The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1892-07-22
SOUTHERN IRON SMELLING.
TO THIS ARE LARGELf DUE TINE
STRIKES At HOMESTEAD

TO THIS ARE IARGELf DUE TINE
STRIKES At HOMESTEAD.
sosther. Conpsr,e. 60 Boors Towa Lots
Have Buiit and Run Furnaces Rersrd.
less or Proa,-Tk,s sent rriees OF Iron
Bows-The sliaisG Wage Scale.
Southern competition is causing great
change In the Pennsylvania iron business and
indirectly Is tho result OF number OF strikes.
Until the last few years the Pennsylvania iron
men had almost q nopoly OF tho iron busi-
ness In the United States. Their furnaces had
been In operation for forty years under the
same owners and the same workmen. The
price OF iron had va ried from timc to time. but
the owners and the workmen proflted or SUI
fered together by the variations In price
through the workings OF the sliding scale OF
wages During the war. and for ten years
afterward. owners and workmen made money.
as Pennsylvania had almost a monopoly OF the
iron business. and the demand was large
enough to take all tho supply at profitable
prices. Tho furnaces were not Of large carac-
ity compared with tho big furnaces in opera
ton now. and they were scattered through the
State instead Of being consolidated In small
cities and large villages
Some features OF the old-time Pennsylvania
furnace corresponded to tho Southern planta-
lions OF the slavery days. Tho family or the
few families which owned the furnace owned
also tho ore banks and limestone auarries
near by. from which the furnace was supplied.
and also usually had an interest in the coal
mines which furnished the fuel The furnace
was By little village near 4 stream. whence
tho water supply came. The workmen had
their own houses. with half an acre Of ground
for Q garden. and large front yard filled
with flowers At tho head Of the street
the foreman and skilled workmen lived.
while the superintendent had a house
and grounds near BY. and the owners
lived on big farm within short walking dis
tance Tho cost OF living to the worHmen was
not as much as 1t is now. as they raised their
own vegetables, chickens. pigs.and fruit With
their wages they bought their clothes and
other supplies which they could not raise
themselves. The furnaces had a capacity Of
fifteen and twenty tons day. while there ore
furnaces now with ten times this daily output
Discoveries Of iron ore. limestone. and lnrge
veins Of coal In the South. combined with the
Southern town boom. have crowded out almost
all these old-time PENNSYLVANIA furnaces.
Southern competition has not interfered with
the higher products Of manufacture in the
iron and steel business. as there are few steel
works. structural iron works. or other works
which turn out the higher grades OF iron and
steel In the South. region which has not yet
educated the workmen to this higher grade OF
work for which pig iron ia the raw ma
terial. The number OF furnaces was increased
in the South away beyond the limits Of profit.
as has been shown by the frequent failure and
repeated sales Of such properties. Almost all
the Southern town companies thought
that furnace was the first requisite for a
town. and that as soon as furnace was built
the people would come yielding profit from
N1k- a.
tho possit lie loss on the furnace. Thus many
OF the companies laid out their towns with
furnace annex. The result was that furnaces
sprang up all over the South without regard
to the chances Of their proving good business
investments by themselves. and they have
been kept running at slight profit. or even a
loss. in order to keep IN the town. whom a
Pennsylvania furnace under similar conditions
These town furnace companies have pro-
duced so much Mig iron that good quality pigs
be se Mbsh
operate. Even, with the facilities and the
than many Of the companies can stand, Nash:
Vile has two furnaces which have changed
ssed ony unnne to its
the other iron towns OF the South. the furnaces
arc either closed or running below their POS
a few favored localities. Some Of the furnaces
u" This IS Southern town boom business was over.
out Involving S, loss to the peorle who bought
Though III ugh Il tho demand Tor ron has been greatly
stimulated by the low prices, it has not in
duction OF these, southern furnaces II they
were to. run ut full time. Then the failure OF
9" ns
organizations. They need money. and instead
Of storing their product and holding. it for
waiting until the market improved: us the old
PENNSYLVANIA companies were, In the HABIT Of
doing they have crowded their G%roduc,op
at The eSn.nse Of lowering the marfst price
iron mnrke cts. rs the local demand in the South
and large shipments we're made to the Pitts.
hum and sheffield meant SIP at Pittsburgh
Thus reduction Of the price OF the raw mat"iia!
br"aGht down the market rris" Of structural
highly manufactured products. and corre-
sponiingly. under the slidin: scale. re.
OF these reductions were ucented with
out strikes. In many cases the .o wages age,
E" nae @ Pc s'fa Fsss.s
that tn. furnace was abandoned. At q recent
safe taTnnee property J N i Mn% pe1Gsyl
, $1,000; and Mt TIM, price it was bought in hy
the holders OF tho first mortgage bonds; In
| cen entirely al nndoncd.i The premises Of
one plant havo ucen turned into q stock farm.
| Tho buildings are used ms stables, the resi-
.lencc or the old furnace owner is occupied ~
the pr"sent proprietor. and the furnace lands
are Transformed into pastures.
1t WAS found that tho furnaces with large
daily production could outsel the smaller
furnaces. md the fifteen and twenty ton
furnaces have , almost entirely gone ont Of
run n hupdrrd-ton furnace than q fifteen
ton furnace, and on sliding scale OF wages
the hundred-ton furnace was more profitable
to the men. The owners fight has been to get
tho men away from the sliding scale. or in
case Of their ndhcring to the sliding scale. to
reduce the m minimum.
A sliding scale is not familiar to New York
workmen. They are accustomed to he paid by
the day. and paid by the pieco. but the work
ings OF n sliding scale they do not understand
from personal experience. The way n sliding
scale works in other businesses might be illus
trated by taking astroet chr for example The
driver ana conductor are paid now by the trip
OF By ne day Payment BY The trin would eor:
t. days wages Il. I: instead q either Of
| centage Of receipts. SO that when tho car
took IN s25 worth Of fares a day they got $40