The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-01-12
OUR NATIONAL INDUSTRIES.

Wo BlFo bOmc Ot tne iehutbB pOihtr N0iy aOie
The report Of David A. wells, Esq, Special Com
missioner of Revenue, abounds in propositions in
imical TO the best Interests of the country which
If adopted by Congress will compel us to occupy
subordinate position among nations, though our
population may equal that of all Europe, as our
territory already does that of the whole family
European Powers. As an expression of the opinions
OF Mr. Wells this paper can do but little harm; but
its circulation in Europe, under the sanction OF
Congress, will impair our credit and arrest the tide
of emigration now flowing In upon us in unprece-
dented volume. 1t demonstrates to the satisfaction
of Mr.. Wells admirers and clients that, thoughour
wealth Increased duriog the last decade one hum
dfed and twenty-six per cent, its utmost increase
during this decade can be but sxty-tive and eight
hundredths per cent? and that instead of the census
of 1870 showing-as it is universally conceded it
wil-largely over forty-three thousand million dol
lars the grand total can by no possibility be over
One Of the processes by which Mr.. Wells sustains
his theory, though not wanting in ingenuity, Is
very simple 1t is to assume that everything is now
worth from thirtyhve to thirty-nne per cent. less
than Il was at the time with which he proposes his
every variety Of cotton and woolen goods, are
Wells theory is that as there is difference in the
market value of gold and greenbacks, commodities
of domestic production ought to be dearer
port audacty and advocacy of the interests of
England and her American colonies. That it is in
genious and plausible cannot be denied, but that 1t
Is does not in my judgment furnish proof of the
Commissioners ability, or evidence of his posses
sion of. well-grounded convictions on industrial
questions. Indeed, the facts that many of the sug
gestions which are most earnestly pressed contra
avowal that, in offering them, che has placed him
self in antagonism to many with whom he was for
merly in close agreement" afford ample ground for
doubt on both points.
The most audacious of Mr.. Wells assertions, and
that pervades the whole report is that customs
duties are always tax on the con umer, increasing
the price of the imported article on which they are
levied and enabling the home producer to realize
the current demand for the commodity he produces.
Were Mr. Wells q tyro, and this report his first
publication, charity would deem this q blunder and
ascribe 1t to Ignorance; but he is man of large
experience, and has written much; and reference
to any of the publications which led to his appoint
reports, viii convict him Of Easing this ocai pas
per on principle the falsity of which he has time
and again abundantly established.
I propose to illustrate the treachery of the Com
protective duties on Bessemer steel rails In 1865
there was establishment in the United States
for the manufacture of such rails. The lowest price
at which an American company could buy them in
England was S15O per ton, cash, gold, Including
freight to New iorR OF Phia1eiphac a Ine duty
per cent which at that price was equivalent to
about three cents per pound; Gold was then about
200, and each ton of rails had cost when on the
wharf in Philadelphia $500, currency. Our coun-
try abounds in materials from which to make not
only Bessemer rails but every quality of STEEL and
the wages paid to American workmen high
enough to tempt skilled workmen from England
In view of these facts, several enterprsing rail-
road men determined to establish TBessemer rail
burg, Pennsylvania, so called in commemoraton
of our partial enfranchi sement from the grasp of
and another estabiishment % for their G % production
was erecting at Troy, New York, when 10! the same
sell at less than sl5o per tom caiy assed our mar
ketto find buyers at $780, In less than three yean
hs ESa sa s ss Ss sssn
England at eleven pounds sterling, or about fifty
dollars M at OF t,n Hull IL
New York, and others at Chester, Pennsylvania,
Cleveland, Ohio and Detroit, Michigan, have been
others at Mott Haven, New York; Pittsburg, Johns
town and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; Baltimore,
Cincinnati and st. Louis; but their construction
awaits and is dependent on the action Of Congress
on the tariff. These facts known to Mr.. Wells,
protective duty is always tax on the consumer,
and labors to induce Congress to reduce duty
which at the rate of three cents to one and a
half cent per pound; change which he well knows
would close all our Bessemer rail works and restore
What can have brought him to such a conclusion?
What is to be his reward for such consumma-
For nearlya quarter Of a century our duties on
caststee have been assessed upon the value of the
ton by an agent of the government has shown that
throughout the whole of the period the steelmakers
of Sheffield have been defrauding the government
of q large portion of its Dues
% The Sheffield steel-makers are men of wealth
and social position, and this discovery of their long
continued and systematic fraud upon our govern-
ment has not beena pleasant thing for them. They
admit that steel has been invoiced to the United
States at lower rates than those at which they sell
in England or the people of the continent, but
assert that low the invoice prices are, they are
They say-and their letters on file in the
Treasury Department, and their agents have ap-
peared there to enforce the statement-that our
market is essential to the maintenance of their
works, and that such Is the competition they en-
counter from steel-makers that they are forced
to sell TO at lower rates than they do to the Eng
Jish or any other people.
The draft of Bill providing scale of duties on
steel was prepared, as l am informed and verify
believe, by or in consultation with q member of
one Of the leading firms Of steel-makers of Shelf
field, and sent over to a gentleman specially con-
nected with legislation on financial subjects.
1t furnished Mr.. Wells his schedules; and, that
gentlemen may see how how completely he has adopted
in accord with those of the steel m0noposts of
England, whose interest 1t is to hold us In CONNER
cial and maritime dependence, will ask the re-
porters to put the two schedules in parallel
columns. 1t is, perhaps, due to Mr.. Wells in this
connection, that should mention the fact that he
80 far exercised his own Judgment IN making this
porant rates. and to change the order from that in
which the items stand in the bill.
And 1t will be further noticed that where the
slightest departure in rate occurs in any one item
is the in two or three unimporant instances
1t Is Immediately compensated for in the next item
by a corresponding change the other way. Thus
MIR. Wells Is more generous to his countrymen In
the matter of Bessemer rails than their Sheffield
rival would be. He proposes to kill them instantly
by putting the rate at one cent pound; while MIR
Wells is willing to give them breathing time, In
which to put their houses in order, by letting them
die slowly at one and half cent. And in the next
item the Englishman proves the more generous
for he proposes two and half cents on all stee
Mr.. Wells would crush his countrymen instantly by
making the duty on those articles but two cents.
Wells applies his assumption that protective
duty is necessarily a tax on the consumer TO pig.
iron, and by the plausibiity of his argument would
make innocent and inexperienced people believe
that he really hoped to secure cheap pig iron by
q t0nt0 three dollars. Could he close our stee
works, as the acceptance of the Sheffield schedule