Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1856-06-12
,-sa-Mo contfnne from the n. 8. Tribunc,I its


mated anterior to the Revolution, but under al
most fatal restrictions The colonists were all
loved to make pig-ron, and send it to the MOTH
err country for sale. Acts Of Parliament pro
hibited, under severe penalties the setting up of
any rolling or splitting mill in ts1e COLONIES
The great Chatham declared to the House oil
Commons that he would not allow the cOlonists
to manufacture even hob-nai Yet the Ameri-
can export of pig-iron had risen in 17Fi to
I. 525 tuns-a large amount when VIC consider
thas the total product Of Great Britain amount
ed in 1TSe to il, $50 tuns. The Revolutionary
War Of course arrested Onrs progress in this di-
rection-our iron districts being to great ex-
tent the arena of conflict; and so utter was the
scarcity of the chief of metals, that Congress
was Obliged TO take up the business ofah iron
master, and have the iron and steel required for
military use made on pnbiic account. ofcoursc,
no progress was made during the pendeDcy OF
the struggle.
The close of the war found us destitute alike
of the skill capital, machinery and almost every
thing else required for making iron. Meantine'
this branch Of industry had been making i'm
mcnse strides in Great Britain. Our ports were
thrown open by the peace of 1882; We had no
tariff at all until 1851; and but very inadequate
one for many years thereafter. OF course,
capital, Skill ingenuity, labor, were not attract
cd to iron making among us or were only driven
into il to fail. we did not yet know how to
till half century later that anthracite was used
anywhere; and most of our coal then accessible
was anthracite. So the production of iron tot
tered feebiy and miserably on, Stunned BY most
thrifty and prudent capitalists, and allurlug
Others Only to ruin them. The embargo and
the war helped it little, and might have help
ed it more, could one have counted on their du-
ration. Inlsl0 we produced $4,000 tuns, (all
charcoal;1 and in 1920 when the enormous i'm
portatIons which had followed the peace OF
1915 had done their perfect work, the American
product of iron had SINK to 10000 tuns-nOt
four pounds per head of our population. Prac-
tieally this like most other branches of manu-
facture was then extinct among us, and the
consequent low prices and unstable condition
of agricultural products, the stagnaton of bus
inesS, dearth of employment, deprivation or non
existence of currency, and universal enbarrass-
meet, can hardly be realized by those who do
not remember them. Probably one-half the
fixed property in the country changed hands,
ut n serious loss to the sellers, between 1919
and lS22-often through the inStrumentality OF
the sheriff
Strong efforts were made in 1920 and in 1922
to revise the tariff in the interest OF our pros
trate manufactures Some improvement was eff
ieetel in 1920, but the bill failed in IS22-en-
countcring an adverse majority in the Senate
In 1924 a further improvement was effected, un-
Ter which our iron product grew steadily, until,
in 1923, it amounted to 10000 tons. The ia
nous 'Blnck TariEf''-"The Manufacturers Ia
riif''-was then enacted, and iron continued 10
thrive under it, the American product being US
follows:
900 tuns $4,000 tuns
iss9...... Il20OO tuns .e0,e01 tun-
1880. QUO tuns tuus
In 10 the production fell off to less than 800,
900 tuns, which Mr. Hewitt truly ascribes to the
remission of duties under the Compromise Ta-
sifT Of $50, (which, he says, brought ruin again
to our domestic production, no longer having
any defense under the Compromise Tariff of MIR.
Clay.;'
a shattered leg to save the rest of the body may
as well be accused of mayhem as Mr.. Clay of
reducing the protection on iron by his tariff of
1885, What he did, being in beaten minority
and struggling against an overwhelming majors
ty, flushed with their signal victory of 1892,
way to save all that was possible of the Protec-
tive Systemic staye off the neditated ruin
to soften the blow which he could not avert
But for Mr.. Clay and his Compromise. the
sweeping Free Trade bill of Mr.. Vcrplanck must
have been enacted. We now wish that Mr. Clay
had not interposed-that he had suffered the
disastrous effects of tariff reduction to fall more
forcibly and positively so that the cause of our
following disasters could not have been misun-
lerstood nor obscured These disastrous eff
fects, thus speedily realized, would have inSur
Mr. Hewitt, who clearly understands this mat
ter, is not candid nor fair in his mode ofpfesent-
ing it.
The Tariff of 1912 breathed new life into the
flinting victim of Free Trade experiment Ore
beds were opened or reopened; cold furnaces
aud forges fired up afresh, and new ones erected;
so that, in 1916, Secretary r. j. Walker stated
the iron product of that year at zoe, 00O tuns-
an increase Of $4,000 t1ns, or more thpn 200
per centum in the short space of four years
We believe the country was richer by the value
of every pound of that iron than it wonld have
been if the Tariff Of 1872 had never been en-
acted.
Congress, under the auspices of Messrs. Polk
and Walker, by the casting vote of MIR. Dallas,
proceeded in 1916 once more to break down the
Protective Policy; but tho momentum under
which the iron interest was then advancing
could not at once be arrested. The product of
1917 was stated at 100000 tuns, which was
maintained through 1913; but in1S+9 it fell off
to 650,000; in 1850 to 564, 000 and in 1858 to
about 100000 tuns-leaving us still second TO
Great Britain. But our present duty $50 per
cent? though n9minally for revenue, is really
protective except when iron is low; so that
whenever the price Of iron in Europe goes up,
the duty is enhanced accordingly, and the Amer
lean production is stimulated into considerable
activity. The great European war helped Amer
lean iron, by raising the price of its European
rival, consequently the duty chargeable thereon;
80 that, for The last two three years, the iron
trade among us has enjoyed very decided
prosperity, and the product Of 1855 is estimated
by Mr.. Hewitt at full 100000 tuns. The
maihtainance of this prosperity depends in very
great measure on that of the rival British inte-
rest Let prices be maintained in England, and
our iron-masters may not only continue but in
crease their production; but let prices fall thirty
to fifty per cont in Europe, and our duties are
carried down with them, exposing American
liron-maklng to staguation and temporary ruin.
Our duties, under the present ad valorem sys-
tenn, are highest when they should be lowest,
and lowest when they should be highest. They
! are based on the principle, ewhen man is go.
| ing down hill. let every one give him kick