The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1897-02-24
THE ORE TRADE.
No Ore Agreement Reached as Yet-S2O,-
10000 of Rail Business Done.
rEror, Iron Trada Paviaw


times in the dispatches of the past
week, but its status is exactly what 1t
was before the rail pool was broken. A
meeting appointed for Tuesday has
been postponed week and many be
further postponed, since there is no
reason for attempting to fix prices at
present. The possibility Of an alliance
between the Minnesota Iron Co. and
the Illinois Steel Co. which was sug-
uested in December when the Carnegie
Rockefeller deal was announced, has
been revived in the past week and put
out as fact. No such arrangement
exists, though the official intimation
is given in way that betokens firm
footing. that the Illinois Steel CO. is
prepared 20 meet any price of any COM
peiitor The fact that some stock
ho dess are common to the two COM
paal>s aamed suggests an alliance for
the benefit of the Chicago district.
the steel rail war was brief anu
al could be desired. Prices were.
at eply enough TO satisfy buyers
tia 54eTe WAS nothing left fer them
BIZ 10 Uuy all their needs required
w;lhsn The limit of their credit. Ii
is safe 10 say that nearly 20,0O0.0OO
worth Of rail business is on the books
, 2 no ..t1 .nI
neafig all Of it taken in five days of
la week If we count 375 600 tons of
Piss burg sales, in addition TO I00,0
t0as OF foreign orders and LOO, 900 tons
OF rails 0ptioned to home roads, and
to nag. add 275,000 tons taken by
Illinois and about $50, 900 tons sold by
Eastern mills, we shall have total Of
l. I0J Go tens. OF this total an
amount more than equivalent to ali
the rail business of 1896 was taken
after the declaration Of war on the
9th inst There is no truce as yet,
and 30 signs that one will be patched
10 A luil has come because most of
the roads able and needing TO buy
largely iidve bought for the year
Larer comers find the steel COM
panies TAR Tess keen for tonnage and
tn al figure OF d week ago, Pittsburg
:iZu Chicago. has given way 10 $40
q .8Ja .oiI. PittsDurg. and 81, Chicago.
I'll PJtsoufg mills are practically
boohed tor tue year: the Western com
plaV Tor Two thirds to three fourths
OF lie ear, while Eastern mills have
Al Unat Lhey Can handle for some
mon Us For the most part $40 was
maintained on Eastern sales. though
soaIe GUS are reported, bringing the
price down 10 Sl9.o0 and in one instance
to SIS The effect of the week events
ca.i not be definitely computed; the
fe d AIS not sufficiently cleared. But
the general statement of last week
seems entirely borne out The large
attendant business that so great a
volume of track work implies is a
significant. A consumption OF nearly
2, 600. 600 tons of Bessemer ores, nearly
all from Lake Superior. is involved in
she rail business by itself. So great
an impetus to activity coming in
single week is taken as a prophecy of
widening demand in many lines. One
market effect, and a natural one is
the frmer price for billets and for
Bessemer pig. With mills busy on
rails, billet production will be con-
tracted and prices may be expected
to work toward paying basis. With
an outlet made for large tonnage of
Bessemer pig. there is strengthening
in that product, and S10.25, valley on
deliveries into July has been reached.
Ii, in addition to rails. the railroads
in their borrowing provide for needed
rolling stock, a varied assortment of
industries, including car works, loco
motive works, wheel foundries, rolling
mills and blast furnces, would be grea-
fly quickened. In few directions there
are faintsings now of better feeling.
Some sellers OF 10unOry iron nave
had larger inquiry the past week.
Prices of nearly all products, outside
of Bessemer pig and billets, are still
on the low level of many weeks past.
Cheap raw materials in 1897 may
prolong the present level or something
near it; but more regular operation Of
mills, when it comes, will at least
bring more economical production, if
markets are not materially higher.
Structural steel has taken no noticeable
start. The money requirements of the
raiI-buying campaing would tend to
stiffen rates slightly on the projectors
of building enterprises. but there
seems no dispo sition to push matters,