The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1909-11-06

for the big spenders-the railroads
are pouring In orders. And Pittsburs
is beginning to complain that the re-
bound Is too sudden and the pace too
swift.
Some conception of the relation be-
tween the railroad business and the
steel industry Is had by taking an In
.ventory of some OF the visible railroad
property made from iron and steel
the rails and rolling stock, the re-
newal of which Is the foundation OF
the steel industry. The rolling stock
consists 'of 2,25O,O0O freight cars. 50.-
900 passenger cars and $4,000 locomo-
tives. The locomotives are worth an
average Of $4,000 each; the passenger
cars, $4,000; and the freight cars
81 ,000-giving an aggregate value OF
rolling stock Of more than $4,000, OO0.-
900. The rails now laid-35, 100000
tons cost about $1,000. 600. 900. 80 that
rails and rolling stock represent up
ward Of $4.0oo.ooo.ooo.
This four billions worth. of steel
made products wears out rapidly I'M
der our heavy American traffic. Age
adds no luster to the materials OF In
dustry on this side of the water. Over
In England. when locomotive gets
along In middle life. they begin to tie
ribbons on her, like a pet COW. ana
proudly keep count of her mileage
from year to year. This Is nice for the
locomotive, but hard on the steel
mills and locomotive works. over
here. to-day's giant Of the rails Is to-
morrow's candidate for the scrap heap.
To keep rails and equipment up to
the American standard Of use costs
upward of $400.000,000 a year. while
additional equipment and new rail
mileage is now costing around $780,
0OO, 900 year-that Is, we have now
reached the point of putting $700.O00.-
900 year-as much as the whole cost
Of running the goyernment-into rails.
cars and locomotives. These are the
big items of railroad steel consump-
ton Steel bridges, structural steel for
buildings and block signals and other
structures, steel tools and machinery.
and all the countless minor products
of iron and steel used on the railroads
add, perhaps. 5000. 100000 more.
Here, then, we find the railroads
now on prosperity consumption basis
of $9QQ. 100000 worth Of steel products
year. Small wonder that the news,
"The railroads are buying" vitalized
the steel industry this SUMMER and
lifted the cloud of gloom from Pitts
burg. Steel is a prince again; six
months ago 1t was pauper-or
thought 1t was.
What the closing of the railroad
purse meant to the steel industry In
the year following the panic Of 1907
Is strikingly shown in the slump IN
the output of rails and equipment. The
rail mills in 1906 rolled 100000 tons,
sold for $112,O0O,O00; the car shops in
1907 turned out 100000 cars, worth up
ward of $300.000,000; the locomotive
works output was $500 locomotives.
bringing in something like $90.O00,O00
all told, $500000,000. Last year the
output fell away to 100000 tons OF
rails, $53.0O0,000; 10000 cars. $S0,000.-
900, and 1900 locomotives, $27.000.000
lin all, $160,000,000, showing loss In
business to these three branches Of
the steel industry Of $340. 100000.
One need go no further than the re-
ports of the big works to see the hav.
&C that was wrought in the steel trade
by the closing of the railroad purse.
The steel Corporations sales were
$766 900 900 in 1907 and $4S2,000,0O0
In 1908, loss Of $284.000,00O. The
American Locomotive Company's
gross fell from $50,0O0,O00 to $4,000
900. One of the car works reported q
decline In income from $3B.000,000 to
50, 600, 900. The car builders were the
worst sufferers. for the railroads al
ways stop buying cars when traffic de-
clines. In the dull times after the
bank panic the idle cars on American
railroad sidings would have made ten
solid strings across the country.
Railroad buying to-day is enormous.
bat men like Hill of the Great North
ern, and Brown OF the New York Gen.
trail, predict that the railroad purse IL
small compared with what.it will be.
Hill says ludt tue idihoouo hovch
grown as fast as the country. and that
we ought to build them twice as fast
as we are now. Five billions OF new
capital ought to be put into railroads
In five years. he thinks. Brown be-
lieves that seven and half billions In
Is years Is 4 conservative estimate.
But this is too low figure. We are
now on half billion year basis for
new railroad capital. Four billions Of
new capital has been put into Ameri-
can railroads since the panic of '9S,
and half these years have been Team
years.
One great industry that 10 just be-
ginning to feel the stimulus OF rail.
road buying and that Il likely soon TO
be revolutionised by an era OF new
|construction. Il the copper industry.
Copper to-day Is waiting for the ran
roads to open their purses In electrical
reconstruction like that nov 10 prog
ress on the New. York Central and the
New Haven. Copper win boom q
r,ovar hoforo IN ifa npoctnculnr o0xo0r