El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1901-01-21
From New York Sun.

Structing tube plant at COnneaut.
Ohio. the Carnegie Steel company. lin
tied. became at that moment an ircor-
porated threat and menace to the steel
trade of the United States.
Conneaut is post village on Con-
neaut Creek. Ashtabula county, Ohio.
two miles from the shores of Lake
Erie. 1t is on the line of the Lake
Shore and Michigan Southern and the
New York, Chicago and ST. Louis rail-
roads. 1t is sixty-eight miles north
east of Cleveland and has population
of 3241. 1t has most excellent har-
Dor at the mouth of the creek. 1t IS
here. with enough land at its disposal
for several other plants, that the Car
negie company, will build its new tube
works.
1t was learned yesterday that the
works will be started with either three
or four blasts furnaces, intended to be
the largest in the world. Each, accord
ing to present plans will have daily
output of between 200 and 500 tons of
metal. giving a combined output of
about 5000 tons a day. Besides these
blast furnaces it is intended to put up
an open-hearth steel plant to contain
twenty fifty-ton furnaces, together
with what the steel men call bloom
inb mills lap weld and bell furnaces
and all other equipments necessary for
so great plant. The motive power
will be electricity and the Carnegie
folks are talking rather mysteriously
about a radical departure in the max
ing of pipe. The company purposes
to turn out tubes by a continuous pro-
cess of manufacture from the ore to
the finished product 1t is the idea to
have as little rehandling of material as
possible, in order that the cost of pro-
duction may be reduced to the mini
mum. 1t is the intention to make all
sides of pipe from the smallest UP to
tubes thirty-six inches In diameter. 1t
is the idea now to have the plant cap
able of turning out 1000, 900 tons of
pipe per year.
1t was the original intention of the
Carnegie company, so it was learned
yesterday, to put up its new tube
works at Pittsburg. 1t was found,
however. that the land selected for the
plant, comprising nearly 600 acres, was
not enough. When this fact is borne
in mind and it is remembered that the
property acquired at Conneaut consists
of about 5000 acres, 1t may be seen
that Mr.. Carnegie will have plenty of
room for enlarging his tube works or
for building plants for the manufac-
ture of other products of steel and iron,
- he sees fit One of the steel mag
mates Sdlu yesterday tildt II Wouiu NC
perfectly easy for the Carnegie COM
pany to build a steel and wire plant
or a plant for steel hoops. or almost
any other sort of a steel plant, the mo-
ment Mr.. Carnegie felt it necessary to
cut into the trade of the makers OF any
particular steel product.
Just look for a moment. at the sit
uation," said this man. The Pennsyl-
vania and other railroads running into
Pittsburg poked up the freight rates SO
high that Carnegie vigorously protest
ed. His protests awaited him nothing.
He got half way promises that there
would be reductions in the course of
time. but the reductions didn't come,
and Carnegie got tired of waiting.
Then the National Tube company was
getting along very well without buying
very much of it's raw material from
the Carnegie company. When Carne-
gle found that President Converse OF
the National Tube company couldn't
be induced to buy more ore and more
billets, he made up his mind to see
what could be done in the way o.
squeezing Converse. The proposition
then before the old gentleman was this,
He wanted to make steel pipe, which
he could do at Pittsburg. But he want
ed also to get the whiphand of the rail-
roads, which he couldn't do by putting
up roads, which he couldn't do by put
ting up a new plant which would turn
out more freight to be hauled from
Pittsburg. thus giving the railroads
more business. Therefore he went to
Conneaut.
There he kills his two birds with
one stone He builds his plant. and
becomes rival of the National Tube
company. Let us see, for a moment
Just what that means. This company
has had practically monopoly OF the
iron and steel pipe and tube business
for long time. 1t has been stated
that the company made aclean profit
last year of $11 100000. Andrew Car
negie never undertook business enter
prise for his health. / have no means
of knowing what was in his mind, but
I'll wager that he figured it out that.
by going into the pipe-making business
he could at least cut that 81 ,0o0,0 900
in two. getting half of it for himself.
1t is now for the National Tube COM
pany to determine which it can the
better afford to do-buy billets and ore
of Carnegie or share their profits with
him on the finished product. This is
the only kind of friendly cooperation.
Andrew Carnegie knows when he
starts out on a proposition OF this
kind.
Now let's see about the question
OF freight rates. From Conneaut Car
negie has a clear water route from his
plant to the sea. The Pennsylvania
railroad has been charging about 81
a ton for transporting iron and steel
from Pittsburg to New York and Chi
cago. From Conneaut Carnegie can
send his wares to New York by water
for about 81 ton. He can send them
TO Dublin. distance of about 900
miles. for something like so cents a