The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-09
Whether General Conditions Likely to Improve the
 Question
WILL REDUCE WAGES
Mills Will Lower Wages if Conditions as to Prices and Demand Continue as Unsatisfactory-Quotations on
 Finished Materials Vary

Trade Review will say: Like a tiinid | flower breaking through the snow. some new business is appearing and is giving slight encouragement, but developments l are not important enough to justify dcti-
 mite opinions as to whether general con
 ditions are likely to improve. While pig iron prices are being well | maintained by nearly all northern | makers quotations on finished materials | vary greatly and mill activities are be ! ing curtailed. It Is expected that the un- 1 filled tonnage statement of the Steel cor
 poration for March will show a loss of | more than 900,00O. It's operations are now about P per cent of capacity. Although buying of pig iron has been very limited for a number of weeks the production continues heavy and there is positive evidence that the iron is being | used. When consumption is at such
 heavy rate, the condition of the country | cannot be as bad as some facts would | seem to indicate.
 The production of coke and anthra- cite pig iron for March was 2,341,55l A | gain of 452,944 tons over February The daily average output was 75,534 tons in | March and 67, 45o tons in February. The gain was due largely to the blast fur | naces of steel works.
 There were 2S2 active furnaces on
 the last day of March, a gain of 13 during the month The United States cast Iron | Pipe and Foundry company has taken
 orders for 76oO tons of pipe for Cleveland 1 1900 tons for Springfield, Mass, and ia !! low bidder on the 200 tons at Cincin- natl
 'The pipe line at Highland Park, Mich. | for which either wood or iron may be used, will be let within a few days, and will require 1900 tons of cast iron 1 pipe if the use of iron Is decided upon. There is decreased activity in sheet I mills, which are operating only about | "a per cent in the Pttsburg district. 1 Sheet prices are very irregular and the l Tittsburg base is frequently disregardeI. l The plate mills are fully employed with | good prospects
 'The capacity of plate and shape mills | in operation in western Pennsylvania has recently decrease or 10 per cent. The capacity in operation is now about 65 l per cent.
 There is a large prospective tonnage of structural material in eastern terri tory ana III northern OHIO tteTe are d number of bridge and other projects call 1 ing for a fair tonnage, but there is no | improvement in bookings.
 Tn eastern territory, plates and shapes
 are now easily obtainabe basis ot i $l15 Pittsburg, and even S.10 has been
 done on plates."
 ] New York April S-The Iron Age will
 say tomorrow:
 'Tt now seems likely that wages will be
 reduced at iron and steel works if condi- | tions to prices and demand continue as
 unsatisfactory as in recent weeks Productions have already come. Tn fact | the plants of some of the smaller com | panies common labor which for nearly | two years has been receiving s2 at good
 many steel mills Is now paid s1.75 at some. and in other cases as low as $1.50. The probability of early action on all wage | schedules at the larger steel works is | indicated by conference on the subject
 held at Pittsburg Tuesday and attended | by the presidents of five independent | steel companies.
 | Our statistics show 2.s47,S67 tons of coke iron products last month or 75,73, tons a day against 1.SSS.670 tons in Feb ruary or 67 453 tons day. The March
 rate thus represented 27 300, 600 tons year
 estimating charcoal iron or increase | of 100000 tons year over the February
 rate the daily capacity of the 227 fur
 naces in blast April 1, was 75,911 tons
 against 7i.399 tons day for 21s furnaces | on March 1.
 While the steel trade shares in the
 better feeling created by the promise of
 the countrys largest winter wheat crop | for this year. there has been no check in
 the decline of order book totals. The Steel
 corporations statement for March 31
 will show Il heavy falling off. Its ingot
 production this week is 70 per cent of
 capacity. For most of March it was 80 | per cent of capacity