The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-10-29
PIC IRON MARKET
SPOTS ARE SELLING FOR a2O \
 TON.
Several Sales of Lots of One Hundred Tons or Less Were Made During
 The Past Week.

nam district at $SO per ton immediate delivery.
 A better price is looked for. too, If the manufacturers will continue sell. ing small lots as they have been doing lately. Several sales of lots of one hundreds tons or less were made dur ing the past week and some inquiry Ia
 being made as to what the furnace
 companies can do the present week in
 the way of spot iron.
 Foundrym"n and other consumers ap-
 pear to be in hard straits and can get
 along with just a drop of iron day
 until their larger orders are due Tho
 regular shipments of iron from this
 district arc disturbed only by the rail-
 road car shortage. which incident Is
 being blamed considerably.
 Iron quotations have taken on a4
 strong advance recently. even for de-
 livery during the second quarter of
 the coming year. No. foundry iron.
 Is quoted at $17.5O and SIS for de-
 livery during the first three months of
 the new year. while $17 and some as
 high as $17.50 is being asked for tn"
 second quarter iron.
 The probable make will not be much
 greater. If any. than 1t is right now.
 Efforts made to improve conditions as
 far as production have not resulted in
 any great success. A large force of
 men is being kept busy repairing furn- aces which are not in commission. These furnaces will only take tho places of those which will have to go out when the ones now being worked on are finished and ready for the torch There Is need for every ton of iron that can be manufactured In this dis trict anyhow for the first six months of the coming year.
 There is firm belief that all the iron that can be produced during the en-
 tire coming year will be in demand So far there Is no indication that prices are likely to break. AS long as the demand holds up as it does the quota tions will be strong.
 Offers to sell iron under tho regular quotations are being snapped up There appears to be one opinion and that is there is no need to cut prices to sell iron in the least A visit to one of the iron company's offices day or two since revealed considerable activity in the business. telegrams and letters | being received at the time touching on the conditions of the mart and the probable conditions in the future. One of the officials in the office when asked as to the conditions of the market, said: Just let me show you telegrams | and letters which have been received this morning.
 Here Is a letter saying the Tennessee
 
 second quarter of next year at such and such price. Here Is 8 telegram | asking us to quote prices thirty days delivery No. soft. Here is another | telegram accepting offer we made to deliver one hundred tons No. soft | at $2O per ton. Here Is d letter asking | for quotations the second and even the third quarter of the coming year This telegram asks If we will be in the | market for iron to be delivered iD De- cember or January apd requesting that we give idea as to the amount that can be looked for. There appears to be need for iron in every section of the country where iron Is being used. The high prices somehow or other does not stop the demand but there continues to be a disposition to place the business. A runaway market might be announced. though prices are pretty firm All the furnace companies are together on the quotation Of price. Raw material supplies in the Birm- ingham district are sufficient to meet all demands right now at the furnaces The railroads are not handling the product AS promptly as they might ! to give entire satisfaction of the iron 1 manufacturers but there is no cessa- | for raw material at the furnaces are being kept as well filled as could De expected under the circumstances Ine weather conditions have been 1aVoraoie for a steady supply or raw materiai hut the railroad transportation has not been steady enough to fill the bins to overflowing.
 With pig iron in strong demand and orders still being booked all indica-
 tions point to healthy condition III
 the industrial section of Alabama TOT
 many months to come.
 The steel mart in Alabama is as
 healthy as the pig iron. Orders are
 on hand for about as much steel as can
 be manufactured up to July first' anu
 there is yet considerable inquiry be-
 ing received. Good prices ootaln Tor steel A demonstration of the nltra- ton process in steel manufacturing IS
 being anxiously awaited in the Blrm- ingham district. The promoters claim
 that the new plan will revolutionize steel maknig not only in Alabama, but
 throughout the country.
 Plans are in hand for the erection
 of plant at Bessemer at wnlch the
 demonstrations arc to be made. A
 company has been organized with capi-
 tai stock placed at s15o,OO0, to build
 such Il plant as can manufacture steel throuph n filtration process and which will use foundry iron instead of basic iron. The outcome of this plant will mean the erection of other plants. The plant proposed will not be very large one, 1t being intended to have an industry capable of producing some thing like sixty to eighty tons of steel day. This steel will be used in the manufacture ot steel castings There is no competition in steel castings south of the Ohio river and therefore it is believed that such an institution will be a paying investment. The cast iron pipe plants in the Bir- mjngham district arc all busy and ap- pear to have many orders on hand which will keep them busy for some time to come. These industries are complaining also of the railroad car shortage. The coal situation in Alabama IS as strong as it could be. According
 to state Mine Inspector J. NJ Gray, the production for the year nearing it's end will be not less than thirteen mil lion tons and it Is not improbable that it will be considerably larger. The production last year was under twelve million tons. There Is demand for every ton of coal that can be mined and reports are received from several of tho larger collieries that the pro- duction is record breaking. The mines in the Pratt division oi , the Tennessee Coal iron and Railroad Company on last Friday produced more than 1000 tons ot coal the largest output of any one day in the history
 of the mines.
 The Sloss- Sheffield Steel and Iron Company Is pushing the development Of