The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-08-29
STEEL PARADOX.
Hundreds of Men
Made Idle By
Prosperity.
BIG BOOM IN PRODUCTS.
1t Has Far Outrun the
Production of
Ore.
BIG BOOM IN PRODUCTS.

thousands of men out of employment
At the Cramps ship yards. in Phila-
delphia, for example, where several yes
sells, including warships for Russia, are
awaiting completion, mechanics are
being discharged right and left simply
because the firm cannot get enough
steel plates to enable it to go on with
construction.
Mills throughout the country are
working overtime, and no industrious
ironworker who knows his business
need seek employment in vain. At the
ore mines in the northwest, where
everything is being rushed to get all
the ore possible to the mills before cold
weather closes navigation, there is and
has been for weeks a positive scarcity
of labor.
Those who are feeling the pinch of
adversely in the flood tide of prosperity
are the workmen who depend upon the
finished product for their raw material.
The finished product of one industry is
the raw material of the next. From the
viewpoint OF these men prosperity for
the time being, seems to be spelled
backward.
Several men prominent in the iron
trade with whom I have talked
say the idleness of the mechanics for
want of finished material is only tenn
porary, and that it does not surprise
them.
ut is" said one, "as though the own
er of one of the vessels that the Cramps
cannot finish on time had already en-
gagged a crew for the vessel He would
not, probably, keep them on the pay roll
for the three or four months delay in
construction, but they might be certain
OF employment when the vessel was
ready.
Il have seen published statements
that the shortage of steel is due to large
expectation. 1t has been said, among
other things, that the new White Star
steamer Oceanic has been largely COW
cred with steel plates exported from
this country. Such statements are easy
to make and difficult to disprove, but
have not been able to find any record
OF such expectation, nor have seen
anybody who has. do not believe that
our steel manufacturers are bothering
| just now about the foreign trade. They
have more than they can do to supply
what is required for home consumption
The present demand, which means
nothing else but general prosperity,
promises to keep up another year at
| least. If there is any trouble at all it
will come from the shortage of ore
from the mines In the northwest. We
shall not feel that until next winter
or spring, after navigation has been
closed for some time. The orders for
this year of course, are all placed.
and the mill owners are hustling to
make sure that they get all the ore
they have been promised.
1t appeared to be almost an assured
thing with some steel manufacturers
who discussed the subject that the mill
owners win not get from the mines all
the ore they were promised before the
steel boom began, or anything like it,
In fact, the probability Is that all or
! ders will be scaled from ten to fifteen
per cent. The main supply of ore from
the northwest comes from Minnesota
and Michigan. Not much is coming
from the south to help out.
Reports from Alabama and Georgia
show that a great deal of the compare
lively small stock in the yards is tied
up by litigation and not now available
for the market. The south is really in
the throes of an iron famine that has
long been predicted, and the outlook for
immediate relief is considered very
poor. 1t seems certain that mill own
ers must depend for their supply on
the great mines in the northwest, and
unless there is a prompt and rapid in
crease in the quantities coming from
there many of the orders already talk
eli lOF InlS year must pefIOfce be car
ried into next year.
Aside from the shortage of labor the
miners are greatly hampered just now
by the lack of transportation facilities.
The whaieback steamers have not been
anything like the success for ore car
rying that was expected, and they are
gradually being discarded. Some of the
big corporations, like the Federal Steel
Company and the American Steel and
T4NA fN.,-,a n
OF large rev lake steamers expressly
built for the iron ore trade. The new
est of these are very speedy and capa-
Bile OF carrying $500 tons Of ore.
The construction of these ore vessels
is peculiar. The decks are open for at
least two-thirds the entire length of
the vessel. The engines are back in
the stern of the ship, and their weight
throws the bow well out of water. The
bridge and officers and mems quarters
are at the extreme forward part CT the
vessel
The home demand for steel rails is
quite brisk enough to keep American
mills busy at present without looking
for trade in foreign markets at lower
prices. The period of American railway
development is often referred to as if
1t had reached an end, but the mere
replacement of rails over a total length
Of $4,000 miles of railroad would alb
sorb a large part of the home product
Besides, there has been a large increase
In the building of the second, third and
even fourth parallel tracks on many
Of the railroads In Massachusetts, for
instance, the total length Of extra
tracks and sidings now in use is greater
than the length of the main lines In
the whole United States such mileage is
80 per cent Of the total.
Nor is the demand for railway mate
rial confined to the steam railways
The rapid increase of electric street
roads in some localities exceeds any
thing ever known in the building of
steam lines. In the opinion of we'll
informed men, 1t is very serious ques-
ton whether present prices for steel
rails and track materials are not likely
to cause postponement of railroad
work until more normal times have re-
turned. The consumption Is enormous
now, they say, and 1899 will probably
exceed that Of last year, with its
1000, 900 tons Of rails.
There have been times when prices
in the iron trade were higher than
now, but there never was a time when
the volume Of business was so great
and the general prospects were SO en-
|couraging. The business career Of the
United States covers little more than a.
century. In that time the nation has
built up the greatest home nnarlkat a.