New-York daily tribune., 1844-02-15
nv. uaravare Importers Fair Play
r. reference to the assertion Of Fair Play,

nat the Cast Butts cited by the Importers as
now afforded at 621 per cent. discount were IT,
duced TO that price before the present ann pass
ed, we have made inquiry, and are fully sausheo
that Fair Play was mistaken, ana l,ia' IN, IN,
same quality of Butts was not lower ,iiah 9
discount. In fact, no Butts were soa oeio" 'ia'
rate until our increased duties brought GOWN 'iie
British Manufacturers prices.
Fair Play says the Importers take the poor
est Butts and the best Screws, and yet we com
plain We only objected that the importers
based their calculations on the very cheapest and
poorest Butts IN order to run the duty up to 745
ner cent, whereas if they had chosen medium
ouality-say Clark's Common Patent, which
constitutes majority of the Butts imported-the
dnty would have been but IS to Al per cent
On better qualities, the duty being p cts. per h.
is still lower-As TO James's Screws, there can be
little merit in quoting them, since three-fourths
of all the Screws recently imported are Jamess'
AS to James having large stock stopped on
his hands by our Tariff which he was forced to
sell at some rate,-had he no other market than
this? Why has he reduced his prices rs per
cent. instead Of sending his wares elsewhere =
And why is he still manufacturing Screws to
sell us at the reduced prices? We know the }dct
from dsinterested gentleman who was recently
in his establishment and we know, too, that
other English manufacturers of equally good
Screws are offering them IN our market even
lower than this. Who can fail to see, then, that
not alone our Manufacturers but our buyers
of Screws are greatly benefited by the Protective
duty on them? The Governments gets more Re-
venue on the Screws imported, the American arti-
san has more work, and the consumer obtains
them at lower price. Who has any thing tc
cry over but the Foreign Manufacturers and thel
Agents?
And now, as to the tender nlercies of the
American Manufacturer which Far Play Sc
breads. We wouldn't trust these tender mer-
cies' bit more than those of Foreigners. Ii
Protective duty enabled our manufacturers 10
raise their prices essentially we admt-nay' we
insist-that they would do Such is the ln'-
mitable law of trade. 1t is precisely because
prices do not materially advance that we are sure
there is no tendency in Protection to increase
them. We appeal to the facts. All that Fair
Play can say is, that one or more Screw Manu-
facturers have advanced their prices per cent.
above the reduced scale of last fall. He does not
tell us that they were able to- sell any at the ad-
vanced price, and we happen to know that first
rate article of Screws can now be obtained at the
lowest price ever known-to wit: 35 per cent.
But Fair Play has no dread of the tender
mcrcies' Of Foreign Manufacturers, and he is
careful not to state the fact that the article of
Knives and Forks, which we have barely begun
to make in this country, the British makers have
\ recently advanced the price fifty per cent. Does
any man imagine there would have been any
such advance in this article in the face of strong
American competition? Has there ever been
such an advance on American Hardware
Fair Play asserts that Log Chains, Trace
Chains, Pig and Bar Iron have advanced 80 per
cent here since our present tariff was enacted.
Not so the trace-chains cited in the Memorial,
cost Is. I'D. pr. pound in Birminghamin the spring
Of '42, or 40 cents per pound here. They now cost
3d. in Birmingham, and 46 cents here, duty paid
being an advance of Is per cent. In this article
there is as vet no effective American competition
and the duty has increased the price here IN the
face of u reduced price abroad. If we were
making trace-chains largely, the advance would
soon disappear; as it is the duty goes into the
Treasury, where it is needed but does not operate
as Protection. Iron has somewhat advanced
from ;ts Lowest point of depression; but the
o,,,ssa arc now at work which will surely reduce
: It's cost, with that OF every Home Manufacture
OF Iron, below any former example. We are
producing actively and largely, acquiring skill By
experience improving processes, economlzlng Ia
Dor, and facilitating the transportation to market
which ia > great point. Only let the tariff stane
five years, and we shall have Iron as well as
Hardware cheaper than ever, from the steady
operation of natural causes, without grinding
down or turning adrift our hardy artisans now
engaged in It's production. Even now, we ars
actually paying less for our Iron than ever before
since we buy in Labor and Productions at better
prices than we could get if compelled to buy and
sell abroad. 1t is unfair to take the comparative
prices in New York as criterion; our Iron pro-
duced in Pittsburgh, on the Lakes, or in Mis-.
souri, ls already half way to it's ultimate markets
whereas it costs heavy sum to deliver it IN New
York, and this adds to the price here. If we can
import Iron at an average of $50 per ton dehv-
cred in New York, and can make the same all
over the country at average OF $40, the latter
would be hardly dcarer in money to our con-
sumers generally than the former, while it would
be cheaper in their productions.
We see by yesterdays Journal Of Commerce
that the Importers of Hardware have revised their
famous table of Prices and Duties, making changes
in almost every item, and endeavor TO make fresh
! stsnd with shattara1 ha,toGons Wa bau