The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-02-14
AMealoAN IRON, sreel AND SUES.
A Glowing Prophecy by the Foremost
orEngIish Financial Publications.
CFrOm the London statist.)


Perhaps the most important economic
Question Of our time Is connected with
the Development Of the iron and steel in
dustries Of the United States and the
probable consequences OF that develop
ment not ONLY on the cognate industries
Of Europe, but also on the whole mari
time relations of the commercial world.
In the paimy days of the proud wooden
''clippers," the Americans had the bulk
OF the transatlantic carrying trade and
the best of the carrying trade between
Great Britain and China and Australia
their wooden vessels were not only
things OF beauty, but were. with national
ingenuity constructed so as TO combine
high speed with the largest possible car
go capacity, and with every possible con-
trivance for saving labor. We are, indeed,
apt to forget that America once divided
with us the worlds carrying trade, IT, in
deed for time she did not have the
lions share. 1t is only since the age of
iron that she has lost that position;
though she need not have lost 1t had not
the fiscal policy that has developed since
the civil war prevented her both from i'm.
porting material wherewith to build ships
at profit. and also from b. ying ships
from foreigners, except under practically
prohibitive conditions. And now we are
face to face with two momentous facts
that presage a revolution in tine worlds
shipping and formidable composition
with Great Britain rs the worlds COM
mon carrier. These facts are % that the
people of the United States have now be-
come impatient of their sitting naviga-
ton laws. and are craving for a national
merchant navy; and (2) that now, for the
first time in their history (siLoe the de-
cline Of wooden shirs) are the Americans
able to produce shipping material on
level with Great Britain.
1t is probable that Congress will soon
revise, If not repeal the navigation laws.
Leaving, however, the fiscal aspects OF
the question for the present, we propose
to take a rapid view of America as an &C
tual iron and steel producer and us pro-
spective builder of high-class modern
iron and steel vessels In the first place,
we have to note that the States have not
yet reached their maximum power in the
production OF pig iron. Their furnaces
are much larger than ours, and their
proportion of obsolete types must be
small, indeed, compared with the number
of antique examples we have still stand
ing In England, Scotland and Wales. At
any rate. their existing furnaces are COM
puted to have a capacity Of over n million
tons per month. The actual production
| haa ~, yat roachad hat rapacitv mud
there Is, OF course, no limit but that OF
capital to the number Of new furnaces
which may yet be built. Can such enor-
nous quantities be produced as cheaply
as In Britain? The truth seems to be,
that in the more favorably situated works
of the United States, and with the more
economically worked furnaces (which are
three or four times the size of ours). the
prime cost of American pigs is below. that
of either Scotland, Cleveland, or Cumber-
and in the respective qualities. Ibis is
"a point on which we must speak with
some diffidence as IL is = matter for in.
dustrisl experts. and we by no means ac-
cept the shipments of American pigs TO
England as evidence of profitable busi-
ness But experienced iron manufactur
ers with whom we have conversad have
expressed their belief that the Southern
states of Am erica, and those of the
Northern States that are within easy
reach of the lake ore can certainly smelt
pigs more cheaply than we can. 1t Is
enough II they can do it as cheaply, when
we pass to the next stage of competition
And in all stages the Americans have
the advantage OF cheaper fuel Barring
India, American coal is now the cheapest
ia the world, and on the average Is to the
Industrial consumer fully Sd. per ton
cheaper than the average in England,
Scotland and Wales. This is an sdvan-
tage, of course, that tells at every stage
of manufacture. 1t is also noteworthy
fact that wages in the American iron
industry have been materially reduced Of
late years. while the producing capacity
has also increased The eight-hour move
ment is unknown In the States and the
continuity of energy Is one of the great
factors in American industrial develop
ment. 70 take one example. AT the
| Pennsylvania blast furnaces, in 1850. the
wage cost was about los. per ton of pig
IRON. hy 1880 the wage cost was reduced
| TO 6s. and now IL has been pretty gener-
ally reduced TO about 2s. per ton. Again,
the average annual output per employee
was, in 1880, 100 tons. 1t is now about 800
tons. 4 hese facts speak for themselves
and those who run can read their signin-
| canoe. Now, take AHotner lACb IN relation
to the American iron industry. Until
within recent years that industry praoti-
cally depended on the development of the
railway systems of the state. When rail
way building was slack, the iron industry
was depressed. and vice versa, But of
late years while railway building has
shrunk to insignificant proportions, the
production OF all kinds of iron and steel
has enormously increased. Look at the
following figures:
| Mileage of Output of
| New Railroad Output OF Finish Iron
| Built. Pig Iron and steel.
Year. Tons. Tons Tons.
1852 II 900 623, 323 $500. 600
1887 $4,000 6,4l7,iis b.250 900
1897 1850 9.652,Is0 7.O00,0OD