New Britain herald., 1918-03-09
Steel and Pig
 Iron Markets
The iron age says:

ne NcW Ork conference OA It OlA
 and steel manufacturers on March 1. l atteneded by about 1o representa-
 tives of the industry, brought out l plainly the divergent interests of large ] and small producers as affected by
 government prices. While the Steel i corpOratiOn and some of the larger 1 indept >lcnt companies would prob- l ably accept without complaint a con- 1 tinuance Af present prices, smaller i produces in several lines, notably
 plates. show advances in cost on which
 they contend strongly for higher gov i ernmcnt prices after March 31. The increased costs of some large
 companies were as much as s6 a ton 1 between Dec. 31 and Jan 31, and
 when account is taken of todays re- l stricted scale of operations the in : crease since the first announcement of government prices late in Septem- Der is put in some cases as high as s10 a ton
 For the Washington conference with the War Industries board which will
 probably be in the third week of March, various manufa lecturers are pre- pairing individual statements showing the reduced profits of recent opera ton and the prospect of a very con- siderable falling off in 1918 from the results of 1917.
 Consumers of iron and steel have thus far taken no steps to have their varied interests represented at Wash ington. There has been some agita- tion on behalf of Northern users of Southern pig irons for a, reduction in such irons so that they may be had at delivered prices comparing With those of Northern irons.
 r;x
 in the trade is the small volume of buying for uses having no connection with the war. Some forms of finished steel may become quite plentiful, and the question is raised whether en these the government maximum prices may not in time feel the effects of competitive selling.
 Ng-iron production in February made gain of about 5000 tons a day over the low rate of January. For the 2S days the total was 2,319, 309 gross tons, or S2,835 tons a day, against 2,411,768 tons in January. or 77,799 tons a day. The second half of February made up in part for the serious curtailment of output in the first ten days of the month.
 Thenty-seven furnaces blew in in February and 13 went out; thus the 324 furnaces active March 1 repre- sent a net gain of 14. The estimate of active capacity March 1 is 84, $40 tons a day, but this is based largely on February performance, and good weather En Farch should show considerable increase on this rate.
 However, there is little faith among producers in the ability of the coun- try's blast furnaces and steel plants to equal in 1918 their performance of last year. The dislocation of trans portation and production, due to the way in which control has been eN- ercised at Washington, has been so great that normal working is not expected for many weeks.
 Some plate producers are proceed ing on the belief that any change in prices will be upward. On any current orders, as distinguished from contracts, proviso is made that un- shipped parts of an order will be subject to any price change for the period after March 31. Governmental records give the country a plate ca pacity net far from 6,0OO.0o0 tons of 3-16 in. and thicker and indicate a surplus of plates for shipbuilding in two or three months.
 With rail mills generally operating half on shell steel and half on rails, it is not surprising that deliveries now made are six months late. Two large rail producers have established q price of $60 per ton, either Besse- mer or open hearth, but have sold no large amounts at this level. It ap- pears that there is all of 100000 tons of bought-and- -pa,id-for 67 1-2 lb. Russian rails still in this country, and government acquisition of these rails is now regarded likely.
 The canvass of rail requirements of all the railroads. now being made from Washington, is chiefly interest ing to the rail mills from the stand point of 1919 needs, as nearly all roads covered for their 1918 require ments months ago. Concerning cars and locomotives, the expectation is general that heavy orders will come from the government within 50 days. The effort to devise a, standard steel freight car indicates standardized prices for carwhee1s, aXles and other parts.
 Light is thrown on the relation of prices on current shipments from mills to official prices by the puddlers' wage settlement as on March 1. A 31Oc average on bar iron was shown for January and February, as against
 2.90c ln N0NempeF ana 1ecelHpeT' The pudding rate for March and April thus becomes S15.05. The more interesting fact is that for months the official price of bar iron has been 35Oc Pittsburgh.
 The trade question the necessity for such control of tin as is asked for by the food administration. So far as tin-plate producers are concerned there has been the fullest cooperation in every plan proposed at Washing ton for the limitation of the use of tin plate to war essentials.
 The new freight rates to Pacific coast points which go into effect , March 15 carry increases, for ex- ample, of $5 per ton on cast-iron nine to California and s6 to Oregon