The age-herald., 1899-10-13
IRON AND STEEL MARKETs
From the Philadelphia Record.

From the Philadelphia Record.
 The extraordinary activity in iron and steel industries continues to excite the liveliest interest, not only in the trade circles most closely related thereto but in all financial centers. The month of October opened with sensa tional purchase by a leading western concern of 5O,OOO tons of Bessemer pig iron, and it is reported in the Iron Trade Review of October that the same interests secured at about the same 5000 tons, making 115,OOO tons in all
 Readers of the Record may recall the fact that at the meeting, of the Foundrymen's association held in this city in June last the president of that organization said that he expected pig iron to go to s2O ton be- fore the snow should fly. His views were by no means unanimously agreed to, and several large consumers of pig iron thought that the top notch had already been reached at that time (when pig iron was selling at S13 to $15 ton), and that conces- sions rather than advances in price were likely to ensue. We now know that the temporary lull in June was only the calm before the storm. No. foundry iron is now quoted in this market at $23.75 ton, and even the lower grades are all above s2O.
 Bessemer pig iron is selling in Pittsburg at $24 ton, and steel rails are quoted at $SS while steel billets have sold recently at $40 a ton. The fact that large orders for rails have been booked at prices near the present quotations would seem to effec- tually disprove the arguments of those who have said that high prices for steel rails could not be maintained in these days, for the reason that when prices should rise to anything approaching the figure quoted all the railroads would cease buying rails. Experience did show this to be true in former years, and it was owing mainly to this that the Carnegie Steel company in February, 1897, astonished the whole world by first smashing the steel rail pool and then cutting the price of rails down to an unheard-of figure-as low as $16 ton for short time. Then orders began to flow in; not only from railroads in this country, but from Japan, and eventually from nearly all foreign lands. The price of steel rails is now above what was considered a prohibi- tory price year or so ago, and yet rail- roads are ordering in large lots for deliy- cry in 19O0
 There is another point to be remembered. The railroads are now making money hand over fist" and with full treasuries the temptation to lay in needed equipment is strong. Under such conditions difference of few dollars per ton in the price of rails is not likely to stand in the way of purchases, as it would under less favorable circumstances. Some idea of the vast sums now being absorbed by railroads may be gained from Bradstreet's statement that the total earnings of 1Oi systems in July aggregated over $50 0O0O 900, being a gain of over F per cent. as compared with the corresponding month of the previous yeac. These gains were not monopolized by few leading lines, but were we'll distributed. When railroads are prosperous the manu- facturers also as rule, coin money. Never before have the railroads and the manufac- turers enjoyed such general prosperity as at present, and, unless all signs shall fail, we may feel sure that we are entering upon a career of continued expansion of indus trial prosperity. A few years hence we may look back and wonder that we should have thought ourselves so near the top of the ladder when in reality we had only just begun to learn how to climb.
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