The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-10-11
AL LllLSl ut WAVE
OF PROSPERITY
British Expert Predicts Great Things.
fer Iron and Steel.
CAN FIX PRICE OF PRODUCT.
European Figures, He Says, Nus, Be
Largely Determined by The Mar
kets of The United
States.
British Exper. Predicts Great Things
CAN FIX PRICE OF PRODUCT,
lspecLal pispateh 10 4he Tlmes.l


BALTIMORE ND. Oct. 10.-Mr- j.
Stephen Jeans. secretary Of the i5rlHsh
Iron Trade Association aud editor OF the
Iron and Coal Trades Review, is in TINS
country making q personal study OF Tue
situation in iron and seel Ills opsef ~ ~
tons on that ground comedies "lth ms
judgment formed across the water, ana
the results of them, as written by him
for this weeks issue of the Mahui$e-
tuners Record. can only be encouraging
10 American iron and steel interests
Mr. Jeans nnds the iron trade here
again AT the crest of a wave OIL pros
Iperity which seems likely 10 continue Tor
many months to come, but when Is i%fQ-
Ii reflected in the iron trade OF Europe.
III, regards as the lnainstay OF the Brit
ash iron industry ut present sMpbmidlnG,
which having had d remarkable revival,
is now enjoying something like q, BOOM
and which has been less cut into by
American or German competition than
any other branch OF the British iron IN
dustry At the same time British man
GIactlrers are concerned with the
possibilities of floener conpetiriu,.
Ell, around, because of the
rapid and large increase OF The resources
of production. both III America and Ger
many. AS To the part America is to
play in this connection. Mr.. Jeans says;
FIX TIE PRICE.
so lar as the American iron trade
now has. or is likely to have, in the fu-
Iure. Ii material influence or the British
iron trade ] think there cam be little
doUbt that. under the existing economic
regime European prices must be largely
ii&ea IL not wholly determined, by the
markets CT the United States. This of
course. is likely to mean that British
manufacturers can hardly look in the
future for the exceptionally high prices
10 which they have been more or less ac-
customed at intervals in the past, I'M
less, indeed-which is hardly probable
American firms are SO fully booked that
they cannot undertake outside orders.
Such Il. consideration has naturally n
Very seriously depressing influence on
British industry. Whatever enterprise
has hitherto been developed in the Brit
isIl iron trade has largely been q function
of the expectation. amounting TO GER
tainty, that If the stay ing powers of the
makers We're only sufficient to enable
them to wait, a boom was certain TO como
that would recoup them for years of bad
business. But this prospect is clearly
py no means so good as it was since
american manufacturers began to turn
Their attention in solid earnest TO the cap
lure Of European and other markets.
NEW OUTLAY.
The impression is growing that those
who spend great deal of money in new
and improved plants in the face of such
an outlook are taking too many chances,
and hence that way danger lies. Never
thccss, there is a great deal Of new
outlay being incurred in Great. Britain
in the remodeling and Improvements OF
both iron and steel works. and probably
quite dozen of our leading steel plants
would be hard, to beat in America. This
remark applies more particularly to steel
works at Consett, DowIais, DalZeu,
Weardale- Lancashire and Cyfartlla. l5ut
the trouble Is that these works cannot.
however good, depend on securing orders
that Will keep them in regular opera
ton, owing to the necessarily contracted
limits of available markets, and III this
respect they stand at a great disadvant-
age as compared with the trade of the
Um,ed States, which. protected at home,
can and does make full use of its great
resources and opportunities to capture the
markets of other countries to whatever
extent may be needed to keep its great
works fully employed, under a recognition
OF the fact that full! going is funda-
mental condition of cheap production"
COPPER INDUSTRY.
The renaissance of the Industrial work
carried on in the South prior to 1860 is IL
Illustrated in a report made by a leading
engineer for the Manufacturers Record
of this week on the extensive copper and
other development work which has been
in progress in Rowan county, n. c., Tor
the last two years. Prior TO the discov-
cry of gold in California that section was
The largest gold producing region in the
United States, the Gold xii mine in
that county having made a record
OF several million dollars OF gold.
which was ninted at Charlotte and in
.s49 was reported as the most important
cold mine in the United States. The
mineral veins at that point carry copper,
gold and other metals, and when operated.
largely prior TO 1850 the miners We're after
gold only, and the increasing conner
found proved q hinderance then but now
The world-hunger for copper brings this
section. after an idleness of half a. cen
tury, to the front as possibly one of the
important oorper-producing regions of the
country.
GOLD HILL NINE.
About Two years ago the Union Conner,
Company Vas organized in New Yor], h.,
". G. Newman ana other CAPITALISTS to
operate in that field. and after spendnr
over 81, 100000 in actual DEVELOPMENT work
mining equipment and building a large
smeIter and mill, il has just started nm
It's smelter with an abundant supply OF
ore blocked opt-the results OF its Two
years work and its lavish expenditure
demonstrating. according to this report,
that a great mineral region OF vast pos
sthiNties for profitable mining operations
is now to be opened up in North Carolina.
The old mine known as Gold Hill which
had such a record in 1slo. aud which adj
Joins the Union property. has been pur-
chased by Mr.. Newman. the organizer
of the Union Company, and is also 10 be
developed on a broad scale
PlttsSurg capitalists have likewise taken
hold of that region, and, in addition TO
projecting large mining operations, are
planning TO spend about $4.0il.Goa in the
Development of a water-power 10 the ex-
tent of 10000 horsepower for electric
transmission to the Industrial center of
that district. These operations. added
10 the development along similar lines in
Virginia and Tennessee indicate that to
the coal and iron and oil interests. now
playing such Z conspicuous part In The
advancement OF the South, may be added
4 great mining industry for the finer
fnetais--ccpper. gold. ETC.
CHARGE OF KIDNAPPING