The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-16
SOUTH'S P|G IRON INTERESTS REVIEWED c. A. StiIIman Writes Interest,"
 ingIy of Production INCREASE IN CONSUMPTION History of Recent Years-chanees in Blast Furnace conditions-Raw
 Material in the South Still
 Available.
INCREASE IN CONSUMPTION

c. A. Stillman, the well known man ager of the Birmingham office of Rogers, Brown & Co, in discussing the recent article in the Baltimore Manu- lecturers Record showing iron prodnc- ton in the south has not kept pace with the increase of other sections, writes to that iournel al s rollows
 For the fifteen years preceding 1895 there were a great many furnaces built
 in the south the proportion being larger than in other sections of the country. Most of the stacks were erected by land companies or by pro motors endeavoring to boom some town and help sell city lots. Many of these plants were badly located. and with little financial backing it was not sur prising that after the city lots were sold the furnaces were abandoned. Dur ing the past ten years the principal de- velopments in the southern iron world has been along the lines of reorganiza- tion and consolidation, this important worn being done by men largely inter- ested in the iron business and Anxious to place this industry in the south on a firm basis. The result has been that small companies with insufficient cap ital to operate have been taken over by large and strong corporations while some of the small companies have been consolidated, additional money furnish ed for improvements and working cap ital and in this way strong independ ent companies operating several fur naces, owning their own raw materiais, have sprung into existence from wnat might have been termed scrap heaps and fanatical failures So. therefore, while the tonnage produced in the south year by year shows little advancement, yet the work done has indeed been very important and much more lasting than the flashlight construction of furnaces incident to the booming of town prop ertes
 During the past few years vast sums of money have been spent by the large ron-producing companies in the south. Most of this has been expended to replace antiquated machinery and equipment at mines and furnaces by the installation of modern appliances of the best construction. The smaller furnaces are being torn down and larger stacks are being con structed in their stead. Therefore, in reality the owners of southern iron properties have by no means been idle, but. on the contrary, have been building for the future and laying the foundation for an industry stable in its nature and profitable in its operation.
 But far more important to the south than the increase of pig iron produc tion Is the more profitable increase in pig iron consumption, which has near ly doubled within the past six years, and fully kept pace with the increased production of pig iron in the United States In 1900 only about 30 per cent of the pig iron made in the south was consumed by southern industries, while at the present time less than 40 per cent of southern pig iron Is shipped, 60 per cent being remelted in the south.
 While the lions share of southern coal and ore and property is held by the larger companies, they by no means have a monopoly. haw material in the south suitable for the manufacture of pig iron is found in almost inexhausti- ble quantities and, as demand increases the time is not far distant when other furnaces will rise up in the south, where the iron industry is neither dead nor lying dormant, but is becoming firmly established, and in its own way is preparing for the survival of the ftteSt."