Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-07-23
reduction of iron in the leading indus


| burg ...... ........... S,3S0,s05 3,52S, 657
france ...... .......... 2,039,067 1916, STA
belslum 49,. ..,..-.... 726.964 701, SIT
On the other hand, careful search
| through the 800 pages of Mulhall's Die
| tlonary OF Statistics fails 10 reveal any
| matter connected with Finance Agri-
| culture, Manufacture, Earnings Ex-
| pendltures, or Trade. which answers
these requirements. There is, in fact.
no matter aside from iron production
which even pleases the five countries
III one group, to say nothing of plac-
ing them in the order they occupy as
10 severity OF industrial depressions.
BEFORE iron became of prepondering
Importance to the industries of ma
tlons, there were no industrial depres-
slons except those born OF causes an
parent at the time, such as pestilence
famine, and war. The condition of in
dustries in the United States I'D to 1914
was one OF uninterrupted prosperity
rance ana Great Britain, which then
furnished the worlds iron suply ex-
ellehcea Two seasons of industrial de-
preston during this period. The Unit
ed states was the next country to pro-
duce sufficient iron to give it import
ance In the economics Oh the nation.
Later on Germany and Belgium be-
came large producers, and just in this
| order they commenced to experience
Industrial depressions. Table B, page
CAT, reflects these facts,
Iron is acknowledged to be the foun-
datlon on which modern industrial
systems rests. If that system is dis
! turoed, 1T is most natural to look to
| the foundation for the cause of the
disturbance. Ii one would appreciate
| now thoroughly the entire industrial
system depends upon iron, let him i'm
| aglne what the world would be TO-DAY
without it-what it would be if we de-
| pended upon wood, stone, copper. and
TN Tor our implements of agriculture,
| toois, machinery, vehicles of transpor-
Idtlon on land and sea, the vast net
| worh OF rails on the surface, and the
| pipes which carry water, gas, etc., I'M
| def the surface. What proportion of
| theSe could have existed without IT'D IT
| matters little what its price is. provid-
| ca that price Is stable. The industries
OF a nation depend upon the actions of
an aggregation of individual S. When
the individual considers an expenditure
Tor a permanent improvement. and
| mas that Improvement will cost so per
cent. to 100 per cent more than If
would have done year before or is
| likely to do a year later, he acts and
That action is almost invariably a
postponement of that improvement
rms, IN nutshell, is the reason that
industrial depressions follow an All
normal advance.
Iron is a powerful instrument for
i good when under control, and lust as
| powerful an instrument for harm when
not under control. 1t is not under con-
troll when it advances in price S0 RI
lVo per Get above its normal cost.
And he concludes:
ihese violent and wholly unneces-
sary fluctuations in prices. which we
| call booms, disturb all business. but
tnelr greatest injury is to the pig-iron
| producers. The building and reyiying
| ol furnaces is unduly stimulated. This
| results IN disaster to many, and undue
covering OF prices to all, on the reac
ZION. The finaneially-strong producers
must accept prices which the weaker
ones are forced to make; thus prices
| are carried abnormally low. Nearly
| the entire period covered by booms is
occupied by the industrial world as
| Whole In filing low-priced contracts.
by the advance in prices of labor and
raw materials, many lost on contracts
Whlch, but for the advance, would
nave paid profit. The boom is at
| tended by high wages and frequent
strikes for higher The decline is at
Tended by constant strikes to resist
wage reductions which manufacturer