The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-01-03
SOUTHERN PROGRESS
BIRMINGHAM THE IRON GEN.
 TER OF THE WORLD.
Noted British Expert Declares the Alabama Mineral Region Offers Best Prospects for Good Re-
 turns on Investments.

Baltimore. Jan. 2.-(SpeciaD-In this weeks issue of the Manufacturers Rec ord MT. J. stephen Jeans, Secretary of tho British Iron Trade Association, and iron and steel. presents an international view of the iron and steel industries in which the outlook of those industries in America Is most hopeful. He says that ognized that not onl'' has the United States become the leading metailurgical nation, but they all know, also. that destiny before it of dominating the worlds markets. He sketches the mani festations in Great Britain which have changed it into the greatest iron and fort in the statement that if Great Britain fails to come up to the high standard of the iron making resources Of the United States, 1t may at least be on the whole, better of. He adds:
 If were asked to specify the dis trict which. in my opinion. offered the tions to the capitalist who was looking less to the immediate than to the proxi- mate future, I should feel inclined to name the district of Birmingham. Ala. that have been there within the last three months. I then had the oppor- tunity of examining and estimating the resources of the district from an iron
 
 ing to excel and hardly anything to equal them. In the Cleveland Hingiand) dis trict the ores are, as at Birmingham, generally close to or within ten miles of the blast furnaces. and the coal is within twenty-five miles, while limestone is not more than thirty miles off But in Cleveland the ore rarely exceeds 40 per cent. of iron and in all but one or two cases 1t has to be mined from con- siderable depths. In the case of Alaba- ma l saw the ore being brought out by drifts from very considerable depth. and I saw coal being dealt with in the same manner In no other district with which l am familiar can one stand at a given point and see blast furnaces, coal mines and iron ore mines--or rather their evidences in the form of equipment-at practically the same moment. And fin my view. Birmingham has not done it's level best. The new plants in course of construction or projected will be likely to do much to demonstrate how much better the district may do than anything 1t has yet achieved. It Is a great point in its favor that it is nearer to tide wa ter than any other important iron mak- ing center of the United States. and I saw and heard enoueh to convince me that Its railway service Is ready to help to build up large exnort trade, If Ala bama can otherwise rise to the level of its great chances. One thing. however must be dealt with promptly and firmly. If I am correctly informed that the trade union element Is becoming increasingly
  ham I only point to English experi- ence and declare that the thing that works mischief in one case cannot be de- sirable in another.
 Were it not that tine history of the three years ended 1901 gives countenance to the belief that the world can hardly have too much of good thing in the form of iron I should have felt a little uneasy as to the wonderful developments that were going on in every place I vis- ited during my recent visit to the United States. No other country except Russia is attempting similar progress. Germany has less than twenty new furnaces un- der construction, which will not be likely to represent more than GO0OOO to 100000 tons of pig iron annually. But the schemes with which became acquainted during my stay in the States provided, should think. for an increased output of more than two million tons of pig iron, having regard, of course, to the greater productive capacity of the Amer lean furnaces. In Great Britain, France and Germany very little increase of pig iron output is in prospect. The new furnaces that are being provided in Aus tria, Hungary. Italy and other countries are hardly likely to save any very sens- ble effect on the vastly increased sup ply which the world must call for within not pessimistic about the future demand for American Iron, nor that Of any other country which may succeed in producing the metal at sufficiently low price. To a large extent I am in agreement with my friend, Mir. Edward Atkinson, when he declares that there is more likelihood in the long run. of a famine than of a plethora of iron If. then. American capitalists and manufacturers are satls- fled that they are able to produce iron cheaper than 1t can be produced in other countries. they need not be afraid of ex- cess of production over term of years, although that remark does not, of course, imply that either they or any other community can enjoy complete ex- hn tn which all communities are periodically | liable"