Pig, Too

Most sensational production figure were again established in steel and iron. All records for the production of pig were broken by the total out put of 3,512,275 tons for last March This is greater even than the output of September, 1918, at the climax of war production. Daily average production is at the rate of 42,500,000 tons per annum--another record. More furnaces are scheduled to go into blast, and output for the current April may even surpass March figures. Both producers and consumers are becoming conservative, however, and prices have steadied, though premiums for early deliveries have, if anything, increased. Pig iron production is a favorite barometer ot prosperity, and from the present tremendous output some students conclude an equally sizable period ot prosperity is at hand. This may turn out to be the case; nevertheless, the incidence of a building boom, a depleted railway system and a foreign steel and iron tie-up have added special force to pig production this year. Also, as C. M. Schwab has so often pointed out, the steel and iron industry is growing constantly, and a sensational output in 1923 will be a miserable record for 1933.