Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1831-11-24


cents a yard, are now made, of better
quality, here, at from fifteen to twenty
cents. Indeed we might enumerate
every species Of manufacture in which
this material enters as component part,
to show that both in the character of the
article and the cheapncss Of its price the
country has been u great gunner since
the enactment Of the system that has
promoted its fabrication. '..
TO the cotton planters Of the United
States, the system has undoubtedly yiel-
ded the most decisive advantages. 1t
has created certain and valuable mar
ket for about one-f fifth Of their crop, and
it has encouraged the consumption of
large quantities of their staple in fabrics
to which it never would have been ap-
Piled, if the manufacture had not been
carried OH in our own county The es-
tablishment of cotton mills amongst US
has had the most visible tendency to in
duce our manufacturers to apply cotton
to uses which both the policy and the
position of foreign manufacturers would
have forever forbidden them rom adopt
ing. This fact is conspicuoudy seen in
the application of cotton to sail cloth, and
to all those articles Of heavy clothing in
which it has lately been substituted for
wool. 1t is now manufactured into car
pets, blankets, cordage, twine, net work
and variety of other commodities that
may be suid to be exclusively of Ameri-
can origin. Cotton being product of our
own soil, we have naturally an interest
to extend its application to new uses, a
bove what might be expected from ma
tions who are mere purchasers OF the ar
ticle; and who are as much, if not more,
concerned in preserving and promoting
the use of wool and hemp in the fabrics
to which we have applied our cotton.
Let US next consider the article of Iron (;
and we will introduce the notice Of it
with quotation from that mastery re-
port of the first Secretary of the Treasu-
ry, which, forty years ago, recommended
prohibitory duties in favor Of the manu-
facturers of this article: "for," says that
report, "they arc entitled to pre-emnent
rank. None are more essential in their
kinds, none so extensive in their uses
They constitute, in whole or in part, the
implements or the materials, or both, Of
almost every useful occupatio:i. Their
instrumentality is every where cOnspicu-
GUS 1t is fortunate for the United States
that they have peculiar advantages, for
deriving the full benefit, of this most val
liable material, and they have every mo-
tive to improve it with systematic care.--
1t is to be found in various parts Of the
United States in great abundance, and Of
almost every quality; and fuel, the chief
instrument in manufacturing it, is both
cheap and plenty" This report, which
is treatise on political economy, at least
equal to any thing that has appeared
since its publication, states that the aver
age price Of iron before the revolution,
was about sixty-four dollars per ton, and
that at the time of that report it was a
bout eighty dollars. Soon after it appears
to have risen to ninety-fve dollars, and
in 1914 was as high as one hundred and
fifty dollars. After the Intellectual Tariff
of 1918, which ruined numbers, induced
by its vain protection to make invest.
ments in the manufacture of iron, it rose
from ninety to one hundred and five dol
lars per ton. Under the influence of the
acts Of 1894 and 1898, it has declined to
its present prices of from seventy-five to
eighty-fve dollars per ton, and there is
every reason for the confident belief en-
tertained, that if our own market be pro-
tected against the formidable and inces-
SAINT endeavors the British manulactur-
ers to control it, the price ofiron will, be-
fore long, decline at from fifty to sixty
dollars per ton. Such is the irretutable
proof of all recent experience. Cut nails,
which in 1916 sold for twelve cents per
ID. are now sold for less than half that
sum, under the permanent security Of
five cents per b., which has given our
manufacturers their own mar ket. "The
United States, (says Hamlton's report,
before mentioned) already in great meas
ure supply themselves with nails. About
one million eight hundred thousand lbs.
of nails and spikes were imported into the
United States, in the course Of the year
ending the 4th of September, 1870. A
duty of two cents per lb. would, it is pre-
sumable, speedily put an end to so con-
siderable an Importation. And it is in
every view proper that an end should be
put to it,"
Bar Iron which sold at Pittsburg in
1929, at Sl22, sells there now at sos
Castings which were S63 are now $50
per ton. Such are the practical results,
proving the operations of the tariffs on
the market for iron. The duty, by the
law of 1916, was so inadequate as to
cause nothing but ruin to those concern
81 h., Il, l..a