The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1870-07-23
AMERICAN BEssEMER RAILS.

AneIo il &TodU OutCEJ mauo Wy Ioc
freetraders in the matter of Bessemsr steel
rails. The Chicago Tribune declaims a.
gainst the Outrage" Of fostering triumvir
ate of steel rail makers in this country.
The truth is, the right to make Bessemer
rails is still covered by Bessemers patent,
both here and in Europe, and will, and
ought to, continue to be SO covered until
that patent expires If the right were con-
fined to a triumvirate hero (Which is not
true) it is confined to one man in Europe,
and to those there, as well as here, who
obtain the right from him or his grantees.
If Europe can have free competition in
Bessemer rail manufacture when one per-
son owns the patent, can not America
have it when several own it? Would
the Tribune have America wait sixteen
years for the patent to expire before be-
ginning the manufacture
1t is contended that Europe can man
ufacture $4,000 tons of steel rails, while
we can manufacture only 10000 tons I;
while cur demand for rails last year was
100000 tons, and this year will be more.
But let it be remembered that the Euro
pean demand for rails absorbs a large
portion of their production, and comPeti-
ton on this side the water is as necessary
as in Europe to any permanent supply of
cheap rails. Under free trade Europe takes
the five best qualities Of her rails for her
own use, America being too poor to buy
them. The sixth quality rail, rejected "
from use in Europe, was called the Ameri-
can rail" because we alone would buy it.
Were we again dependent on Europe for
rails, or for any large portion Of our sup
ply, we would again be buying Sixth
quality American rails - instead Of first
quality Bessemer. Our steel rail business
is rapidly extending, and the time is fast ar
irving when we will produce our own steel,
and begin to compete, even in the exporta-
ton, with our foreign rivals -Four large
steel works have already been established,
two more are nearly completed, and several
additional are projected. Previous to the
burning of the Bessemer Works of John
A. Griswold & Co., Of Troy, they had made
1000 tons of rails, of which none have
broken, and all are officially recommended
as fully equal to the best foreign rails.
With the completion of new works, this firm
can produce 10000 tons steel rails per year.
The Pennsylvania Steel Works, at Harris
burgh, produce some 13 900 tons per annum,
principally for the Pennsylvania Railway
Company, the official report pronouncing
them equal to foreign rails. The Cleveland
/ R0ll10cr MIL L Al
Of 5000 tons per year, with a proposed
capacity of 10000 tons Fer anDum. The
Cambria Iron Company has a Bessemer
Steel Rail Works nearly completed, with a
proposed capacity of 10000 tons. These
works alone indicate capacity Of production
of $4,000 tons annually of American Steel
rails. The Hope Rolling Mill, at Allen
town, is producing for the Lehigh Steel
Company puddled steel of superior quail
ity, under the new patent known as the
Excelsior process. This company is receiv-
ing orders from all parts Of the country for
its products, and has run out hundred
heats Of puddled steel since the commence
ment without single failure. The pud-
died steel stood test of sixty-fOu tons to tho
square inch at Whitney's Car Wheel
Works.
! WHO PAYS THE DUTY ON LUMBER.
The tariff on lumber operates in much
the same way on prices as the tariff on
coal, elswhere explained main condi-
tons being the same, o. e., the price of the
foreign article is controlled by the Ameri-
can market, and if the article is imp ted,
the duty on the quantity imported is plid
BY the importer out Of what would other
wise be bis profits. To illustrate In 1866,
81, '6S, and go we received from 500,
500, 900 to 555, 500, 900 feet Of imported
lumber at all ports. The three States of
Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota alone
give an annual product of 3,220,0OO, 900
Of feet, while the annual product Of 8 ,22O,
100000 of feet, while the marketed pro.
duct in all the States is 100, ZOO, 900 of
feet, or twenty-four times the amount Of
the importation. Now there are those who
think that if pumpkin is brought across
the Canada line at Eastport in Maine, its
price regulates the price of pumpkins in
ONi'iO-h'N' hO VIII nave uO cACepblOuS
to the rule that the home price is regulated
by the foreign. But practical men will see
that if the Canadian lumber districts are
only adequate to supply one twenty fourth
Of our demand, they only contribute one
twenty fourth of the influence which deter
mines The price The price depends on
the ratio of the whole supply to the whole
demand, not on an insignificant fraction Of
the whole supply. From 1862 to 1865
lumber was imported under reciprocity
without duty. Since that time it has paid
towards our revenue $500, 900 year.
The question arises, Who paid this sum,
the Canadian producers or the American
consumers y
The following is statement Of prices in
the Chicago m arket, the largest lumber
market in the country or the world, made
up of monthly sales into an annual average,
BY the President of the Chicago Lumber
mans Exchange:
Total feet Year. Price in Price in