Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1902-01-15
OUR BIG LEAD IN IRON
European Prices Depend Upon
the American Market.
VIEWS OF A BRITISH EXPERT.

J. stephen Jeans, Now In This COun-
try on "a Tour of Observation, Ex-
presses His Opinions-shipbuiId
the Mainstay Of the British Iron
Trade.
J. Stephen Jeans secretary Of Il.
British Iron Trade association and I'd
itOr of The Iron and Coal Trades lie.
view, is in this country making per.
sonal study of the situation in iron and
steel His observations on the ground
coincide with his judgment formed
across the water, and the results Of
them. as written by him for The Man
ufacturers' Record of Baltimore. can
only be encouraging to American iron
and steel interests
Mr.. Jeans finds the IRON trade here
again at the crest of a wave of pros
perity. which seems likely to continue
for many months to come, but which
is hardly reflected ia the iron trade of
Europe. He regards as the mainstay
of the British iron industry at present
shiphuilding, which, having had re-
markable revival is now enjoying
something like boom and which has
been less cut into by American or Ger
man competition than any other
branch of the British iron industry.
At the same time British manufac-
turers are concerned with the posi-
blities of keener competition all
around, because of the rapid and large
increase of the resources of produc
ton both in America and Germany. AS
to the part America is to play in this
connection Mr.. Jeans says:
$50 far as the American iron trade
now has or is likely to have in the fu-
ture a material influence on the Brit
ish iron trade, think there can be
little doubt that under the existing
economic regime European prices mus'
be largely fixed, if not wholly deter.
mined, by the markets of the United
States. This, Of course, is likely to
mean that British manufacturers can
hardly look in the future for the excep-
tionally high prices to which they have
been more or less accustomed at inter-
walls in the past unless, indeed--which
is hardly probable American FIRMS are
SO fully booked that they cannot under
take outside orders. Such a coMsidera.
ton has naturally a very seriously de-
pressing influence on British industry.
Whatever enterprise has hitherto been
developed in the BRITISH iron trade has
largely been function of the eXpecta-
ton. amounting to a certainty, that II
the staying powers Of the makers were
only sufficient 10 enable them to wait
a boom was certain to come that would
recoup them for years of bad business,
But this prospect is clearly by no
means so good as it was since Ameri-
can manufacturers began to turn their
attention in solid earnest to the cap
ture of European and other outside
markets. The impression is growing
that those who spend great deal OF
money in new and improved plants III
the face of such an outlook are taking
too many chances, and hence that way
danger lies Nevertheless there is
great deal Of new outlay being incurred
IN Great Eritain in the remoueling ana
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 ap-
plies more particularly to steel works
! of Consett, Dowlais, Dalzell, Weardale,
Lancashire ard Cyfartha. But the trou-
| BILE is that these works cannot, hoWev'
err good, depend on securing orders that
will keep them in regular operation ow'
ing to the necessarily contracted limits
! of available markets, and in this re-
! spect they stand at a great disadvan-
tage as compared with the trade of the
| United 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 it's great works fully employed
under a recognition of the fact that full
going is fundamental condition OF
cheap production,