The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-11-22
In Strong Hands.

In Strong Hands.
 ''Never. before in our history were our l great industries and transportation lines | in such hands as now; therefore, produc- 1 ton can be more easily restricted and
 transportaton- rates more uniformly l maintained. One has only to consult the reports made in the production of iron
 within the. last, thirty days to see how
 rapidly production is being decreased.
 During the past thirty days there has l been a decline in production at the rate 1 of fully 4000 900 tons per year, and the l close of this month will, without doubt, 1 show a still greater rate of decrease. So l that instead of the market continuing to l be demoralized and buyers being able to
 fix the selling price irrespective Of cost.
 we are likely to witness rush for sup | plies as soon as this convincing fact De- l comes patent to consumers.
 "It is a well-known fact buyers. in gen.
 eral have very light stocks and con- l seauently are buying from hand to | mouth They may well take alarm at l an early day, for, as a matter of fact, l they are buying iron at this time for i less than the cost of production. Of ] course, no prudent iron companies would l sell in this way except for temporary re-
 lief of their yards and to maintain their 1 organizations. This is applicable more | of iron, where they produce their own I coal, coke ore and limestone.
 Labor Disturbances.
 1 "It is not reasonable to assume how ever. that this present period of depres- sion in the prices of iron will not last I some little time, for we realize the fact 1 that while the decline in prices has been due chiefly to over-production, yet labor ,4,sI. foI 1,air cl1 q ra 1 to the present demoralization. These l troubles have caused many railroads and other large interests to hesitate as to | carrying through their plans of exten- sion and improvement The building | trade is conspicuous as to this trouble. | It is not unreasonable, therefore. to say | that if the number of idle laborers should | largely increase, it will be due to their | excessive demands as to wages, and largely as to interference with the man. | agement of the business of individuals or companies by whom they may be em- | ployed.
 1, ''While we have reason to hope that | this period of unsettled prices and idle lilabor may be of comparatively short dur ation. it Is not reasonable for labor to contend that 1t should not contribute to the decrease in the cost of production, for a time at least, so that the employers
 may pass through this period with as little loss as possible. The fact that 90
 per cent of the cost of manufacturing iron Is labor shows the necessity of req sonable concessions on the part of ern-
 poyes, especially in that branch of busi-
 ness.
 My reason for believing we nave cause to hope for a change for the bet
 ter before great while lies in the fact
 that all possibility of further imports
 of iron and steel into this country has
 been eliminated.-
 Net Consumption of Iron.
 If will be remembered that in 1902 this country produced 17,s20,O0O tons of iron and imported 1,250,000 tons. After de-
 ducting 47O0O0 tons exported. we show a
 net consumption of 1S,600000 tons. This
 consumption could have only taken place
 under most extraordinary conditions, and
 hence we can reasonably see the neces- sitv of great reduction in output when we think of the increase that has taken place over 1900 and 1901. Of course, we have
 reason to believe that under normal con-
 ditions there should be gradual increase
 in the. consumption of iron with the growth of the country and other civilized countries This is clearly seen when we find that in this country we consumed last year 529 pounds per capita. The great business bulwark of today, however. lies
 in the fact that we have what is always
 considered the underlying factor or base
 of prosperity. great crops. which are bringing unusually good prices
 Tn the south it is conservative es-
 innate to say that the cotton crop will
 bring s550 GOO 600 and will furnish $l00 O00,- 900 additional foreign exchange over last year. The same relative conditions ex- ist as to grain and other crops. The gov ernment estimate placed the production