New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1868-02-26
oUR IRON AND STEEL MAKERS.


which cover the social aspects of the iron and
steel manufacture throughout the world. No
class of business men deyOtes so much or so
intelligent investigation to the practical prob
lens of social science as our leading manufac-
turers. None are brought by their business so
directly into contact with all the phases of So
cial lfe-wth wealthy capitalists, middle-class
tradesmen, farmers, wages-operatiyes, and the
suffering poor with foreign and home indus
try; with scientific investigations the practical
arts and uncultivated toll; with men and with
books. Every manufacturer combines in his
own business the three leading functions OF
production, transportation, and merchandising
The traders rule Of "buying cheap and selling
dear forms but a minor lesson in his philosO-
ply. All the great problems of social finance
relating to employers and employed capital
and wages, foreign and home labor, are vital
elements in his success, and are investigated III
that broad and comprehensive manner which
seeks to promote the interests OF the one IN
harmony with those of the many. Mr. Hewltts
elaborate survey Of the iron and steel interest
illustrates our statement. Though made pri-
marily in the interest and for the instruction OF
the employing manufacturer OF irOn-master, 1t
enters broadly into the discussion of the ques-
tons on which the daily bread OF hundreds OF
thousands of the poor miners, operatives, Ia
borers. and their families of France, Belgium,
Sweden, England, and the United States
primarily depend, and on which indirectly the
farmers are dependent for their markets and
supplies, and traders and transporters for the
articles they sellor carry. Mr.. Hewitt shows that
in fact that is to SOY, in the number of days Ia
Dor it COSTS iron can DO produced cheaper in Amer
lea than in France, Belgium or England On
the Lehigh River in Pennsylvania pig iron can
be produced at a cost of S24 per tun, which,
at present wages, represents the labor OF thlr-
teen days. AT the same cost for labor o. tun OF
bar iron. which is quoted ut SSj to $50 per
tun, in currency, while pig stands at $50 to S36,
would represent the labor of 20 days. The
price Of merchant bar iron at tho works In
England is GO 10 per tun, while the average
rate of wages is IS. Cd. per day, so that tnn
of bar iron there represents 81 days labor and
n tun of pig 10 days labor. In France mer-
chant bar il worth 200 francs per tun, while
the average rates of wages are 34j francs per
day, or about GO cents in gold There q tun Of
bar iron costs IS days labor, and tun of pig
costs 90 DAYS labor The actual cost of manufac-
turing iron in France. therefore, is exactly twice
that in America. The rate OF wages, and the
cost Of tun of iron, estimated in days works
in Belgium are midway between the rates in
England aud in France, wages being higher in
Great Britain than in Belgium, and higher in
Belgium than in France
While the actual cost in labor of producing
iron is so much greater III Europe than here,
the cost in money is so much less, that the
French or British importer viii deliver the ar
tcle for 30 per cent less than the American
manufactures can afford, or $40 in gold for the
foreign against $50 for the American article.
This difference between the money cost and the
labor cost can he accounted for only on COM
pairing the condition of the French and En-
glish iron workman with that of the American.
The report states that at requires the utmost
" economy on the part Of a laborine man, and
" the united labor of his wife and children, to
1" keep his family in existence; and it is the
" accepted rule and practice for such family
ito have meat but once a week; and any
"change in this condition of affairs involving a
"change i'm the remuneration paid to the com
Z" mon laborer, would put ii out of the power
"of the iron-masters of France to carry on
:" their business in competition with Belgium
"and England in the absence of higher
"tariff OF imports. The existence Of the iron
"business in France, therefore. as a national
"branch of industry. may be said to rest upon
"the elementary condition of giving meat once
"a week only to the great mass of laborers
"who are engaged in it, production No
schools, no religion, no enjoyment no civilization,
but only work, "as prisoners work for crime
These are the conditions on which France
can, at twice the cost of labor which we re-
quire, manufacture iron at 80 per cent less than
we can afford Ii is by the enslavement of
the body and mind of the French wOrkingman.
And even by grinding labor down to its last
and lowest endurable degradation, France cam
not maintain her iron manufactures without a
protective tariff Of "a 30 per tun on pig iron
(our Morrill, tariff of 1851 il only SG) and S13 0S
per tun on bar (the Morrill, tariff Is sl0), and
on all the more finished goods, such as railroad
and sheet iron, small wares, tubes, &C., the
French tariff Is much higher than our own, and
yet this tariff is so much lower than that UNI
der which these industries were built up that it
is styled triumph of free trade and the Emperor
bids his people suffer patiently under it, to
which they respond by bread riots and assas-
sination. Is it not evident from these facts, that
instead Of importing iron and steel wares from
France and England, made at an expense of
nearly or quite twice the labor which would be
required here it is the true interest of the whole
civilized world that we should so protect and
develop our own iron manufactures as to inn
port the iron worl,men and iron capitalists of
those countries and let them carry on those
industries here, where the same outlay of cap
itd and labor produces twice the quantity of
Ill. 10 Ernnnh 1aa.ornIi..o