New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1856-06-16


her lsborinp classes to constant dependence for
work and bread on the inevitable fluctuations OF
remote foreign demand and unsympathlsng, II not
hostile, foreign policy. British sscendancy In IRON
making is a fact which we do not propose to dis
pute. The markets of the non-producing nations
will continue TO be mainly supplied from bri1sn
mines and mills; but let al the nations which poe
sess in abundance the raw material-Ore, coal aad
lme-resolye to produce for themselves as speedily
and extensively as possible. The policy Wa com
m. nd to our own people we are equally desirous
of seeing adopted or maintained BY other coun'
tries-Italy. (should she ever again become na'
ton, Turkey, Persia Liberia and the South Amer
lean States Let each resolve to open its ore-ocds
and begin OF extend the production OF iron at the
earliest possible day. Let each call to its aid the
best talent and the rpest experience it can allure
TO its shores, resolved to commence, as nearly as
may be, at the highest point which the best iron
makers have yet attained, no matter at how large
an outlay If iron costs more thus at the outset
il will cost UNNECESSARILY less In the long run
And not this only: every people thus earnestly en-
Gagged in this branch Of industry will be constantly
Of ores, and making discoveries or Inventions
in iron-makiDg processes, which will prove Ines
tmsble not to itself only but to all other nations
If Providence had meant to have the Iron OF the
world made in Great Britain there would not have
been sixteen times 40 large an area of coal-veias
in this country in all the British isles together
and nearly the same of ore-beds. Iron cheap and
abundant is essential to human progress, and the
way to secure it, We undOubtingly believe, is TO
open and prove as many beds Of ore and veins Of
coa "a shsll be found 10 exist within working dis
lance of each other-tO test their respective
qualities and capecties-tO incite 10 action the IN
yeutiye faculty not of one nation only but Of
all races and countries-and to permit the obstacles
which will inevitably be encountered in establish
ing new iron-works in this or that locality to sug
cest modes Of overcoming them-and so employing
and directing the genius OF all peoples to the per-
fiction Of work essentisl 10 the elevation and hap
pipess Of sll Though il .hould cost 800 per tu,
TO make fair Bar Iron in Liberia to-day, We know
that. if the elements of such production are found
there in reasonable proximity and abundance, the
true way to chesp and abundant Iron 10 Liberia
lie. through the encouragement OF Home Prcduc-
ton.
But vi hat are the obstacles which no~ preven,
the full and rapid Development OF lron-mskins
throughout the world
Mr.. Hewitt regards these e. the elements Of
chesp Iron in which Great Britain hss she advantage
Of u.. namely /. Abundan! Cspit.l aod low aver
zee rates Of interest; ?. Cheap Labor; 5.
dense Population 4. A "eirculssnI medium CON.
pcsed chiefly Of tie preciou. metals. Let u; con.
slider theDI;
Tia, Crest British produces nc. Only more iron
but cheaper iron, than her iron-msking continental
negbbors is unquestionsble. though many Of these
have a population quite ss dense as hers, with
cheaper labor and circulating medium more
decidedly metallic than hers. II 10 not the compe-
ttion OF hard money, chesp-labor countries that our
ron.mskers dread-quite the contrary. Labor is
Dc g-cheap in SPAIN Italy and Turkey; yet all the
iron they make will hardly average two pounds per
head 10 their population, while all they send abroad
will not amount to half an ounce per head. And
we are prepared 10 show that our Iron industry
has been depressed and sagnaDt not in those years
when our currency was most elastic and inflated,
but ia those wherein 1t was most contracted and
stlll diminishing
In our view among the most important elements
Of Cheap Iron are these
l. Abundance and richness of raw material, with
facilities for cheap concentration. In these re-
spects, Nature has done more while Man as yet has
done less for US than for the British In England,
about thirteen tuns of ore, coal, lime, &C., must
be mined and brought together 10 produce each tun
Of iron. In this country, owing 10 the superior
richness Of our ores and the extensive use Of an
thracite, which In the average evolves more heat
per tun than its bituminOus rival, we produce
tuD of iron from seven or eight tuns of raw ma
terial
2 Habit or Custom. Men learn how to do easily
and cheapy that which they have long and steadily
been doing Any observer knows where materials
are now conveyed for two or three shliDgs per tun
over distance which was formerly trayersed at a
cost of a. many dollars. And herein the British |
have as yet great advantage over U.s. They work
with ample capital, and with a moral certainty OF
1t, ady and steadily increasing demand for their
product. lflay ing down railroad Tor ten miles
will enable iron master to concentrate his coal,
ore and lime fifty cents per tun cheaper than ne
otherwise could do it, the rails put down.
Here be is often Obliged to do without, not because
capital is nonexistent but because 1t is timid, and
has too often already burnt its fingers in attempting
to facilitate iron making Let us know that capital
luyestsd In rOnwOrks is Ms securely invested here
IA in England and there will be no difficulty in OBJ
tanning it at reasonable rates. Besides, we are as
yer but nOyices in iron. king and are daily buy