The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1920-01-30
IRON REVIEW

NEW YORK. Jan. 22.-The Iron Age,
I'm it's weekly summary Of the iron and
steel trade, tomorrow Will say:
Pig iron prices having advanced 10
$40 Valley for basic, $Al for BcSSpncr'
and $40 Birmingham, for No. foundry
with correspondlngly high prices In the
East. furnaces were willing to sell ana
buyers did not h"sitat" 10 contract Tor
halt Cleveland made heavy sales OF
baSir. and in all CenterS foundry GRADES
sold III quantity. G"Hvy selling "f Lake
Superior charcoal iron was followed by
All advance Of 81 per ton with sales
limited To l,UOU tons to customer. Ow-
ing 10 advances in prices Of orc ana
coke and higher freight rates. II Is rN-
pccIrd that cost Of making plE iron Will
be considerably higher 1T Il not far
distant date. II is not improbable that
petition with Lake Superior and Eastern
ores. Under existing rate contracts
present pig iron prices put coke at s7.aO
to S. and the trade rApccts further
spread over the regulated price of 50
wnen the peace ratification makes the
Lever law inorprrativc. What may he
mildly termed surprise was an el'v-
enth hour dctcrmlna'," n. on the part
of tho railroad Administration. to Sc
cure maximum delivery Of rails in the
coming month. Falling back on the
technically that we are Sull at war
orders Of the war time type have been
issued on all rail mills for total tom
mage calculated To keep mills busy for
many long months. Included are mills
which have stood out for the $57 per
ton basic. and have not sold at the $i7
level obtaining meanwhile. Efforts are
now being made TO secure modification
of the orders. which II Is generally I'M
possible to fulfill In the one month of
life presumably remaining for govern
ment control. As the war time stipu-
latlons provided that manufacturers
were entitled /" cost plus a rcsnnahic
prolit, there * no great concern. col
lateral question IL the matter OF DIS
locating existing mills controlled by
giving sub tanlIal priority To some Of
the government orders. manufacturers
generally would welcome anything that
would moan an Improvement IN trans
portatiOn, for If better freight move
mcntS cannot br obtained, no great good
can come from any attempted expansion
OF operations. II is held that regcncra-
tInn Of morale * second only 10 lnCrraS-
ed rolling stock ami motive power. Tho
sever" weather has aggravated the
shortage III The supply of cars. A num-
Der OF blast furnaces have had TO be
banked. and the starting Of others has
been delayed. Coal mining operations
have tn BE- Curtailed. The corporate
railroads are still active on their own
account in placing rail orders. Tho mill
Of the Illinois steel company Is now
booked prn,'Irhily through tn" third
quarter. Dnr Eastern rail mill had 10
refuse 2n.0n0 tons. The Altoona will is
booked for IN" year. Canadian roads
having recently taken 2%.u"u ihnS. Tho
administrators orders just placed may
total 1I."n" tons. tn" Pennsylvania
has bought GUu.uT tie plates NJ about
Sc. per pound The three-quartrr earn
ngs statement OF the Steel corporation
appears Ia sustain III" leading interest
price maintenance program.
Tank plates AT 3.5uc to &c Pitt sburEh
for reasonably carly delivery, and struc-
tural shapes "a llEh as %.5"c and Also.
What $"mI-nnI%h"d material is obtain
able likewise commands premiums of IS.
All the leading Independent pipe mills
hay" advanced Iipr !, u ton. returning
t. tn" level whi"h "NIstcd in the first
L. weeks of 1919. cast iron pipe has
been advanced 50 per ton In the South.
and III Chicago for South America a.
600 tons has be-, sold The German
trade is locking forward to plan for
establishing some p"udum fund from
which financial h"lr may be obtained in
importing S"Iri-iin!sh"d products SO
that the Industry may get on its feet.
\ movement is underway Ia fix maxi
mum prices for The homo trade as much
as %.nnn marks r"r ton has b"cn obtain
ed in Germany for steel bars from the
Saar district"