Omaha daily bee., 1893-04-08

The supremacy of the United states
over all other countries in the most inn
portant of all manufacturing industries,
the production of iron and steel, is now
80 completely established that this
country can scarcely be said to have a
rival in that industry. The change that
has taken place in the relative positions
of the United States and Great Britain
as iron producing countries is so great
as to be almost beyond belief. a Lon
don journal devoted to the iron interest
has this to say of the decline OF
that industry in Great Britain: ut
was doubtless foregono conclu-
sion that the production of iron
and steel in the United Kingdom
in 1892 would compare badly with the
results of the years Immediately preced-
ing, but we question whether any one
anticipated that the retrograde move
ment could extend 50 far as it has done.
The production of pig iron, for instance,
has been thrown back more than twenty
years. Such is the result of the accumu-
lated reductions which have taken place
annually since 1889, eliminating in the
output for last year being lowered to
6.6l6, 800 tons. In 1871 the production
in Great Britain amounted to 6,62I, lI9
tons, and in 1872 to 6,74l 929 tons, so
that the iron trade of this country is now
no further advanced in that respect
than it was twenty years ago. This is
| serious matter if we consider the growth
of population at home and abroad which
:. Al, . ;,,., I tt,,
| development of commerce throughout
the world. At no previous period in the
| history of the iron trade has there
occurred such pronounced retrogres-
! SION
A few days ago a quotation was made
| in these columns from an interview with
a prominent English iron and steel
manufacturer who attributed the depres-
sion in that business in part to the
decline in ship building in Great
Britain. The British industries upon
which the iron trade is, in a great meas
ure, dependent are not prosperous, and
it is mainly due to this fact that the
| present production of iron and steel in
that country barely equals that OF twenty
years ago When the United Kingdom
was producing $500, 900 tons in 1871, this
country had hardly begun to manufac-
ture iron and steel in any considerable
quantities, but now our mills have
eclipsed those of Great Britain with an
output of ., 157 900 tons last year, against
6.6l6, 800 tons manufactured in the Brit
ish mills This clearly gives the United
States the supremacy in this important
industry, and there is every indication
that the lead will not only be maintained,
but greatly increased.
AS an index to the condition of other
industries the iron and steel business is
nearly infallible. 1t has been growing
prodigiously in this country, chiefly be-
cause the industries and enterprises de-
manding the products of the iron mills
have beeu expanding and multiplying
In Great Britain there has been of late
great decline in shipbuilding, busi
ness which requires large quantities o
iron and steel, the building of wooden
vessels having been practically aban
doned but in the United States the
shipbuilding industry is now vastl,
greater than it ever was before. Other
trades having in the aggregate grea
influence upon the consumption of irol
are correspondingly depressed in Grea
Britain and prosperous in the UniteC
States. The great advance made by thi
country in the production of iron ant
steel is only commensurate with its ad
vance along all lines of industrial prog
ress.