New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1853-02-21
In regard TO iron our neigh ber sa..

q ,,-s.-
81 the bad results Of the protective sySe Of tae -
verein- The last fifteen years have been rr,auk,A,
yorsble 10 the manufacture Of iron. TW,.rys,,
dred nies OF railroads hsvs been built iarinr tn.,
in the Tsna Union OF Prussia Thore hs been tsrc.x
the world rapid progress In 81 the nechsr;, -
Frorn 1894 up 10 ls4i pig iron admitted dsr, -
snG the consumption OF 1, through the Who'll. ZsI,.,
increased from 2492, 735 c~t up TO 66sa 73S on e.
IL 70 lbs 70 81 10 h- per head Of the whole popss,s.
"A gNin Of shout 90 per cent.
After the placing q new duty pig iron AMI y,,.
the ,iury on bar iron In 1874, the consumption q, q
purposes fell, in the trst three years 20 - Ia ~,
heea, or ~ per cent in the second. 10 lt3h
sbopt % per cent There "a every probability Ia. a.
home manufacture Of bar iron would have fallen 40 IN
more had not the Belgian pig iron, by spe ia ex,,
ton been admitted in lsf5 on duty Of is Der 80
when all other pig iron paid nesrly 100 per eeat n.
manufacture of both pig iron snd bar iron reached tss,
u,rmum in lsI7 aud hiss been failing OF since Ia, ~,
rising from 53i5Ss cwt. in 1894. 20 over &ouOaD 4.
ls47 snd fshng gain 10 80 0J in 1854 The pro, ~
iron in the Union through all these years d.sDns A..
immense pro.ection have varied with the Enzs prc.s
and have only in slight degree been cheapeaed IT,
900 lbs bar iron cost in 1894 S37 80 In ls40 On "a
In lsi7 80 y in 1880 Sl
lin the frst three yssrs Of thsZnlvereia EnrSA ~
iron eoet 7s per cent less than the PrssiAn in the ~
triad IL cost ITO per cent less.
80 much for the economy Of Protection for iroaa
the Zollverein.'
The last Is years have been, we are told
remarkably favorable TO the manufacture Of
iron" If so, how does il happen that hafoar
furnaces, and almost all our roIing mills, have
been closed. and their owners ruined, since "
adopted the system advocated by our neghbs,
If so, how does it happen that We CONSUMED
last year less iron than We did five yearsh
fore, after having qusdrupled our consumpsns
-
9 500 miles of railroad have been made. yu
a doubt of it, and thus it has been that cool
prices for food and wool, and good demand for
labor employed in converting food and WOOD
into cloth have enabled the people of Germxy
60 obtain good roads, ard riihoui going in dss
for them, as We are now doing under the system
advocated by our neighbor There are no
German railroad bonds filling the market of
England. Germany makes her own iron. and
she converts much of it into machinery for
converting her raw products into finished sns
and thus is she enabled 10 maintain direc,
commerce with the world, with the pro6ud
which she makes roads without running IA
debt for them. precisely as was the case viii
ourselves in 1916 Iron is not as we are here
told, lower in price, but our friend does no,
tell US how much higher English iron would
have bsen if the people of Germany had been
compelled to go to Wales for all their supplies
If he desire evidence on this head, we recon.
mend him to study the present state Of the
iron market. Under the tariff Of 1912, We
carried up our production to 1000 tuns, ssd
competition for the sale of iron lowered prizes.
The tariff of 1916 not only prevented any b.
crease OF our production but reduced il to
little more than one-half Of what it had been,
the production last year having been less than
half million of tuns, when il might and would
have been two millions, had the tariff Of lSt2
remained untouched, and every tun of it wodd
then have been needed for roads and for ms
chnery of every kind. Domestic competitiea
having been destroyed, the price of railroad
iron is now double what il was, and the makers
of roads are beginning TO understand that
when two men have commodity for sale, Il
is cheap, but that when it is monopolisedg
one man, it is dear.
1t is said. however that protection tendsb
destroy trade. That it does tend TO do svy
with the necessity for exporting raw products
at low prices there can be no doubt, but ~it
at the same time tends to enable nations TO q.
port those same products in finished shape,
trade ought to increase under it, and such
seems here to have been the case. The Board
of Trade returns for last year give as the value
Of the exports to Germany Of the produce and
manufactures Of Great Britain 8. :. E7,69i69
Whereas in the year 1888 the
amount was Only..---.--.. 4,fi9N
Will our neighbor explain to us how, in accord
ance with British free trade doctrines thisa
traordinary fact can be accounted forf
In conclusion We would beg our readersn
remark:
l. That protection has enabled GermanyD
quadrupleher consumption Of cotton in sixteen
years.
piotCtbiou hus tHuS uinut ~ me's"'
for food which so far cheapens cotton cloth
that Germany now exports it to other coaa'
tries.
III. That protection has relieved Germany
from the necessity for exporting raw wool, and
has raised the prices to the great benefit 9th
farmer.
~. That protection has enabled German
to combine her food and her wool so chespr
that she now exports them to foreign countns
in competition with England
V. That the farmer has thus pro6ted b
higherpric for food and wool, and lowerprica
for cloth.
vi. That he has thereby been enabled y
most to double bis consumption Of iron in he
short period Of Is years and to substitute good