Evening star., 1927-11-15
OUTLOOK BETTER
|NSTEEL INDUSTRY
Rail Orders TrickIing in and
Foreign Cartel Cannot
Maintain Low Prices.
BY j. C. ROYLE.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Spec1at DlSpatCn 10 Inc star.
NEW YORK, November 15.--There
are approximately 40,000.000 gross
tons of ore at furnaces and Lake Erie
docks today. This compares with 81
100000 tons year ago and there is
no indication that shipments will be
rushed to beat the close Of navigation
on the upper lakes. However, the
condition of the iron and steel mills
is regarded as thoroughly sound and
it is probable that a greater number
of men than usual will be retained
for Winter work on the great North.
western iron ranges.
The Oliver Mining Co., United
States Steel subsidiary, will maintain
10000 men at work and the other
Lake Superior mines will hire an equal
number. The steel business is regis
tering moderate Improvement. This
is being shown in the number of or
ders rather than in the size of the
orders. but the trend shows the busi-
ness is there and mills nowadays are
prepared to handle Il large quantity
Of small shipments without disarrang-
ing schedules.
Rail Orders Coming In.
That backbone Of the business, the
rail orders, are commencing to trickle
in. But even more encouraging than
these orders has been the discovery
that the European rail producers
members of the steel and iron cartel
have been unable to maintain the
prices which they quoted last season.
md at which they took some impor.
tant orders, and are now quoting what
is pretty nearly the equivalent of the
figures named by the American pro-
duCers.
The New York Central rail orders is
believed to approximate IT'S, 900 to
10000 tons, but no small amount of
this will go to the Carnegie Steel Co.
The structural steel producers have
found orders coming in more freely
owing to the favorable weather condi-
tions in some parts of the country.
The Gil industry is slowly beginning to
drag itself from the slough of depres-
sion and the Standard Oil Co. of New
Jersey is buying 100000 tons of pipe
for the Prairie Gas & Oil Co.. which
will be used on a 400-mile pipe line
from Amarillo to Denver.
Nut and Bolt Trade.
The nut and bolt plants of some
districts have slumped to around so
per cent of capacity operations. There
are some large orders lowering around.
but, as in the case of rivets, they can
be lured onto the books only by a
concession in prices which the little
fellow" is unable to command. Tin
plate operations are fairly active. but
buyers claim that some of them have
secured concessions in price. The can
manufacturers are almost universally
declared to have improved their posi-
ton. The heavy carry-over of 1926
pack is alleged to 'haye been disposed
of. Sugar is at a lower price range
than nearly any other food commod.
ity, but the Gamers are not ordering
in volume. This policy is dictated to
some extent by the fruit crops and
also by the fact that they have come
to have a horror of 'carry-over."
The trend is clearly indicated by
reports from the steel jobbers of the
Pittsburgh district. They say the or.
ders received in the last 80 days are
more by 100 than for the previous 80
days. but that the tonnage involved Is
considerably less. This means. they
say, that the small buyers have COM
menced to come into the market and
tldL tuT1l LOT tu0 UelleT 10 III piOS'
pect.
Feeling Ford Orders.
Steel companies in the Youngstown
area are reported to be feeling the eff.
feet of the opening up of Ford produc-
ton. Henry Ford seems to have again
struck the psychological time for plac.
ing of orders for materials. 1t is re-
ported steel specifications for a large
number of his new cars are to be
awarded shortly. Youngstown Steel
and Tube is operating it's Mahoning
Valley plants at SO to 65 per cent and
it's Chicago mills at nearly the same
rate.
New equipment and new methods
are making themselves felt. The new
billet and rod mill of the American
Steel & Wire Co., at Worcester. Mass,
Is expected to produce wire rods more
rapidly than any other plant. reach
ing a rate Of 4.200 feet a minute. A
daily output of 1900 miles of wire