ABSTRACT
It is natural for the average man, unacquainted with all the technical conditions and commercial vicissitudes that affect the business, to assume that iron making is one of the most profitable of occupations. A recent report of the Metz Chamber of Commerce deals with the German iron and steel trades in the following terms: The condition of the iron and steel industries has been as unfavourable as it was in 1902. The price of British pig iron enables the British steel manufacturer to secure larger profits than those to be earned in either Germany or the United States, assuming approximately the same realised prices for the finished products. The United States are paying nearly three times the wages of their most vigorous rival, and about double the wages of their next strongest competitor, while only a rash enthusiast would place the superiority of American labour as high as 50 per cent.
