Evening star., 1901-02-23
ENGLISH AND AMERICAN IRON.
Discussion of Competition Between
Them by an English Authority.

Ahcu ny au
From the London Times.
At meeting of the Institution of Junior
Engineers, held recently at the Westmin-
ster Palace Hotel Sir Lowthion Bell, the
new president, delivered his inaugural ad-
dress. OF this the greater part was devoted
to a short description of the ores of iron
and to historical account Of the develop
ment of the iron trade. In this develop
ment, he remarked. Great Britain stood
out as almost the sole author of the vari-
Gus improvements which had raised the in
dustry to its present high position: But of
late years the mineral resources of Ger
many and the United States had enabled
foreign owners of iron works to advance
concurrently with ourselves In an extended
production, and the Americans, with their
vast deposits Of rich ores and abundance
Of excellent coal. together with their large
home demand, had recently displaced the
British from the foremost place they held
for so many years. Some correspondents of
our newspapers attributed our loss of
ground in the race to ignorance of the
scientific truths on which success was ie-
pendent but they could not be aware tnat
at Newcastle, Leeds, Nottingham, Shelf
field, Edinburgh and Glasgow there were
large and well-appointed colleges for teach
ing the sciences which for the last twenty
five years had been deemed Indispensable
in Great Britain for a successful career in
metallurgy.
Moreover, every iron works OF any i'm
portance possessed a suitable laboratory
as a guide in its daily operations as well
for original research. 1t was true we
must prepare to meet American competi-
ton in our own country. But although
1900 or 5000 tons of American steel billets
had been sold here, such a tranSac ZION Gid
not necessarily imply any superiority in
economical production. In America, as in
England, the demand for iron and steel
was of f1uctuating nature. If, impressd
Iat-t thn ag tIa tnn
manufacturer enlarged his powers with the
result of producing more than the demand
for home consumption required, eXp3rta-
tion had to be resorted to as an outlet for
the excess, even If an actual loss was in
CURED, the alternative being reduced out
put.
OF course, If America pretended that a
profitable trade could be thus carried on
by underselling the work in Great Britain
now engaged in supplying British require
ments, the change must be submitted TO.
But he could not agree as to the ability of
his friends on the other side of the Allan
tic to sweep those this side out of exist
ence. A personal knowledge of what could
be done in both countries enabled him to
offer an opinion on the question, and he
ventured on this course lest those who pre-
dicted the calamity he was anxious to avert
should fall into the error of supposing he
attached too much value to the services
rendered by his own countrymen in the
past and that he was blind to the magni-
tude of the present danger. Comparison
between the United States and England in
volved two conditions-that imposed by ma
ture, and that resulting from ignorance and
consequent want of skill; the former was
unavoidable, the other susceptible of rem
edy.
Now, taking the Middesborough district
in this country and Pittsburg and it's VI
cinity in America, trif1e over 5A tons of
raw material were employed for the pro-
ductien of one ton Of pig iron in the former,
while in the latter something under 2& tons
sufficed, or about one-half that at the
English works The distance over which
the minerals had to be drawn from the
mines to the Middlesborough furnaces aver
aged about % miles, at cost in ordinary
times of los. on the ton of metal The ore
mines near the lake district were LOO
miles from Pittsburg. and the coke works at
Connellsville were 130 miles from the blast
furnaces, the cost of transport on his in
formation being los. Cd on the ton of zig
metal. The final cost of the mineral, min
ing and carriage included, consumed Cor
each ton Of pig iron at Pittsburg and Mid
dlesboroush he thought was almost iden-
tical. In reports which had been placed
in his hands the superiority of the Ameri-
can rolling mills was dwelt upon. Not
having been in American since 1880, he was
unable to speak from personal experience,
but he was skeptical to the extent of
the advantages claimed for the PittsbIrg
works, and submitted that they would not
suffice by long way to cover the large
expense that would be incurred in trans
porting the product from the banks of the
Monongahela-i44 miles by land to New
York and thence $500 miles by sea-to the
Tees. The entire wages paid mot bad
criterion of relative expense) for producing
ton of steel rails in England would not
suffice to transport the American article
to the ship which had to convey 1t $500
miles across the Atlantic and German
oceans. If these facts were not true, the
recent visits made to the United States by
some leading English manufacturers had
been undertaken to very little purpose.