The age-herald., 1899-08-30
WE CONVERT
 EUROPE'S IRON
From the New York Press.

1 1hNS huulliA6 hluldIluS IOT dil lne
 raw iron and steel they could get for ship
 ment to the United States. This announce
 ment is made grudglngly by the London Fi-
 nancial News, and it goes to show what a grip the Americans have on the iron and | steel trade of the world.
 That all the furnaces in this country are l being pushed to the limit, and that they
 are unable to supply the demand from the
 mills that turn out the finished material, is an indication that one of the greatest 1 and longest continued waves of prosperity that this country ever felt is merely at its start.
 That the manufacturers of this country | can go abroad and buy the raw material, l bring it over here and pay high duty on 1 it. then manufacture 1t into finished prod
 uct end sell that product abroad means that the mills of this country have a grip | on the worlds markets that cannot be | shaken off.
 Raise In Prices Inevitable When the prices of iron and steel began | to advance, the greatest fear of the man. | ufacturers was that they might cut off for eign trade and kill the export business entirely in finished material, as it was thought that foreign buyers simply could not stand the high prices. But the scarcity of the raw material here, coupled with the
 fact that there was such tremendous de-
 mand for 1t In this country, could result in only one thing. That was that prices must be raised, and continue to be raised so long there was such an immense de- mand. whether the export trade that had been so carefully nurtured were killed or
 not.
 |. business has continued to grow steadily, even at the higher range of prices, and the | climax now comes in the official announce ment that Americans are buying all of the iron and steel they can get in England
 and Scotland That fact .alone shows the commenting hand America holds in the worlds trade in iron and steel. Greater Advance Coming With the supply Of raw materials en- tirely exhausted, and with the furnaces turning out a greater product than ever known before, and still unable to supply the demand there is nothing that can pre- vent another and greater advance in iron
 and steel That Is the opinion of experts who have spent a lifetime in the study of the trade
 The trade will breathe freer with the
 knowledge that exports will continue to grow. Where the raw material may be
 bought in England at high prices because there is none here to be had, and where that material can be shipped twice and the finished product sold abroad at a profit, there must be a wide margin somewhere
 between even the high prices that are coming and the danger point where ex- ports will stop. There now seems no fear that that point will be reached and the trade exuts accordingly.
 Iron and steel men are looking toward
 Russia as country that will require great aid in the attempts at progress that coun- try is making. In this field Germany is our hardest competitor and to show the scramble that is going attention is | called to the fact that while America was buying new raw material from England | Germany was buying the same kind of ma- terial from this country.
 Can't Fill the Order
 One order for 10000 tons was placed here for immediate shipment, but thus far only
 one-tenth of that order has been filled, so | great is the demand for home consump- l ton.
 American firms, realizing the vast im- | portance of the Russian trade, are sending | representatives there, even though they | may have little to do just now except to establish lines of commercial recognition and friendship. In this connection a pe- culiar objection is made from abroad. That is that the American manufacturers are sending men into Russia who can speak | only English, while the Germans are recog- 1 nized more quickly because the educated | ones also can speak French, and either | German. or French Is understood and | spoken freely in Russian business houses. | Regarding the feeling of apprehension in | Germany about the immense increase of l American exports the American commer- cial agent at Hamburg recently reported to the United States department of state | that several trades had met in Germany. | especially those representing the iron and steel business, and in every instance the | object of the meeting was to find some | means of preventing the growing influx of | American goods.
 Vain Attempts to Rival Us He reported that the tool-making inter-
 ests demanded protection from the Ameri- can trade. The agent said it Was ac- lnowledged there that this country stood
 unrivaled in the manufacture of machinery  and tools, and that despite all opposition the trade was certain to increase. | That the enterprise of the Americans has | much to do with the growth In exports is l shown in the fact that when 1t became 1 known that Egypt was to invite tenders 1 for steel rails in October several Ameri- | can firms immediately sent representatives l over to be prepared to make bids. Then | this country is shipping steel cars to Cam | ada, raMs to England, wire to Australia
 locomotives to Russia, the finest machinery | to Sweden, and tools, car wheels, bridges
 and structural work and the infinite varie- | ties of the finished material in iron and | steel to almost every port on the globe. | And all this in the face of the fact that | prices are rising steadily and that not | enough raw material Is being produced
 here to supply the demand for home con-