Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1896-04-09
THE IRON AND STEEL COMBINES.

| nomination to the White House
] THE IRON AND STEEL COMBINES.
The iron and steel industry is now in
the grip of a peculiar combination of
/ interests. including every branch of
the industry from the producers of ore
and coke the leading raw materials, to
the manufacturers Of the finished pro-
duct. The Ore Combination has in
creased prices about IS per cent. This
means that Bessemer lake ores which
sold last year on season contracts at
lower lake ports for s.. 80 are to be sold
! this year for 81. In 1894 the average
price of Western Pennsylvania furnace
coke was 81 per ton. but the Carnegies
have obtained a practical monopoly of
the coke trade and the price for this
year has been boosted to 81 per ton,
price that has been reached heretofore
only once in sixteen years. 81 having
been the average price for 1890. These
advanced ore and coke rates viii, OF
course. very materially affect the cost
Of making bessemer pig iron and the
price of that important product.
The new Steel Combination. complet-
ed in New York last week. according TO
3 the Times OF that city. is designed TO
. regulate the output and control the
price Of crude steel in this country.
Heretofore the price of steel in binets
and similar crude forms has been de-
termined by natural competition. 1t
costs but very little more to make steel
rails than it does to make steel binets-
/ the difference in price in England, is
+ s.. 43 per ton-but both the output and
the price of rails have been controlled
in this country by combination for
several years past The difference be-
/ tween the effect of combination and the
effect of competition may be seen in
/ the prices heretofore prevailing. The
average in 1894 was S16.5S for billets
and S24 for rails. The price Of rails,
as maintained for several months past
by the combination. is S2S at the Penn
sylvania mills; the price Of billets at
the same mills was about 81 a week or
TWO ago. before it was increased TO $50
| by the new combination.
Il is reported that the old combina-
ton for the control of the price of steel
| beams has been renewed. This combi-
nation. after having maintained a very
| high price for some years, was dissolved
/ a year or Two ago. the direct effect Of
the dissolution being a reduction Of
the price by about 80 per cent.
The nail industry affords notable
example. AT the beginning Of 1895 the
wholesale prices at the Pennsylvania
mills were. per key: Wire nails, IS
cents: cut nails. IS cents. These prices
/ prevailed until the middle OF May, when
combination was formed. BY Sep
TENDER the prices had been increased to
s.. % for wire and 81 for cut, an adj
vance of about 165 per cent In spite Of
the marked decline in the cost of raw
material during the last months of
1895. the high prices of the combination
were maintained. and not long ago they
were increased. the prices now being
| 81 40 and S2.15. Still another advance
has been ordered for May 1, when the
/ prices will be S2.55 for wire and s.. 80
for cut. Here we see in less than year
an increase of 200 per cent for one kind
and of 206 per cent for the other.
The manufacturers who have made
and are sustaining these combinations,
or at least a large majority of them, de-
sire that the dominant issue in this
years national campaign shall be the
tariff and are in favor of a Republican
platform and ticket which shall point
to an increase of the duties now in
force. But. as the New York Times
points out. they are supplying ammuni-
ton to the opponents of high duties
every day They are openly admitting
that the present duties are high enough
not only to protect them when prices
are determined by natural competition
i'm the home market but also after
prices have been largely increased by
combination agreements. When steel
/ billets were selling at Pittsburg for S17,
two weeks ago, the price OF English bill
/ lets was S20.65, and the duty on them is
/ $3.50 The Rail Combination. protec-
ted by a duty of S7.S4, sells rails to
Japan for sol %. while the English
price is S23.0S. The nailmakers. while
advancing the home price by 200 per
cent in one year. sell more than 20
100000 pounds for export during that
year. and are protected by a duty of %
per cent How are they to show, not
that their tariff duties should be in
creased but that any part Of them is
really needed for protection?
The high tari6ers are telling the
farmers. whose potatoes are forty
cents cheaper than last year. that the
| Wilson bin did it," OF course it is
not to the interest of the high tarifers