Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1896-09-11
STILL CRYING FOR MORE.

The steel HAIL Combination Yoiilnr for
More Protection.
Tia combination movement roceutly
and now In progress In tho iron nnd
steel industry has not only excited
some alnrm In the high tariff camp, ns
we showed u few dnys ago, hut has
also become tho subject OF criticnl re- :
marks In conservative trnde Journals.
Tho Iron Age urges the associated
manufacturers OF steel rails To reduce
their uniform price, pointing out that
II is maintained In spite OF decline of
about % por cent In the coat OF pig
iron since September lnst, nnd that
there nrc considerations involved of n
much higher order thnn tho mere tenn
pornry advantages secured by ndher-
ing to prices which can only produce
Irritation" The Boston Commercial
bulletin says:
I'm steel rnila, though combine
ton holds the price above what IL
ought TO, we cnn compete with tho
manufacturers OF any country, as Is
shown by the recent sale OF 10, 600 tons
OF American rails to Japan ut n price
which was 81. rs per ton lower than the
minimum prices of the English mnnu-
fncturcrs, who hold for e?s II Is nm
dcrstood that rails cnn be made with
in sc of the value of blllcts, in which
case rails could have been sold for
even less than s2i."
Tho associntion's price To BUYERS I'm
this country, however, is s98 Mt cast
crn mills and s20 ut tho mills In Chi
cngo. The difference between tho
price of steel rails nnd the price OF
steel billets Mt English ports is less
than 92. so per ton. Here is nn instruc-
tive comparison:
Dinor-
Diilc,s Rails enco
England, e. n b. ...... ...S!U.e5 {2308 saia
United States. Pitta-
burgh mills ............. 100 900 iiO0
Tho English quotations are those
cabled to tho Iron Ago on the 18th
inst. Billcts were selling for GIT ut
Pittsburgh few days ago, before tho
pricc was increased TO SEQ 25 by the
new billet pool. The difference now
Is e775 instead of eii. II may be
noticed, ns bearing upon the tariff
question. TINT even this increased price
Mt Pittsburgh Is lower than the Eng
lish prico, and the bihct may be re-
gardcd as lying at tho base OF the steel
industry.
There Is much talk about the price
of nails. In the case OF no other
Iron product do variations In the price
attract the attention OF so many
persons Since May last the price
OF nails, both wire and cut,
hns been increased by nearly 200 per
cont. owing to the operations Of com.
bination controlling both branches OF
the industry. A fresh advance ordered
for Moy made the increase o28 per
cent for cut nails and 2O0 per cent for
wire nails With respect to the tariff
IL may be snid that large quantities OF
mills have been exported for some
years past, and that while tho domos.
tic price has been advancing the ex-
ports have been increascd
The Iron Age has recently published
several letters of com plnint from hard
ware merchants "a prominent mer.
chant In Pennsylvania" says:
Come now, my self-rcspecting hard
ware men, you who pride yourself on
your commercial honor, you who will
stand rated good for all the merchan-
disc you can buy, come now, honor
bright, how do you feel when you are
TO tell the honest mechnnic
or laboring man, he who is earnestly
striving to earn home for himself, or
even to tell the toiling farmer, that
yonr base price for cut or wire nails is
e2. so or So. rs per keg2 You know that
they arc not worth any such money.
OF course we know that the price of n
year ago, rs cents, was two low. but
why should they be worth anywhere
more than between sl.lO and Si25
l<w? And when you have this order