The age-herald., 1897-12-25
\ MINERAL REVIEW OF l897 Progress of Development in Ala
 bama'S Resources, CHARCOAL PIG GOING OUT There Are 1000 Laborers Employed in Min eral Deveopment-Great Progress in
 the Manufacture of Coke.

When the happenings of the past year are recalled to the mind it would, indeed, be a phenomenal condition if the produe- ton of coal, iron ore and other minerals in the state had exceeded that for 1896 to any marked extent. s# In looking back through the past twelve months one cannot help but recall the fact that business conditions in the early part of the year were very much depressed in this district. Previous to the election the republicans had talked prosperity, pro- vided Mckinley was elected president, and very many of the conservative business men, who at other times have. given but little attention to politics whatever, took an active interest during the last cam paign The iron business. which may al- most be said to be the pulse of the com mercial world, had shown very heavy buying movement, which consumers and makers had both considered would con- tinue. But, unfortunately, the political prophets had cried coming prosperity too soon, for instead of the activity continu- ing, the volume of business commenced to shrink in November, 1896, and continued falling off during December, 1S9S, and Jan uary and February, 1897.
 when %;oi!sntii t!on Was Small
 Of course during this dull season, when the consumption did not reach 50 per cent. of the production, none of the operators cared to their works to the utmost ca- pacity but instead felt that economy must be the order of the day, and every item of expense which could be Topped off felt the touch of the pruning knife.
 During the months of March and April. fa irl. tbar ba which had been so marked previous to the election had been resumed because of the extremely heavy buying movement which ruled during those two months. This great consumption, though, did not mean greater profit, because the price fell off, and al- though during March and April the produc- ton of about three and a quarter months was disposed of by the makers, yet the movement only enabled them to swap dol lars as if were. and. no doubt saved some of them from suspending operations, be- cause this heavy buying movement gave them opportunity to get cash into the treasuries instead of storing their product in the warrant company's yard or holding it themselves.
 There had been up to this time no espe- cial inducement to crowd the furnaces to their capacity, or to put into blast idle furnaces. However, the Woodstock fur mace, which had been idle for a good many months, was blown in February, while, on the other hand, the Pioneer Mining and Manufacturing company were out of blast in March and April.
 Idle Furnaces Resume
 During the month of May the business was extremely light, not amounting to the sal of tban Of he duction. But there was also apparently return of confidence upon the part of the makers, which resulted in resumption of operations at some of the idle furnaces, consequently the production increased. This increase of production continued steadily since, until in September it had reached it's hgh-water mark in Alabama, which was maintained until the end of the year.
 The consumption has kept pace with the productions; in fact, the shrinkage of stocks on hand continued until the end of the year, resulting in the smallest stocks be- ing carried over by the furnaces at any period during the past five years. The shrinkage of stocks between April 1 and December l, 1897, in Alabama and Georgia is recorded at 92,2S4 tons, or the difference between 15S,216 tons on hand April l and 6. .932 tons, Dec. l.
 The fluctuations in prices during the year have been considerable. taking for example, No. foundry. This was quoted in January at $I per ton; at $6.50 per ton in March, at s6.75 in June; at $7, $7.25 and S7.50 in Sep tember, which latter quotation ruled until in December, when concessions amounting to p cents per ton were made.
 The trade during the early part of the year was largely for eXportation, so much 70 that if the makers had depended upon domestic sales there would have been a large over-production. The export trade continued fairly good during the later months, but. did not reach the volume att tained during January and February.
 Tie Specsiaiors Appeared h March spectators appeared the market for the first time during the year, and were q prominent factor during the later months. This speculative trade was largely responsible for the extremely heavy shipments which were recorded during the autumn months, when very large propor- tion of iron purchased by this class of buy CTS was withdrawn from the warrant yards and re-sold to consumers.
 One of the most interesting features of tho iron industry during 1897 was the in- creased home consumption. which can be estimated at about 20 per cent. of the pro- duction, since the establishment of the steel mills by the Birmingham Rolling Mill company in September last
 This home consumption has been divided between the Howard Harrison Pipe Works, with capacity of zoo tons per day; the Birmingham and Gate City rolling mills, with total capacity of about 400 tons per day; to which should be added the quail tity worked up by the car wheel works and the large foundries. including the Bir-