New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-07-10

kissing their fellowcitizens by making llenty OF
Irn at fair pricesf There is no mystery thee IS no
magic in lron-making; 1t requires no elaooraVe prep
aation or enormous aggregation OF capital Therefore
thousands all around us who could run up furnate
and smelt therein Ore into Pig as promptly ana
ohespy il is done and they are ready for the
ork-not TO speak of furnaces out Of blast and now
for sae at less than cost Why it that Free Traders
don,t and won't make Pig Iron, when the business is
90 simple and they say tits so enormously profitable
Soma of them own long lines of railroads which re-
nire thousands of tuns of new rails chairs spikes
Sc annually, and could easily make them IL they
would why do MT theyf They understand business;
they own, or at least WELD, ample capital; they ara
not averse to making profits. Why can't they De
oersuaded coaxed, jeered shamed, driven INTO max
ing American IrOn instead of standing aside to make
faces at those who do What answer
In all the dissertations of Free Traders, meet an
oufaling quiet assumption that IdTD must enhance
a, PRICE Of giDeR article or " can 40 our proaoer'
~ Dat article no good The truth as apprehend it,
Is otherwise.
lam a manufacturer of newspapers-bred to that
IA which l have assduOusly followed through
re Ibaye made a fair living by that, and nothing
=. snoak of by anything else. Having given forty
IA wears to its requirement and prosecution ought
tobaye tolerabe comprehension of its wants and its
ia II happens not to be one that needs direct
I,yl Protection because an imported newspaper can
,otsupplant or replace an American one as a piece
~ foregn calico or shifting can take the place ana
Srbserve the end of one made in this country. 1
-. no pretensiOns to unsefshness, and would
loalv make more money by my business than now
a. Yet do not want higher price for my product
r,on,a not raise that price if could tooaid like
AouNAe the demand for that prOduCt-to sell thou
Oond comics where now sell five hundred-to have a
soIs that would keep my steam presses and other
.ostly machinery running up to the limit OF their
ssnsoitv. Secure me such market and will agree
never to ask an enhanced price while live. Nay;
would covenant to make better and more costly
PAPER than can now Afford if could thereby secure
a quick demand for all the copies l could print.
now give better paper than could possibly afford
for the price if the edition print during the night
could be rvaled and superseded by British journals
arriving by steamer in the gray of the morning.
And this is true of newspapers generally and true,
Ipresume of Prints or De LANES as well as ofnews-
papers.
Years ago, under low duty, we imported most OF
the Starch used in this country making little
capriciously when the market, from whatever cause
was bare; but soon fresh Importation would Hood
our ports shutting up our starchfactOries and drv
ing out their workmen to find employment at some
thing else OF course, they acquired no decided pro
fcienoy in the art and our Starch was undoubtedly
inferior in quality to its imported rival. But TIT
Tariff of 1912 imposed duty of two cents per Roun'
on imported Starch; and at once leading house II
this City resumed the long-suspended manufactur
of Starch, called in its scattered wOrkmen, made
good article and put it the market half cent pc
pound belo,o the price previously ruling. This wa
done purely on business principes-because Starcl
could be afforded for less in large and steady mar
ket than in one contracted and capriciOus.
Mr.. CLAY, in his Raleigh speech,s pleasantly ex
posed the falacy of the Free Trade assumption that
the price of an article is enhanced by the amount Of
the duty thereon, by citing the discontinue of g
Democratic canvasser who seeing shabbily dressed
hearer just in front of him. arrested the regular flow
of his eloquence long enough to ask, My friend, dc
YOU know that these Tariff monopolsts make you
pay six cents per yard than you should for that
shirt you have f"I suppose it must be so, since
Won say it," responded the surprised and scared au-
ditor; "but 1 have no learning and do MT quite
derstand it, since l only gave five and half"
The Tariff of 1912 found the duties on Cotton
fabrics very low and raised them to a minimum Of
six cents per square yard plain and nine cents per
SQUARE yard on printed or colored-which in fact
higher than though it had been one hundred per cent
on the importers valuation of their goods No doubt,
this enhancement shut out foreign and enlarged the
market for our American fabrics as it was intended
to do. "Of course, the manufacturers raised their
puces," you say. No, they did not; though they
probably would have done so if they could. They
did not, because, l. They could make cheaper, run
ming their machinery full time in presence of an
ample and eager market. than running capriciously
and while obliged to keep their goods on hand for
month"; awaiting purchasers; q Because COMPETE
ton was keen among them, and kept down prices to
thspoint at which fair, living profit could be made
he who refused to sell at such rates losing his GUS
toners to rivals who believed in the nimble sixpence
So Mr.. Samuel Lawrence, writing from Lowell dec.
H. 1872 in reply to my inquiry for specific informa-
ton as to the effect of the new Protective Tariff on
the prices of cotton fabrics gave the following ex-
hbit Of the prices at which Lowell fabrics sold for
the three months before and the three months after
the passage of that acts
AVERAGE PRICES OF LOWELL COTTON FABRICS.
Ia Wav Jyuf aad JAW "a Ia Sept, oct and NoU. do.
Drinngs..........74c per yd. cents Der I'D.
Shirtings cOm'On SIC. per yd. cents per I'd.
ShirtiDgs heavy SIC. per I'd. "a cents per yd
Sheetings. conn 6te. per I'D. cents per I'D.
SheetiDgs, wide SIC. per yd. q cents per I'D.