The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1897-05-19
The OUTLOOK.
Carnegie Steel Co. Buys Mime
sofa and Chandler Ores.

OUTSIDE OF purchases by the Car
negie Steel Co. and the Illinois Steel
CO.. and the picking up of lots of low
phosphorus ores by certain other buy
ers. also, there has been no ore-buying
movement as yet The Carnegie
Steel Co S purchases, it is understood.
do not represent its needs in old-range
ores. bat include ores which are re-
quired for the immediate future to
preserve the uniformity of mixtures.
Norrie, Minnesota and Chandler ores
were taken, the aggregate being sew
eral hundred thousand tons. The
Illinois Steel Co.'S purchases outside
Of the Mesabi ores recently referred
to, We're confined to the Marquette
and Menominee ranges, the expe~ta-
tion being that the ores will go by
way of Escanaba. Some n0n-Besse-
mer ores have been sold. also, for
Eastern shipment. Furnacemen in
general, however, are not yet in posi-
ton to seriously take up their needs
for 1897. 1t would seem, with the
wait prolonged, as it is likely to be,
that mining operations will have to
be curtailed further. The Norrie has
led by letting out about half its men.
The vessel situation is about as I'M
promising as it has ever been known
at this stage. Season tonnage is Of
fered at 20 cents from the head of the
lake and at go cents to Sept. i. In a
limited way wild charters have been
made at 40 cents from Escanaba, 80
cents from Marquette and 90 cents
from Ashland and Duluth.
Each week brings some new contri-
button to the records of lowest prices
the iron trade has been making in the
past four months. The big bridge
letting at Montreal established a sub
cellar minimum for beams, but the
work being beyond the territorial
limits of the pool agreement, the an
nouncement of the breaking of the
: beam pool was premature, at least.
There is no denying. though. that
trouble has been brewing, in view of
recent unheard-of quotations on
: angles, in connection with beam and
channel tonnage. A meeting at
Philadelphia on Friday will decide
whether the strain is only premonitory
lof rupture. Recent Eastern work
brought On the crisis and it is not un-
likely that some familiar chapters of
pool history may be written again by
5 another week. 1t has not been urged
that the beam pool has been partic-
2 ularly unpopular with buyers of
: structural material. What the aver
e age bridge builder, for example, wants
5 to be assured of is that all his COM
0 petitors are bidding on as high a basis
!. for material as himself: this the beam
i pool has guaranteed until lately. In
e other lines of finished material there
e is a fair aggregate of business, but an
e absence of large orders. The recent
/ steady decline of prices in so many
d lines will bring sharp issue on the
G wage questions at the beginning Of
e the year. Not a few reductions have
been made already, followed by more
regular employment of the men. But
there is a limit TO low prices secured
at the expense of wages, and the
coming summer may furnish fresh
) demonstrations of the reactionary
. possibilities of a market that has been
i pounded beyond its ultimate break
: ing strain. The reduction of the
" Dingley duty on tin plate by the
J Senate committee and the restoration
l. of the tin plate drawback is not kind
e " received by tin plate workers who
II had counted on better tariff and the
Il abolition of the drawback to hell
Re them to better wages. The cut il
D. Southern iron freights has let in more
Ii Alabama product on the North ant
O. promises to add more to the list 0
lg idle Northern stacks. Bessemer piy
III iron at Pittsburg continues to drag
E. The market is about $40 Pittsbur,
s and 1926 valley for early shipment
Billets at S14 Pittsburg and S16.2
Philadelphia excite little interest
10 Wire rods are $50 Pittsburg, wit
q. more active inquiry. Reductions o
le- Connellsville coke after July and o
Us pig iron freight from the valleys 1
40 Pittsburg are being discussed. TIL
It's Carnegie Steel Co. has bought We
or million and Gogebic ores to the amour
re. of ahout 400 600 tons.-Iron Trad
ul- Review.
or