Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-03-02
OUR COMPETITIVE WAR WITH ENG
LAND


In England just now American COM
petition with Great Britain in iron and
steel manufactures is a topic of seri-
Gus discussion, and Englishmen en-
gagged in those lines of industry make
interesting statements tending to eX-
plain why they view that competition
with increasing anxiety.
In the first place the American man
ufacturer of iron and steel has a great
advantage in the unlimited supply of
the best raw material and superior
facilities for transportation to the fur
naces and mills Ore of the highest
quality is found is found in practically
ineXhaustible supply in the United
States and can be mined at extraordin-
airy low cost, while Great Britain has
to import at least one-third of the ores
used. The distance from the mine to
the furnace may be greater in the
United States than in the case of a
large part of the ores used in Great
Britain, but the facilities for transpor-
tation and consequent low freight far
more than overcome the disadvantage
of distance. For the greater part of
the route between mine and furnace
the American ore is carried by water,
and cargoes of 5000 to 1000 gross tons
are loaded in two or three hours
through spouts and unloaded with
great rapidity by hosting machines.
The comparative short land transpor-
tation is in railway cars with capa-
city ranging from twenty to fifty tons.
while in England the heaviest load is
but ten tons.
American blast furnaces produce 600
tons per day of twenty-four hours and
ton of cold pig is loaded in eleven
minutes, all the work being done by
machinery. In England the best out
put is 1,617 tons per week. with ore
having so per cent of metallic iron. Ac-
cording to the statement of the presi-
dent of one of the leading engineering
societies in England the enormous out
put of the American rolling mills can
not be equaled in Great Britain. where
there are no such mills nor is any one
works able to make the steel for any
thing like the quantity. 1t is explained
that most British firms have jobbing
mills only and it is doubtful if they
could get rid of so large make even
if they rolled it.
American machine tools are admitted
to be better than the English in many
ways. They are better planned, can
do more work, require less attention
and are operated at far less cost in
proportion to the work accomplished.
The machine shops in England are, as
a rule, in a primitive state compared
with those in the United States. There
are in England many shops where they
still use rope blocks and hand labor
for manipulating heavy materials,
while in this country the electric crane
picks up big locomotive and runs it
to the far end of a factory as if it were
mere trifle. One writer calls atten
ton 10 the fact that American pro-
prietors of a factory expend large CAPT
tai in improving their plant and bring
ing it up to date. and then says that
in England the engineering shops are,
with few exceptions. starved for want
of capital The men have to use
Anticipated machinery and employ OBJ
solete methods because the employers
won't put more capital into the con
Germ At the same time they rush into
all sorts of foreign enterprises, often
losing their money. This is one reason
why British engineering is going down
hill at the present time