Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1874-08-12
ASSOCIATED PRESS LETTER
PHILADELPHIA, August 8, 1874.
pELoIAN VERSUS AMERIcAN mo-

"an insult without precedent" perpe-
trated by the Public Building Commits
sioncrs in permitting the purchase of
from one thousand TO five thousand
tons of Belgian iron beams to be used
in the construction offhe Public Build
ings in this city The Commissioners
are threatened and the buildings are
to be sunk if this thing continues. The
usual incendiary appeal to unemployed
worlSmcn around rolling mills is made.
Fair play even in free fight Is
good thing and | rejoice that the Com
missioners having knocked the chip off
the iron mems hat, are likely to win
in the contest Railroad iron is quoted
at $50 per ton. American beams
which are used in places of flooring
joists are quoted at sl32 per ton. Bel
gian beams, duty paid, are worth 800
per ton. With iron ore and coal with
in an hours distance of Philadelphia, IL
does seem sad commentary upon
the system under which our natural
resources are developed, our having
iron brought distance of nearly 1000
miles, and with II cents per pound
duty paid on it, furnished at 25 per
cent. less than our own iron producers
rates. The tendency of the times is to
lower prices, and for our iron manufac-
turers to understand this and act in
accordance Herewith is the surcst
and speediest method of driving the
foreign production from our markets
! am clearly of opinion that Judge
Kelly--even were he so inclined--will
be powerless to add n fraction more to
the tariff rates upon iron in the pig or
rolled.
Nor will the malicious attempt TO
infame the passions of worlxmen un-
employed avail aught. The average
American mechanic readily perceives
how combination that doubles the
price of rolled iron may soon retire
the capitalist in afiluence, and, for the
want Of continued employment, return
the worlmen to abject poverty.
There are but four rolling mills in
this country that manufacture iron
beams, and while / do not say that
they have combined to secure exorbi-
tant rates, it is significant that while
railroad iron is continually falling in
price, and is now down TO cents per
pound, these iron beams have gone up
in value until now the quotation is 81
cts pound The question is simply
whether tbs best for the beam TO be in
the eye of the iron producer or that of
the taxpayer. Whether the people of
Philadelphia shall have the benefit of
$1,000 saved in the purchase of Bel
gian iron, or place that sum to the
profit account of half dozen iron
manufacturers.
Nor is this the worst feature of this
"uniformity of schedule rates for iron
beams agreed upon by these few iron
manufacturers. There is now in course
of erection, in this city, Exhibition
Buildings designed for the Centennial
Celebration of 1876, that will cover no
less than 40 acres and require three
hundred thousand tons of iron in their
construction, and could these combina-
Il
ton prices be maintained, the sad
spectacle would probably be presented
to the American people, OF the repre-
sentatives of the nations of the earth
gathering here at Philadelphia to bear
witness TO the fact that the very build
ings in which the American Commcm-
orative Exhibition was held, were con
structed of iron rolled in Europe, al
though an inexhaustible supply of iron
and coal was within 100 miles of the
Exhibition Buildings.
The question is now to be met
whether the patriotic people Of the
nation, by whose liberal contributions
these buildings are to be erected, are
to be Illuminated by Exhibition Build
ings made of European iron, or their
contributions recklessly squandered by
paying to these four American Manu-
iacturers a quarter Of a million dollars
more than the cost of the imported
IRON
If our iron men design the intro
ductlon OF foreign IRON to become gen
eral they have but TO MAINTAIN their
continuation prices, but ! infer they
nave not so designed ana mat as mat
ter oi national PRIDE ana shrewd busl-
ness enterprise, they VIII comoine 10
undersell manufacturers from abroad.
The Centennial Board have rather
ugly subject to deal with but take 1t
/ they are equal to the occasion.