Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1851-02-11
ls4s $4,000 tons of rails 81 900 tons of other man IRON
l949 b5 900 /" " $4,000 I"
1850, 10000 10000
Making of rails and ooO tons Of other from

Thus instead of the imported iron consisting of fhs
OF rails and one-h OF other iron, by his showing
there is less Than wo6ths OF rails TO three fhs of other
Again. If the 10000 of rails imported In 1850 created
demand for 350000 tons Of American iron how does IL
happen that 10000 tons of other iron imported the
year, and many of our furnaces and rolling mills
compelled 10 stop for want of work7 Surely the agu
be worth any thing, should at this time be
Ing works instead of petopng Congress
from destruction those already existing und ask what
dit Ia due 10 the conclusions of writer who guilty of
such papable bundcring
Prentice says ITO manufacture as requires great capital
for ponderous machinery with but little abor and from
this postuate he adduces tho coroary that Ia capital in
opposition to labor that s seeking protection 10 the iron in
Now the fact s that pta and ponderous
machinery required TO manufacture rails than many other
descriptions of ronj whereas labor and skill equr
ed In making rails than in amos, any other department Of
'he iron business Prentice the Of importing rails
M per cent? this added to the duty OF 50 cent makes
the here 67h cent tho cost In England that
the average of rails this year and last has been f5 4s
3d. therefore the expenses and duty added the bring
TO $40 IL per So far good but let US follow his
argument and the false conclusion al which ne arrives.
He says the average for tho last ten S3y 2
which, with 27S per cent expenses and ~ per cent duty
will 865 &C. the actual cost Of tho iron In this
country Buthe for the last ten years was not S39
20 but f9 according TO Cooper and Hewitt or $35 81 in
England and should like TO know by what rule ne takes TIA
average price for the last ten years 10 determine the present
price, when he has already told US the presen, price f6
4s 3d. except far as TO ascertain the rate OF duty The
true statement of the case will then be:
Iron ss ~: a. ,.n year.,
Expense Of importation 70l
Total A6H
So all his figuring wrong, and instead fin
consumer here will cost but SAC II; ,ring mistake
part only sl8 IS per ton unless he 10 infer that
increased duty would raise tho price OF foreign iron TO the
standard of the ast decade In which the English
ufacrer so from exerting all his influence prevent
increase Of duty would do all In hs power promoe
In closing his communication Prentice gives Ill nstued
at1v~ NJ panAaa af fa fFD
recommends, viz the building up two markets for the
consumer the home and foreign by protecting domestic
manufacture he should rather have recommended bounty
imported iron the importation OF the raw material
amounts but six per cent OF the consumption Wel
suppose the material amounts TO but 1 per OF the
consumpton What has that do with the question Mr.
Corwn the iron Market the manufactured as well
As the raw material Prentice will say that only six per
cent of the iron consumed here 10 mperted he cannot
plain terms, because his tables would contradict
him they show that about SO per cent Is imported What
Else then 1t but deliberate design 10 msead his
readers who will not take the trouble 10 think and enquire
Tor themselves.
ascsained that the annual consumption of Iron in
The United States Is hundred pounds for every
Of these hundred pounds England supplied last thirty
instead of six cent there wee thirty per
cent imported and 1t will take prophet 10 foree what
will bs The result when the American manufacturers shalt
have been broken down. they inevitably must be, II the
policy be continued and our domestic are
left to the tender merces of the English manufacturer the
real iron millionaire. Ii is this disastrous event that Mr
Corwn Is anxious 10 avert
In this hasty communication have deemed ncum
soy word, BY way OF argument, IN sdvo
cacy Of the policy protecting domestic iron nieres
task been performed by abler than mine; and
gang facts which day presented OF the ruin
which has befaen and the ruin which still pending over
every individual engaged the iron business from the mil
onaire humble pudder do not convince the scepcs
nehe would he be convinced Though one should rise rom
the dead" All have aimed 10 expose and
ror the work half accomplished but time will not al
low me to the many vulnerable points In which Prem
laid himself bare must rely upon the candor and
common sense Of his readers finish the task but
friend the iron interest," and who knows that the state
ments Of Prentice acious could not reconcile 1t with
my of duty allow such publication to unnoticed
and unrefuted. 4.