The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1891-05-30

and In the vessel business dependent
thereon. great many ~ the mines
have materially reduced their working
forces. some have shut down altogether.
and the situation. from the prudtcers'
standpoint. could not well he worse.
There are no sales 81 ore to report this
week, but one firm IN now negotiating Tor
the sale of large block oi hieh-nrndenre,
for consumption outside the regular
Cleveland market, ut sacrifice. the pui-
chncer~ owning several furnaces which
have been in operation AL the time, ami
winch are being run out 81 their rich ORES
Reynnd this solitary instance, the ore
men have nothing 20 report. and do not
expect 20 report much ia the way nfsales
fur n long time Ia come. Everything
considered, there are faint signs ui an
Improvement in the furnace busIness-
NOT an Improvement in price. or an in-
crease ia consumption. bat return OF
confidence In the stability of the market.
Some az the largest consumers, people
who have studiouSly avoided contracts
for months, and who In all this time oi
trouble have purchased their raw mater
ia. from hand 60 mouth, and IA car lots.
seem 20 have realized the iact that iron
l. selling now for as little money as u Is
likely 10 sell. and are TRYING 10 hedge ne
N0lnlltLAs iiail ia AffA nav - 'NffAAt
instances attempted TO place respectable
sized orders at the ruling starvation
rates, and these offers ARE AN indication
of the future. IL is unlikely that some
furnaces, we're they assured oil their coke
supply. would take advantages of these
propositions in the hope OF thus slim
ulating the market. The reserve stocks
al iron in this vicinity have been so
thoroughly cleaned up that there is im-
mediate want OF available pig metal Tor
conversion into the mill and foundry
iron necessary for building operations all
ready under way and some of theiurnAce-
men, knowing that the cutting of OF any
manufactured article carries with IL II
shrinkage in demand hope To further slim
ulate theprcsent demand for pig iron 10y re-
Stunning. when feasible. production, even
though there be AN actunlloss In the first
transaction. trusting To a subsequentim-
prevent To- even up" lt must be SAID,
however. that this impression IL by no
means general i'm this market, and that
there are majority Of producers who
say that they will certainly remain out
of blast until iron cnn be sold at pro-
iit, no matter how long they have TO wait
for il. Manufactured iron, which lew
weeks ago experienced "A slump, again ~
up, bar iron selling atabout 81 60. Sales
were reported not long ago ut 81 30 at
the mill, so that the latter price is a decid-
eel improvement. Sheet iron, which sold
as low as So 20 for No. "a, IL also selling
more firmly, and there is considerable
demand for channels and other forms Of
combination iron for building purposes
and structural work generally. The
strike os the ore handlers continue. and
there is "A little prospect OF its early set
tlement. The companies. in self defense.
cannot pay more here than IL paid no
adjacent and competing harbors for the
between employees and employers is
about 30 per cent, il viii be seen that
the prospects of an agreement is very
slim.