The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-06-30
The oppressors Of the People.

The United States Senate has passed the
Southern Pacific Railroad bill, but attaches
to. it the condition that the road be built OF
american iron and steeln. That is to say,
the stockholders, and, through them the
whole people; must pay 10 the raiI;makers OF
the Eastern States tax equal to the differ
ence between the cost OF American rails and
English rails. Every man who travels over
the road, every merchant or farmer who
ships or receives pound Of freight, is re-
auired to pay toll to the. manufacturers OF
the East. The whole Union is taxed for the
benefit Of small class, which appears to be
able to control, atwill, the Legislature OF the
country. In the present instance they have
gone farther than ever before. Every COM
pany and every individual did possess the
poor privilege Of using foreign iron, although
it could not be obtained without the pay
ment Of nearly prohibitive duty. Now,
however, Congress goes a step further, and
says that foreign rails shall not be used by
the Southern Pacific Railroad upon any
terms whatever. Whatever the price, what
ever the loss to their stockholders and to
the public, they must use American rails
and American rails only. Putting aside the
plain, old-fashioned iron, let US consider the
effect-not upon the Pacific Railroad alone,
bat upon TIE whole country-of the high
duty imposed upon Bessemer steel. The
Southern Pacific Railroad cannot use the
English-made steel rails at any price, and,
in his degree, every man who uses steel or
iron is also a sufferer.
Iron is no longer suitable material for
railways using locomotives weighing forty
tons, and running at speed Of forty miles
per hour. Under such conditions it is taxed
far beyond its powers Of endurance, and on
many parts onthe leading roads has to be
replaced every few weeks. Under the same
service steel stands for years, with no signs
of abrasion or decay. Experiments have
! been made for sufficient length Of time to
prove that the life OF steel rail is fifteen or
| twenty times longer than that OF an iron
one Just at the nick of time it was discov-
cred that pig-iron might be converted directly
into steel, by forcing a current of air, under
high pressure, through mass OF molten
metal The excess OF carbon is thereby ey-
PEELED, and steel OF the best quality, for GER
tain purposes, is the result. The process is
SO simple and inexpensive that the cost Of
converting iron into steel by this method,
known as the Bessemer process, is some
thing less than cent per pound: By all
methods previously used steel was made
from bar or wrought iron, by adding to it
| certain quantity of carbon by expensive con-
triyances, labor and skill. But this is not
all. 1t costs more to-day to convert pig
! iron into refined bar by the process Of pud-
ding and rolling than it does to convert, by
the new method, iron directly into steel.
This statement will give some idea OF the
immense value of the new invention.
We can very easily reckon up the saving
resulting from the use Of steel rails. The
New York Ersniag Posi- estimates that there
we're transported over the railroads OF the
United States in the past year l25, 600, 600
tons OF freight, at cost of $500, 1000, 900.
The cost, per ton, per mile, is one and a
half cents. If this cost could be reduced
only one-eighth Of a cent per ton per mile,
the saving effected would equal s25, 100000
per annum. The cost Of transportation in
country like cur own, where freight has to
be moved distances exceeding often one
thousand miles, is and always must be a sub