The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-10-02
STRIKE MAY INJURE
AUTOMOBILE TRADE
Unless Relief Comes in Month
Industry VIII Begin to
Feel Pinch.
MILLS FOR SAFETY FIRST
Buying Is Checked, but Is Not
Suspended by Troubles in
Labor World.

without relief in thirty days from the
iron and steel strike, the automobile In
dustry will begin to feel the pinch, ac-
cordlng to the weekly iron and steel
trade reviews of to-day. That situation.
II ia said, will be due to Arm determine
ton Of producers TO shut down mills
II It is not safe to run them. in which
attitude the consumers are expressing
unqualified support. Buying has been
checked" says the Iron Age, but not
suspended by the iron and steel strike.
Bookings are\ chiefly with the furnaces
and mills not seriously affected.
'+The continued favorable progress OF
the strike Is all that the producers ex-
pected Where protection is sufficient
to prevent intimidation, workers are re-
turning. Much encouragement Is taken
from the refusal OF the Bethlehem EN-
ployees to go out and from the condl-
lions in the pivotal Monongahela VAL
ley. The continued absence of marked
rioting, usually q sign of collapse,
points to a drawn out issue.
Following the 10000 tons of basic
iron reported last week. the American
Bridge Company has closed on $4,000
tons more. The basic market IL now
u
these sales. Fresh inquiries for about
10000 tons of foundry iron for next
year have appeared in New England.
The Middle West is taking iron from
western Pennsylvania, involving an
added freight cost.
plate mills willing to take on fur
Their commitments have no difficulty In
getting 2.65 cents, Pittsburg, though
ass cents was quoted on 1890 tons for
Japan.
THE scarcity OF steel bars for months
In demand, is putting activity in bar
iron and advances for prompt Shipment
are not unlikely :
Producers Are Firm.
Producers remain firm in their de-
termination to shut down mills II Il is
not safe to run them and consumers arc
expressing ain unqualified support. It
remains that. without relief in thirty
days. the automobile industry will begin
to feel the pinch. Prompt blast furnace
coke is lower, due to an accumulation at
ovens"
According to the Iron Trade Repietc.
slowly, but with clearly marked
progress the vicious assault upon the
Iron and steel industry by radical agi-
tators, welded mainly through the for
elgn workmen. Is being repealed and
broken. The weeks developments, taken
as whole, have been definitely
favorable TO the employers. with some
large companies having large plants the
actual gain in the number of men at
work has averaged from 20 to rs per
cent in that period
1.-THE Pittsburg district the pivotal
ground In the present struggle, shows n
Inn In
operations, while efforts of the strikers
to win over certain large plants which
had been running practically full from
the first have been been resisted sue
essfuly. In the East the strike has
lost rather than gained ground despite
the much heralded attack upon the
Bethlehem Steel Company. All evidence
Of 1t practically has disappeared in the
South, where it has ceased to be a
factor.
Chicago Conditions Improve.
"At Chicago no serious attempt yet
has been made by the steel companies
to enlarge their operations and produc-
ton Is only slightly better. The drift
OF the men back TO the works has been
begun at Buffalo. Cleveland and the
Mahoning Valley remain the most af-
fected points and virtually every plant
in those territories is idle. In some
districts the employers are initiating
steps to win back the men generally.
They continue to pursue a passive at
titude and the belief apparently is en-
tertained that the psychological moment
for this effort has not yet arrived.
Consumers of STEEL realizing that the
issues at stake vitality concern their own
interests. almost without exception are
throwing their support to the producers
and are refraining from pressing for de-
liveries OF otherwise embarrassing the
mills. This cooperation has simplihed
greatly the problem of the producers In
spreading about their reduced tonnage.
"The strike is having small effect
upon the placing OF new structural work.
Awards OF the week have been up to the
level recently shown, and in some dis
tricts have been heavier. The largest
single letting was 1000 tons for extern
sions OF the Ford Motor Company at De-
troit. Inability of many mills TO keep
UP with contract obligations has directed
a food Of business upon warehouse
stocks.s In some districts these supplies
rapidly are being cleaned out, and II is
predicted that several weeks on present
conditions will leave the jobbers of tho
country practically bare of steel supplies
-September established new record
in the volume of export iron and steel
sales. With mill output on this side
now curtailed and shipping facilities re-
duced by the British rail and dock strike
sellers are advising buyers to hold of
from further purchases at this time"
METAL, MARKET