Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1899-08-03
The Advance in Pig Iron.

LII tHe 0uly uuulDef OI tH0
North American Review Mr.. G..
II. Hull has most suggestive ar
ticle on the relation of the iron
marketto national prosperity. The
Ipresent advance in pig iron IS no
greater than that which took place
in 1854 when iron advanced from
SO to $50 per ton; or in 1854
when the advance was from SIS to
S75 per ton; or in 1872, when the
advance was from $35 to $50; OR
in 1880 from $40 to $40 per ton;
or from SO to SIT in 1889.
Says Mr.. Hull: 1T was not diss
tarbed finances or loss 6f conf
dence which turned the tide of
prosperity in those years. 1t was
the advance from one hundred to
three hundred per cent. in the
price of pig iron. The loss of
confidence and disturbed finances
came months afterwards and were
the effects of the turn in the tide.
Fifty years ago one hundred
pounds of iron were consumed in
the United States annually for
each of it's inhabitants; ten years
age there were three hundred
pounds used for each person, and
to-day we are consuming iron at
the rate of four hundred pounds
per year for each one of our 49,
100000 Inhabitants
Nor is this enormous consump-
ton of iron excessive when we
consider that iron is used in the
preparation of the food we eat,
the clothes we wear, in transporta-
ton; in building, and,in fact, is the
life blood of manufacture. "What-
ever restricts the consumption of
iron limits, to that extent, the
growth of the people in wealth
and prosperity"
Now, according to Mr.. Hull's
idea, the trouble is not that iron is
over produced, but that the sup
ply of iron is not flexible enough
to meet the demands OF the con-
sumer in times of great CONNER
cial activity without running the
furnace owners when the demand
is not equally great.
Certainly Mr.. Hull makes out a
good case for iron when he points
out that many enterprises in which
iron is the chief factor have to
stop when iron advances 100 per
cent. The stopping of these works
depriyes numbers of men of en-
Iployment and thereby prevents
the manufacturer from selling as
many goods as before. With loss
of sales comes loss of profits, and
failures and loss of confidence and
finally panic.
The remedy that Mr.. Hull sug>
gests is that iron be carried on the
the exchanges just as corn, wheat,
pork, OIL or any other of the great
staple commodities are. Certainly,
as Mr.. Hull points out, this pro-
posal has met with the greatest
success when for fifty years a six
months stock of IRON las been
carried on the exchanges and the
. fluctuations in price have only
been such as were natural and
reasonable. Mr.. Hull's SUCCESS
tion is a coed one and has already
1 been put into operation in the
South, but the causes of panics
lie far deeper than the price OF
pig iron, and though we agree
with Mr.. Hull that a plan which
will make the production of iron
more stable and help the con-
sumer always to find a sufficient
supply on hand, will greatly aid
the stability of prosperity in this
country, yet so long as men
reach out for greater returns and
SO long as competition exists.
: there will always be the danger
I that more products will be made
} than the public can buy at prices
; which will pay the cost Of pro
, duction-and whenever thai
over-production becomes toe
great-there will be . greater OF
less loss Of confidence ard {
lgreater or less panic.
That Throbbing Headache.