The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-02-24

Taking the first three months under the new tarIf the imports of iron and steel and their products were ac- tually less by $330,0e0 than for the three corresponding months of the previous year under the old tariff,f while against total iTpportations dur ing these first three months of the tnew duties of $7.900, 900 there were exports of iron and steel and their lproducts in the same period of almost sixty-eight million dollars
 NO CAUSE FOR ALARM. Certainly this is not a situation to cause anyone alarm When we are able in one Industry after the duties lare lowered to sell abroad sixty-eight
 million dollars as against purchases | Of less than eight million dollars, ana
 Purchases indeed which were actually Ic1d tariff, no one has any sound cause
 to worry about his market being food led. The tide runs the other way. S | If we look at the course of this words of the President of the United
 States Steel Corporation, speaking osi December 4 last in Chicago, are sig fnineanf. Said he.
 sstIt has been stated that the exports of the crude iron and steel products from the Unified States increased from I 1901 toll 91Q S3 per cent.s while Great
 Britains increased 43 per cent. and I iGermany's 4e0 per cent; also that
 America was steadily losing prestige fin-the worlds steel market
 sAs matter of fact--'' says MT. I rrell-s Germany exports during l theSs period mentioned increased 215 I per cent. instead Of 4S0 per- cent
 while the exports Of tonnage classes i of iron and steel from the United I States increased from 326.5go tons in I 1903 to 2,947,596 tons in 1912, an in crease of 300 per cent.
 MT. Farrell in the same address I gave statistics of the total iron and steel exports of the three great conn 5I peting nations showing the increase in the years I g0S to 1912. inclusive, and I the excess of exports in the latter year over 19o8S was in the case of Great per. cent; Of the United States, 205 l per cent. I There is no. ground here for V worry. l BUSINESS ONLY BEGINNING.
 It must be remembered, too. as MT. I Farrell wisely says. as
 Our own ufacturers have not ] engaged for many years in the de- I markets and our manufactures should not be discouraged if their pro- l gress is slow in the beginning. since the export business. like any other. | can not be built up. in 8 day but re- T quires years Of constant effort and at T Itention.s'
 If there is one fact which more ], than any other stands out clearly in the business history of the lasE few. II years it is this. That American man
 ufacturers in many lines have shown I not only unusual but extraordinary ca I pacity in extending their sales Into 4 foreign markets and in meeting in op-S en competition the producers of the
 world. That which we have been | taught we could not do we are as a. Ismatter of fact daily doing It would Ecertainly be strange if we were unable ito cenapetes fOra exaznpAes in pig iron 1swith 2 Germany and England when Icur yearly productionf is a million Etions together. If quantity means low cost this should be considered set tiled.
 We have had to compete in other markets, as the President of the Unit led States Steel Corporation points out I in the same address, with their initial preference for weu-known foreign Igoods. of long established brands. types, styles and kinds of foreign ma Iterials, with close afdliations of for leign nanufacturers antagonistic to thew competitors in the field. with for fejgn investments inducing preference for materials of the countries supply ling the money. with preferential du-. ties accorded by the colonies of Eu- fropean countries to their mother Icountfy, and with lower wage scales. Despite all these, says MT. Farrell, lAmerican manufacturers have achiex- led noteworthy results in the upbuild-. ing of their foreign trade
 I MESSAGE FULL. OF. HOPE These words. uttered as have said #l in the month of December, contain.
 no note Of terror. The final words Of
 his address are full hope ...'. He Isays:
 .tIn the struggle for the trade of the
 world the United States will occupy sl the place for which the bountifu1 re- sources of nature and of efncieney of i the people have equipped her.
 Turning from these general condi- tions in the field abroad what do we find at home The stock of twenty. industrial companies show with one I exception an advance in prices be- zl tween the close of December and the end zof Januarys as reported by the
 Boston News Bureau. The February circular letter of the National Asso- ;. citation of Credit Men says.
 sThe first month of the new year
 has clearly given a new note to busI- Iness : and business s may look forward witI
 genuine confidence. working aggres- ' sively and expansively for busin ess. s The Boston News Bureau Febru- l ary Is reports from Gary, .eAIl rolling lmills of Indiana Steel Company's six
 blast furnaces and 30 open-hearth sl furnaces are now a.cI1RO,l seLllh s1lO W D further resumption of actiVity on the ] part of the United states Steel Gorpo- ration at their Gary plant. The same issue of that paper states s that Pittsburgh sheet mills are resist
 ing heavy pressure to sell for second quarter, and Cleveland mills are op-
 erating practically at capacity.
 A labor paper for February, 1914, reports from your own city, under
 date of January IS, that you have shared in the betterment of business , which began with the new year, ad-
 ding
 There has been marked improve 2 ment in every line of industry which
 was involved in the depression pre-