The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-02-23
INDUSTRIAL TOPICS.

The Chicago and Grand Trunk railroad
has let Its coal contract for 1895. Two
hundred thousand tons are to be shipped
over the Erie railway, 100000 tons over the
Lake Shore and about 10000 tons were
purchased in Nova Scotia.
Total production of Bessemer steel in
1894 was 3.579.10l gross tons, against 3,215,-
CSC gross tons in 1893; Bessemer steel rails,
1,Ol4O34 gross tons, against 1,129,iOO gross
| tons. production OF rails for street ami
| electric railways in 1894 equaled 155, 1876
tons, against 133,423 tons in 1893.
Philadelphia Press: The anthracite coal
trade is suffering the penalty of misman-
agement for great many years. The
greed of overproduction has brought on a
crisis which will not only be seen in the
| trade, but there are reasons for believing
| that some of the carrying corporations
will be badly hurt. The anthracite trade
can be controlled, but the people who
conduct 1t have refused to take the most
ordinary precautions. few facts will
suffice to make plain just what the situa-
ton is. In January with the trade In deep
| trouble the tonnage allotment was over
shipped nearly 80 per cent. This indi-
Gated clearly enough that the backbone of
the trade was broken. and some of the
companies began selling coal. The Della
ware and Hudson. the Lackawanna and
the smaller New York companies always
talk well of themselves The Reading is
a little slow perhaps but she has been
lame so long that she don't require an
early start. All the companies have been
| marketing coal as fast as theys could.
| When the January denoument became
public and the situation became serious
the Lehigh Valley also jumped into the
market. The orders seem to be to sell at
almost any figures, for that company has
sold coal at So for stove in New York and
probably at $2.75. This walked up Stick
ney d Cunningham, who sell the Pennsyl-
| vania's coal, and the fleet of schooners.
barges, tugs and tubs that they sent TO
| Perth Amboy to load with coal was the
wonder of the trade last week. Much of
| the coal being offered has been stored for
a long time. A portion of that of the Le-
| high Valley Is a relic of the Mcleod times,
and has been transferred to and from the
Reading and Lehigh Valley companies.
| The leading men in the trade look for real
war, and some experienced producers are
of the opinion that 1t will end benetcially
for the trade The Reading company be-
gin working full time this week as against
three days u week.
Philadelphia Record The wrecking Ct
the old Edge Hill blast furnace, at Edge
Hill, Montgomery county, removes a IA
miliar landmark on the line of the North
Penn railroad. and adds another name 10
| the list of abandoned iron-making enter
prises with which the Schuylkill valley Is
strewn. Against the great advantages of
cheaper ore and fuel in the west and
south the manufacture of pig iron in this
| vicinity has had u continuously hard
struggle during the last ten to fifteen
years. Twenty years ago the Lehigh val
| ley was the largest pig iron producing re-
gion in this country. New York state
stood second, and the Schuylkill valley
was third. The Lehigh and Schuylkill
! valleys together produced more pig IRON
than any entire state outside of Pennsyl-
vania, and their joint output was more
than one-fourth of the whole product of
the country. Last year the Schuylklll
valley stood twelfth in the list of pig
iron producing regions, and the Lehigh
valley was in the fourteenth place. The
production of Schuylkill valley for ten
years past will indicate the course Of the
industry in this vicinity: