Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-02-27
American Dealers Buying Up Old
Iron in Cuba.
PRINCIPALLY DEBRIS OF LATE WAR
Ono Ohio Man Said to Have shipped
$4,000 Tons of Iron and Steel,
Including 1000 Tons Of
Cannon Balls.

IL is one OF the anomalies auO sur
prises of war that the immense store
of shot and shell which the Spaniard
accumulated in Cuba for the subjuga-
ton of the natives and the annihila-
ton of the Americans should at last
find its way TO this county to be made.
into plows and other agricultural im-
plements. 1t is but another version OF
the Roman adage Of turning the sword
into a reapiug hook.
A number of American dealers in
iron, convinced from what they saw in
the newspapers thai there must be. q
large amount of old iron in Cuba, as
the result OF the destructive war there,
sent agents down there to buy up such
iron as they could find. The result
exceeded expectations. Cuba was
literally full of junk with enough old
iron to keep a dozen foundries atswork.
A single purchaser from Ohio, A. o..
Saylor, found no difficulty in buying
up and shipping away over $4,000 tons
of old iron and steel. The bulk of
this was debris of the war, or rather
of the old military system in Cuba. In
Moro and Cabanas fortresses, for in-
stance, Mr.. Saylor purchased no less
than 1000 tons Of cannon balls. They
were obsolete projectiles, the old fash
oned, round solid shot, intended dor the
antique Misunderstanding guns. Many
Of them had been in the fortresses for
decades, probably for century or
more, piled up in the old fashioned
pyramidal form. They We're really
junk, of no value in modern warfare,
and the authorities were glad to get rid
of them at bargain-counter prices.
They We're shipped to American foun-
dries and will be made into stoves ana
pots and pans.
Next in Importance to the fortresses
as iron mines were the sugar planta-
tons. There is always great deal Of
junk on them, as Improvements in
sugar machinery induced the planters
to get rid of their old presses and buy
new ones. The war increased this
junk, for the Cubans and Spaniards
burnt hundreds of sugar houses, 1eav-
ing behind only the old iron. Mr.. Saylor
says that each sugar house yielded sew
eral hundred tons of iron. Much OF this
was conveyed to Havana and exported
TO the United States, but not one-quar-
ter OF what could have been obtained,
the chief difficulty being the lack Of
transportation and the difficulty OF
getting the iron to the railroad by
which it could be taken to market.
The iron brings little and in many
cases the owners of plantations were
willing to give it away to anyone who
would remove it. Even when on the
railroad the iron can be purchased at
from $3.50 to So a ton.
Next in Importance to the planta-
lions as source. of old iron are the
three military trochas built across the
island by General Weyler. They are
now being dismantled and are yielding
a large quantity of railroad iron, most
OF which is being shipped to the
United States. The block houses
erected along the line Of the trochas
and the railroads also contain a good
deal OF old iron, several of them
being entirely plated and being
made iron clad with old railroad iron,
which protected the Spanish soldiers
within from bullets.
The purchase of iron in Cuba and its
shipment to the United States has
temporarily ceased because the mar
keting of the sugar crop is keeping the
railroads and the Transfers and load
ers generally busy; but it will begin
again in the spring as soon as all the
crops are marketed and in spite of the
large amount OF iron exported from
Cuba the supply there is said 10 be
scarcely touched. The island has
been accommodating old iron for
couple Of centuries and, being without
foundries, it has no market or sale
for it.