New-York tribune., 1901-11-11
STEEL AND IRON PRICES.
INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION ANALYZES
FLUCTUATIONS FOR THE LAST
TEN YEARS-STEEL RAILS.

Washington. Nov. 10.-The Industrial Commission
to-day issued special report on an investigation
conducted by the commission regarding the cost
and selling prices of iron and steel products from
1890 to 1901. statement shows that in 1890 the
rails ranged from s25 SO to S3t 81 in 1881.
from S24 10 SIS 6s in 1892 from 81 So to s2 s2 in
1888 S9 % SO e. in 1884, from SIT s to s21 .;
in 1895 from SIS S25 A. in 1896. from ST y to
so So 1887 from S17 3d. in 1885, from SIG 81
to 81 ST. in 1885 SIS II in January to s5 81 in
December 1900. from sS6 u in February to s2i So
in October and in 1901 from 81 81 to SIS S
According to the showing made there was
margin in the selling price the cost price for
every year from 1890 up July, 1885. In 1880 the
margin 30 50 80 ton; in 1881, from
50 So to 50 So 1892 from 81 IS o; IN ls93 from
81 TO TO 49, 1884, 81 Il Sc u; in 1893, from
81 o. 1896 81 81 TO $40 Is; in 1891 from
AZ 81 IS. In 1898 the highest margin was
81 80. in January. In July a loss of cents ton
is noted, the price being ST O5, as against
selling price of ST.
Again in June 1899 when the cost price was
s27 g. there was a loss 81 In July of that
the loss s.51 on cost price OF sZs 90 81 10
on Z cost price of s32 5 and in September 81 IS on
a cost price of S33 9S A loss CT about 81 a ton IS
also reported for the months OF January February,
March, April and May of 1900. when the cost price
ranged over $50 ton. Losses also are claimed on
steel bets for most Of the year 1900 and for the
first four months of 1901. A loss is recorded for
every month in 1898 billets. Losses are recorded
for the last three months of 1900 pig iron. The
lowest of production -or pig iron was recorded
in 1884, when IS 65 a In 1860 the cost of
pig iron was sl5 30.
Commenting in a general way the commission
says:
provements in the methods of manufacture tending
OF product On the other hand, the advance o,
wages from 1899 to 1901. especially as compared
with the years Immediately preceding no regard
to which has been given IN making up the ub hgureI
such improvements. In any case the comparison
to costs will be greatly yitiated by lnaceu-
these represent comparatively small proportion OF
the cost of Transforming the respective raw mate
rials into the finished products
The variation in prices is commented as fol-
lows:
Probably the most conspicuous fact shown in the
is the m very s RAPID m h d %de a
and most OF ALL in The prices OF pig iron: Even In IN
price statistics Show similar sharp fluctuations The
ec6 m M eoS o ali cut hre aRs
ucts during the year 1880. This was followed by
pig iron down from sis at the beginning OF 1891
so at the end of 1884 sudden sharp Use In the the
by an sa amOst mos er Equally ood rapid
at bottom figure The most noticeable movement
shown in the diagram is that during 1889 when the
Of rails from si7 to sS5 Almost equally sudden and
very great was the a 6efne and m th pp ro
during the latter part Of 1900 Since that time I'll there
| three products considerably higher than for the
These often Sudden and violent fluctuations show,
among other indications, the great changes IN De
and the heF arked Of prices such
changes in demand No very large stock d be OF 5oa
period of prosperity causes great extension OF the
of these products the mills often ma then1-
selves temporarily unable to keep pace with the de-
| mand. while buyers under certain condltions are
willing to pay almost any price. -
steel rails is the fact the selling prices for con-
| Siderable periods of time throughout the decade
covered by the figures a hsye 5 0een s nea the INFORM
price named $50 ton: through 1891 it was 81
and through the latter part Of Is 1879 ana i's
doubtless due the existence of pools from time
| TO time among the manufacturers; and the suooen
changes following the periods of uniformity are
probably explicable not so much by great changes
in demand at the precise date OF ens en- 1b dn IN
termination on the part of their managers that the
previously fixed prices We're 100 hish OF 700 low low
the nominal prices quoted for steel rails are not al
ways maintained in practice but that secretIy OF
To a certain extent the changes in the price or
rails are followed by changes in the price OF , pig
iron hut he more less artificial price OF rams
indicated in the diagram prevents this parallelism
from being close as 1t is in the case 1l btb 0tei
denepds largely on the price of the chief consutu-
ent pig iron varies much more greatly from mohtn
band II occasionally happens that a very sudden
change in the selling price of rails appears u,ao @
~ cnst II naturally follows that the margin De-
tween the cost and selling price Is a much more
.a oF bIiets The great increase in the margin
during the 1896 is noteworthy "nile SUI,
is the fact that from 1897 to the MIDDLE or
Sohn aiT,ost no margin appears. During 1899 the
nrce OF rails did increase as rapidly as that OF
st1d that nj pig iron so that the margin on rails
for several months in 1893 ana ISt was r;o
os did NOT fail suddenly in 1900 as the price OF
nig iron or the cost of rails, SO tnat 10!
most 5ne mmediatey thereafter falls rapidly to ap-
proXima tely zero.