Birmingham age-herald., 1895-07-05
IRON AND STEEL FACTS.
The Danger That Might Attend Boom in Prices ForcibIy Pointed 0ut-What Is
 Thought of the Outlook.

In a very timely and interesting arti- cle under the caption How High Can Iron and Steel Prices Get?" James M. Swank, in the Iron and Steel Bulletin, writes this week as follows:
 "When the railroad managers discoy- cred, in the early months of 1879, that iron and steel prices would go no lower, and that their roads would be called upon to carry increased quantities of agricultural products to the seaboard for at least another year, they suddenly and almost simultaneously began to give out orders for iron and steel rails and for cars and locomotives, with the result that prices of all iron and steel products at once began to advance. Other con sumers of these products, seeing that prices had commenced to go up, also be- gan to buy more freely. An increase in the production of iron and steel followed as matter of course, but this increase did not keep pace with the rapidly in- creasing demand. Prices advanced by leapse and bounds. The railroad com panieN and ether consumers of iron and steel finding that the home supply was not equal to the demand and that there seemed to be no limit to the advance In prices, began to place orders abroad When the movement in this direction be- came general, domestic prices receded as suddenly as they had started upward, and the boom broke. It lasted from the spring of 1879 to February, 1880, or about nine months. 3n
 Shall this experience now be re- peated? Shall domestic prices of steel and iron be now pushed up so high as to invite a reaction in prices, if not in de- mand, before the year closes or soon thereafter? Shall foreign iron and steel manufacturers now secure A ready en- trance into our markets, from which, with the exception of our large demand for foreign tinplates, they have long been virtually debarred? These questions are worthy of the instant consideration of American iron and steel manufac- tuTers.
 .'rhe first thought that occurs to Us in considering the questions above men toned is that the conditions or home pro slucfion of iron and steel are not the same today that they were in 1879 and 1880 Then our productive capacity was wholly unequal to the demand. now in all lines. except tin plates, it is fully equal to any possible demand, ii reason able time be given to fill orders. So Tar as capacity is concerned, therefore, there exists today no serious menace 10 the continuance of the present healthy conditions.
 ''As to prices 1t may be said that the advance from May to July has been at a very rapid pace. It has been justified, however, by two years of depression, often accompanied by serious losses; and by the advance which has taken place in the prices of raw materials and in the wages of labor. Thus far no unfair ad- vantage has been taken of the necessi- ties of consumers High as prices are today they are only high by comparison with the abnor1nally low prices which preceded the advance last spring. And vet there is danger that prices may be advanced so far that consumers, espe- cially if there be delay in meeting their wants, will do as was done in 1S79--place liberal orders abroad. Then the market at ho1-n would undoubtedly weaken.
 "No wise man will want boom in iron and steel prices There is no boom now, notwithstanding some foolish newspaper statements. Prices are still below those of two years ago, when the depression began. What is wanted is a continued healthy demand and a continuance of prices substantially where they now are. The foreign prices we have presented and the bit of history we have revived from the records of fifteen years ago will convice our readers, we hope, that a con tinuance of present prices is far better than higher prices for a short period. to be certainly followed by a sharp reac- tion"