The age-herald., 1898-09-15
AS TO PIG
 IRON WARRANTS

From the New 1ork Times.
 Pig iron warrants-those of the American
 Pig Iron Storage Warrant company-are l about to be placed upon the regular list on the New York Stock Exchange. At l present the warrants are among the "un- | listed" stocks, but for several years past
 there have been no transactions in them.
 They have, however, been constantly sell l ing at private sales
 The rules adopted in 1889 for the buying
 and selling of pig iron warrants-unrevlsed l until now-have proved rather complicated
 and confusing, and seriously have they 1 hampered the sale of warrants that trad l ing in them has been altogether inactive. 1 Recently the Pig Iron Warrant company, | through it's president, MT. George H. Hull | submitted revised rules to the authorities | of the stock exchange, who have them un-
 der consideration. The new rules will be | approved, and it is believed that pig iron
 warrants will be actively traded in.
 It is claimed that the listing of pig iron l warrants on the stock exchange like stock in which there could be active trad ing would place American manufacturers | in a better position to compete for the
 larger contracts of the world, particularly l those extending over large periods. This l has for long time past been realized by | the trade here. Daily transactions in such | warrants on the British exchanges are very large, and the British iron trade is said to 1 greatly appreciate the important part l which a facility to procure them plays l when contracts for large quantities of pig | iron are to be obtained. American War 1 rant people have been well aware of the 1 obstacles presented by the old rules for | some time, but it was felt that the sub | hitting of set better adapted to all re- l quirements had better be deferred until | the Warrant company should have in their | yards at least 100000 tons of iron.
 Under the old rules, if person made a | sale and delivered a Birmingham war | rant, he had to make a deduction of $37 | per ton to furnish the New York market i equivalent. If he sold any other grade of 1 iron than No foundry, on which all cal | culations were based it was necessary to | either add deduct when making the | price, so that the delivered grade should be | equivalent to No. foundry. This involved l rather much detail for busy people, and trading in warrants was consequently slight.
 | The American Pig Iron Storage Warrant l company is now said to have 290 900 tons of pig iron in it's yards, and the time has 1 come for extending the sale of warrants | through the greater opportunities present. 1 ed by the stock exchange. The rules re- | gently submitted do away with more than
 half the detail formerly imposed. Instead | of everything being brought to the equiv | alent of New York" delivery, the revised | rules provide for delivery for any locality | that may be mentioned, and the result of | this will be to have the lowest-priced To- | cation made the basis of the transaction l Birmingham, Ala, is admitted to be the | 1oWest-priced location, being the cheapest l center in the world for manufacturing pig 1 iron, and sales under the new rules will | run on a Birmingham basis Birmingham ! is the one place in the United States that l ships to every part of the civilized world, | and it is also where the largest number | of the companys warrants are Out of the l entire ,000 tons probably 10000 are in l Birmingham warrants In Great Britain | sales of pig iron warrants are on a Glas- goW basis.
 American furnaces are generally sold | ahead. With business activity and small l stocks export trade arrives at a standstil l Consequently the American manufacturer l with limited stocks to draw upon is at a l disadvantage in the matter of contracts l hhSiS SS dIuOuHlS or Iron or steel are l involved. The English manufacturer is al- l ways in readiness to undertake such or | ders, fluctuations in value being less of a | factor with him and having assurance that l he will be able to fulfill the largest con- | tracts. An iron trade authority says: 1 The furnaces of this country have had l one customer, and that is the consumer; | in Great Britain the furnaces have two l customers-the consumer and the dealer l Consequently, Great Britain will carry six l months stock of pig iron where we will | carry but three weeks, and even less than | three WeekS.'
 At present the Tennessee Coal and Iron | company is sold ahead to the extent of l 3l9,00O tons. This is more than six months' 1 product. This company is said to have l only 42,000 tons on hand, which is close to l what is called "bare yards" for a furnace l cannot allow it's yards to become absolute 1 ly bare. Today this is getting to be the | condition of the furnaces of America. Es | inmates to August 1 showed that 1855 stacks | were in blast and 240 out of blast A l competent authority recently declared that l 1t would be impossible to start up even
 90 per cent of the countrys furnaces to l turn out pig iron, the others on the list according to his statement being in ruins l and simply retained by their owners on the | list Of furnaces in the hope of being able l to sell them. The same authority added: : We are producing very nearly our actual | capacity, and for this reason it would be
 next to impossible to make fictitious ad- | vance or recession in prices"
 | It is freely predicted that the listing of l pig iron warrants and the adoption of suitable rules for transactions in them | would be followed by active trading. an | important step being thus taken to place | the iron business in a position which will | enable our manufacturers to comDete as | successfully with the trade elsewhere in l this matter of extensive export orders as they can in other directions. We are now | about to have large demands for pig iron 1 rom abroad, and the expected official an
 nouncement of the listing of warrants on | est.
 ONE OF THE FINEST WAR CHARACTERS | From the New York Sun No officer who has served in this war de- serves higher honor. both as a soldinr a ,,1i