New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-02-16
PROTECTION.
HENRY C. CAREY ON MR.. WEILSS REPORT
LETTER FOURTH.


HENRY c. CAREY ON MR. WEILSS REPORT
LETTER FOURTH.
DEAR SIR: In 1916, when the destructive tarln
bill Of that date under discussion, hr. calhoun ue
cared persons who spoke with him on the iron question
that ~ ne eould feel quite certain that rails would BIO sup
piled at eio dollars per tun he would promptly grant
any amount of protection that could he asked or AT that
moment the rstra MILL has been shown,was less than
years old and man. or party OF men, coud yetIeeI
warranted In giving any assurance to That eject In the
years that then Immediately followed the progress Of this
branch Of industry rapid that in 1850 the iron mas
ters as body proposed to Congress the establishment
OF sliding scale by Of which the duty should be
precisely that which might be needed for keeping rails
steadily at my dOarsrsng the price fell below that
and falling the price advanced beyond it, AdVah
tageous, however would have been such an arrange
ment fell to the ground because it did not suit the
views Of British iron who then deugng the
American market with rails made OF refuse material 10
be sold at $40 per tun and even, as think less than
that with the intent and purpose Of carrying Into fun
effect Incorporation thus subsequently described IN lie
port TO Parliament TO wit:
1.-THE laborng classes generally, IN the manufacturing
districts OF the kingdom and especially In the iron ana
coal districts are very little OF the extent TO which
they indebted for their being employed at all to
the mmelses losses which their employers voluntarily In
in bad times, in order 10 destroy foreign competition
aud Ogdm oregn nlGrsetS Antnen,
times carried on their works at loss amounting IN the
three Or four years II the efforts Of those who
the combinations 10 restrict the amount OF labor ana
produce strikes to be successful for any length OF
tme the great Accommodations Of capital could no longer
DO made toheh enable fe7 Of me most utaty eapttalIsts
10 orerrkel all foreign competition IN times OF great de-
preston aud thus to clear the way for the hoe trade to
step IN when prices revive and to carry great business
before Foreign capital again accumulate 10 suc an
extent be able to establish competition in prices
with any chance Of success. The large edpitaS V Wy
eo,npeg capitgis Of foreign countries and he most
essential instruments now remaining by when our manu-
featuring supremacy be maintained; the Oter ere
mens-cheap labor, abundance OF raw natera; means
of communication, and skilled labor-beng raplay III
process OF being equanzed"
Such was the varfare then being carried out and to
what extent proved successful 1t is my purpose now to
show.
close II 1880 the receipts Of gold from California
bad reached the then almost fabulous quantity OF $685.
100000 stimulating into activity almost every branch OF
trade and manufacture; and yet It of that moment
that tho representatives Of the most important OF all
manufactures were begging of Congress TO give its assent
TO bill providing that full supplies Of railroad bars
should be oreper secured to people at prices Tess hdn
they had paid for pigs bat thirteen years ofore
refusal Of that body to give Its assent to this most
moderate proposition Of equivalent TO giving
sanction TO continuance Of the war whose objects
above SO well described. the result having been that
while gold coming In from the West at the rate OF
million OF dollars per week. iron flowed in from the East
until in all its various FORMS the joint import OF 1883 and
1884, had arrived at the extraordinary figure of than
eleven hundred thousand hnS and at price for pig iron
but lille less than Aaphch three years before When enter
ing t0ar these tcdiors had been content 10 accept
for railroad bars Their work had been DONE the sacri
fees had been made conquest had been achieved, and
they enjoying the fruits taxing the people of
the Unon in these two years alone, than 0O
and probably even than sSO,OOO0OO thereby
bling themselves to return to their own pockets with
interest the money that had been expended in
subsdzng journalists in buying railroad presidents and
Others in and out Of Congress and generally in carrying
the war.
100000 tuns in lslS to in 1885, and at that
figure probably remained during 1851 and 1882 the
import in those years. of iron and Its manufactures
oeeded 100000 tuns filing to repleon the public stores
keeping down prices little than those Of 55O
Prices, however running up with great rapidly, Amer
furnaces again put in blast and the produce
of 1854 carried up to 10000 tuns being ten cent less
than 1t had been six years previously the population
being teey per cent From this time forward the
figures are as follows:
1855. 5000. 1857. ..STI0O0. 1859. $4,000.
lS56....S1l,OOO iS5s....TO5OOO. 1860. .slS,OOO.
From to 1860 population had increased forty per
e the production Of iron taking thu average Of those
having remained almost stationary and yet 1t Is Of
period that you speak in the following words and
figures:
production in 1882 900 tuns increase IN five years.
Dper cent In 1885, $4,000 tuns increase in five years.
80 per cent In 1860 el3 900 tuns increase in ten years. 81
per cent" thereby proving to your satisfaction If
not TO that Of those cOnversan with the real facts that
matter what had been the character OF the legislation
whether the tariff low high whether the condition
OF the country OF war or peace the increase OF
the production had been at the average OF about
cent per snnum than double the ratio of the in
crease OF population"
How you had been enabled to arrive at this beautiful
production Of historical truth" is clearly shown in the
following diagram the heavy line before, following
out your figures and the others giving the real facts Of
QaSQa go ain arepnn