Show Tile Steel Bail Business New York 20Andrew Car negrie member of Carnigre Bro i thers Pittsburg the largest iron and < steel company in the country says there are fourteen steel rail mills in the country They employ on an ti average 5000 men including those S in the mines and collateral branches Total capacity 1500000 tons a year Last year about 12 500000 tons of steel rails were made in America t Three new mills in 5 Colorado one at Pittsburg and one at Scranton have been completed during the last year which will in crease the capacity a quarter of a t niiiion There are no steel rails on hand at present The mills make steel rails only as they have orders for them Four steel rail mills in the east also those at Pittsburg and Johnstown have plenty of orders 1 on hand enough to keep them busy the next six months The mills in the west however are fhinnnt want nf nrAuve ThA suffering nrpq li ent depression arises from the check ° to the abnormal growth of railroad building in this country during the past two or three years America is a great country but it cannot per manently continue to build each year as many miles of new rail roads as the entire world has l done This it has practically done the past two years The great de maud for rails during the season led to the unwise extension of works and also to the building of new ones but the check has come nona too soon and is in every way a healthful one Had it been post 1 poned it would have fallen upon us in a much more aggravated form I consider the capacity of existing mills to be far beyond the legiti mate wants of the country therefore V there-fore there must be some restriction of the output or some mills must 1 main idle re What influence has the tariff agi tation on the present condition of affairs It has some of course but the present condition of affairs would arise had there been no tariff discus sion The question of tariff protec r E tion is course of the utmost import ri ance to manufacturers Any the reduction of the tariff beyond what s tariff commissioners recommend will gIve the markets of southern 1 Atlantic seaboards to foreigners Steel rails can be made in England ° at S20 a ton They can be delivered i in New Orleans at 27 a ton Add to this the proposed duty of 15 which the House bill as recom mended reads and you have steel ljy rails in New Orleans at 42 a ton There never was a time when a steel rail mill near to the Atlantic i Coast could make and deliver a steel t rail in New Orleans at this price Cheaper labor abroad and cheaper iron of certain kinds makes nrotec lon here indispensable What lis the general outlook for n the frnn uutl Mutt intnfn t S lDterests r Still more discouraging The ca pacity of the iron mills is far be ybnd any possible demand as was proved last year when most of the principal mills were shut down by a strike for nearly four months and so little 4 scarcity of iron was caused that prieej remained almost stationary It was clear that whenever the mills began run ning they would fall and this has occurred already until prices are now lower than at any time since the panic There will no doubt be a large consumption of ron this year but the capacity being so far beyond our consump ° tion there is no prospect of any ad x vance in the iron business to a healthy condition Do you anticipate any panic in the iron market jI s There must be many stoppages and failures We hear of them daily among iron men The prin cipal manufacturers in Iron are very strong and no general panic need be apprehended The mills are now doing generally close busi 1 ness and credits are very restricted the greatest care being exercised as r to credits the iron among men i E |