, 1865-05-27

o ..A.A.A-s A-s4ss+s--*-sss
, Afrnrf tnE tn FniHe.

s4ccort III 10 vaiue.
The sboye list comprises a1l the manufac-
tr,rcs Of iron upon which any inte1nal duty Is
laid. except wood SCREWS, which are taxed
ten per cent o7 ra3o5an, while the import
duties ase fro.n eight to eleven CENTS per
mound, and iron castings which arc taxed
Three dollars per ton, willie the import duty
is thirty.fy per ccut ad tsi,orm. There is
long list Of manufactures Of iron On which
there Is no internal duty, except the tax Of
1yc PER cent laid upon nil manufactures, bu.
upon which specific import dutiea are laid,
such as chains, hammers. anylls. anchors,
tools, cutlery, &c. The irapo.t duty On ali
FIRE 1es cent dd faloss7a, md on al nanufac-
tures Of steel not specified, tortJ-fve per cent
ad .u'oTm. The corresponding int.1nal tar
Is five per cent, aud the measure Of protection
thirty to forty pc. cent. The import duties
a,e payable In gold, aud the Internal duties
In currency, which IL equivalent to consider.
able further projection.
II appears then that The protection afforded
by the Government to iron and steel mauu-
factuers ranges ffcm sc7cu dollars to sixty
five dollars per ton: On raflfoad Iron 1t is
c,escu dollars per ton, In addition to which it
is provided by law that all the iron for ths
Pacific Railroad shall he Of American masl-
factusc, no matter what it costs. The
ron end steel manufacturers n1lege
that thc tax On coal aud incomes
ard Other things not enumerated de-
tracts considerable sum from this prote.-
tiou, and that The decline IN gold has taken
away large measure OF protection still more
artificial, which the Inv never contemplated
they should have. They say in effect that
the furnaces are an going out Of blast, and
that unless they can larc more protection
their works must be permanently suspended.
And all t1lis, notwithstanding the fact that
they row hare stiatr protection than the
famous Nh1g tariff Of 1sa@, or any other taslE
known to the present generation.
We confess that we are enable to perceiec
how the iron and steel Interests In this couu-
try can ever reach sclEsuEtaining position
by the help Of Congress, unless they eau do
80 By yirtue Of the existing scale Of dutie&.
There Is but one further step to be taken,
ahd that ts absolute prohibition OF iron OF
foreign manufacture. This would Giye to the
ircn and steel gentlemen . monopoly Of the
AHe1scnn market 1t Is true, hut it would
alto put the American people In their
power, and they must be aware that No
political party coald survive such an expert
ment. The correct thsory on this subject is
TINT country cau better afford to glre lin.
1ted protection to particular branch Of iu-
dustry, nntu capital and skll shall hare been
accumulated, than to remain forever depend
ent en- the products Of forci:; n industry. When
the manufacture Of the domestic article has
been TINS nursed to q full, growth, a. the cot
ton manufacture in New England was rnany
years ago, the protection should CEASE. The
cotton splnners Of Massachusetts, were Able to
underseu those Of Man:Aeste In the markets
Of China and South Amcsica long before the
war. IAcy need no further protection, and
1t would be m injustice to the consumers Of
cotton to give it to them. We
are Of The opinion that the iron ead
steel manufacturers ct the country
must make ont stronger case than they
have yet shown, to justify Congress IN ta~
erfasiuo the duties on the imported article, A
e1ddrn transition from WET 10 peace must
necessarily occasion eutk1rassments to busi-
ness. not only In Iron but in dry goods, gro
ccries. b,eadstufs, provisions, aud cvcrY thing
else. The Government has ceased to be q
buyer. Probably the iron men have not suE-
fcred more from this transition than the pork
mcn, the cotton men and the wool men. If
they wero asked how much money they have
made during TIE past three or four years, they
would probably show sufficient balance Of
profits to make up for any losses which they
may incur, until the renewal OF business In
the South shall have renewed the demand for
iron, snA the dIshandment Of our armies
~1.-r IL