Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-05-22
PITTsBURG's MANUF oTuRISG RANK

| Mr. Swank's report on iron and steel
production for 1891, which has just
reached us in its complete form, have an in
teresting bearing on the relation OF the
iron production of Allegheny county to
the rest of the country. The figures of
production for the whole United States,
showing falling off in pig iron, steel and
rolled iron, of about 10 per cent from the
unexampled totals of 1890, have already
been published. The full figures, how
ever, enable us to make comparison of
the output of Pivtsburg's industries with
the entire industry.
In the first place, the recent talk of other
iron-producing localities, notably certain
pig iron districts supplanting Pittsburg, is
fully answered by the fact that while
there was in 1891, 10 per cent reduction
in the total output of pig iron, rolled iron
and steel, Pittsburg did not only hold her
own; she actually increased her output
of pig iron and steel Her product of
pig iron in 1890 was /, ,497, ,7S6 tons; in 1891,
1856, ,531 tons. In steel the total for 1890
was 1,447 ,92G tons; for 1891 it was ,542,-
921 tons. The fact appears, therefore,
that so far from being supplanted, Pitts
burg's lead in pig iron and steel was
marked by increase in 1891. In rolled iron
our total yielded to the general tendency,
being decreased from 1852, 159 tons in 1890
to /, 4S7 ,O7O tons in 1891 No section can
equal this showing. There is something
of an increase in the pig iron production
of Tennessee; but no section can show
the general increase of product in year
of shrinkage that is displayed in Allegheny
county.
The leadership of our community in the
output of iron and steel and its constant
increase is best illustrated by the percent
ages at various periods. In 1880 Allie
gheny county produced 7per cent of the
pig iron product of the country, which
was about the proportion established dur
ing the preceding decade. In 1885 our
pig iron product increased to 1115
per cent; in 1890 it was nearly
Is per cent, and last year the
record of that remarkable production
was beaten by turning out 171f per cent
of the pig iron product of the country. In
steel the increase of our Importance has
been even more marked. In 1880 our
steel output was 16 per cent of the total;
in 1885 it had swelled to 81 per cent; in
1890 it reached 80 per cent; and last year
Pittsburg turned out little more than 35
per cent of. the steel product of the coun-
try. A change in the method of reporting
the totals of rolled iron makes it difficult
to extend the comparison so far on that
product; but we can state generally that
county produced about 16 per
cent of the rolled iron of the country up
to 1880; by 1885 her proportion had risen to
20 per cent, and in 1890 and 1891 it was
about one-third.
Besides this signal refutation of the idea
that any other section is displacing this |
community from its supremacy in iron
and steel manufacturing, the increase in
our proportion of output conveys in its |
dates another very pertinent lesson. |
In the years from 1874 to |
1879, Pittsburg not only suffered from |
the general depression of the iron indus |
try, but also retrograded in its proportion |
Of product The introduction of railroad |
about 1880 started the gain in |
our standing which reveals its effects in
the increased proportion of 1885. From
that date to 1890 the natural gas era was
in putting our industries far in
the lead. But the proportion for 1891
shows that We have kept the lead even
without natural gas. We see in this ex-
pansion the fact that transportation and |
fuel have been its greatest factors. If we
can solve the fuel problem, and open
water transportation to the lakes, the
future may show record of growth even
more remarkable than this.