Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-03-25
THE BEST SOLUTION
9fth Present StagnatiOn in the Iron
Industry Is a Canal.
LABOR MUST MAKE CONCESSIONS.
The Cost of Fuel and Transportation
Must Be Reduced.
ABOR MUST MAKE CONCESSIONS.
EFFECTS OF SOUTHERN COMPETITION
ESPECIAL rELkGRAM TO TIE p1spIrcH.

tour Of the Mahoning and Shenango valley,
discloses the number of idle furnaces now
to be II out of total Of Is in the Mahoning
Valley, with the weekly capacity of those
out of blast estimated at 1873 tons, and Of
those IN blast at 2,21S, tons. In the She
mango Valley the number of idle furnaces is
IA out of total of II, with the weekly capa.
city of the furnaces out of blast estimated al
1881 tons, and of those in blast 2, ,26O tons.
The number of idle furnaces in the latter
district will shortly be increased one, as ii
is the intention of the Stewart Iron Com.
pany, at Sharon, to bank their remaining
stack either during the latter part of this
week or early next week, owing, as was
stated by General Manager Mcclure, to the
excessive demands made by the cokers and
miners.
The Opinion of a Neutral Concern.
This firm has plant of 120 ovens in the
Connellsville region, having sufficient
capacity when running to supply their
stacks; but the plant is at present idle,
owing to the coke strike. As this concern
occupies a neutral position, both in the view
of the coke operators and producers of pig
iron, their words should be given greater
weight than those of any biased parties. 1t
was positively stated by Mr.. Mcclure that
the producers of pig iron could not manu-
faeture iron to sell at to-day's prices, and
for this one reason there would be no re-
sumption of work among the furnaces until
the strike was settled and the price of coke
reduced, the rates of freight be materially
reduced from the present basis, and labor be
willing to accept a partial reduction in
wages. Either all OF these events must
come to pass or there must be a pronounced
advance in the price of pig iron before fur
nacemen can resume making iron to sell on
a profitable margin. He stated that the
possibility of the market advancing to a
sound, conservative and lasting basis was
indeed remote, owing to the continued ship
mentS OF Southern iron into these markets.
Why the Market Is Now Stronger.
True, the market is somewhat stronger
now than when the shutdown movement
first went into effect; but this fact is due
wholly TO the rapid consumption of the
stocks of iron that were held at the various
furnace yards, and the possibility now ap-
parent of there being scarcity OF all grades
Of pig iron; but just as soon as the furnaces
resume under the old order of things, the
Southern product will again play smash
Win prices ana q return 10 Ine present DE-
moralized state of affairs is inevitable.
Regarding the possible outcome of the
coke strike, Mr.. Mcclure said that no set
tlement would be effected so long as the
workmen declared their present position to
be their ultimatum. The men employed at
their plant have asked for the privilege of
returning to work at last years scale of
wages, but this proposition was declined by
the firm, and nothing short of a reduction
OF 10 per cent, compared with last years
scale, will enable the ovens to resume.
The Labor Element in the Cost.
The cost of labor in producing ton OF
coke, according to the last wage agreement
in force, was fully so per cent of the whole.
When operators undertake to mine their
coal, thus eating their capital away, loadin-
it and shipping it to their ovens under tht
disadvantage of high freight rates. and under
the present scale of wages, it is only a ques-
tion of time when they will be bankrupt.
In his opinion no end will be witnessed to
the strike until at least the middle of April,
and though the men will before that time
anxiously desire to return at last years scale
of wages, it is the firm intention of the
operators to hold out until their demands
are acceded to. The gentleman further
stated that when the coke strike was ended
the railroads would probably show dis
position 10 help the situation along by low
ering their rates. Thus it appears that the
settlement of the shutdown movement has
now been transferred from the railroad COM
panies to the result of the coke strike.
Another Furnaceman's Valuable Opinions.
In a conversation with E. A. Wheeler,
General Manager of the Wheeler Furnace
Company, which company owns the Ella
and Fannie furnaces at West Middlesex,
and also one stack in this city, the situa-
tion-its present as we'll as the probable
future results-is thoroughly reviewed. 1t
is Mr.. Wheeler's opinion that the necessity
of the furnaces to shut down is primarily
due to the abnormal depression in the pig
iron market, which depression is partly
aggra Tated bv the large shipments of South
ern iron into this market, permitted only
because the valley furnaces cannot, under
the present high rates of freight and the
high price of coke, make iron cheap enough
to compete with the Southern furnaces. He
said there is no possibility of the Northern
furnacemen ever being wholly deprived of
their markets; that Southern iron does not
at all compare with Northern-made iron,
and that, in the case of using it in the man
uiacture of merchant bars, its use is
restricted to from 20 to % per cent of the
whole quantity of pig iron, according to the
order.
Why Southern Furnaces Cut Prices.
One cause he mentioned as contributing to
the activity of Southern iron producers in
the North, is the fact that nine-tenths of the
furnaces in the South are built with bor-
rowed money, and that in order to be able
10 pay the or more per cent interest on these
bonds they are compelled to run all the year
at extremely narrow margins. Such was the
case OF the Fort Payne Company, which was
considered one of the finest blast furnace
properties IN the South. but was eventually
forced to the wall owing to inability to pay
the interest accunulating on their bonds.
While the South may have coal, ore and
limestone in abundance, and the conditions
of their propinquity be ideal, yet the natural
properties of these products were much TO-
terior to the products of the Northern States
so much so, in fact, that they cannot be |
used as a substitute. Throughout the North
Mr.. Wheeler stated that the quality of
Superior ore, valley limestone and Connells-
vile coke
Had Long Been Granted Superiority
over similar products of other districts, and
that as the supply was ineIhaustible these
1acts alone precluded the possibility OF the
South ever wholly encroaching upon the do
main OF Northern furnacemen.
What was wanted, Mr.. Wheeler said, was
an all-round reduction in the cost of pro-
ducing iron. This reduction must be shared
alike BY the ore companies the water and
rail transportation companies, the coke pro-
ducers and all kindred interests. When
these industries narrow down their profit
to limit that will permit home furnaces
producing, say, mill iron for S12, then nos
only is the safety of the local markets set
cured to local producers. but a VAS