The Evening Star TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1873.

Evening Star, Issue 3359, 25 November 1873, Page 2

The Evening Star TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1873.

One inevitable consequence of high prices, if high profits are made through them, is competition. In all production there is a point below which material cannot profitably be sold, and although through abnormal causes there may be a period during which prices range very much above that standard value, the tendency through a long series of years, is towards it. An instance in point is presented to us in the iron trade of Great Britain® For many years past the demand for iron has been much greater than the ironmasters could overtake, and in consequence prices have risen so much that it has proved profitable for the United States to enter into successful competition as an iron-producing country. A correspondent of the Thneu, writing from Philadelphia, under date September 2, gives the following account of the prospects of the trade there : The Pennsylvanian ironmasters, as may naturally he supposed, are in excellent spirits at the successful competition they are making in various parts of the world with those of England. Our newspapers have a good deal to say°upon the subject too, and possibly a paragraph may be of interest upon the present condition of the Pennsylvanian iron trade. In this State the pig-iron producers have long been making large profits - heavier, indeed, than they admit. They are selling No. 1 anthracite pig iron at 45d01. a ton, arc accumulating capital, make plenty of money, and are constantly enlarging production by building more furnaces. There is very, little excitement in the trade, chiefiy because the blast furnaces are almost all working up to their full capacity already, and the only way to meet an increased demand is by erecting more furnaces. Most of the producers have large contracts to fulfil at present prices, and this has au influence in preventing a rise, which is also aided by the wholesome dread that is felt all the while that English ironmasters may attempt to break the market by sending here large quantities of iron on ventures. There is also a dullness in the railway iron market, the demand for rails being from a variety of causes much less than usual. The rail mills arc only making small quantities, and thsir profit is but meagre, while many of them are accumulating stock. The general iron business, however, is sufficiently flourishing to keep f.fie blast furnaces fully employed, while onr ironmasters are contemplating large additions to their number. The Philadelphia and Reading Goal a»d Iron Company, an auxiliary to the Reading Railroad, contemplate the erection of a large number of furnaces on their extensive coal and iron lands in Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, and they have already made arrangements for the construction of 15 of them. The Cambria Iron Company at Johnstown is making 500 tons of pig iron a-day, in ten furnaces in full blast. They are building a new furnace, and likewise in all the iron regions of the State new furnaces are going up. The President of this company, lion. D. Morrell. M.C., who has recently been interviewed on the subject, says he regards the situation as very promising for the Americans, but as not nearly so desperate for the English ironmasters as they appear to regard it themselves. He hopes the Americans shall not be led into the folly of trusting to the so-called downfall of iron manufacture iu England. Air Morrell argues iu favor of the American tarilf, and says that it remains as it is, wc shall wo able to compete with England, but that England must long retain thp position of the leading iron manufacturer of the world, because it will take a long time to accumulate sufficient capital and facilities for manufacturing to enable us to any gi"cafc extent to excel her. He Blinks, however, there will ho an extensive and profitable competition “if the tariff is retained for a while to insure the American manufacturer a home market till he is strong enough to be independent.” Mr Morrell says that America is at present making hardly as much pig iron as is consumed in the country. He speaks, however, of considerable shipments

to Canada, where extensive sales of Lake Superior charcoal pig iron have been recently made on English account. We cannot clearly comprehend what the American tariff has to do with a trade which already competes successfully in a foreign market. It is comprehensible that protective duties might operate to the over-riding of foreign competition ; but where two countries meet and sell their produce in a neutral market, the influence of tariffs is excluded, and successful competition "proves that price, and that only, is sufficient inducement to produce. So far as protection is concerned in the States, it is, in many respects, a farce. No country in the world has so unlimited a field for absolutely free and unrestricted trade as the United States. It is a federation of States spread over two-thirds of the area of one of the world’s largest continents, amongst which interchange is free and unrestricted ; while the boundaries and seaboard are so extended that the world’s fleets employed as revenue cutters, and the United States army, as a preventive police, could not hinder goods worth smuggling being introduced into the country duty free. England, on the contrary, has to struggle against hostile tariffs- imposed bv her own Colonies against her and against each other. Yet when competition has done its work ; when supply overtakes demand, and prices fall to their normal standard, Greatßritain will once more prove that protected America cannot compete in the world’s markets. It is a mere question of time.