Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-09-18
SOUTHERN SUPREMACY.
1t Costs Less to Make Pig Iron in the
South than 1t Does in the North.
The Southern Manufacturer Finds a Market in
Pittsburg and Philadel phia- Oppose
ton In the North.
Rusk Standard Enterprise.


make the manufacture of iron a matte
of any considerable Importance. I'll
Northern and Northwestern state
claimed TO have monopoly of the ra
materials for making pig iron. When
was ascertained that the South possesse
the ore and coal in great abundance
was persistently asserted that Souther
furnaces could not compete with North
ern ones, because of the highe
cost of making the pig iron in tn
south. Every attempt TO bulk
Southern furnaces had to meet ant
overcome this discourag ement. The trull
is Northern and Northwestern iron max
ers old not want to see success made Of
the business in the South. They had
grown rich selling their iron and it,
| products to the South. They proposed
TO have no competition, and hence their
com bined efforts to discourage every at
tempt TO make pig iron in the South
| But, in spite of this opposition, the
number of Southern furnaces have
! continually increased until the
manufacturer of pig iron in
the South has attained q magnitude
that astouished the world. Within the
present year Alabama made its first ship
ment of pig iron TO Pittsburg, Pa. , and
now Southern pig iron is being sold in
Pittsburg and Philadelphia at prices Ue-
low which Pennsylvania iron makers
assert they can make it. And now comes
the report of the United States commits
sioner of labor recently made to con-
gress, giving the startling official state
ment that 1t costs less to make q ton of
pig iron in the South than il does in the
North. 1t is shown from the report that
the cost of making coke pig iron in
pennsylvania averages Sl3. 60 ton, and
that the average cost of making a ton of
coke iron in the Southern furnaces is
5000, or 81 80 less than the average
cost of the Pennsylvania furnaces. 1t
shows further that the lowest cost
at which pig iron Is made in the
United States made at Southern fur
mace at cost of So. 80 ton.
The value of the report consists in the
fact that it is not ouly Official, but that
the cost of manufacturing is not stated
In general way, but on the contrary
contains a complete detailed itemized
account of the cost of maxim. IRON at
each furnace reported. North and South,
including cost of ore, fuel, lime, freights
TO furnace, labor, and all other ex-
penses. This statement is made I'D from
the books of each by experts employed
by the department of labor.
The conclusions drawn from an exam
ination of the report is irresistible that
1t costs less on an average TO make pig
iron in the Southern states than it does
in any other portion of the United States.
Not only this, it shows why it costs less.
Ii solves the problem of relative cost. 1t
shows that it consists largely in the fact
that the raw materials that enter into
the process of manufacturing, the ore,
fuel and lime exist i'll nearer proximity
70 each other in the Southern states than
n any other portion, aud that therefore
he cost OF assembling or concentrating |
hem at the furnace is less. A few ex- |
imples taken from the report |
VIII illustrate this: The freight |
IN ore, coke and lime, used |
n eleven Northern furnaces ranged from |
ii G3 for each ton of iron made TO So. 81
Ter ton; an average of 81 "a; equal to
Iearly 81 per cent Of total cost. In
ighteen Southern furnaces the freight on
materials used was from So 80, the low
st, TO So. 20, the highest, the average
eing Sl.I5 per ton, equal TO 1874 per
ent- Assuming that the furnaces re-
erred TO fairly represent the cost of
taking iron In the two sections, the id
antages in favor of Southern furnaces
ecome apparent. Taking 81 .07 as the
verage cost of the production of South
rn iron, aud Sl3.79 as the average of
orthern ones, we find that there is q
lvlng in favor the Southern furnaces of
}. % per ton over the Northern, equal in
MS nrt tom 70 Il
The Manufacturers Record of Au-
lst l6 says there is steady
lie of Southern pig iron In Phila-
slphia at 81 per ton below the price
Northern irons of equal grades. "Of
re No. Alabama foundry iron has been
Hing regularly in Philadelphia for SI7
'r ton delivered. The present freight
tie from Birmingham, Ala. to PhiIa-
,lphia by rail and water is 1925 per
n, so that Sl7 per ton delivered in
means Sl2.75 per ton in
Compare this with SIS to !
g.. so, the ruling price for local brands '
No. foundry in Philadelphia. Mean i
bile Alabama gray forge iron sells in a
liladelDhia for S14. 80 TO SIS per ton. t
lich represents $40. 80 TO SlO.75 in Blr- v
ngham, while Pennsylvania iron max II
) are crying ruin at SIS. so to SI5.75 a
: their iron of similar grade. I
Unfortunately for the iron interests of \
81 Texas, ii has but one furnace in h
Grafton and that is owned by the state W
d operated with convict labor, There
therefore no data from which the cost
production by private parties operat-
, free labor can be estimated, But
} results obtained from the operation F.
the states furnace through a period
five or six years, are amply sufficient
the conclusion that charcoal
n can be made in Cherokee county at II
ost less than that at which coke iron is 4,
de in Pennsylvania and other North ~
states. The cost of production of Is
lrcoal iron at the states furnace, in. SO
ding cost of ore, coal, lime, labor, N
crest and all other expenses is aboul IN
per ton. This furnace was built for "
apacity of twenty-five tons. Experts sa
mate that with n larger furnace, IN
rated with free labor by private par OF
!, the cost would be reduced below Sl2 IL
ton. ca
,harcoal iron always commands a ra
her price than coke iron. While in 60
Y and August Birmingham, Ala. M
selling coke iron at from $40. rs 10 co
30 per ton delivered on board of cars ua'
re, the state was selling its charcoal ail
at from Sl4 TO S22 per ton delivered sue