New-York tribune., 1922-08-06
Strikes Effect
On Steel Mills
Grows Steadily
Fuel Situation Necessitates
Further Curtailments
by Practically Every
Prod Ii ing Company
Rolling Schedules Cut
Industry Will Suffer for
Months After End of La
Dor Troubles, Is Belief

PITTSBURGH, Aug. 5.--The week
has been one of great anxiety to the
steel manufacturers of the Pittsburgh,
Youngstown and Wheeling districts.
The fuel situation has not improved
and the necessity for curtailing steel
production has greatly increased, re-
sulting in the taking off Of productive
units by practically every steel COM
pany In the three districts. Blast
furnaces have been banked or blown
out, open hearths taken off and coke
producing units shut down or reduced
In operation. Rolling schedules are
now beginning to be affected and the
prospects ahead Of the industry is
discouraging in the extreme.
Leading steel manufacturers feel
that even though the rail and mine
strikes should come to an end soon,
the chances for quick return Of steel
making to normalcy are mighty slim,
inasmuch Rs the coal produced and
the cars restored TO service would be
required for supplying public utilities,
public works and domestic require
ments ahead Of the steel industry and
that no surplus would be left for the
mills for several months to come.
Many Furnaces Out
During the current week the Car
negie Steel Company has banked or
blown out three blast furnaces. Thirty
seven of the fifty-nine United States
Steel Corporation blast furnaces are
blast. The Jones & Laughlin Steel
Company has blown ont one furnace
and reduced coke production. The
Pittsburgh Crucible Steel Company is
operating only four out of twelve open
hearth furnaces and one blast fur
mace. Bethlehem Steel has banked five
blast furnaces. The American Sheet
and Tinplate has shut down several Of
their largest mills; United Engineer
ing and Foundry Company has closed
some Of It's foundries; Youngstown
Sheet and Tube Company is operating
only three out Of six blast furnaces
week; the Cambria Steel Company has
three out Of eleven blast furnaces
operating and has taken off it's plate
mills temporarily; the Republic Iron
and Steel Company Is operating only
one blast furnace and one pipe fur
mace; the Brier Hill Steel Company Is
operating two stacks and has banked
FIVE open hearths; the Sharon Steel
Hoop Company has one furnace max
ing pig iron.
A most serious aspect in the coal
strike developed this week in the dis
trict when it was ascertained that coal
in transit for the mills was being con-
fiscated. With rapidly depicting stocks
and no additional cargoes coming in
preparations were being made for
suspension Of operation. It is expected
that the Farrell Works of the Carnegie
Steeel Company will go down, depriv-
ing 1900 men of employment. The
American Sheet and Tinplate Company
at Farrell Is having difficulty in obtain
ing sheet and tin bar and several mills
have been forced to close for few
days at time. It is predicted that
unless the coal strike is settled there
will be few plants operating in the
Shenango Valley within the next two
weeks.
Situation More Serious
Leading figures In the industry, such
as James A. Campbell, president of
the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Com
pany; James II. Grose, president of
the Brier Hill Steer Company, and
Thomas J. Bray, president Of the Re-
public Iron and Steel Company, say
that the situation is getting more
serious every day. Failure Of the ma
tional Administration to secure better
results in endeavoring to settle the
AGDOi dioPUISS has plVuuSCO
able disappointment IN this territory.
Intermittent employment is, there
fore, increasing, while the number Of
steel workers wholly thrown out of
employment is gaining.
AS yet, curtailments have affected
pig iron and semi-fnished steel output
principally, but are gradually extend
ing to finishing mills. Semi-fnished
material, in the form of sheet bars,
billets and clabs, Is difficult to obtain.
Reduction in output will early affect
sheet rollers dependent on the outside
SOURCES for sheet bars.
An outcome of the situation Is that
buyers in some lines are pressing for
deliveries, particularly the lighter
products required by the motor in
dustry, such as sheets, strips and light
plates. Warehouses and jobbing in
terests were among the first to advance
prices. For instance, warehouse prices
on black sheets have advanced TO s4
100 pounds, which compares with
quotation of S9.15, at which inde-
pendents were booking tonnages before
the shopmen's strike. Galvanized
sheets have likewise been marked up
by warehouses to SIS a 100 pounds,
while blue annealed grades are quoted
from $3.50 TO $3.50.
Little New Business
Mills are endeavoring to hold prices
in check, and point out there is little
advantage in negotiating sales during
periods such as the present, when de-
liveries are uncertain, and largely out
of the question. Little new business is
being considered in any lines.
Steel manufacturers, however, look
for a great boom in the iron and steel
industry just as soon as the coal and
railroad strikes are settled. They state
that while few orders are being booked
now there is great volume of bust
ness in sight.