The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-07-19
WIDER MARKET OPENS UP
FOR VIRGINIA IRON MEN
feet OF Freight-Rate Re-
duction.
SERIOUS HANDICAP REMOVED
Southern Iron Furnaces Can Get Pro-
duct to Market on Fair Competing
Grounds-New Freight Rates Es-
pecialIy Good for Virginia.

James A Green. OF the firm OF Mat
thew. Addy & Co, OF Cincinnati, writes
for tho Manufacturers Record an ar
ticle headed wilder Market for South
ern Iron" which Is OF intense inter
est in this neck OF the woods just
at this time and for that reason IL IS
copied In part from tho Record MIR.
Green says:
'Ironmaster in the South. In Virginia,
Tennessee and Alabama, have been rs
much astonished as pleased by the &C
ton this week of the Interstate Com
metce Commission in reducing freight
rates. They had asked for these re-
ductions 80 long ago that It seemed as
II the commission had forgotten all
about them. OF course. now that II
is all over. 1t is easy to SEQ that these
matters cannot be decided orhand !;
that they are complex, many sided,
and change in either direction af-
fects many interests.
VIRGINIA GETS RIGHT
SQUARl:IY ON THE MAP
The new rates from the Virginia
furnaces make for economic righteous
ness II there is any fault TO be found.
II IL that tho commission In this in
stance did not go far enough The
Virginia furnaces must ship all OF their
OUTPUT away. There is practically no
local market. They are all situated
on the lines OF two great systems--
either the Chesapeake and Oiiio or tho
Norfolk and Western. To reach their
market they had TO ship mainly to
points beyond the direct reach OF these
lines. And the railroads to Tho north,
with the intention apparently favoring
tfa..e. f,,r l.. 4
yonu the initial lines so hiGh that com
petition was almost eliminated Phil
tdelphia. Eastern Pennsylvania, New
York and New England. where the Nir-
Sinia furnaces used to ship so much OF
their output. were almost wiped off
the map. for their buffalo furnaces
thanks 10 some marvellous freight
rates. were enabled to get as Ear south
AS baltimore at prices which Virginia
could not touch. The thing itself was
wrong. and the way 1t was done by
Northern railroads, WAS even worse
and the Interstate Commences Commits
sion I'm this case, has righted a great
injury. Virginia as an iron centre is
good deal more on the map than 1t
was.
WHERE SOME OTHER
STATES COME IN
Alabama and Tennessee furnaces
are going TO be. by reason OF this NAT
In the Middle West. They arc not
going to be able to compete i'm Pitts
burEh and Cleveland territories with
local irons any more than IL the case
at present. Southern iron in those dis
tricts is too expensive a luxury even
with the lower frcights to he used ex-
cept with extreme moderation. Eut I'm
Detroit. and especially in Chicago.
Southern irons Will find a much heav-
Ter demand. This reduction has showed
their frontier line farther u the north
when the Interstate Commerce.
Commission came into being IL hap
pened that Southern freight rates were
1T their maximum In the old DAYS
they were fluid. rising and falling with
the price OF iron. Fo.' example. Gin
cinnati had r rate when iron was cheap
OF ,S2.25 per ton from birmingham.
The rate to-day is s3.2J and tins re-
duction. effective August h. will mako
II $40. This proportion holds good
everywhere. " hen the commission
WAS formed the rates were ut ,jicir
topmost limit AMI TIERS they STAYED.
The railroads were afraid To put them
Gown because tacy Macw Of no way to
put them back. New furnaces have in
the past decade been built in the North,
and with local competition and these
maximum rates. the South has for
years laborrd under y heavy handicap
This has now been partly removed
There Is no question, hut that the
reduction In rates means II wider mar
ket for the Southern ironmaster5 and
a larger tonnage.