Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-10-08
HOUSES IN EMBRYO.
The Local Lumber Trade Holds Its
Own in Activity, But No Boom.
STOCKS LIGHT AND PRICES FIRM.
Action of Wool Manufacturers at Their
Annual Meeting Last Week.
PIG IRON WOULD SUFFER FROM A BOOM

Lie local Jumper trade Is active, puG HOI
booming, owing to the inclemency OF the
weather for the past few days; but there
will be a revival when the skies clear up.
There is a reasonable certainty of six weeks
or two months of fine weather before winter
sets in. If it should be mild one, build
ing will be prosecuted without much inter
ruption. Natural gas is great aid to
builders, as by its use interiors can be kept
warm and walls dried almost as well as by
the heat of the sun.
Stocks of lumber are considerably depleted.
Dry hemlock is almost an impossibiltty.
Dealers are taking this lumber directly from
tne saw, so as to give it time to season by next
spllng. 1t is held very firm az the recent ad-
vance. The extensive use of poplar for inside
nnlsh, together with light shipments from the
south, has made it very scarce, the supply
being considerably short of the demand. 1t is
held at top figures The stocks of white and
yellow pine have been heavily drawn upon, SO
that while there is enough to 60 round. there is
no excess. More of the latter has been used
here this season than ever before in the same
length of time. This is one of the great
lumber products of the South, and it is gradu-
ally winning its way in the Northern markets.
stocks of shingles are also small, and they
are held at extreme quotations. Cypress
shingles are still IN disfayor in this locality,
Notwithstanding the claim set up by their
friends that they last at least twice as long as
those made of pine.
In explanation of the small stock Of lumber
in this market so early in the season, Mr.. ]. s.
Fisher, prominent dealer, said yesterday it
was due almost entirely to the impossibility of
obtaining prompt shipments. The scarcity of
cars on all the roads entering the lumber re-
glons, north and south. affected lumber quite
as much as it did coal, coke and other products.
The railroads were too busy moving the big
grain crops to attend to anything else. AS
nearly all the Ipads had ordered large numbers
of new freight cars, he thought they would
soon be able to afford relief.
Pittsburg is becoming one of the important
lumber centers of the country. 1t is distributed
from this point throughout Western Pennsyl-
vania, Ohio, West Virginia and Northern
Maryland, and is occasionally sent to New
York. The principal source of supply is Michi-
gan, although considerable quantities are still
drawn from Forest and other counties in this
State, and from the South. The value of the
lumber trade of Pittsburg this year will closely
approximate So 100000
At its annual meeting held in New York last
week, the National Association of Wool Manu-
facturers adopted the resolutions agreed upon
at the Boston conference on the 18th ult. No
demand was made in those resolutions for
lower rates of duty on wool as a raw material,
the fixing of the duty which should be applied
to the same being left wholly to the determine
tion of Con gress. The resolutions do. how.
ever, complain that in making the revision of
the tariff in 1888 Congress reduced the specific
duffn @h 60 g.
beyond the reduction IN the duties on wool as
to destroy their compensatory character, and
they demand of Congress a revision of the
tariff in which there shall in every instance be
placed upon the manufactured product the full |
amount of the specific duty necessary to COM
pensate for whatever rates of duty public policy
may require to be imposed on the raw material. |
They also ask for an increase in the ad valorem |
duties, which they declare afford less protection
than when adopted. owing to the fall in values. |
They are, however, opposed to any increase. ia /
the duties on carpet woods.
In paper reviewing the situation in the wool |
industry Secretary North attributed the de.
preston to the agitation for the reduction in
wool duties, to the erroneous classification of
worsted cloths and to the Introduction of large
amounts of wool as waste. The latter infu.
ences, he said, have been eliminated by rulings
Of Secretary Window, but action by Congress
IS necessary to enable the manufacturers to
compete with foreigners in the production OF
Yarns and dress goods.
The Iron Trade ReuieiO sees danger in the air,
md sounds note of alarm as follows: "The
rery strong condition Of the market, and the
rood things yet expected, have given rise to the
ear that the present large and wholesome de-
nand for all classes of pig metal may induce a
udden imitation in prices that must necessarily
nd disastrously for all parties concerned.
Whatever may be the experience of others, the
of pig iron can i'll afford boom.
mother advance of dollar or two will not only
all into blast dozens of stacks now idle because
f improper location or want of economic man.
cement, but will throw open the doors wide to
he makers of Southern iron, who will profit BY
he advance much longer because of the
trength it is sure to give them later on, when
gain ready TO swamp this and adjacent mar
cts with cheap and inferior iron.
'There does not seem to be at this time any
pecial call for an advance in pig material. as
verybody concerned in its manufacture. be-
inning with the mine interests, is getting fair
eturn at the present rate of iron. 1t is from
hicago that Cleveland mill man has received
be prediction that within three months Steel ,
ais will sell at $40 Rails, it is true, have gone
p So during the past three weeks, but the !
-isdom of another material advance is serious !
to be questioned" !