The age-herald., 1899-07-11
MATERIALS WILL
 BECOME SCARCER Cleveland Iron Trade Takes an
 Optimistic VIEW OF IRON CONDITIONS Export Sales Are Reported at Nearly
Export Sales Are Reported at Nearly Current Prices, and This Branch of the Trade Has Taken
 a Fresh Start

The following, from the Cleveland Iron Trade Review, gives the situation of the iron trade for the first week of the second half of 1899, which is strongly optimistic:
 '"rhe first week of the second half of the year is one of broken operation in many departments of the iron trade, but it has teen marked by continued strong demand and by fully maintained or advancing prices. It Is evident that the remainder of the year will intensity the scarcity of material in' some lines a least. In the central west, the shutting down of several Bessemer steel plants for a week or ten days is due almost much 10 the failure to get metal as to the necessity for repairs. The third quarter promises to show even more strained condition of steel works operation. The shut-downs by bar, sheet and tin plate mills will amount in most cases to a week at least; tin plate plants pending the vote by Amalgamated Associa- ton lodges on a reduction in the 20 per cent. demand, may be closed longer. The labor situation in general, owing to at tempts to force recognition of the union in some cases, and in others to strike over trivial causes, has possibilities of trouble that may yet have to be reckoned with.
 Producers of southern iron note sales of No. foundry at $l450 Birmingham and of basic at $14. Export demand more
 
 large inquiries have been received. Ex- port sales are reported at nearly current prices, but many of the inquiries must be turned away thrilled. Domestic buying for 19O0 delivery is increasing. In some cases today's quotations are tie basis of these contracts; in others about $1 ton below top prices is being realized Buyers of both pig iron and finished material who always contract about this time for material on which deliveries reach into the following year are coming into the market week by week, but are taking only about half the usual amounts, often much less; for the balance they will place orders later in the year when the situation is clearer respect ing 1900. It is now generally conceded that the present scale of consumption is meas urably assured for some months into next year, and that in any event foreign busi- ness on a larger scale awaits the going after 1t, when home conditions change. Among the advance of the week is $l 0 ton on bar iron, with a wide margin still maintained between iron and steel. Struct- ural business is fairly swamping the mills and fall delivery is now the best promise with some The Lake Superior ore situa- ton begins to give tangible indications that not all the sold material will be shipped The Gogebic range in particular is not full filling expectations"
 James A. Green of the firm of Matthew, Addy & Co.,, pig jon merchants of Cincin- natl, o, IS quoted as SINlNS III dil lnltiNlcW.
 Iron exports will undoubtedly show a falling off from last year. But this fact re- fleets the increased prosperity of the in- dustry rather than indicating that Ameri- can iron manufacturers are losing their prestige abroad. The truth of the matter is that the domestic consumption of iron has reached such enormous proportions that exporting in rd-breaking quantities is out of the question.
 ''The most remarkable development in an industrial way during the past ten years is the steady forging to the front of the iron interests in Alabama.
 ''The first iron from the south that came to the north was looked upon with great suspicion. It was almost impossible to get any persons to buy it. The situation is so changed now that southern iron Is the standard foundry metal of America, and Birmingham, Ala, today sets the price for foundry irons
 Cincinnati is the main distributing point for southern iron. Of course, the old ques- ton as to why the south can make iron so cheaply and advantageously will always be asked. l can say without hesitation that Birmingham is practically the only place in the world where ore, coal and lime rock are all together.
 "At first the English and the Germans looked upon southern iron products with doubt, but their attitude has been absolute ly changed by practical experience, until now they are free to admit that southern foundry or mill iron is as well fitted for for eign uses as 1t is for American uses.
 "The latest industrial development in the south is the construction by the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad company of an enormous open hearth steel plant at Ens- ley, a suburb of Birmingham. This plant consists of ten ifty-ton furnaces. This has no land projects attached to it. It is sim ply a straightforward business proposition conducted on sound business basis