Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-01-31
THE BOTTOM POINT.
Prices on All Kinds of Iron
Touch Almost the Lowest
Spot on Record.
NO REACTION IN PROSPECT.
The Local Situation Now Presents
Many Serious Conditions.
LOOKING FOR A SOLUTION OF 1T.
A Number Of Heavy Contracts for Some
Pittsburg Companies.
NO REACTION IN PROSPECT.
LOOKING FOR A SOLUTION OF 1T.
INCREASING THE CAPACITY OF MILLS.

the local iron ana steel traQeS confronted
with many serious conditions. The pro-
ductive capacity OF the country is far beyond
the present demand, and, as consequence,
prices on every grade of raw or manufac-
tured iron and steel are down to almost the
lowest point ever known. This is especially
| true of pig iron and steel rails, and the most
discouraging feature is that there is likely to
be no reaction in prices, at least during the
| remaining months of this winter. Though
the production of steel rails has been greatly
! reduced in Pittsburg during the last six
weeks, it is still far beyond all requirements.
The formation of the Steel Rail Makers
| Association in the East last week, having
| for its object the regulation and divis-
ion Of the output among the different
mills, may relieve the trade somewhat, but
| owing to the refusal of the Carnegie and the
Illinois Steel Company, the two largest produ-
GERS in the country, to enter, the success of the
| of the abnormal depression in this branch of
| the trade is the shutdown of the four mills OF
| the Illinois Steel Company, all of which
| have been idle since January 1, and it is
expected that none of them will resume
| again before February. The Edgar Thom-
son Works will also close down in about a
week, to remain closed for repairing, which
| will last about a month.
The Pig Iron Situation.
Among pig iron producers the situation is
no brighter than in the steel rail trade
Among the local furnaces 90 furnaces are in
blast, casting about 4, 200 tons daily and
four are out of blast-furnaces A
and D at the Edgar Thomson plant
| at Braddock, one stack at the
| new furnaces of the Monongahela Furnace
Company near McKeesport and one stack
at the Isabella plant near this city. The
reason of the activity among Pittsburg
furnaces in the face of the general dullness
is the fact that all the iron produced in this
vicinity is consumed at the various mills of
those who produce it. There is quite large
stock OF pig iron held at the different
furnace and storage yards in and about the
city awaiting rise in prices for disposition.
There is no change whatever in the con-
dition of affairs among the Mahoniug and
Shenango Valley furnacemen, though many
persons IN position to know
declare that the railroads are beginning
to show signs of weakness. The fur
nacemen in the valleys have reorganized
the old association into new one under the
name of the Mahoning and Shenango
Valley Iron Manufacturers Association,
and will include every mill and furnace in
the two valleys. What this shutdown
means to the trade is shown In the fact that
at the first of the year the productive capac-
ity of the two valleys was 26, 900 tons per
week.
The result has paralyzed business within
radius of 100 miles of Youngstown.
Almost all the men employed In the lime
stone quarries in that vicinity have been
discharged and are now idle. The different
railroad companies entering the two valleys
have thousands of empty cars idle, and
many of their brakemen, engineers and fire.
men are seeking employment elsewhere
The idIeness among the furnaces has further
caused decrease in the demand for coke.
Operators Are Standing Firm.
There is no change in the strike between
the miners and operators along the Monon-
gahela river. The operators declare most
positively that they cannotand will not pay
the a cent advance asked for. The ship
ments during 1890 were the largest in the |
history of the trade, and the consequence is |
that stocks of coal are extremely large at |
Southern ports, and Monongahela river coal |
can be bought on the flats at Cincinnati as |
cheaply as it can be bought here in Pitts. |
burg.
The mine owners further declare that the |
miners are being lily advised; that the walk
ing delegates and master workmeD are con-
tinually stirring up strife in order to attach |
Importance to their position as the leaders of |
the strikers and afterward as the instru-
ments of peace, and that the miners fail to
recognize the fact that Pittsburg does not |
held supreme sway over the Southern mar
kets, as in years gone by, but it must enter
into active competition with Kanawha, Ken
lucky Tennessee and Alabama coal. On
the side of the strikers their leaders MAIN
tain that the men are more determined than
ever; that they are more united and better
equipped to go through this strike than they
ever have been, and nothing less than 81 |
cents per bushel will satisfy them
The miners further assert that the bill
now pending in the Legislature for the cre-
alton of an examining board of mining ex-
perts, and that all miners must pass a salts
factory examination and receive a certificate
of efficiency before eligible to work in a
mine. will prevent the operators from secur-
ing Hungarians. Up to the present writing
there has been no suffering among the
miners for lack of food or clothing. They
went into the struggle prepared for long
be furnished from the general defense fund.
Increased Demand for Coal.
The changes among mills from gas to coal
is progressing SLOWLY, caused Dy the insult
hcient mill sidings, and the time and money
which are necessary to build receptacles for
the coal. Up to the present there are "a
mills out of the Sc mills in the city wherein
coal is wholly or partially used. The
change is principally in pudding furnaces
and will increase the consumption of coal
about 2, 500 tons every day. There is also
quite heavy demand for slack coal for use
In gas producers and other devices for fuel
making.
At Lindsay & McCutcheon's mill there
has been periodical shortage Of coal owing
to the miners strike Such has been the
case at j. Painter Sons & Co. s mill i'll the
Vest End and 300 men were idle temporar-
lily. At this latter mill about 80 furnaces
are now using coal and 26 others,
together with all the furnaces in the
heating department are being supplied with
gas. The trestle work for the coal dump at
this mill is now being built At the lower
MON Mill of Carnegie, Phipps & Co., on
Twenty-ninth street, on the 28th lust, five
heats were made in one turn for the first
time in three months. Orders at this mill
are not very plentiful. At the Thirty-third
street mill operations were resumed on the
10Th inst. after a suspension Of six weeks.
The firm was experimenting with the Lima
crude oil at one OF the furnaces in this mill, |
similar to the process tried at Painters mill,
but the return of full supply of gas pre-.
rented completion of the experiment.
at Park Bros. & Co.. mill the shortage
vas at one time very serious, the full work,