The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-02-22

the cost Of making iron, and that this. the main
element In its projection. is four times as cheap
lin Great Britain as il is in the United States
That the British capitalists, therefore, can OBJ
tain as much labor for 20 or 20 cents per day, MS
the American manufacturer can get for one dol
lar. He asks, therefore, that such duty be
imposed upon the foreign article, as will make
it as dear rs American iron, produced by labor
ers who receive the above high rate of wages.
| regret that the gentleman did not state at what
price per ton the Pennsylvania iron masters
would undertake to deliver railroad iron in New
York, or other cities on the sea board From
other sources, however, and especially the iron
conventions in his State and in New York,
am of opinion that they would not feel willing
so to deliver at much less, if any, than 800 per
ton Let us suppose, however, that they could
afford it at only $50, which is certainly favor
able calculation for them. Nine-tenths OF this
cost is according to HI own showing, to be set
down to the item of labor, being $45--leavlng
SIS only for the cost of the raw material but
according to his figures, the English manufac-
turer will obtain the same labor ut u cost Of
only SLIPS. Adding $5 for the material, ton
of railroad iron, therefore, could be made in Eng
land for $lG % Insupport of this caculaton,too
it may be remarked that the convention of iron
4 workers, which met at Albany, in the State of
New York, little more than a year ago. stated in
their published proceedings that establishments
favoraby situated in Great Britain did delier
such iron on tide water at cost from $l7 to
800 per ton. The usual price, however, is some
what higher, and may be commonly set down at
rs to 1927 per ton. There is no doubt Of the
fact that, il railroad iron were admitted free Of
duty entirely, it could DO had in our sea port
towns, at cost not above $50 per ton. After
paying the existing rate of duties and all the in
cidental costs Of importation, it is now obtaina-
BILE Mt $40.
If railroad company, therefore, should buy
domestic iron Mt $50 per ton, instead Of the
foreign article at $3.50, it is obvious that such
company would lose 800 on every ton of iron so
bought. Does the manufacturer gain this sum
| According to the case supposed and their own
showing, he would in fact realize nothing; be-
ing Obliged to,pay out fully that amount during
the production. If it were even needed that
he in this way cleared IS per ton, this would be
only one-fOurth as much as the purchaser would
lose 1t is obvious, therefore, that both the
seller and the buyer, being alike entitled to our
protection and favor, the taking 800 from one
to give the other but SIS, would be losing
business to our countrymen. If this be the
whole case it is admitted by everybody that
such policy would be short sighted and ruin.
Gus in the extreme. The gentleman from Penn
sylvania, however, says, that while employed in
the production Of this iron, n number of our la
borers find employment, and are better paid
than they could otherwise be- He tells us that
a furnace capable of making annually 10000
tons of railroad iron, will give support, including
both the workmen and their families, to six
tn ,usand persons. But the ten thousand tons
of iron are sufficient for railroad Of more than
a bundrn1 rniloo in lnunth and Iy
knows the expenditure made in constructing n
railroad of that length is greatly more than snt-
tcient to support this number of persons. The
gentleman says further, however, that such a
furnace affords home market, and enables the
farmers to get better price for their produce
than they otherwise could do. 1t is undoubt-
eddy true that the persons living in the vicinity
of such furnace would be thus benefited. But
it will not be denied that a railroad of one hun
dred miles in length properly laid out, would be
greatly more advantageous even in this respect.
The railroad would not only be accessible to a
greater number Of persons by reason of its length,
but would also lead to markets less easily glut-
ted than the furnace Railroads are, therefore,
justly regarded by our people as the great slim
ulators of industry and enterprise of all sorts.
Such IS the extent of our country and the d.
versity Of its productions, and so strong is the
desire of our people to be travelling from point
to point, that the energies of the community are
everywhere directed 10 the opening of these
highways of commerce and travel. We admit
their Importance ourselves, when we here give
large bodies of the public lands to facilitate
their construction Yes, sir, and at the very
time when we are devotng the public money,
or property, which is the same thing, to such OBJ
iects we are guilty Of the folly of throwing OBJ
staces in the way Of individuals and States,
who are engaged in executing the works. On
one day we declare that railroads are such IA
vortes with u.s. that we make appropriations to
secure their construction, and on the next we
sacrifice these our protcges for the benefit of a
few wealthy capitalists say few, for do
not believe that there are n dozen establishments
in all the United States, that ever have or are
now disposed to engage in the making of rail-
road iron.
The gentleman from Pennsylvania, Mr..
HAMPToN,l admitted the other day in reply TO n
question put from the other side of the House,
that in his ownState and in the immediate vicinity
of these works, they were using the foreign iron
for their railroads. Those engaged in making
them, rather than purchase the domestic article.
prefer to pay the duty on the foreign and
the cost of importation amounting together to
fifty-seven and half per cent. Great Britain
takes our cotton free of duty, because by its
manufacture she gives employment to large
portion of her population. BY imposing high
duties on it she might benefit her East India
cotton planters, but she has the sagacity to see
that by such proceeding, she would lose more
than she could possibly gain. Why should we
not initiate her wisdom. and avail ourselves OF
her cheap production of iron, so az by means of
railroads to stimulate our American industry
There is another principle bearing upon this
view Of Which the friends Of protection are con-
stantly endeavoring to avail themselves BY the
proposition Of the gentleman from Penn. Mr..
STRoNG.l offered in Committee of the Whole
the other day, certain articles now taxed were
exempted from duties. The reason given for
this is, that those articles are nsed by the manu-
ficturers, and that they should be free to enable
them to obtain them cheaply, so as to promote
tie manufacturing interests For similar rea-
son sheathing copper is required to be free OF
duty, because our ship-buiIders use it for cover
ing the bottoms Of our vessels. They will not
consent, therefore, that any duty should be i'm
posed on that article, for the benefit OF Lake
q q q liz