The age-herald., 1901-03-29
From the New York Evening Post.

Southern People interested in the iron industry appear to expect that the rise of the new steel combination will op- crate to their advantage. One effect an- tcipated is a reduction of the iron dis tricts of the country from the three (Pittsburg. Chicago and Birmingham) to two Pttsburg and Chicago becoming practically a single competing area. This consolidation, however, 1t Is argued, will not imply competition, but rather the reverse. Colonel Shook, formerly of the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railway com pany, expresses doubtless a general opin- ion when he enlarges on the distance between the coal and iron deposits in the north, and the consequently greater cost
 of assembling materials. as compared
 with the cost in the Birmingham dis
 trict, which is complete in itself hay
 ing all of it's own fuels, ores. and lime
 stones;" and he also urges that the large
 capitalization of the new company will
 necessitate Qn order to pay a per cent.
 dividend) an annual output of 5,000,OO0
 tons, at a profit of not less than SIP
 ton, while the Birmingham people can
 make money at much smaller figures.
 The apparently roseate prospects of the
 southern iron trade at present naturally
 recall the marked development of the cot ton industry of the south during recent years and suggest the question whether
 there may not be in progress sort Of
 industrial revolution which may deprive
 the eastern states of much of the pres
 tige they have hitherto enjoyed as manu-
 facturers-at least in certain staple lines.
 That the progress of the south in the
 production of coal, iron ore and cotton
 within the past few years has been little short of marvellous is almost a trufsm,
 and that the great stimulus given to the
 output of these articles has tended ma
 terially to reduce prices is equally ap-
 parent. It has been desirable, therefore,
 to find some means of absorbing the sur
 plus supply and of affording employment
 to the more enterprising individuals of
 the rising generation, who were not con
 tent with the memories of the past and
 who craved some more active and profit
 able employment than that offered by
 plantation life. Such an outlet was, a
 few years ago, sought in the establish
 ment of mills for working up the raw
 product of cotton, at first on a very mod
 est scale, then, aided by northern capi-
 tai, with increasing success, until now
 they rival those of New England Lat
 terly, too. a new field of effort has been
 opened by the iron mines and furnaces,
 which are also offering a market for the
 output of the coal fields of West Vir-
 ginia, Alabama and Tennessee.
 How threatening the new movement
 has appeared is clearly shown by the alarm felt in New England at the pros
 pect of southern competition. This has been betrayed in a variety of ways, but
 never more strkingly than three years ago. when a dozen business men promi- nent in Massachusetts sent memorial
 to the Legislature begging for longer
 hours and lower taxes It was then
 maintained by many that the cry of
 hard times" was merely a pretext to force wages below an equitable figure, and to lengthen hours to an unreasonable extent But that the difficulty is a real one must now be recognized without cavil or doubt. It's existence is fully estab- lished by the constantly renewed and in contestable reports concerning the nov ing of factories from New England to the sodth, by the great prosperity of southern manufacturers, by the rapid in-
 crease in the number of spindles at work in Alabama, Tennessee and the Caro- linas, and by the unexpected growth of the iron and steel business in Alabama. Nothing can be more striking than the | figures of the increase in southern indus trial enterprises during the past decade. As against 100000 spindles in 1890 the south now has more than 6,00O,0O0; 425 cot ton and oil mills, representing an invest ment of more than $50,000,0 ,000, make a not | able showing as against 119, with $12S0S,- | 600 of capital, ten years ago. while the | work of the Maryland Steel Company at | Baltimore, with it's capital of S0,0oO,O00, | and of the steel industry of Birming- | ham, valued at $3ooO,O00 shows what is ~e-~<~~-~-~<%<~%-< Henderson or Bob Mason and we think | the road made a mistake when they saw | fit to change his work. We have never | seen his successor except noticing his signature to some typewriter lists of
 names we saw upon the desk of oui l neighbor, Ernest Hine, real estate agent. Give ne Coptain Sid hack and the good