New Britain herald., 1918-02-22

industry bids fair to p@H
 80 per cent of capacity.
 ment has not come to mills
 for in eastern Pennsylvanif
 tions dropped last week
 cent. basis and fuel su Bp9 3slHs since been little bettered( IN eeased activity under the Hnitations of in-s adequate motive power ara expected to be only gradual. Inroads( have been made on the great stockzs of finished product which have blocked mill space for some time,I and general domestic business now waits on how much mill capacity will exceed gov ernment requirements.
 Echoes of the trying period will be heard for some time. One mill suffered 90 per cent, rejections of full operation on specification ship plates
 owing to using high-sulphur coal. Shipbuilding and other activities on the Pacific coast are now feeling the effect of the ho1dup of rail ship nlentS, and urgent requests are made for speeding ship material westward. Delays in getting shell-forging plants
 equipped and in getting steel to existing plants leave machining shops at the moment without work for full capacity Some freight is now mov- ing which has been waiting two months, and pig iron deliveries have reached destination after three months in transit.
 As the time draws near for a re- consideration of government prices the trade keenly hopes that Washing ton will not strive further to destroy incentives to maximum production. c;r trolled price regime, the impression has been allowed to remain that anA revision would be downward, anN large earning statements for 1917 give color to the idea. Mounting costs, meanwhile, and several weeks re- strcted operations will make it hard to meet the capital charges of the first quarters.
 Calls on makers for information on plate contracts with the Japanese give rise to hope of an early adjust ment looking to the securing by our government of Japanese ships built and building. The matter means much to plate mills concerned, owing to the high prices which the Japanese were willing to pay, even to the ex- ' tent of storing the material against l embargo release. A late export plate order covers 1500 tons for China, possibly for use on English -owrcd 1 shipping.
 At a time when the country IS straining for production, it is surpris- ing to learn that the Midvale Steel &; l Ordnance Co. has shut down indetin- itely a steel-making mill of 5000 tons 1 monthly capacity at Wilmington, Del. The trade is left to make It's own conjecture for the reason.
 That great volume of pig-iron buying is being restrained by the con- servative attitude of the furnaces as !! to taking on additional orders is cer- tain. A steel company in tho Pitts 1 burgh district has sent out an inquiry for 50.000 tons of basic per month over all this year. Buyers of basic in the eastern Pennsylvania territory are urging furnaces to make con tracts, and it is clear that at Chicago and other centers heavy orders for steel making and foundry grades could be placed. Purchases in East ern territory include 30,000 to 40,- 900 tons of basic at Philadelphia. An important Southern producer, which has booked about 100000 tons since Jan. l. has now withdrawn entirely on all iron for delivery to July 1 and is slow to sell for delivery after that J date. A surprisingly large amount of Southern iron is being taken by Northern buyers.
 A further control over the So~ called non- essential industries is in- dicated in proclamations made in be half of the war trade board that inn ports as well as exports require li- censes. The major regulation lies, of iy, Of fro I other railroad embargoes
 All of 100,000 tons of light shapes, A, 900 tons of corrugated steel sheets and several thousand tons of rivets and bolts will be required for the hangars to be fabricated here for use in France The Government bought last week about 25,O0o,000 bolts and nuts for shipment to France.
 Under the recent priority rulings, heavy shipments of tin plate are now being made. The fact that some of