Year: 1874

kuIGIbs


Our dispatches this morning Announce
meeting Of the pig iron manufacturers
Of the country at Philadelphia on the 2sth
Of this month 10 take into consideration
the present depression In the business,
and to take such steps as may be neces-
sary to induce Congress to restore the
duty on iron as 1t stood prior to the act
Of June 1872. which act reduced the duty
ten per cent Such a meeting aS this at
some carly day was to be expected con-
sidering the well known prostratlon that
exists in the pig iron industry Of the
country. Out Of the 600 blast furnaces
in the United States, 900 hsye gone ont
Of blast, and more are constantly going
out. More than one hall tho rail mills Of
the country were idle on the fret Of Jan
uarY last, and the number has been in
creased since that time. There has been
vast shrinkage in the price Of iron, even
within a few months past; since
the panic, In other words. A
dealer in pig iron in Wheeling
sold on Monday last lot OF iron at $s4
per ton, for which the owner a few months
ago refused $33. Rails that sold in the
East this time last year at $s2 per ton
arc now selling at 800. Bar iron Is now
selling at Pittsburgh at 81, whereas It
was selling at41.5 a year ago Tho fig
ures clear through the iron business will
average a decline Of 80 per cent within q
year past. This shrlnksge is due to the
suspension Of railroad building through
out the country. The railroads formerly
consumed onehalf Of all the pig iron
manufactured in tho United States, and
their suspension has left greatly increas.
ed production without market, and
hence the present depression.


1t Is difficult TO see how this depression
can be materially remedied by the meet
Ing at Philadelphia. A restoration Of the
ten per cent duty is only a slight pallia-
tive. twill reNeve us TO that extent Of
British competition, but It will not cure
the discaae. The Pittsburgh Ersning
Telegraph suggests that an endorsement by |
the government Of the bonds Of the North.
ern Pacific and Texas Pacific Railroads |
will do more than anything else to reani.
mate the iron industry Of tho country. No
doubt 1t would do something, like the re-
storatlon Of the ten per cent duty, but 1t |
TOO would only be a palliative. The
trouble Is deeper than these temporary ex.
pedicnts, and It is that VIC are making too
much iron for our necessities. Hence the
only real remedy Is to diminish tho pro-
duCtion by the natural process now going
on, viz; blowing out such furnaces as can.
not, or do not choose TO, compete with the |
market price for iron. To this complex.
ion the business must come at last, and 1t |
will only rest on firm and healthy basis
when consumption overtakes production.


We look for no material improvement
Iu the Iron business until after the crops,
now so promising, are gathered and as
Sured profitable market. In that event
a new impetus will be given to trade.
The country will be better able, by four
or five hundred million dollars perhaps,
TO renew railroad building, and there will
be increased confidence in Europe in
American securities, and consequently
more disposition than exists now to did
new enterprises; This Is the only sure
way out Of the present depression in the
pig iron trade that We can see. Mean
while, however, we hope to see something
OF advantage to the business and to the
couBtry grow out Of the Philadelphia
meeting on the 2sth.