Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1899-12-07
THIS THE AGE OF STEEL.
IRON " oHK!aC THE MOST HEMARkA.
Bi. OF PRESENT INDUSTRIES.
Mills Cannot Get Pig Metal Enough to
Meet tho Dema3d-The Most Novel
Source N tho 3hoftage is the Foreign
Export-Probob' IA Permanent Boom.

"Set ShO ne MOST RoNci
Source X tho Shortage is the Foreign |
Export-Pxobob a Permanent Boom. /
OF all the INCIDENTS il the increase
OF prosperity which has followed the
war none has been more remarkable
than the development of the iron in
dustry. Every rolling mill IN the
country IS working up every ton OF
metal which it can get; furnaces which
were closed by the overproduction
from 80 to '93 have been reopened;
prices in some of the manufactured
iron and steel products have risen fifty
per cent, there has been general
a.d sharp rise all along the line and
the mills cannot begin to get pig metal
enough to meet the demand. There
are many causes for this iron boom"
some speculative and some merely tenn
porary, ebnt others and more numer
ous, which are likely to continue and
keep the new mines and the new smelt
ers which are being built to meet the
demand busy for good many years.
The most novel source Of the shortage
is the foreign export. For years we
have been one Of the best customers
for England's manufactures OF iron.
To-day the exchange is little III our
favor We have built the Atbara
bridge; we are building twelve steel
bridges in Russia; we have orders for a
steel viaduct, 1000 feet long in India;
We recently sent sixty engines for the
great English railroads; Kitchener
laid American rails on his road to
khartoum, and we ship iron anC steel
to Japan and Australia. Our exports
have almost doubled in the three years
past and for the last year will reach
900, 900 tons This is trade which
we shall not hold permanently, as the
! English production has been impeded
by strikes and has been much below
the average. In year or so the Eng
lish production will be normal, but
the market will be expanded by the
new uses Of iron and steel and it will
| be wide enough go that the Ameri-
cans can hardly be driven entirely out
| by the competition. Steel rails, steel
bridges, steel freight cars, giant loco
motives, steel ships and iron build
ings are not temporary devices, and
it is these new uses Of steel which
! have created most of this enormous
demand a new novelist calls New
York the iron city, and we are just
coming into the age of steel.
The consequences are various and
the rush is felt most keinly in the
building trades. The mills cannot
begin to fill their contracts for struc.
tural iron and many public buildings,
including number Of schools through
the city, have been delayed in conse-
quence. The railroads are ordering
rails for delivery up to the last half OF
1900. and none of the mills will at
tempt to fill orders before January or
February. These orders ere, of
course. based on an estimated increase
Of traffic next year and after, but there
are not boats enough on the great
lakes to carry the grain now coming
into Duluth. Iron companies have
recently paid from so, 900 to 100000
for ship storage OF 4 900 TO 1000 tons
capacity until the end of lake naviga
ton, in order to get their ore to mar
ket. The rise III freight rates has
Eeen very rapid, and side by side Will
ships which are bringing ore east al
60 cents ton under last springs con
tracts are others which are getting
81. 40 for the same service And only
last year lake vessel owners could sec
no business for their ships at home
and leased some of them at low rates
. for ocean carrying They are even
, talkingabont importing English stec
to make into lake vessels on the lake
| ship yards during the winter.
This shipping business may be easily
, overdone because the enormous crop
: Of this season, which have caused tht
demand for freights, may not be equalet
, again in years But the demand fo1
. steel in the railroad business which
makes large part Of the steel marke
, i likely u continue for a good while
, O7erproluction Is inevitable in tins
and We shall have another period 0
; depression like that from % to 90
/ but the changes III the method oil
transportation which are responsible,
, for most uf the demand will not b.
a abandoned. Big engines, large stee
cars and seventvG.e pound rails t
| support the load are economic ant
/ they require more metal for the am,
: mileage Of road bed than has ever beer
] known before. The cheapaess Of ths
' hard steel rail makes increase Of mile
+ age aud reiaylng OF road bed tempt
e lnglv cheap. Ever the trolley, small a
( i, is bv the side OF the steam mileage
: helps swell the demandfor speed. Il
all the cities OF any size heavy rail
/ are necessary under the big cars
! and the arnouL, q road bed re
B laid for this reason IS "a factor i.
/ the demand While tie rush lasts j
: will distribute prosperity widely
Many q the Gew.v consolidated .ro,
/ companies nave been purchasing larr,
tracts u iron land = ,vhie. tAev VII
: slnk mines Tie rolling lailis ane
/. mines e the South a~r pra~p~riu- OF
: tAe present demand Iaeir uasines:
VIII increase and help 70 diversity III,