CHAPTER V
Was Wrought Iron a Weak Factor
in the Industry?
Wrought or puddled iron is such a relatively small factor in the
total economy of a modern iron and steel industry that it may
appear superfluous to pursue this question. Before the period under
review opened, the wrought iron industry was doomed, except for a
few special applications, by the invention of mass production methods
of steel making. For twenty years, however, wrought iron made
every effort to survive, and world production slightly increased, but
after 1890 production in all countries decreased up to the present
day. Some particulars of this retrogression are given below, though
the economic importance of the industry does not justify detail. It is
already apparent, however, that, if wrought iron introduced a weak
factor in British iron and steel, we have not to look for a factor re-
tarding development relative to other countries, but to enquire if it
was more difficult for the inevitable decline to occur here than
abroad, whether from the size or organization of the industry, or a
more tenacious adherence to the traditional forms of iron making.
(a) WROUGHT IRON PRODUCTION
Some data on the production of puddled iron by the countries
under review were given in Chapter I (a), and yearly figures are
shown in* Table III in the Appendix.
From these the ratio of wrought iron to pig iron production in
the five countries under comparison has been calculated,
TABLE 45
RATIO OF PUDDLED IRON PERCENTAGE TO PIG IRON PRODUCTION
Tear Britain U.S.A. Germany France Belgium World
1870 43-7 68-0 72-0 55*0 86»o 59-0
1880 126*0 55*0 46*0 60*0 72-0 43-0
1890 23*5 34*2 36-0 50*0 67-0 32*0
1900 13*0 16*0 12*8 27-0 36-5 17-0
xgio n*i 6*5 2*7 13*4 8*8 7*3
1913 11*8 5*6 1*3 7-3 5«3 5-3
ig«0 7'4 3*8 1*2 1-3 1-8 3-7
3"6 2-5 0-9 1-4 1*0 1-6
1*8 — 0'2I I-I — O*7^