The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-02-07
CAR FACILITIES AND
WESTERN METAL
MARKETS
Crippled Transportation Sery-
ice Continues a Serious
Impediment to Trade
But Iron and Steel Buying
Goes On in Increasing
Volume.

| Machinery World says
| Transportation is the leading infiu-
| ence in the Western iron and steel
markets, or, rather, the lack of trans
portation facilities. For months it has
! impeded the production of pig iron
| through lack of coke, and is still exert
| ing that retarding influence, but the
| present effects have reference not only
! to the coke movement, but to that of
| the metals, and, in fact, to almost all
classes of merchandise. 1t will soon
! be time for the accumulation of metal
| stocks. for the spring trade. Unless
| there is a decided improvement within
! the next month, there will be a general
scarcity of material in the West. Com
! monty cars of iron and steel shipped
| from Pittsburg in December have not
yet arrived. and often no trace of them
| can be discovered.
The effect of all this, of course, is to
lend strength to the market-artificiaI
strength, it is true, but one that is be-
| yond the control Of the shippers. There
! is already not only inconvenience, but
| actual stoppage of consumption in
many instances, because Of the re-
/ tarded arrivals of material.
Buying Increases.
The buying of iron and steel con-
| tinueS to improve steadily in almost all
lines. All current conditions point to
demand this spring that will equal
! and probably Surpass the phenomenal
| trade of year ago. There have been
| good transactions in bars, both iron
and steel. Trade in the former has
| been stimulated to some degree by the
pending plan to combine the owner
| ship of the Independent Western mills.
| Prices are firmer this week, sales hav-
| ing been made as high as 1856 cents,
! Chicago, or higher The demand for
| pipe and tubes grows rapidly week by
week, and for the year to date the VOL
| umeS of business closed in the West is
| heavily greater than for the cores
pOnding period last year. Stocks in
| the possession Of many jobbers are
sadly depleted, and sometimes practi-
| cally exhausted. and the prospects are
for an unusually large consumption.
There is fairly good request for
sheets this week, and structural ma
terial is moving we'll in small way.
! Specifications for almost all kinds of
material for shop consumption are
| fully up to standard and not uncom-
monty the buyers are ordering material
| considerably ahead of their contracts.
| The tone of the market in general is
strong.
Pig Iron.
There is this week a noticeably
brisker demand for spot iron. The ex-
PLANTATION is that a very large tonnage,
| shipped to this territory from outside
! producing districts, is tied up some
where Ell route, and therefore not ar
| irving. Both meters and the repre-
sentatives of producing companies
| have iron thus delayed. One large
| seller says that thirty days shipments
are now on the road, six or eight days
| being the usual period of time required
| to reach this market. Hence there is,
| less spot iron for sale. Meters, too,
who have been depending upon the use
4 M iJNE1 hi oJ, &c,
PEELED to buy in the open market sub
| stitute iron or close their foundries.
| The tendency of this condition is to
| strengthen the situation. There has
been at this writing no advance in the
| quotations for spot iron, but if present
| conditions continue week or two
| longer there will probably be a pre-
MUM on spot iron. One lot Of 1000
| tons of No. soft was bought at $1S.75
Birmingham, and $3.50 Birmingham,
or $22.85, appears to be bottom.
Meters are now giving the subject
of purchases for future use their most
serious consideration The INQUIRY
cannot be said to have improved, and
| the general attitude of the buyer is
that prices will Decline but since the
| opening of the new year the market
has not weakened and the dullness of
the last five weeks has not led pro-
ducers, except in a few unimportant
|
Reasonable Doubt
Hence there is the basis for a rea-
Sonable doubt as to the course of the
market, and the meters are now Civ
ing this doubt their attention. 1t is
| practically only close observation of
current conditions. Genuine inquiries
have not multiplied, and actual trans
actions are scarcely more than a small
car load business for immediate Ship
ment.
One Southern railroad gives notice
that routing of pig iron shipments in
it's own cars, destined to Northern
points, will not be accepted via any
line north of the Ohio river, the COM
pany reserving the right to give the
business to any connecting line, and at
any junction point which may be in a
position to give quick dispatch. The
coke situation was no better, when the
snow storm early this week further
paralyzed traffic. 1t is an even
chance whether some of the Western
furnaces now in operation can keep
in blast. Quotations follow:
Local coke No. 1 ........$24. 006D25. 90