Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 259, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 November 1915 — STEEL PRODUCTS TRADE BOOMING [ARTICLE]

STEEL PRODUCTS TRADE BOOMING

Virtually Every Blast Furnace ant Mill in U. S. Working Night and Day to Meet the Demands. New York, Oct. 28.—50 great has been the sudden and general revival in the iron and steel trade of the United States, it was said by authorities today, that with virtually every blast furnace and steel mill in the country working night and day to capacity, fche demand for iron, steel and steel prdoucts cannot be satisfied and it is today almost impossible to buy, for immediate delivery

pig iron, scrap or ingots in sizable quantities at any industrial plant in the country. The revival began about the first of last July, has been coming on rapidly, with a deluge of orders since the middle of August, and may not yet have reached its high mark. Within these three months the price of pig t iron, long regarded as the barometer of trade, has increased approzimately 35 per cent and that of steel and steel products—except steel rails —has gone up about 15 per cent. At the present the demand for pig iron and for the various lines of steel is in excess of the producing capacity of the furnaces and mills of the United states, reads a statement issued today by Judge Elbert H. Gary, chairman of the United States Steel Corporation. “The manufacturers are unable to make deliveries entirely' satisfactory to the purchasers with respect to a large majority of the different kinds of finished steel. There is nothing to indicate that there will be a decrease in the demand for any of these products for some time. While prices received are still low, they have been and are increasing, and apparently will go higher, so that fair and reasonable profits may be expected?’

Erperts who have followed the rising fortunes of iron and steel within the months asserted today that the volume of business, both domestic and foreign, at present, is more than double what it was a year ago and that there are today 175,000 men employed at iron and steel plants throughout the United States who were not on the pay rolls a year ago. This is about 50 per cent increase. The reason for the increased number of men empolyed being disproportionate to the volume of business, they assert, is that during dull times many men were retained for the purpose of making repairs, cleaning up and doing odd jobs. Prices have increased somewhat slowly, it is said, but there seems to be every indication that further rises are on the way. At the present time, it is estimated there are employed in the producing end of the industry approximately 525,000 men.