Litchfield enquirer., 1859-01-06
AMERICAN IRON FOR THE PACIF.
 IC RAILROAD.


 necticut, in the United States Senate, Dec. 20, on his amendment to strike out of the 7th section of the bill the following words
 " Provided, That all duties on railroad iron imported and laid down on the said road shall be charged to the contracting party and paid to the United States by deducting the amount from the credit to be given for the ser- vice first performed under this act: Prouaded farther, That if American manufactured rail- road iron of equal qualities shall be offered to the said contracting parties, which, including all items of cost of manufacture, sale and de- livery, shall not exceed the like cost of such iron if obtained from foreign countries, the American manufactured iron shall be preferred and used by said contracting party"
 And in lieu of them to insert
 Provided, That all the iron necessary to construct said railroad and which may con- pose the track of the same, shall be of Ameri- can manufacture.
 MT. Foster-Mr. President, I shall detain the Senate but short time in the few re- marks shall offer in support of the amend ment.
 l am one of those who believe that the con- struction of railroad to our Pacific coast, over our own territory, is vital to the prosper. ity and perpetuity of our Union. Still, if it is to constructed of iron imported from abroad, thus adding to our foreign debt, which we now count by hundreds of millions, it is, in my judgment, very questionable, whether it is wise, at present, to attempt the enterprise.
 We have now in our country not far from 30,00O miles of railroad-the last returns I have examined were up to 1857, when we had "A, ,476 miles, more by some thousands of miles than there are in all Europe. Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New York, and perhaps other States, count the roads within their own lim- it's by thousands of miles. In period of five years, from 1852 to 1857, we built l2,S45 miles. That these roads are of immense ad- vantage to the public none will deny To build them, however, we have imported 8,069,- O57 tons of iron, and we are in debt for most of it to-day. Here is one of the causes of our dependence on Europe, for debt creates de- als. Here is one of the causes why any strin- gency in the money market of London is felt so certainly and so painfully in our commercial metropolis, New York, and from thence through every city and village in the Union..
 The object of the amendment is to develope our own resources, give employment to our own labor, and to diminish the force and fre- quency of those commercial shocks, so disas- trous to our prosperity, so humiating to our honest pride as an independent nation. That we possess the means to attain the object pro- posed by the amendment, is too plain to be ar- gued. The States of Pennsylvania, Mary. land, Tennessee, Missouri, and others, possess inexhaustible mines, and even mountains, of the finest iron i'll the world, in close proximity to beds of coal of unequaled extent and richness. The means of subsistence, meats and bread stuffs, are. no where more abundant There is no lack of laborers On the contrary, there are hundreds and thousands of men seeking employment now unwillingly made idle by our persistence in Q national policy adverse to na- tional prosperity.
 In view of these facts, and of many like facts, why should we go to Europe for iron to build this road ? Why should we cross 5000 miles of ocean, go into the mountains of Wales, pay foreign hands for mining and manufactur ing it, freight across the ocean, land it, trans port it some three thousand miles further in- land, and then lay it down over beds of coal and iron far richer and better than those from which it was taken The naked proposition would strike plain practical man of sense and
 
 science of political economy, with absolute as- If any private individual should manage his own affairs in such way as this, there is not a community in the United States which would not feel called upon to place him under the control of an overseer or conserva- tor, to prevent him from wasting his estate and becoming burden on the public charity. If such policy is to be pursued, there ought to be poor-house for the nation.
 am well aware that it may be replied, granting all this to be true, there is no need of any legislative enactment capitalists will buy where they can buy cheapest only let them alone. We have not let them alone and if we were to do so, there will be, as there has been, much intermeddling from other quarters. There has been no stability, no steadiness, in our revenue policy fuctuation has followed fuctuation, and the rod of " free trade" has been held over the heads of all who engaged, or who proposed to engage, in home produc- tion. Those engaged in the business, not hay ing capital sufficient to stand such shocks, have been ruined the fires of our furnaces have gone out 1; capital is proverbialy timid and few are now bold enough to embark in a busi- ness which experience has proved generally to be so disastrous.
 Foreign manufacturers have watched our policy with keen eye, have understood it, and have taken advantage of it.
 Two years ago, an English newspaper, in an article on the iron trade, said
 During the present year (1s56) the prices of iron in America have been steadily declin- ing ]; best brands having fallen about s. and inferior qualities from $7 50 to $1O, during the year. In the last three years, the make of iron in America has very largely increased ]: from 1853 to 1855 the annual production is believed to have been doubled, or to have in- creased from 500, 900 tons to 1000, 900 tons and that it is since increasing at fully 200, ,O00 1 tons per annum.