Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-01-15
In HARDWARE LINES.
Higher Prices and Active Demand for
Barbed Wire, Nails
ANDALLVARIETIES OF HARDWARE
Plumbers Supplies Join in the Upward
Movement Of Trade.
ENLARGEMENT OF WOMAN'S KINGDOM
AKDALLVARIETIES OF HARDWARE
ENLARGEMENT OF WOMANS KINGDOM
OFFICE OF PITTsBURG DISPATCH |
TUESDAY, January IA, 1890. J

OFFICE OF PITTsBURG DIsPATCH,(
TUESDAY, January IA, 1890 J
The outlook for the produce trade was
never better than at this date. Jobbers re-
port that orders are already coming in freely
for spring trade, and unless all signs fail We
will have the most active business in this
line that has been known for many year.
Steel nails have advanced Is cents per keg
since the 1st of January, and are now selling
in carload lots at 50 50 per keg. Through last
summer and up to September the price was
81 s. and at that figure trade was very SLOW
Now it is very brisk at the advanced rates. The
iron nail is a thing of the past. The trade now
calls for nothing but the steel cut and wire
nail. A representative of one of our leading
manufacturing firms which a few years ago
made 4 specially of iron nails, recently said:
There has been in the past few years
An Entire Revolution
in the nail business. Steel cut nails have
supplanted iron. and now the wire nail has
come in to compete with the steel cut nail. As
q result of these changes our firm has with
drawn from the nail trade altogether and is
now engaged in the manufacture of bar iron
We do not have the facilities for the manu-
facture of steel rails, and could not have
we do not see ourselves clear to shoulder. The
old-fashiOned nail mill of ten wears ago would
cut a sorry figure in any effort to compete with
trade in its present status. The methods Of
ten years ago in nail manufacturing would
furnish very poor pickings at this day. In
recognition of this fact our factory has &C
cepted the situation and permitted its nail
machines to lie idle, and our attention is turned
to other lines where there is some hope OF
profit. The only nail mills of this city that are
doing any good are those which have the
fnnr ties f0r mann 70 q
A Barbed Wire Advance.
There has been sharp advance in barbed
wire in the past few weeks harmony with
the upward movement of iron and steel. Last
summer the ruling price was SS Is per hundred
pounds and markets were quiet at that figure
Now they are active at 81 per hundred. The
drift of all hardware goods is upward. Retail
dealers are placing orders very freely for the
spring trade.
In the department of plumbers supplies the
year Just passed showed full volume of trade
but very close margins of profit. Speculative
influences and attempts to corner markets in
1883 had disastrous effect on trade in the
early months of 1889.
How Speculation Hurts.
One of our leading jobbers in this line thus
puts the situation: ''The legitimate trade of
manufacturers and dealers in plumbers sup
plies for the past year or two has suffered more
or less from speculative influences. What our
trade wants is a steady market. Great fluctu-
atious, even when they put money into our
pockets are in the end injurious to IegitI-
mate trade. Men vino have built up a
good business IN long years. do not
want these big profits, In a long business eXpe-
rience l have found that these booms which
lift prices above actual values are In the end
hurtTul TO legitimate trade have no desire for
boom in our line of trade. A fair profit for
our labor and capital invested is much better
than boom, as it will not be followed by reac-
~Tl9 a-dI Ia-,- Cd rI-a+r -
Pricesof lead last a pril were down TO SO 60 per
hundred. In July, which is busy time for plumb
ers trade, prices had advanced to s. per hun
dTed. This advance was not maintained and
prices drifted back toward the old level. With
the rise in iron and steel there has recently
come an advance in pig lead and rates now are
S. s. per hundred, an advance of Csc per hun
dred on the lowest price touehedlast spring and
summer.
The Advance in Copper.
In the past four months there has been an
advance of &c per pound in copper. The low
est price reached last summer was l0c per
pound. Prices are now firm at I3c per pound.
A leading dealer in plumbers supplies said
to-day: "Our spring trade does not open fully
until March, but the outlook was never better
at this time of the year. Our customers, so far
as We can learn, have been carrying very light
stocks of laUe and a general replenishing will
be nee essity at an early day. With the pres
ent great activity and 6rmness of iron and
steel there is little doubt that our industry will
come in for its share of the prosperity. feel
entirely confident of large trade for the year
1890"
Womnn's Kingdom.
The following, clipped from recent number
of the COngregGtiORdliSt, of Boston, suggests
line Of employment for women which, it is
hoped, may open up avenues of profitable use
fulness for some enterprisng spirits in this
neck of the woods:
Anything anv woman can make, and make we'll
from the holder an invalid can fashion in bed to
the most artistic needle and brush work, is ac-
Cepted by the Woman Exchange in New York,
So s1ys HdTper'S Bdzdr. and undoubtedly the
statement Is true of similar exchanges in Boston
and other large cities. But the writer emphasizes
the importance Of doing ones best. No sIovenly
half-dOne or poorly finished work is accepted, be-
cause the prices paid demand the best
workmanship. In Manchester England. three
young girls have started a bureau for
mending socks, sewing on buttons and repairing
manner that they a-e obliged to hire so people to
meet the demands Of the business. woman in
Boston who Is at the head of large manufactur-
ing establishment told the writer that she rejected
applicants every day who might earn s. and IS
week because they could not buttons
properly. These facts point to a very practical
way of helping women who are dependent upon
their own eXertions for support. Starvation
prices are the rule. sorry to say for needle
women in the great establishments where the en-
ployes at the mercy of the ''sweaters.' - But
SO long families exist plain sewing, patching
and da rning Will be necessities. and the woman
who can meet the need can usually find employ
ment.