Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1871-07-13

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ing machinery. that the extent o
the use of iron by any people is
! aes7xfI meGsurs ef Understanding in the art
of civilization. There are reason
Why the use Of iron should be pro
-. Portionately greater inI this than il
"a 80 , any of fsthe old settled countfresa O
= Europe. The aorezis abundant anS
widely distributed. Convenient to i
are rich beds of coal Dear labo
Se F. promotes the extension of the use O
- labor-saving machinery. Agriculture
offers almost unlimited field Efoi
labor-saving machines and imple
ments. Our workmen are ingenious
i tTkE q nTent and a applgs The vast land
and water carriage requires an i'm
mense and constant amount of iron
And with our remarkable mechanical
ingenuity we should supply adjacent
couptries with their machihery Z
80 Thths face Of ~ hsse eonsidera
ions, Which slpal make our con.
SUMPTION of the metal greater pei
head than in any of the oldsscoun-
tries, it has been sho wn byt reliable
statistics to be at the rate of not more
gthan Toe pounds vi q tie Der capita
,2M9s eonsSImption ID Great Britain and Bel
gium has reached 1S9 pounds ayean.
after allowing for the exports. It
p.wisv rtant tes know the reason
s7for this, and to inquire whether this
country is really limited market
for iron. We can readily see great
- 2aS taesbf inaustty ID which RON does
not enter here as it does in sothef
countries The most conspieuons is
that of ship building. England builds
- Oh but tefa per cent 96f her ships oE
- ,zswood but with as IRON is hardly re-.
garaed as available material. SIS -
1t is the superiority of iron for
sea-going ships, and the lower price;
'Sfsth4t England produces it at, that has
taken away our sea- going ship build.
ing, except for the coasting trade
: II deaIf We had iron at price that would.
i!'H have enabled us to retain this,swe
should have built annually as much
as SOC, 900 tons of sea-going shipping
more than we have built. But this is
onlKsa fraction of the field for iron
IN snip building. Our Internal nayi-
CATION on lakes, rivers and canals
furnishes vastly greater field The
i, qetisssaperiori seof this material is
LuEs ssgreater fol; this use, because fresh
water does not corrode it. A steamer,
sail vessel, barge or canal boat, off
wood, for our internal navigations isl
temporary thing With life fbutll
seven to ten years. Built of HonSl
there is no reason why they. should
not last half a century, peeas
Besides, wooden craft. begins to
dtteiorate from the day she isl
launched Eachyear makes amarkeda
ss,za. difference in her reliability and value
And when about half her life time is
,-s-,a passed, the cost of repairs becomes
s'm heavy Iron vessels are not subject
to this in any zpereeptiple degree
An iron craft viii rate as high arro ong1
underwriters at ten years as when
launehed. In England the. condition
that the ship shall rate Al. 1 at Lloyds'
rs for twenty one years is made in the
yIss builders seontract. And there is |
80 nothing to show that at the end of
that period the rate may not be ext
s.as tended for another p years. At any /
rate there would be nothing I'M fLe1
case of fresh water vessels.."s 7
Here is vast field for the con
sumption of iron that Is yet un-
touched. This, and every other
braneli into which we may. look to
find the use of iron restricted, brings /
vz7us directly to the reason, which is
szs the high price of the crude material. I
And why is this? 1.-THE last dseI.
years the price of crude iron in gold
has averaged more than fifty per
cent. higher in this country than in /
Great Britain. Fifty per cent higher
cost e crude material which lies so
near the base of all industries, is a
very heavy difference against our ina
Sssdustrial progress. Part of this lis
due oyour system of raising prices
generally byatarif taxatien. High j
s@gprieess of the laborer'a q consumptionf 4
create necessity for higher wages
to bring him tosthe ssarne scale, and1
thus the taxing of consumption raises
the cost Of production, and this Inn
its themaFket gzzss4fs "a a-Isss $50 \
Part of this high price is due to
the fact that our processes for pro /
3 ducing crudessiron is yet in a crude.