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STEEL IN ALL COUNTRIES, o;;
Stumnarg.—Great Britain was the largest producer of pig iron
until 1890, when its place was taken by the United Stales. In
1879 the production of Bessemer steel rails in the United States
exceeded the production of Great Britain, and one year later the
production of Bessemer steel ingots in the United States exceeded
that of the mother country. After three years of restored British
pre-eminence the United States again took the lead in 1884 in
the production of Bessemer steel ingots, and this jMisitiou she has
ever since retained. But Great Britain still produces more openhearth
steel than the United States, although in the production
of all kinds of steel the United States has been uniformly in
advance of it.- rival since 1890. It was al«o first as a steel producer
in 1886 and 1887. It has been first as a producer of steel
rails since 1*79. In the production of pig iron the position of
first place which the United States secured in 1MH) and maintained
in 1891,1892, and 1893, was restored to its rival in 1894.
GERMANY.
Germany has rapidly developed all her industries since the
adoption by the Reichstag, on July 12, 1879, under the leadership
of Prince Bismarck, of a protective tariff, which is still in force.
Statistics of the iron and steel and mining industries of Germany
always include the production of the Grand Duchy of
Luxemburg, which forms a part of the German Zollverein. Germany
ranks next to the United States and Great Britain in the
production of coal, pig iron, and steel, and is abreast of both
countries in the production of iron ore. We are indebted to Dr.
H. Rentzsch, the statistician of the Association of German Iron
and Steel Manufacturers, for the official statistics of the production
of iron ore, pig iron, and steel in Germany, including Luxemburg,
in recent years, and to Dr. Hermann Wedding, of Berlin,
for statistics of the production of coal and lignite. All German
statistics are in metric tons of 2,204 pounds.
Iron Ore.—In Johann Pechar's admirable and uncqualed volume
on Coal and Iron in All Countries, prepared for the Paris
Universal Exposition of 1878, we find the following figures of the
production of iron ore in Germany and Luxemburg at various
periods prior to 1869. We quote as follows : 1848, 693,72 "> metric
tons; 1853,903,236 tons; 18-57, 1,962.054 tons; 1862, 2.216,021
tons; 1866. 2.996,021 tons; 1867, 3.264,464 tons; 1868, 3.634.-
369 tons. The production of iron ore in Germany and Luxemburg
from 1869 to 1894 is given by Dr. Rentzsch as follows.