The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1849-12-24
TIL E r EPU BLIC.
Iron-workers, Convention Mt Albany.

suffering and depressed to an unexamped degree,
by being brought into competition with foreign
iron, which is admitted at 80 low a rate of duty,
under the tariff of 1916, will, if persisted in ut
terly put end to its production in this country.
This department of industry, they say, suffers
greatly when brought into conflict with foreign
labor for the that the average rates of labor
in this branch of trade in our country, compared
with those Of England, as one to three or three
and half Nor is the difference of labor the only
advantage which England has Forty years. start
has enabled her to attain high degree of perfec-
ton in this art. Within her small limits, too, are
found in abundance the coal, the ore and the sol
vents necessary for theif. redpction, well
dense population and capital and skill TO develope
the resources which nature and favoring govern
ment have 30 bountifully bestowed upon her. This,
with her maritime position, gives her easy access
to all the markets of the world.
In this country we have all the materials for the
manufacture of iron but seldom in localities from
which the avenues for its transit to market COM
Deted
Nor have capital in abundance, popula-
ton dependent upon the caprices of those who WELD
that capital. If the rewards of labor not such
as to afford respectable livelihood, can become
possessors of the sofia right which is denied to
the laborlng population OF England.
There arc in this country east of the Alleghanies,
thirteen rolling mills employed in the manufacture
of railroad iron, and four five west of that
boundary. At a low estimate, these mills capa-
BILE of making 100000 tons of rails per annum,
worth six and half millions of dollars. But two
of these establishments at work. and they only
partially. The rest are silent and the thousands
who two years ago were fully employed in them
are now idle, exposed to dissipation and crime.
All these establishments the offspring of the
tariff of S42, previous TO which, railroad iron was
admitted free of duty, and was unknown as an ar
ticle of American manufacture. The $25 per ton
imposed by that act followed by an immediate
and sufficiently extended manufacture to supply
the demands for railroad construction, of quality
superior to that obtained abroad.
Within the six months ending on the LIST of Sep
TENDER last, there imported into the single port
of New York from England nearly $4,000 tons of
railroad iron and about rs tons of other descriptions
10000 of which was pig iron, and the money to pay
therefor sent out of the country the practical effect
of which, upon the labor of the country, direct
and positive loss, have the materials, the Ia
Dor, and the machinery rafting TO furnish it; but
which have been suffered TO stand idle, while
have gone to England to obtain that of which we
have surplus at home, and of far better quality.
The loss is the same as if the amount in money had
been thrown into the sea. Had this money been
kept at home, it would have circulated throughout
the channels of trade and enterprise, making and
invigoratng places that now desolate and Ian
gushing.
According TO the census of 1910. the whole annual
value of iron made in the United States at that time
WIS, when m marriott, 81, 765, 32n; whole amount
lahn IN. tf... 80,
United States in Is4O, s,762, 800. The number
of men employed, and the women and children de-
pendent upon iron making for their support, was
estimated to be 257, OPS souls. The value of agr-
cultural products consumed during the same year
by these persons was SIl ,726,766. Capital en-
ployed in the manufacture ofiron inclusive ofwood
lands and mines of iron and coal estimatedin ls4O
was $50, 100000.
Since the census of 1910, We have no authentic
data by which TO ascertain the increase in this de.
partment Of manufactures; but from the time of the
passage of the tariff Of 1912 up to lsi7 the rate Of
increase was largely beyond all former precedent,
and we think we arc warranted in supposing that,
on the first of January, 1913, the value Of iron of
American make was forty millions of dollars, and
the amount Of capital invested about fifty millions
increase of at least 90 per cent. in eight years.
This prodigious impulse given to the business
by the tariff law of 1912, and was accompanied by
a marked reduction in the prices of the manuiac
tured article, consequent upon increased comped
ton while the rates Of labor were fully sustained;
showing, beyond dispute, that protection TO the
manufactured article is boon 10 the labor Of the
land.
The value of the coal and the ore in the earth
constitutes but very ANAL portion Of the value
of the manufactured iron. The residue Of the cost
of ton Of iron is made up Of wages for mining,
carriage to works wages and waste Of material Incl
dent to the processes Of manufacture, transportation
to market (and this is only another form Of labor,)
interest upon capital employed, constituting an
almost entire whole Of manual labor. Protection,
therefore, is a mere question Of sustaining our
labor; and Of every dollar imposed in the form Of
duty foreign iron, eighty parts Of il are a con
tribution TO American industry, and this IL in turn
paid 20 the farmer, gardener, schoolmaster, &c.
But IL withheld, then the same amount is given 70
foreign sborers, and the remaining twenty parts
which make up the hundred is taken from the own
ers of the raw material, the proprietors Of the
works, and those who transport the product to
market, and goes 30 enrich like persons abroad.
Facts and statistics by the could be colated 20
prove thai all that any nation Tor person. may
make by buying foreign goods cheap, Il loses ten
times by the decline Of property, product, or
labor.
'fThc tariff law Of 1896" say the committee, "is
particularly Objectionable for its ad paioren feature
Herein il works wrong and injustice, both 10 the
honest importer Of foreign iron and 10 the home
producer, exposing the former TO unfair and unc-
quail valuations from rivals Of loose principles,
and withholding from the latter, protection when
the price is low abroad, and when most needed,
and subjecting him 10 frequent and ruinous fiuc
tuations Of prices in foreign markets, thus making
the revolutions and disturbances Of Europeon gov.
az disastrous TO our trade and industry
as To their own
"The iron manufacture of our State" say the
els leading one, involving the capital
as we'll az the welfare of a larger number Of persons
than any other individual pursuits and while il was
thought by those who have deep concern in its
that its condition and claims would be
the best considered and represented by convention
composed exclusively Of persons engaged thezn,
still, we do not intend to urge upon Congress the
consideration Of our interests TO the exclusion at
the expense Of others On the contrary, we hope 10
meet in our efforts before that body the representa-