Comparison of the Pig-Iron Statistics of Great Britain and of the United States. [Volume: 8, Issue: 1, 1888, pp. 50-55]

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UNITED STATES ASSOCIATION OF

[VOL. 8,

or out of blast, this close approximation to the demands of the
country, demonstrate that the bug-bear of over-production so often
referred to is net a reality. A glance at the stocks in hands of
British blast furnaces explains why foreign pig iron so readily responds by increased importations to any advance in prices on this
side of the water.
In discussing the progress of the American pig iron industry,
the Iron Age compares the positions of the United States and
other iron-producing nations in the years 1873 and 1886, as the
figures for 1887 were not obtainable for all of the countries. From
this article we excerpt the following:
"The production of the United States in 1873 was so far below
that of Great Britain that it would have taken this country 133
weeks, or over two years and a half, to make as much pig iron as
its overshadowing competitor did in one year. The production of
Germany was so close to that of the United States that it would
have required 41 weeks for this country to make as much as
Germany did during the year. To produce as much as France
turned out in a year would have required 28 weeks; Belgium, 13
weeks; Austria, 8 weeks; Russia, 7 weeks, and Sweden 6 weeks.
Represented graphically, the position of the United States among
the iron-producing countries of the world, taking the production of
Sweden as the unit, was substantially as follows in 1873, only 14
years ago:
THE RANK OF PIG IRON PRODUCERS IN 1873.
Sweden,....
Russia,.....
Austria,.....
Belgium,....
France,.....
Germany,....
United States,
Great Britain,.
In 1873 the production of Germany and Belgium exceeded that
of the United States, while the production of Great Britain was
far in excess of that of the whole continent of Europe. In that,year Great Britain produced 86 per cent. as much pig iron as the
other seven leading iron countries, but in 1886 it produced only
53 per cent In 1873 the United States produced 22 per cent. as