Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1892-04-21


production and prices. The combine, as
at present constituted, is composed of
the following concerns. Opposite each
is given its annual capacity in net tons,
as stated by James M. Swank, general
manager of the American Iron and Steel
association:
Net Tons.
The Illinois Steel company ..... $500. 1,035 600
Carnegie Bros. q Co.................... 660,0O0
The Cambria Iron company. .......... 2,5,0O0
The Bethlehem company. 2,5,O00
The Lackawanna Coal and Iron COM
pany........ .................. 5OOOOO
The Pennsylvania Steel company. 10000
Total. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 3,l45,0U
1t will be sufficient to go back to 1880
to trace the history of this combine. In
that year there were eleven works pro-
ducing steel rails as follows: The North
Chicago, the South Chicago and the
Union and Joliet Iron works, in Illinois;
the Edgar Thompson Steel works, the
Cambria Iron company, the Pennsyl-
vania Steel company, the Lackawanna
Coal and Iron company and the Scranton
Steel company, in Pennsylvania; the
Troy Steel and Iron company, in New
York; the Cleveland Rolling Mill COM
pany, in Ohio, and the st. Louis Steel
company, in Missouri. During the five
years following 1880 four other iron
companies added steel rail mills to their
plants-the Worcester Steel works,
Massachusetts,; the Homestead Steel
works, Pennsylvania; the Southern Iron
company, Tennessee; the Springfield
Iron company, Illinois, and the Colorado
Coal and Iron company. To these must
be added the Duquesne works built in
1868, and the Maryland plant of
the Pennsylvania Steel company recent
ly completed. This makes a total of
seventeen separate works which were in
operation or have been built since 1880.
OF the fifteen works in operation in
1886 and 1887 the following have ceased
producing rails The st. Louis Steel
company, the Troy Steel and Iron COM
pany, the Cleveland Rolling Mills COM
pany, the Worcester Steel works and the
Springfield Iron company. During the
same period the other works have
been consolidated as follows: The Hi
nois Steel company absorbed the three
Illinois works first mentioned; Car
negie Bros. g. Co. secured control by
purchase of the Duquesne Steel works
and the Homestead Steel works, and the
Lackawanna Coal and Iron company
added to its original plant the Scranton
Steel works. This consolidation of in
terests was completed early in 1891, with
the result that the steel rail combine
now controls all the works making rails
in the United States except that of the
Colorado Coal and Iron company, whose
annual capacity is only 100000 net tons.
Several more or less strong combina-
tions have been formed since 1880 to
control production and fix prices, but
with varying success. Previous to the
present combine that of 1886 and 1887
was the most successful of all. In the
fall of 1885 an era of active railroad
construction was begun and continued
throughout 1886 and 1887. AS a result
of the large demand for rails the
combine was able to force the price up
to the importing point in spite of the
fact that the duty was then $18 per ton.
The effect of these combinations on
prices is shown in the following tables
giving the yearly prices per ton of Steel
rails at the mills in Pennsylvania or of
Bessemer pig iron at Pittsburg since
1885:
1885. 1885. 1887. 1888. 1882 1890. 1891.
Steel rails. $3.50 345O s7os 1888 2925 8l75 2sa2
Pig iron... 1871 1895 2l.8 1913 1900 1885 1896
Difference. 1889 1854 1871 12.45 11.25 1880 1887
The extent to which the prices of steel
rails have been manipulated by the COM
bine is we'll shown in the above tables.
If it be the objects of trusts which sup
press competition to secure the econo-
mics which are gained by unifying in
terests and lowering the cost Of produc-
ton, and to divide the advantages thus
gained between producers and con-
sumers, this division has not yet been
made by the steel rail trust On the
contrary, the combine has not only ap-
propriated all the benefits to itself, but
it has added to its profits by increasing
prices above the level prevailing under
competition. Since the consolidation of
interests early in 1891 not ton of rails
has been sold by the eastern members of
the combine at less than $50 at the
works, or by the western member, the
Illinois steel company, at less than
$3l.50. These were the prices agreed
upon at the meeting in Philadelphia
year ago.
The Investigations into the cost of pro-
ducing the various products of iron and
steel by the commissioner of labor show
the enormous profits of the combination.
On page 1853 of his report the commits
sioner says, THE department has been