174 



COMMEECE, INTERNATIONAL. 



countries advanced between 1868 and 1874 as 

 follows: Great Britain, from 5,050,000 to 6,- 

 087,000 tons ; German Empire (without count- 

 ing Alsace-Lorraine), from 1,159,000 to 1,409,- 

 000 tons ; France (without Alsace), from 1,235,- 

 000 to 1,388,000 tons ; Belgium, from 436,000 

 to 533,000 ; Austrian Empire, from 375,000 to 

 484,000 ; Russia, from 325,000 to 326,000 ; Swe- 

 den, from 263,000 to 228,000 ; United States, 

 from 1,454,000 to 2,439,000. The total man- 

 ufactures of iron and steel in the different 

 countries are estimated as follows, in thousands 



of tons : Great Britain, iron 3,500, steel 500 ; 

 United States, iron 1,602, steel 143; Germany, 

 iron 1,150, steel 200 ; France, iron 883, steel 

 138 ; Belgium, iron 503, steel 15 ; Austria, iron 

 300, steel 49 ; Russia, iron 245, steel 7 ; Swe- 

 den and Norway, iron 191, steel 12 ; Spain, iron 

 36 ; Italy, iron 24 ; extra-European lands, iron 

 70. The production of pig iron in the several 

 countries of the world, with the growth in this 

 industry since 1850, is exhibited in the follow- 

 ing table, showing the produce of each nation 

 for the years designated in thousands of tons : 



During the period from 1860 to 1876 the 

 number of puddling-furnaces in the United 

 Kingdom was increased from 3,462 to 7,159, 

 augmenting the productive capacity of the 

 country from 2 to 4 million tons. This in- 

 crease would have more than sufficed to meet 

 the increased demand for iron, though steel 

 had never supplanted malleable iron in the 

 market as it has done. The extension of blast- 

 furnace facilities was equally enormous and 

 uncalled for; and at the end of 1878 there 

 were 500 blast-furnaces lying idle in Great 

 Britain. A capital of as much as five millions 

 sterling invested in blast-furnaces has remained 

 unproductive for the last two years, while 

 other iron-masters kept their furnaces in blast 

 at a loss until they were completely bankrupted. 

 Now for the first time there are signs of a re- 

 vival in the market for pig iron, and an upward 

 tendency in prices. 



The capital expended in puddling-furnaces is 

 probably lost together. More than half the 

 puddling-furnaces in the north of England, 

 Staffordshire, and "Wales have ceased opera- 

 tions probably for ever, and gradually the re- 

 maining ones must let their fires go out one 

 by one in the natural course of events. But 

 if England has lost this so lately important 

 industry, she is foremost in pursuing the one 

 which has pushed it to the wall. The produc- 

 tion of Bessemer steel has increased within 

 five years from 540,000 to 813,000 tons, while 

 the price has fallen from 14 to 4 10s. per 

 ton. Steel-works have been started on the 

 Mersey and the Tees, at Barrow, Sheffield, and 

 Manchester, and in Wales and Staffordshire. 

 Yet England is not without rivals in the manu- 

 facture of the new material. France and the 

 United States early started in the race, and 

 have elaborated their own methods and im- 

 provements ; and Belgium and Germany com- 



pete so well with the British manufacturers 

 that they can frequently cite lower prices. 



The competition of English iron manufac- 

 turers with foreign manufacturers and with 

 each other has been desperate, and prices have 

 steadily declined. The total exports of iron 

 and steel from the United Kingdom in 1878 

 were 47,000 tons less than in 1877, but 75,000 

 tons more than in 1876. The exports in 1878 

 were only 658,000 tons less than those of 1873 ; 

 yet the shrinkage in prices made the difference 

 in the value of the exports between the two 

 years fully 20 millions sterling. The lowest 

 price was touched in July, 1879, when Scotch 

 pig was quoted at 40*. 3d. per ton. "When 

 considerable orders came from the United 

 States a turn in prices resulted, and the trade 

 began to revive. By the middle of September 

 Scotch iron was selling at 49s. Id., and on the 

 1st of October at 59. 6d. Cleveland No. 3 

 rose between the middle of July and the begin- 

 ning of October from 32s. Gd. to 44s. 6<Z., and 

 Cleveland bars from 96s. to 114s. 



As the expansion in the iron industry was 

 greater than in any other, and spread over all 

 countries before the crisis of 1873, so now this 

 trade is suffering the most severely from a col- 

 lapse of prices and a lack of business. In Ger- 

 many, Belgium, and France the depression is 

 greater than in England, and a long and bitter 

 contest is impending between the new works 

 on the Continent and the capital engaged in the 

 iron and steel industries in England. 



PETROLEUM. The production of petroleum 

 in the oil-fields of western Pennsylvania, in 

 quantities of any commercial importance, began 

 in the year 1859. Only within the last few 

 years has the export trade assumed such dimen- 

 sions as largely to exceed the home consump- 

 tion. The production of the wells for the five 

 years from 1859 to 1863, inclusive, was 8,362,- 



