Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-02-07
How Circumstances Alter Cases.
st. Louis Republican.

The quarrel between protectionists
over the duty on imported steel blooms
furnishes a fresh and striking proof of
the thorough selfishness which animates
the so called movement for the "protec-
ton of American labor" When the
present tariff was arranged the steel
bloom, which is melted metal rolled and
| hammered into billet, was unknown,
and when the Treasury Department was
| called upon to determine the duty it
should pay, it decided very properly
that blooms are manufacture of
steel not otherwise provided for"
and therefore subject to a duty
of 40 per cent. This is about $13 a ton,
the duty on steel rails being $28 ton.
The Pennsylvania steel manufacturers,
with Mr.. D. J. Morrill, at their head, pro.
tested yehemently against this ruling ad
hitting foreign steel blooms at so low a
rate; steel blooms can be easily rolled
into rails, and Mr.. Morrill, declared with
much feeling that under tue departments
ruling cheap foreign steel would take the
place of the American article, and one
hundred thousand American workmen,
| earning wages to the amount of $50, 000,-
900 year, would be thrown out of EN-
ployment ard reduced to pauperism.
The predicted calamity did not
take place. however Instead of
it many abandoned iron rail mills
found that they could roll the
cheap foreign blooms into steel rails and
make good profit at it, and the demand
for steel rails was so great that it took all
the product of the old iron rail mills and
of the regular steel rail mills to supply
it-and even then some foreign steel
rails had to be imported 1t was found,
too, that the foreign steel blooms could
be easily and proftably drawn into wire
and manufactured into other useful
forms. Mr.. Morrill, himself had wire
works at JohnstOwn, Pa, and, seeing
the advantage of it, went heavily into
the purchase of the cheap foreign blooms
and the next we hear of HIM is
his appearance at Washington, not
to renew his vehement protest
against the departments decision.
but as vehement advocate on the
other sidel He no longer sees disaster,
idleness and pauperism of American
labor as the result Of the importation OF
cheap foreign steel; so far from this. he
pleads that the cheap foreign steel
furnishes the material for many manu-
features dependent upon it, aud that to
increase the duty on the imported metal
would cripple these industries and pro-
duce the very calamitous consequences
which year before he had predicted on
the other side. In fact, the doughty
protectionist has turned a somersault. He
is still a protectionist that is, he is still
in favor of high duties on the fabrics
which he manufactures, but in favor of
very low duties on such articles as
furnish the materials for his manufac-
lures.
His extraordinary conduct illustrates
one very important truth in the tariff
dispute, viz That successful manufac-
turing requires cheap materials; that to
tax these materials is to discourage manu-
features; that tariff which protects one
industry therefore Injuries another, and
that while high protective duties benefit
certain favored manufactures, these
benefits are in the long run far out
weighed by the burden they involve to
other kindred industries and the general
interests of the country.