Birmingham age-herald., 1895-01-11
SOUTHERN IRON ANDIT PROSPECTS.

Baltimore Sun.
 In the ssannual', of the Tradesman, a bi thly published at Chattanooga, !, Tenn, is an interesting article on the poai- tion and future of the iron making ndu5try of the south. There were during the "boom' period furnaces erecled at various places in the south merely to sell town lots, and these furnaces, when not favored by ing the hard times of the past two years, but the other furnaces of the south have, as rule, been able to keep running. Their vitality has been tested by the present period of low prices and severe economies, and with the coming of better times and higher prices they are likely to make great deal of money. Recently there has been severe competition, but Alabama and Tennessee iron is holding its own in the norther states against 90-cent Con nnellsville coke and Mesabi ore at $2 or S2.25 ton.
 Any desired quantity of gray forge pig can be purchased today at Birmingham, it is stated, at S6 25, aud No. foundry at SC. 50. Ihere have been sales of gray forge tat or belowo S6 on the cars at Birmiug- with s. 39 for gray forge and SS.75 for No. foundry pig at Middlesboro, England. Brming ham iron has an advantage of from S2. r to S2 Al over tho class of Eng, fish iron that eompetes with 1t. With the tariff duty of S4 ton added it is clear that
  tion of foreign with southern pig.
 It is in fact northern, not English or German, competition that the south has Io fear. Three Iourths of the southern prod uct is sold in the north and west. A fair amount of business is done in Chicaeo after paying a freight charge Of B 25 tou and at Pittsburg after paying a freight charge of A ton. With the advantage of cheap Mesaoi ores and 90-cent coke north ern furnaces along the line of the great lakes claim to be able to undersell the Bir- mingham district by from 50 cents to S1 a ton. II this be conceded, It is still obvious that Birmingham iron men can sell at a profit at home at g 25 less than their com pettors ia Chicago can. Their ability to compete in eastern markets is proved by sales in Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York after paying freight charge of s .5o ton ''As this condition," says the Tradesman, "is not the result of any temporary circumstances or cum mbinations, 1t is going to continue.' Fierce compe- tition with the northern furnaces has led the southern producers to employ every economy and improvement. ''Soulhern coke,'' it is asserted, "today performs duty that is not excelled in any other known blast furnace practice. It has been lightly asserted that Alabama furnaces have been losing money by their low prices, but this assertion ceases to have effect when a lapse of ten years finds these furnaces still going.
 Steel is not, 1t appears, yet made largely in the south, though the practicability of making it-has been shown at both Bir- mngbam and Chattanooga. "Works upon a large soale for the economic pro- duction of steel, 1~ says the Tradesman, |, "have not yet been seonstructed." Pig is being sent for conver8on to basic open hearth steel works in the east and north. But steel making is to be thenext and most profitable step taken by southern turn ace men, and their ability to make steel In competition with the lake region is suSs posed to be indicated in the fact that the Mesabi ores are not uniformly or chiefly Bessemer ores.
 With the advent of better times, in . creased demand for iron and better prices, southern furnaces will, it is believed, reap very large profits. Every advance of a dol lar in the price of pig will enable them to send it some hundreds of miles further east and west-will widen and improve their market. They make money now; they will make great deal more in the good time- a. coming. Virginia, it is held, will then be a strong competitor with Alabama an d Ten nessee for control of eastern markets. Furnaces on the Chesapeake and Ohio and on the Norfolk and WestefR. it is noted, have been running during the whole of the business depression, and an increase of pro- duction in the Virginia district is in sight. The tide rises. Development comes to-lhe Old Dominion by slow degrees, but when it arrives everybody will wonder how ft was % lop4 delayed.