The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-07-21
ROLLING MILL AND
STEEL STATISTICS
Census Bureau Complies the
Figures for 1909
INDIANA INCREASE
Relative Decline Shown By Pennsyl-
yania and Illinois and Relative
Gain in Ohio and Indiana
as Steel Producers


vision of William M. Stewart. chief sta
tistician for manufactures.
Steel works and rolling mills constitute
one of the largest industries in the coun-
try the total value of products for 1909
being $685. 722, ,534. The number of estab-
lishments was 446, and the number OF
persons engaged in the industry was 26o,-
| 1852, of whom 24O,076 were wage-earners.
the amount paid in wages being s163 20O,-
75S
The total number of establishments, in
cluding forges and bloomeries, has not
varied greatly, the increase for the 40
years since 1869 being only 81 per cent.
In the case of value of products, however,
the amount for 1909 was over seven times
that of 1869, and the average value of
products per establishment shows a pro-
81 essive increase with each census-from
$S25,99l in 1869 to s2,21014O in 1909. The
rate of increase in value of products for
the successive decades has been quite uni
form, ranging from minimum increase
of 50.6 per cent for the decade 1S69-1S79
to a maximum of 1913 per cent for the de-
cade 1SS9-1S99. The increase in value of
products from 1899 to 1909 is perhaps part
ly attributable to advance in prices, but
for some of the more important products
the prices-at least the quoted prices in
trade journals-were substantially the
same in both years.
The steel works and rolling mill indus
try is concentrated largely in the middle
Atlantic and east north central states, and
in the panhandle Of West Virginia. OF the
446 establishments in 1909, 1862, or S1.2.per
cent, were located in seven contiguous
states-New York. New Jersey, Pennsyl-
vania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana and
Illinois. The value of products in these
seven states amounted to 1897, 365, ,567. or 81
per cent of the total for the United States.3
Three Classes Embraced
The steel works and rolling mill in.
dustry comprises three classes of estab-
lishments: /. Those equipped with fur
naces for making steel and with hot rolls
for rolling it. 2. Those equipped with steel
furnaces but not with hot rolls. 3. Those
equipped with hot rolls but not with steel
furnaces. Most of the largest establish
ments belong to the first group. All steel
plants operated in conjunction with blast
furnaces are equipped also with rolling
departments. On the other hand, no es-
adjustments of the second group have
blast furnaces but all buy pig iron and
scrap for steel making. Establishments of
the third group include those purchasing
their material in the form of ingots,
! blooms, slabs or other shapes, pig iron for
pudding furnaces and also the few inde-
| pendent bloomeres.
| In the country as a whole, combined
steel works and rolling mills produced GIG
| per cent of the aggregate value of prod
ucts in 1909: steel works without rolling
mills only AZ per cent, and rolling mills
| or aaI raf.Irc aat1t hos
percentages, however. give a somewhat
exaggerated idea of the Importance of the
| latter class of mills, because the value of
their product consists in considerable part
of the value of the crude steel purchased
| by them from plants of the first two
groups
Pennsylvania in 1909 contributed over
| half (507 per cent? of the total value of
products; Ohio, about one-fifth col per
cent?; Illinois S.s per cent; New York 4
per cent and Indiana 3.9 per cent. The
| highest percentage of increase in value of
products from 1904 to 1909 is shown for
| California, which state, however, is of
comparatively minor Importance in the in
dustry. OF the leading producing states,
Indiana, owing to the recent great devel-,
opment at Gary, shows the highest per-
centages of increase-69.9 per cent in num-
| ber of wage-earners, 1884 per cent in
value of products and 1887 per cent in
value added by manufacture.
| The average number of persons engaged
in the industry in 1909 was 260,7e2 of whom
240,076, or 92.1 per cent, were wage-earn-
| ers: 1886 or 1.6 per cent proprietors and
| officials, and 16. 400 or 6.3 per cent clerks
Individual proprietors and firm members
were few in number, the industry being
mainly controlled by corporations.
OF the total number of wage-earners in
1909, s42 per cent were in establishments
where the prevailing hours were 20 per
week, or 10 hours a day for six days in
| the week, while 34.4 per cent We're in es-
| Establishments where the prevailing hours
were over 60 per week, and 2l.S per cent
where they were " per week and over.
The eight hour day is not found to any
large extent, only 9.3 per cent of the
wa ge -earners being employed in. establish
ments where the prevailing hours were
less than "a per week. The proportion in
establishments in which the prevailing
| hours of labor were Y or more per week
Twas especially high in Illinois, Wisconsin
and Indiana. 80
Size of Establishments
| The tendency toward concentration in
large establishments is very marked IN
the steel industry. There is no other In
dustry in which so many plants of great
size are found In 1909. Al. 2 per cent OF the
establishments reported products valued at
| 81, 900 600 or more each, as compared with
| 81 G per cent in 1904 This group of es-
tahlishments in 1903 Included 49, and in
1904 Is with products in excess of $4,000, :
0oo in value. The value of the output of
the establishments with products valued
at 81, 100000 or over formed 81 per cent OF
the total for all establishments in 1909,
as compared with S4.6 per cent in 1904, and
| that of the establishments with products
| valued at 100000 or over constituted 43.l
| per cent of the total in 1909, compared
| with &c. per cent in 1904.
The average number of wage-earners
per establishment increased from 500 in
1904 to 53S in 1909. or 7.6 per cent; the av-
! erage value of products from S1,624,0 0o00 to
s2,210,000, or 3s,1 per cent; and the average
value added by manufacture, from SOIL
coo to $4,000. or 81. per cent The increase
in average value of products per estab-
lishment perhaps may be due partly to in
crease in prices of commodities. but is by
no means wholly due to that cause.
In the distribution of the 19,276237 tons of
finished rolled products and forgings
made by steel works and rolling mills in
1899 among the principal producing states
Pennsylvania produced Ola per cent of
the total output of these products in 1909,
as compared with SAB per cent in 1904.
Ohio increased its proportion of the out
/ put from y per cent in the earlier to 16. |
per cent in the later year. Indiana and
Illinois showed higher percentages of the
total output in 1869 than in 1904; but the
proportions reported by New York and
f West Virginia remained ahol1t tba ca me