New Britain herald., 1915-12-31
GREAT PRESSURE
 FOR HOME ORDERS
Steel Companies Turn Mills to
 Domestic Trade

New York, Dec. 31-The Iron Age said yesterday:
 The British and French govern ments and their New York agents are putting forth every effort to get vessels to New York to help break the deadlock in steel and munitions ship ments, but the situation is full of un- certainty. Meanwhile the steel com panies are turning some mills to home orders on which there has been great pressure for shipments
 Generally new buying of finished steel for domestic use has ouieted down. and there is satisfaction at this, as the feeling has been growing that price advances have gone beyond safe bounds. Lake shipyards for example, see a check to vessel building in a l.S0c basis for plates, which means that an ore carrier cost s6o,o0o more than when plates are 1.05c, as at the beginning of the year.
 Holiday Interruption.
 Mill schedules have had mini- mum of holiday interruption, in con- trast with conditions one year ago. The export embargo caused some holding up earlier and this is one factor in the considerable increase in unified orders expected in the Steel corporations statement. Mills are carrying over into January much low priced business booked for this year but beyond their power to roll
 The railroad embargoes on iron and steel and coke have crippled mum. Der of New Jersey and New England foundries. In Connecticut several foundries have shut down for lack of coke. In other cases foundries have been forced to buy prompt pig iron at high prices from furnaces on rail- roads which are still accepting pig iron.
 Estimates Grow.
 Estimates of the scale on which war steel will be bought next year grow rather than diminish France has ordered from the Midvale Steel com pany 3S4,O00 8.S to 11.S-in. shells, while heretofore only rounds and bill lets have been bought here. An in quiry for 33,000 net tons of rounds for France has brought out a 2.9Oc price. Another lot of SO,0OO tons for export is pending in New York.
 Barb wire for France is again in de- mand on large scale, about 30,000 1 tons being bought this week, much l of it at 3.25c.
 Sold Up to October, 1916.
 The rail mills of the Steel corpora l tion are now sold up to October, 1916. 1 The Southern Railway has placed | 23,000 tons, of which 12,00O tons will 1 be rolled at seaboard. The same mill l taly & T., which earlier bought 15,OO0 tons. The Texas & Pacific has bought 1000 tons from the Tennessee company and the Lackawanna Steel company has ] booked 4,O00 tons for the Interna- tional Railway at Buffalo, 4,000 tons for the Cuban Railways, 5000 tons for the Burlington and 5000 tons for the International & Great Northern.
 Tin plate has advanced 15c a box to $3.75 and several round sales have been made on the new basis Export tin plate has sold as high as $3.S0. Demand has been coming on a large scale from the far east and contracts have been made with consumers there running through 1916. Welsh tin plate makers are much concerned over he loss of much of their export trade 10 the United States
 Situation Stronger.
 The foundry pig iron situation is stronger and there has been consider able buying in spite of the holidays. At Buffalo the greater part of the 15,0O0 tons of resale iron that has )een a factor in that market has been disposed of. The first sales were made 1t about $17 and later sales at SIS or No. K. Furnaces on the south ;hore of Lake Erie have advanced prices soc ton. Southern iron is or the most part on a $15 basis or higher Foundry operations are on m increasing scale, but there are evil fences of overbuying of pig iron for he first half As in finished material l ome part of the bookings for first ] 1alf are likely to be shipped in the hird quarter.
 Canada in an order of December v has prohibited the shipment of teel scrap to this country. In view if the large amount of steel sent from his side to Canadian munitions ! 'lants, modification of the order will 'e asked for by shippers of this steel vho have been importing Canadian crap.