Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1866-09-05
Vol. LVI, No. IS.

rience, foreign rails have been sold in
this market at prices much below the
average cost of production here. At
this time the foreign competition rem
ders profits very uncertain, and loss so
probable, that some OF the mills have
already discontinued work
Sth lnterrogatory: What amount of
wages and salaries do you pay yearly,
and to what extent does this fuctu-
ate?
Answer: The amount of wages and
salaries f1uetuates with the rates of
wages paid and the number of men
employed. 1t appears from our books
that we paid in wages and salaries
and for contract work in
1860, s9O7 ,O58 81
1864, 1899. $50 80
1866, 1885, $50 "a
10th lnterrogatory Can you tell
what is the selling price abroad for
your articles, and at what are they in
voiced to the importer
Answer: In "Rylapd's Trade Circu-
lar" December 8, 1865, l find Welsh
rails, at the Works, quoted al ct Is.
to 97 5s. per ton. The best English
rails, such as are used on their own
| roads and which more nearly CORES
pond in quality with the best Ameri-
can rails, are quoted at G8 los to G8
l5s per ton. At corresponding date,
the highest quotatio for imported
rails in New York was $50 TO- S58, in
gold
This will not cover cost of importa-
tion, and afford profit, on even the
cheapest Welsh tails, and shows con-
clusively, that we are forced 20 COM
pete in price with the most inferior ar
ticle consigned through foreign agents
to this market, at prices below the
current quotations at place of produc-
| ton.
18th lnterrogatory: What amount
of tax was paid by your Company, or
firm, in 1863, '64, and '65, to the Uni
ted States Government
Answer: The direct taxes paid the
Government by the Cambria Iron Com
pany, was as follows:
1862, 5 7,4l7 80
1863, 39,577 78
1864, 82,728 21
1865, 1882 So
My estimate of the indirect tax paid
| the Government on a ton of rails, in a
! letter addressed to R. H. Lamborn,
Esq, Secretary Of the american Iron
and Steel Association" August 10, '65,
and which was published by the Asso-
citation, has attracted the attention of
practical men, and elected much ad-
verse criticism from the advocates of
free trade, both at home and abroad,
but [ have seen nothing which would
induce me to regard it as overstating
the tax, or to materially modify it.
Not wishing to occupy space here to
reproduce the calculation, refer to it
as the basis tor assuming that the III
direct tax by the manufacturer and the
workmen in his employ, amounts to
$7.83 on every ton of rails produced
| regard this as part of the ordi.
nary tax paid and to be paid to the
United States Government
To arrive at the sum total paid by
the Company will first state the di-
rect tax paid to the Government Re-
ceiver in 1865, as $l68, ,372 SO, and that
paid on 1888 tons of purchased pig
metal in the enhanced cost thereof at
S2.68 per gross ton, SAL ,64l.84; the in
direct tax on new rails made in the
year, say, 20,676 tons atS783 per ton,
and for the rerolled rails, one half that
sum, say l5,74l tons at S3.9l3 per ton,
and the account would stand thus:
Direct taxes paid, SI6ssT2 81
on purchased pig metal, l5,-
Indirecttax on new rails 2e76 tons 81 49, 16saa 0s
reroed rails, 1854 tons
asS slLS sole2e OIL
Total in 1866, s4ss588 70
18th Interrogatory What losses
have you sustained, and what have
been your clear gains from January,
1868, to this time?
Answer: This Company has sustain
ed, in common with all other manu-
facturers compelled to carry heavy
amounts of crude stock, the loss incl
dent to the fall in value of iron caused
by the depreciation of gold upon the
close of the war. On stock of over
100000, the depreciation was not less
than 25 to 80 per cent, or total loss
Of Sl25, 900 to s150,000.
Since January, 1862, the Company
has paid upon its stock four dividends
of per cent. each.
l4th Interrogatory Do foreign ar
ticles competing with yours cause fuc-
tuations in quantity and prices?
Answer: They do In no business
is the influence of foreign competition
more directly felt, and "a record of
fluctuations caused by it will be found
in the Appendix.
18th Interropatory How do snch