The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-06-07
THE IRON BOOM.
Difficult to Keep Pace With tho Mar
kct-Dcmand Comes From Every

kct-Dcmand Comes From Every
Direction. 7ts
New York Journal OF Commerce: How
difficult It Is to keep pace with the Iron
ind steel market is shown by the fact
chat the Iron Age" which Is published
on Thursday, mentions the fact that
Bessemer pig had reached gs SIT 65 In
Pittsburgh. at which figure 6,OOO tons
had been sold, while Pittsburgh dis
patch Of Thursday. published Friday
morning, gave the price as sl7 80 in the
valleys. equivalent to SIS Is in Pitts
burgh, and three thousand tons Of steel
WAS reported sold there at $40, but the
transaction was not absolutely conflrIn-
cd. Pig iron was sold in Pittsburgh at
slS o shade under the price based on
valley sales. Plates and structural
shapes jumped s. ton late In the
week. The valley furnaces ARE said to
have sold their output up TO the end OF
the year except about 100000 tons,
which wall De disposed OF within the
next three monthe. and there are al
ready. apprehensons about the supply
of ore for the furnaces. not on the
ground that the supply OF ore Is limited,
or even that the visible supply, the
ore already exposed, is limited, but on
The ground that present facilities for
getting the ore out and transporting 1t
10 the furnaces 10 about reached. These
are capa BILE OF great expansion, but that
takes time. The present facilities for
Extracting. the ore and transporting 1t
ure adapted to what has been regarded
hitherto as n large production OF pig
iron but production Of s.llllion tons
month Is more than parties controll-
Ing the ore deposits md the like car
rlers have had reason TO anticipate, and
they may be unable for time to NEE,
the demand II the production Is carried
above that point
A special dispatch from Pittsburgh to
the Philadelphia Press says that some
contracts for the delivery Of pig iron a
year hence have been ma de. which Is an
unprecedented anticipation OF the fu-
ture requirements. Steel works ore
three or four months behind their or
ders, and the orders are coming In as
fast a. they were six months ago. At
present prices the profits are very large,
but u good deal of business is still be-
ing done on contracts taken months
ago when prices were low. The last
idle tube mill has been reported pu: In
operation. and plate mill idle for sew
erai years is being overhauled and will
start up as soon as possible. The full,
production Of plates has been sold for
months ahead.
The demand comes from every d!rec-
ton, 1t is especially active for .struc-
tural shapes: there Is activity in ship.
yards; the demand for rolling stock Is
large: the farmers have been increasing
their demand for implements and ma
chlnery ever since they began to mar
ket their crops Of 1897, and during the
past year their purchases of machinery.
wagons and buggies have been very
great. The foreign demand for agrIcul-
tural implements can be guessed from
the recent mention OF shipment OF
seventy-seven carloads Of harves;ers
from Q single factory in Illinois to Ar
Eentina. The advance in prices has not
yet stopped the foreign demand for the
products of iron and steel. and the fact
that the export of manufactured goods
Is now running even higher than last
year Is due In 4 substantial degree to
this foreign demand for steel and Its
products.
In the course of an Interview in Enu-
land Mr.. Carnegie Is quoted as saying
without denial or qualification that the
newspapers said the consideration paid
for the Carnegie properties was over
S3oo.0C00e0. The production OF steel las.
year Mt these plants was something
over TWO million tons. perhaps third
open-hearth and two-thlrds Bcssemer
The production the coming year is ex-
recteh 10 be three million tons. On that
estimated production n net profit OF FIVE
collars r ton would pay 5 per cent on
aoo.oCo.Coc. At present prices the pro-
N:s are very much above that. but the
valuation can hardly have been based
on an estimated production Mt excep-
t.onailS high prices. On last years
production It would take a profit of
about 50 ton 10 pay per cent on a
capitalization OF some thing over $780,
100000. Whatever may pe the prices OF
Iron ana steel next year It Is probable
that the owners of the Carnegie fur
naces and mills. and the Fr!ck coke
plants. and the lesspes OF the Rockesel-
Ter orc deposits. can nrohuce steel as
cheaply as any competitors in any part
OF the world.