The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1881-11-19

Thing IN turn In their iron and steel works ex
ccpl the products uf American labor
. But il any one had INDUCED in such an by
po,hcss he would have been sadly disappolnt
ed For these special iron and steel friends ol
American industry no sooner found out thai
IA ne absence Of u nuudred per cent duty or
foreign pig iron, scrap irOn and Iron ore, they
could supply themselves with these raw mate
liaI- cheaper In the foreign than IN The domes
! tic market, than they deliberately turned then
backs ON their iclow'American iron miners
aud pig metal smelters, and proceeded to take
advantage of the pauper labor OF Europe by
purchasing and importing large quantities OF
iron ore from SPAN, aud old rails and scrap
IRON from England and other countries, the
OF foreign ore for 1880 having
amounted to 493 400 tons; and old rail and
scrap to the value OF Sl4,105,S10. Whereat
much harsh language and not few threats OF
smashing the protective machine have been
lndu ged in on the part of American working.
men who have always been told by the pro-
lcclionists of the Pennsylvania school that
good Americans must only buy and manufac-
ture American products, aud never omit to
troWn down severly the products OF the pauper
labor of Europe Another result OF this ab-
surd legislation has been to put at least one OF
the Pacific railroads IN a very awkward posi-
ton. This is the act OF congress incorporat-
ing the Texas Il Pacific railroad, passed March
%, 1871. 1t was provided Section 10y at the
instance of the Pennsylvania iron and steel
manufacturers, that said road should be con-
structed Of iron or steel rails manufactured ex-
clusively from American ores, except such as
may heretofore have been contracted tor by
any railroad company which may be purchas
cd or consolidated with by being qualified and
incorporated as provided in this act" and
supplementary act, approved March 2, 1879,
repeats almost the same language. Now as
none of the Bessemer steel rail mills in Penn
syvania use American ores and iron eXclu.
sively and solely, but all import large quantl-
ties of foreign ores from Spain. Elba, and OH
er foreign mines and ~ probably no company
in the country is able to dispense with the use
of the socalled "Spiegcl elsen," "a foreign
manganese from, it follows that ii the strict
letter and intent of the law was carried out,
the Texas & Pacific railroad would be actually
declared from purchasing a single steel rail,
under any existing circumstances in any
market
We read IN history of examples Of Europ-
can monarchs granting to court tavorites and
kept mistresses exclusive right to deal in salt,
gold lace, glass, leather, and other cOmmodi.
ties, with view of enrching the recipients
and owners Of these privileges by taxing the
consumption of the people. And in all these
cases the tax was purposely made indirect so
that the amount of the robbery should not
be readily comprehended and appreciated by
the sufferers. Most people suppose that the
day for all that sort of imposition has long
gone by; but it would be difficult to find in
all history single instance of so monstrous
abuse of the rights of the people to buy, sell,
and use freely, as IS embodied and practiced
under the claim of benetiting domestic indus.
Try, by the American Bessemer Steel Mo-
noDoly. ..r. |