New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-11-28

an interesting CALCULATION Wnelo the eAaeo
amount of which the farmers are robbed
to satiate the avarice of the steel-makers
is estimated The simple arithmetical problem
is disposed of in this way. In 1880 the prlce
of rails in the United States averaged $67 0O
per ton In England the price ranged from
$50 to S35. The full pound of flesh, that is the
S2S duty. was therefore exacted on every one or
the l.l12.69O tons used during the year, the
gross robbery being exactly $31, 155,32O. As
sumjng that the rural mind would be be-
wildered when contemplating 80 vast an
amount, Mr.. Wells translates it into wheat
and shows that the steel men confiscated In
single year the entire production of WiscOn-
SIM Missouri or Kansas. The Intelligent farmer
is further instructed that if he should set him.
self TO count the plumber at the rate OF dol
lar second, it would require two years of
his time to. finish the task, and no doubt the
farmer would appreciate the fact without fur
ther tuition that it would occupy him four
times as long if no counted il out in twenty
five-cent pieces instead Of silver dol
lars. Now, although the average of the
prices of rails here as estimated for each
month was $67 go the heaviest sales were
made at 500 so and still lower, so that the av-
erage price, when the amount of sales Is con-
sidered. was some $40 less than the figures in
Mr. Weiss calculation. The English prices,
too. ranged between $50 and $50, so that the
pound of flesh is whitfield down a triile at
both ends. Besides this there are some intel
ligent persons who hold that the tax Is not all
dead loss to the farmer, but that his incidental
gains are quite equal to those of the manufac-
turer. and the laborer has not yet been con-
vinced that his condition here is more
deplorable than that of his class in England
where wages are such that starvation is
constant menace, so that economists like the
Rev. Mr.. Nautilus can see no relief for nm
except in the vice and misery which shorten
life. But apart from all this, before the
farmer begins to feel poverty -smitten over
the heavy tax he pays the steel-makers
through the railroads (and Mr.. Wells asserts
that the burden of this tax does rest in
great degree on him because he furnishes the
bulk of the commodities transported by raiD,
he would do well to consider that the freight
rate which he paid during this year of spolia-
ton, namely, .sG6 cents per ton per mile. was
about one-third of the rate which the roads
charged him before this tariff with its in
iqutous exactions was established.
But a counter calculation might he made
which is quite rs fair and convincing as Mr..
Weiss little sum. The price of steel rails in
1850 was about 500 less per ton than it
was before the tariff on steel permitted Amcri-
can competition, and therefore logic is logic
800 was saved on every one of the l,ll2,69o
tons used during the year, amounting to gross
gain of Sill, 269, 900. Now, n slow enumeration
could consume long lifetime in counting all
these dollars, and if they were converted into
tobacco they would make n strip of Gravely
plug winch would reach from Connecticut to
the moon.
1t may be that the time has come when our
tariff should he thoroughly revised. If so, the
entire subject. being one of capital importance,
demands the most candid, broad and judicious
treatment from every point Of view. Advanced
Free Traders who may desire to be heard in
the discussion should school themselves to be as
ingenious as they are ingenious when they at
tempt TO construct arguments to prove that
the American system under which the country
has been so signally prosperous is colossal
robbery, organized and lcgalzed.