INDUSTRIAL STATISTICS. 



By WILLIAM H. WAHL, Ph.D., 



Philadelphia, Pa. 



GENERAL REVIEW OF THE IRON TRADE OF THE UNITED 



STATES FOR 1877. 



The annual report of the secretary of the American Iron 

 and Steel Association, to which, as heretofore, the country is 

 indebted for the most reliable statistics of this important 

 branch of industry, represents, as intimated in our last year's 

 Record, the year 1877 to have been more prolific of financial 

 disaster to the American iron trade than any previous year 

 since the panic. There appears to have been an increased 

 demand for certain of our iron and steel products, but the 

 advantages accruing from this increase were wholly enjoyed 

 by consumers, since, so far as the producers were concerned, 

 prices were too low to be profitable, having reached lower 

 figures for nearly every species of product than have ever 

 before been quoted in this country ; and a still further de- 

 crease appears to have been continued during the year 1878. 

 Mr. Swank's summary of this topic exhibits the depressed 

 condition of the American iron trade at the close of 1S77 too 

 plainly to require further comment. "The year 1877 w r as 

 one of extreme discouragement to American ironmasters and 

 their workmen, and during the first half of the year 1878 

 there has been no material change for the better no rift in 

 the dark clouds." 



PRODUCTION OF PIG-IRON IN 1S77. 



The report of the Association for the year 1877, which has 

 lately appeared, places the production of pig-iron in the Unit- 

 ed States during that year at 2,314,585 tons of 2000 pounds, 

 a gain of 221,349 tons (or about 10^- per cent.) over that of 

 the previous year (1876). These figures, while they indicate 

 that a healthful reaction has set in, fall far below the produc- 

 ing capacity of the country, as w T ill subsequently be shown. 



