpanimentB OF
inability On the part. Of the victims
and q feast for the plumbers. The sd.
vent Of natural gas, it 10 said, increased
the guild Of Cos ntters iu Pittsburgh ttom
the original number, 800, to over 1000.
The increase in Wheeling ID about siS!y
and there is not nearly enough. House
keepers claim that the advantages gained
by its use are indeHCtlbable, but the
browning glory is Its cleanliness. The
hest Ia dryer and more %pervading, pro-
duCiDl, uHlegs artificial moisture Ia sup.
piled, disagreeabIe aelsatiOaa Of compress.
sion about the head,