Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1897-01-04
SIEI!zz.Z,gll Plans.
The Gig, i Trust That is Now In
View.
1t is Proposed That the Big Billet
Manufactures Pay the Small Mills
to Close Down, and Then the Big
Producers will Dictate Prices and
Control Production-The Bellaire
Obstacle to the Deal

Pittsburg, January 3.-The iron and
steel world will be astonishad when it
hears the report of the committee ap-
pointed at the last meeting Of the Amer
lean Bessemer Association TO devise a
plan by which the defunct billet pool
may again be placed on its feet. The
committee Will report tomorrow at
meeting TO be held in Pittsburg.
1t is proposed that the larger con-
Germs buy up the allotment OF the other
mills and pay The owners to close their
plants and practically retire from the
billet manufacturing business with the
exception of pocketing the dividends
they will receive from the concerns
that will then make billets for the
whole country.
In this respect the billet poo lwill
EMULATE THE METHODS
of the nail trust, but with more hope Of
success, as all the manufacturers who
now have Bessemer converting mills
now manufacture billets. Thus to start
competition outside the pool and its
subsidies, it would be necessary for Il
manufacturer to establish first con-
verting mill to reduce pig iron to steel,
and then to erect rolling mill to make
billet5 from his steel.
The larger manufacturers rely on
their stand in the market to Illustrate
any attempt to establish outside compe-
tition, when the magnitude of the un-
dertaking is taken into consideration.
The consummation of the project
means that the trade in billets and fin
;~I &c n
larger producers, or
A CONCENTRATION OF PRODUC-
TION
in the hands of the few.
The Carnegie. Hainesworth, Pennsyl-
vania, Jones & Laughlins and q few
other of the larger firms of the coun-
try will then control the production,
fix prices and share the profits with the
idle mill owners in the same manner as
the rail pool now does with the Cleve-
land Rolling Mill Company. which has
not turned a wheel in its rail mill for
several years.
What chances there are of a failure,
like the similar attempt Of the nail pool,
should the billet deal be made, seem
small. as the difference between buying
a nail machine and erecting a Bessemer
mill is great, and there is little doubt
in the minds of manufacturers as we'll
IS middlemen who viii be hurt By Che
change that the combination will be
maintained if undertaken.
If the report be adopted and the small
mills closed hundreds Of men will be
thrown idle. The price Of steel billets
will advance. of course.
THE FIRST OVERTURES
to get possession of the small mills will
be made to the Bellaire Steel Company,
of Bellaire. 1t was formerly member
of the pool, but withdrew when it found
that two of the largest concerns in the
business had violated the pooling agree
ment. 1t resigned from the Bessemer
Association, and resumed its independ-
ence of other firms.
The Bellaire firm supplies steel to
four large consumers in its own i'm
mediate vicinity. Because of having
market right in its own territory it
could retain this trade, despite the
large drop in the price of jillets Of other
firms. The freight rates from Bellaire
to the four mills mentioned are much
lower than from Pittsburg, and be-
cause of this the firm had the upper
hand of the trust. In addition to this
advantage the company is wealthy and
was prepared for a long fight. If it
AGREES TO ACCEPT
the pool proposition and close its plant,
it is thought the Ohio Steal Company,
of Youngstown, will also close. The
third Kicker" is the Hainesworth Steel
Company. of Pittsburg. Another con-
cern, which never was member Of the
pool. was the Shoenberger Iron and
Steel Company.
The question is. will the smaller mills
he willing to become PARTY to such
an agreement? The larger manufac-
turers would answer, if they could an
swer at all. that the smaller firms
probably are willing, for the reason
fb9t with the prevailing open market
and present prices, that are in some
instances below the cost Of production
and the over capacity of the billet mills
of the country, the smaller concerns
would enter any agreement that VIII
hiring them a return for their invest
ment and prevent the present ruinous
competition.