The age-herald., 1899-03-28
BUOYANCY OF
 THE IRON MARKET


From the New York Times.
 Great strength has characterized the iroit markets for some months past and prices have steadily advanced for every grade Of iron and steel Competent authorities long ago predicted that highest values would be recorded from week to week in consequence of the extraordinary demand from all sides, at home and abroad. Signs of an all-round depletion of stocks and of anxiety on the part of buyers became discernible some months ago, and the unprecedented condi. tion reached in the business became em- phaslzed by the unwillingness of the large providers of pig iron to part with their supplies to other than the home trade. Apprehensions of scarcity have been given expression to in many quarters, and, as these apprehensions have grown keener with more recent knowledge, greater ef- forts than ever have been made to place new contracts in the finishing departments on the basis of prompt delivery.
 MT. Martin J. Henehan, representative in New York of the iron house of Matthew. Addy x Co.,, who has excellent chances for feeling the pulse of the entire industry dis cussed the pig iron situation yesterday with a representative of the New York Times. This concern handles the product of the Tennessee Coal and Iron company in the territory west of the Mississippi and across to the Pacific, as well as its entire basic output for the Central west, repre- senting also furnaces in Alabama Ohio, Virginia, and other states MT. Henehan said:
 The pig iron market today is an anom. ally. It differs materially from what has Eeen experienced in recent years It is ut- terly impossible to follow prices with any degree of exactness. One is reminded by its course of the game of hide and seek,' the furnaces hiding from the buyers large- ly for self-protection, while the latter are seeking with a vim born of experience. It is reported that $16.50 is being refused by No. by some of the leading Pennsylvania makers, while No. Alabama is now SIP at the furnace, and sellers even at this price, are almost as scarce as hens teeth It will be seen that this is about 75 per cent. higher than the lowest selling point these irons were offered at one time.
 Buyers in the east are beginning to realize that the visible supply in the coun- try is almost gone, fact for some time past apparent to western buyers. Sellers have been crying wolf so long that the New England buyers have not realized the demand in the west until now. Many of them are therefore caught short and con- pelled to pay the top market price.
 When we consider the severe weather which existed in February and compelled almost all the furnaces in the south to go out of blast or bank for want of supplies, the machinery at the mines being frozen, thus curtaiing the daily output in that hxyE S tAnS urhi1 la hn put of the northern furnaces was much re- duced for the same reason, We can easily see where the stocks on hand February 1 have gone.
 ''1he spring buying just opened will lead to further advances and scarcity, so that it is a puzzle to the most astute men in the iron business where the suppl ywill come from for all the rolling mills that are be- ing prepared 10 run. Spectators, too, did not appreciate a good thing before the re- cent advance in pig iron. Possibly the feeling uppermost in their minds was that by investing in Wall street they could get quicker returns, and they were slow to in- vest in the rehabilitation of old defunct furnaces. It has been the aim of large financial interests connected with the manufacture of pig iron to keep the price from going up rapidly and from climbing too high
 "Today's high prices simply illustrate how uncomfortable the pig iron market is, regardless of the strong financial interests opposed to its rise. These very people, in fact, have been swept off their feet. as it were, and no one seems to know where we will land
 Tt is decidedly doubtful that the amount of Lake Superior ore deliverable this sea- son will admit of any material increase in the production of the northern furnaces this year. High prices prevailing abroad are still drawing on the home supply, als oh hn ic rJ,of curtailed from that of a few months ago. Nevertheless, If we not doing as much in pig iron abroad, machinery of all de- scriptions, tools, and agricultural imple- ments are being sent out of the country in larger quantities than ever before in our history. To the uninitiated some idea may be given of the extent of this movement when it is considered that one concern alone has contracts for 40000 tons of ag- ricutural shapes.
 What with combinations and consolida- tions, to be heard of on every side, such pipe combinat tion, Car Building consolida- tfon, Stove Makers agreements, all d. ing to higher values, and with every .l- road In the country renewing it's track and rolling stock, and this means rebuilding of bridges necessitated by the increased ton- noge> of the roads; again, the advance in wages to employees in every branch of the iron business, values cannot but be en- hanced In anticipation of higher wages at the mines the price of coke has gone up, while it is not impossible that as the spring advances we may hear of miners asking for still further advances in wages.
 "All this indicates that prosperity has struck us with considerable force Nor is it confined to the iron business. The ques- tion may be asked How long will 1t last? Certainly there will be no let up to 1t this year, and I fail to see how existing con- tacts can be filled, not to say anything of orders coming in, until we are well ad- vanced into the year 1900. Money being in the hands of the consumer will stimulate all kinds of business and every department of industry so that 1t is safe to count on two years of prosperity or possibly long, er."
 AN EASTER BONNET
 From Leslie's Popular Monthly. ..s