The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-05-11
NAY HAVE GRANTED
{ STEEL REDUCTIONS
v.v Building Projects Sug-
gests Special Concessions
of Much Importance.
rvo MARKETS POSSIBLY
r,aim Made That Open Mart
for Steel Products Is
q Reality.
ss.c,ni nnspntcA 70 Tus sux.

, s,,c,ai Despatch 10 Tup sur,
:, pr-rssuRa, May 10.-The iron and
..., situation has taken on rather In
,.,sstlng movement during the past
-,sk in that several fair sized construc-
,o, projeets calling for liberal use Of
,,.a, have been undertaken in rather
..cr.t manner. In several cases that
have become known the builders have
made a special effort to avoid publicity.
rors observers insist that Tire beginning
~ such work. which is for several good
/ si,sd Office buildings proves beyond
question that an important concession
~ one sort or another has been made on
ths steel TO be used. One conspicuous
$50 is that Of a very large orkaniza-
,Ion which always has been extremely
slose TO the steel industry and invar-
,sbly obtained the beat treatment.
For several weeks It has been claimed
m some circles that there was really an
open market for steel products. This
has not appeared on the surface as on
spch transactions as were reported full
pices seem to have been obtained In
nractically all instances, but there may
X nevertheless another market. an I'M
rs,orted one, representing relatively
small number of orders, but a relatively
hrse tonnage at prices quite different
! from those ordinarily quoted or on spe-
hi terms as To how the price Il to be
nrtd eventually.
The scrap market has suffered re-
hpss after taking care OF itself fairly
vsll for o long time and values are
quoted materially lower all around. The
ADVERSE influence seems to be the OFFER
ins Of the Government scrap. 1t 10 true
the Government inventory proved much
sualler than had been expected. but the
market has been DO devoid OF absorbing
powsr that II does not require n great
deal TO affect II. The steel mills are buy.
iag scarcely any scrap. Their operations
have been decreasing constantly and are
averaging only about 55 per cent. Of ca
.paciy.
Scrap situation Inactive.
TIE situation is worse from thu
dsaler's standpoint than IS per cant
would Indicate. because the Steel Cor
poration Is operating at about 10 Del
cent more than IL the average producer
and the independents at about 10 pei
cent less The Steel Corporation buys
much less scrap In the open marl1a,
than its steel making capacity could uss
Or do the independents. AZ a rule. the
steel works will buy from the Govern.
nsnt such scrap as lies In their plant,
and for correspondingly less in the oper
market. There Is 30 little activity that
prices are not clearly defined. but the lis,
SEEMS TO be of an average OF about 81
ton. and the prices are being quoted
lever than a week ago on nearly all
descriptions ., ,.~
Prospective wages In the iron and steel
industry still cause a wide difference OF
opinion. Some leading steel producers
openly and plainly express a strong
opinion against the making of any wage
reductions but also cay that prices OF
mill products must not come down. Such
statements naturally warrant the in
ference that, II by any chance steel
prices should como down, the objection
70 wage reductions would be removed.
As to wage rates in general, in and out
Of the steel industry. the feeling has
become more general that the contin-
uance Of the very high cost Of living
puts different aspect on wage pros
pects. A few months ago the common
view was that wages would not be re-
duced except when particularly high un-
less the cost Of living should come down
but It was expected that the decline In
living cost would occur.
There continues to be a heavy demand
for oil country goods. keeping the tubu-
Oar mills working pretty generally. the
pipe mills being the most active In oper.
alton OF any part OF the iron and steel
Industry. There is hardly anything be-
ing done In boiler tubes and merchan,
Pipe Is distinctly quiet. Prices in all OF
those lines are very we'll maintained
The pipe mills are on the whole operat-
Ing at between 50 and 20 per cent. Of ca
pacity, Including almost full operation
/, as to oil country goods and decidedly
Hsht operation In other lines.
Automobile Trade Helps Sheet.
The automobile trade keeps up the
meet demand and gives sheet mills q
eood average OF operation. A new eie-
ment In the situation is the demand for
electrical sheets, apart from demand fol
meets for electric equipment OF auto.
MOBILES which demand has been heavy
Iof good while. Sheet prices arr
maintained firmly at levels effective or
Matcn q. Here and there a little shad.
ne may obtain, but such cases are alto.
kether exceptional and do not detrac,
rom The general stability OF the market
Sh'cn is quoted as follows: Biach
.neeH' i55 cents; blue annealed, 3.5t
'ent' galvanized. $40 cents.
me pig iron market continues mac.
we While open market conditions have
peVaied, there has been so little in.
glry That furnaces have not had occa.
~. ITO 70 cut prices and those that became
sS'Fe on March 81 represent the
J hnaIhet as follows: Bessemer, S27.s5i
Saslc, s25.7S; malleable, s2e25; foun.
~ 12s.75; gray forge. s25.75. Thos,
, r'ees are I. o. b. Valley furnaces
Seght TO Pittsburg being $40. w. p
sLyoer q Co. announce the average
TO obtaining on actual sales during
apsu 70 have been $27s5 for Besseme,
sso'7b for basic, the recognized
ns spot furnace coke market expe.
..ea further stiffening last week and
4, on the usual asking price OF
~, about all that can be obtained
ov. use buyers. The spot market Il
~ oie at S3.7o to S375, against S3.6l
,b,ss 10 week ago and $3.50 10 S3.7l
co'' weeks ago. Demand for foundr,
Co., mas very materially improved
, rn ,us having regular contracts dur,
nsu "a" week called for increased ship
~ ' .t' while those that buy spot cox,
"a me open market purchased mora I'm
~sy The Improvement IN demant
S,ocL. cue In part 10 exhaustion o,
dpS ~ put In larger part Is probabl,
OF ,our increased operations on the par