The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-06-29
COAL,IRON ANDSTEEL
MANY IMPROvEMENTs IN THE MIN
 ERAL DISTRICT.
Scores of Industries Win Resume Op- erafion in July and There Wiii
 Be Labor for All Skilled

t.A-" The month of June will soon be thing of the past and Alabama pig iron mak- CTS report the bookings for that period
 to be equal to at least twice as much
 iron as can be produced during the booming month.
 Together with the sales that were made prior to June, the aggregate. bus mess to be delivered by the Alabama producers is considerable. The state ment Is reiterated that no efforts are being made to force the quotations and the belief Is openly expressed that the prices will improve themselves. There is no iron being sold in Ala bama now as low as s1l.so per ton, No. foundry, in fact the statement is made that there are, no sales being made as low as SIP per ton. the pop ular quotation being betkeen $12.26. and s12.5o per ton. No. g. foundry.
 Stocks on the furnace yards are be- ing reduced rapidly, the total amount of iron to be seen on yards in this State being reported available is under | 10000 tons. The presence In the State again of high railroad officials inves- l tigating the iron movement and lock- | ing after business indicates that there is large trafIc and that the future prospects are just as bright as they | can be.
 Several interesting events in the iron ana Sleel lnQuSLry are on the CdienudT | for this week, viz: Blowing In the third furnace of the Republic Iron and Steel Company, To- 1 cated at Thomas, a few miles from Bir- mingham; first time since construction that all three furnaces at this place | will be in operation at the same time. Breaking ground for the obstruction of four additional open hearth fur naces in the steel plant gof the Tennes- see Coal, Iron and Railroad Company | at Ensley: the American Bridge Com- l pany will do the work: both the Ten nessee and American Bridge compa- nies are subsidiary organizations to the United States Steel Corporation. Blowing In of the Little Williamson furnace in Birmingham proper. the iron-maker having a daily capacity of less than 100 tons and all of the raw material for the same to be purchased by the lessor, who formerly was with the Tennessee Company.
 Blowing in of the charcoal furnace of the Shelby Iron Company at Shelby; the demand for charcoal iron picking up some
 Breaking ground for the erction of new foundry and cog wheel works in the vicinity of Ensley.
 Increasing of force of men employed at the big steel plant of the Tennessee Coal. Iron and Railroad Company at Ensley.
 Starting up of another pit at one of the larger cast iron pipe plants in the Birmingham district.
 Inquiry at the various furnace com pany offices in Birmingham elicits the information that here is steady de- mand for iron and the inquiry Is hold ing up nicely.
 There are indications that there will be steady buying all through the balance of the year and 1t will be ab- solutely necessary to start up more furnaces to meet the demand. Very little of the iron sold for speculative purposes has been delivered and ac- cording to some of the contracts held this iron is not to be moved in any great quantity until after this year. Ther eis a big melt right in this dis trict, the cast iron pipe plants and other industries requiring big quanti- l ties as compared to what has been done the past few months.. The rail- road officials in the Birmingham dis trict report that there is a steady inn proyement in the pig iron business, judged by. the amount of iron that is
 So far the railroads 2 ahasy@s9o asy,@s9 been able to l furnish all the equipment needed. One line announces that the business has begun to pick up so that 1t has been necessary to remove. some of the en- zines from under white lead and no less than three locomotives were taken | from the shops the past week by one | trunk line to put into the regular ser vice with indications that dmore will be l needed before the end of .this week
 According to J. w. McQueen, vice. president of the Sloss-Shef1eld Steel and IronCompany. there will be god times in the iron and steel market for years to come. The manufacturers are cd nn ha hNVo ofrVo is coming in right along. Quota | tions are firm now and there are indi- cations that if no efforts are made to | force the prices. 1t will not be long | before the demand will have regulated | this and instead of I2.25 or $12.50 per ton, No. 2 foundry. SIS per ton will be | the minimum price.
 There Is positively no interruption l as to raw material. Steam Shovels | placed where ore has been stocked up l are filling cars promptly and no time | iE being lost in transporting the prod l uct to the furnaces. There will be no 1 shortage of ore at the furnaces this | year, no matter how great the iron | production grows to be.
 Ii is the consensus of opinion in the | Birmingham district that the last half | of the year will prove profitable both as to demand and the prices to. be ob- tained for the product. Preparations ave been m2de TOT a larger pEoOuc- ton. if 1t Is desired, and it Is believed that more iron can be used.
 While the buying that Is, going on now Is in small lots and Is coming from the smaller consumers. these are be- coming more numerous and the aggre- gate will be of some proportions. Iron ia going away from this district In all directions. even Pennsylvania and Ohio districts are receiving the product.
 There is no conversation heard in this district that any of the manufac- turers are inclined to cut prices to se- cure business. There appears to be strong price fixed for the product. Ba- sic iron is being manufactured by some companies which were in the foundry market altogether. The blowing in of two furnaces at Bessemer on basic iron was necessary by the Tennessee Com many because of the needs at the steel plant at Ensley.
 The report Is current again that three of the Ensley blast iron furnaces will shortly be lowered for the pur- nose of being rebuilt on modern lines and of larger capacity than now.
 There is a repetition. of the state ment as to conditions in the steel sec tion of the Alabama iron and steel market, activity on all sides. The big | plant at EnsIey is adding more men to the forces every day. While there is vel room for a number of men the appears anxious to get the best results possible and the larg- est output.
 Steel rail being manufactured at Ensley Is being shipped just as quickly as 1t is being manufactured. Other