The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1878-04-25
gultttcal,
IRON AND STEEL,
WHAT FERNANDO WOOD SAYS IN
HIS SPEECH ABOUT THEM.
No Reduction Of Duties That Need Cause Alarm
Comparison Of Present Rates and Those In
Woods BILL.
From Mr.. Wood Speech on the Tariff In th'
l@HNs " uoVea nril

From Mr.. Wood Speech on the Tariff In the
House, April o.,
Much alarm has been excited in some
parts of the Union by undue apprehen-
sion that great injury to the iron and
steel manufacturers would follow any
change in the tariff. The iron and steel
interests have been especially referred
to as those which would be ruined by
any interference whatever think that
upon a careful examination of the BILL
so far as it affects this industry, these ap'
prehensions will cease, The average re-
duction in rates in the metal schedule is
only 4 per cent which would seem TO be
too small to cause any alarm on the
ground Of loss of protection. Thepartial
change from specific to ad valorem du-
ties cannot properly be complained Of
In some cases the change became neCes-
sary for the better securing the duties
which have been frequently evaded, and
in others for the purpose of simplifca'
ton in the interest of revenue, as well
as of the home manufacturer and In
other cases for the purpose of modifying
the vexatious ClassifCations now exist
ing, The total loss of revenue under
this schedule, if computed on the con-
sumption of 1877, amounts to S4l77l6
The consumption Of foreign metals,
iron, steel, and manufactures of, has fall
en- from $57 $685. .158 in 1873 to $l0 222 900
in 1877. The mean average for eight
years consumption of these metals and
manufactures thereof, amounted to $685.
O30.766 per annum, The large falling of
in the importation Of these articles may
be properly traced to two causes first,
the higher duties and the vexatious and
cumbersome Classifcations, and second
ly, the wonderful progress and improve
ment which our own country has made
in similar manufactures. To the latter
cause, in my judgment, may be attrlbu-
ted the principal influence which is oper-
ating. 1t is quite certain that the expor-
tation of manufactured articles which
come under this head has largely in
creased. According to the official re-
turus issued by the Bureau Of Statistics,
November 10, 1877, the average increase
has been fully equal to 80 per cent for
the nine months ending Sept. 30th last,
over the preceding nine months of 1876.
We exported in 1876 during this period
of machinery, 81 ,S9l .3O5, and in the like
period of 1877, 50 131. 1.23l, and of pig-iron
$70.544 in 1876, and $l3S100 in 1877; of
railroad bars for rails, $12S 567 in 1876,
and $l98.770 in 1877; Of sheet, band and
hoop iron, $49SS in 1876 and $23.O72 in
in 1877; Of steam engines, $49S.405 in
1876 and $522040 in 1877, and other
manufactures of iron not enumerated,
$2.510O38 in 1875, and $27725l6 in 1877.
The expectations of steel show a more
gratifying result. Of edge tools we ex-
ported for the nine months Of 1875 $448-
III, while for the same period in 1877
the exports amounted to $609S42; and
of muskets, pistols, rifles, and sporting
guns we exported in 1875 $2015662, and
in 1877 $4361. .752, an increase of about
1873 per cent, and in other manufactures
of steel not enumerated $ll28l7 in 1876,
$247.216 in 1877. The total exports Of
iron and the manufactures of iron for the
fiscal year 1877 was $685. $40, thus
showing that the apprehension arising
from the competition Of foreign meChan-
les With American workmen has now
little force.
1t was put in evidence before the Com
mittee of Ways and Means, by Mr.Roach
the celebrated American iron ship build
er, that he readily obtained wOrkmen in
Pennsylvania from fifty to sixty cents a
day; but, however this may be, it is GER
tain that our superior quickness and pro-
duCtive energy CounterbalanCed any diff
ference which may exist in the price of
labor. Mr.. Isaac Southern Bell, M. p,
the English Judge at the Centennial Ex-
position in Philadelphia, in his report
upon the iron interest of the United
States summarized his conclusions as
follows:
l. That the powers of iron production
between the years 1870 and 1875 were
increased in the United States far be-
yond any possible requirements of the
country.
4hi nnS,;ttod rn@S S0 % agd inSvooS % tbo noanT Wu w.
Saot,,rora Sn, 'S 20 occoda 70 domands from, cer.
i to;n sectioUS onH w o of fSe ~ wortman which are
nom IAN o1S oct;nn sdvorso,w rec 70 tho trne inter.
mUw nStH of %E tbs 49, %u1oi'y " 'N0 'A00 A''-
eScS "a @ VIC ,I rt"Uo' III. 80,
o. Inat tne same causes reaCtlng On
the value OF raw material, along WlLn
the increased value OF lspor, as ABOVE
stated, have unduly added TO the COST oi
the iron. -,
4: That the interference with the laws
which regulate the prices OF commodll'
ties has, in the case OF anthracite coal
added to the difficulties, OF the iron smell
tiers; and the sudden demand made on
mines incapable OF meeting it, has IN
creased those difficulties by an unheal-
thy addition to the selling price OF iron