New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-09-11
POLITICAL ECONO M Y.
Rnt.,d according to Act in the year 1853 BY Horace
Gse, ia th. Office Of the District Coaf OIL tue ohed o
far the Southern District Of New-York.
by HORACE GREELEY.
XVI.
AMERICAN SHIP-BUlLDlNG oHifrlN"' AMI
FOREIGN COMMERCE.

, oo,,ntrv The protractiOn and desperation oil
our Civil War; whereof the close seemed lndehh'eiy
nostnoned the CONSEQUENT dutiOn, expansion ana
depreciation of our Paper Currency thenterruPt'on
tmore complete then than months later Wheh our
armies had perforated the cottongrowlhg regiohl VI
commercial intercourse between the planting anu .o
manufacturing districts of our country the scarcity
and dearness of Paper-nakers' stock, whether Vi
domestic or foreign origin, conspired to induce con-
certed. sudden and enormous enhancement OF Ile
price of Paper Many manufacturers who were
under contract to supply certain newspaper estaD-
shments at specified prices for months If not years.
in prospect repudiatcd their engagements pleading
inability to fulfill them Publishers who had been
for wears printing paper that cost an average OF
ten cents per pound found themselves suddenly
required to pay eighteen, twenty, ana even 50 'eh
as twenty-sx cents per pound IHE tribune paiu
this latter price for large cOnsgnmens inferior IN
quality TO thousands of reams for which II had
recently paid but nine cents and 1t sold much Oh
this dear paper after printing It, for considerably
less than its prime cost AT time when business
was stagnant and Advertising consequently sIacK'
this sudden. unprecedented advance in what was
land isl by far their heaviest item OF weekly
outlay, threatened the cheap dailies with absolute
ruin.
At once a concerted outcry raised for cheap
ening PAPER through the repeal of all duties OH its
importation. Congress promptly memorlalized
i'm behalf of most of the leading journals 10
cheaper Paper by allowing it TO be imported duty
free
did not concur in this representation, nor in the
view which prompted II. That Paper might DE
somewhat cheapened for the moment, by putting 1t
on the free-list. could not doubt; but | believed
that such instant cheapening would be purchased at
too great a cost to the country, and even to the
newspapers themselves. | believed that the true
road to cheaper Paper lay through the encourage
ment of its Home production that cheapness thus
secured would be real, benefcent, enduring, that
secured by policy which widened the average
distance between producer and consumer could not
be- stood FORTH therefore, almost solitary in my
resistance to the repeal of the duty twenty per
cent? on the importation Of Printing Paper held IL
better even for the publishers that they should pay
this duty on the paper they might be impelled TO
import than to have it temporarily cheapened by
aboshing the mpost, at the cost of discouraglng
the investment of capital and capacity in the dis
covery or adaptation of new material, the erection oil
new paper-mills. and the consequent cheapening OF
paper by means consistent with the fullest develop
ment Of American Industry.
These views prevailed. The duty on imported
paper was not taken off, though considerable quant-
ties were imported under it. some of which was pur-
chased for and used on The TRIBUNE. Meantime,
the high price of Paper melted the erection of new
mills and the enlargement of old ones. tine improve
ment of processes and the extensive use thereby OF
ibrous substances previously deemed lntractaDe;
and thus Printing Paper was rendered permanently
abundant and reasonably cheap for the last two or
three years as it still remains believe its average
gold price has been as low throughout the last two
years as in any former two and lower than the cor
responding prices of food shelter. and clothing. In
short believe that Paper has been cheapered to
its consumers by holding 70 the duty and thus
encouraging its production at home rather than
abroad
The same question. essentially isnow to be decided
with regard To Iron more especially its lowest and
crudest manufactured form, that of Pig lTOn Ii is
plausibly asserted that Pig Iron is exorbtantly
high as Paper was in lSG24-that its producers are
rapidly amassng fortunes-that the only effect of
the duty is to enhance the price without increasing
the product-and that repeal material reduction
of the duty would simply reduce the price without
affecting the production-and that this would enable
our rolling-mls pudding furnaces, &c, to cheaper
their product and thus extend their sales and would
hence give new spring to our entire manufacturing
industry and especially to the department of Ship
Building. which is represented as at its last gasp.
do not believe that the road to real permanent
cheapness lies this way. nor can realize that one
benefited by the sacrifice of another. l see it
stated by those who have iron-mines or coal-felds
to sell, or a manufacturing city TO build, that Pig
Iron has BEEN is, or may be, turned out from their
choice materials. in their favored localities. at s30
$25 $3 and perhaps even for $40 per tun and give
due credit to their assertions. That is to say /
presume that under the most favorable circum-
stances, and taking no account of disappontments
and failures, the results thus Wanted have
been attained just as / know that some great
| farmers at the West have filled their bonn
te0us cribs with corn at q cost not exceeding
twenty-five cents per bushel that could he sold there
at fifty cents per bushel: and so with Wheat and
other staple products Of the soil; while know that
Corn Wheat and everything else, costs in the aver
age as much as it brings, else it would be sold
for less. note that those who so loudly inveigh
against the enormous profits of making Pig Iron are
very careful not to make any, and not to allow any
OF their means TO be used in making any. There
are in Virginia alone not less than One Million acres
of frst-rate Iron and Coal lands, mainly covered
with choice timber for building and for coang. that
are this hour awaiting purchasers at $50 per acre
less-all of them within a few miles of railroad
water communication, and some of them directly on
the great thoroughfares of the State which is
theless buying abroad most of the far too ltle)
Iron she uses. want TO n radical change in all
thswant to see those great forests in good degree
turned into buildings and into charcoal the mines
opened and worked n full Million promptly added
by immigration to the Mining and Manufacturing
population of the State and an annual efilux of mil
lions of of Iron and Steel instead of the present
influx of those metals; and do not believe that the
short way to these results lies through the abolition
essential reduction of the duty Pig Iron. That
duty is exactly - per tun which is 81 less than it
l,t all \ TariH Of 10 fha