New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-08-21
-hree kinds above specified exceed,


ing all the rest. by the sum Off,. $499,623
The careless public, looking at the high rates
devied on Hardware, Machinery, &c. says, Surely
these must be sufficient but the importer avoids
these 50 far possible by changing the character or
Disgusting the appearance of his wares that they
may pass under some designation which is subjected
70 a lower mpost; and thus the Protection afforded
is not what Congress designed but far less than that
The longer tariff continues, the more weak spots
are found the more holes are picked in it, until at
last through the influence of successive evasiOns,
constructions decisions, its very father could not
discern its original features in the transformed bant
ling that has quietly taken its place. Every decis
ion whether by functionary, O jury, that makes
In favor of cheap Importation affords footing for
new exertOns of mercantile ingenuity and legal
eubtety to undermine and subvert the hated barrier
thousands holding Tor at least asserting that all
tariffs at with natural right and public inte-
rest and so should be nullfed so far as possible.
Doubtless the duties on Iron Steel and their Manu-
features being so largely specific are more fully col
iected than those on Textile Fabrics, &c, are or
could be- but they still fall in fact far below what
simple perusal of the Tariff would indicate.
That ours is destined to be a great ron-producng
as well as Iron-wOrking country, every American in
stinctively believes He cannot admit that God has
filled our soil with such, enormous deposits of Ore,
less and unvalued, while British rails laid across
them in every direction and British engines career
thereon drawing cargoes of British bars and British
manufactures for the use of the jewellers on the
tributaries of the Mississippi the Colorado, and the
San joaquin. Thus when MIR. Hodgskin, an intelli-
gent and candid Englisbman residing in this city,
recently made an address to Free Trade meeting in
Brooklyn. wherein he argued that we should buy
our Iron from Europe because her low-priced labor
enabled her to produce it much cheaper than
could. our Free Trade journals at once shrank from
that position, choosing to insist that American Iron
was dear only because the present Tariff enabled our
Lon-masters to charge an exorbitant price for it
Such unworthy shifts cannot abide the test of time
and discussion. The price of Iron. as 'of anything
else is measured with general accuracy by the cost
of producing it whenever the profit of such produc
ton is large thousands are melted thereby to en-
bark in it and this tendency cannot be checked
Gil the profit falls to Ter below the average of that
realized in other investments We shall ultimately
produce Iron much cheaper than now, through the
Improvement and perfection of the processes by
which we make it; and to such improvement
81 is indispensable that our Iron industry
shall be not dead but alive. The unsteadi-
ness of our policy in the past has sadly
retarded our progress. Capitalists hesitate to
invest the vast sums required to produce steel rails
(for instanCel at moderate cost, with the sword Of
DamocIes suspended over their heads by formidable
party intent the overthrow of Projections but let
the public voice be Enthusiastically heard the right
side and millions Of capital will flow into the various
departments Of our honindustry. insuring economies
unattainable while our policy shall remain unstable
precarious, capricious. Were it this day fixed and
proclaimed that no reduction of our Iron imposts
would be made during the next ten years mines
would be opened and furnaces erected wherever Ore
and Coal exist in proximity or may be cheaply
brought together rOlling-mils and FORCES would
speedily follow in their train; invention would he
stimulated and improvements perfected, until we
should soon have cheaper Iron through the cheaper
ing Of the processes the increased efficiency of the
Labor, employed to produce it. That cheapening
would not be fully indicated by the prices ruling In
Eew-York; for that is the point where, while i'm
ported Iron is cheapest American Iron is necessarily
dearer than at the points of production hundreds OF
T., f,ff fe ora a