Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1882-12-08
Tariff IneuuaIities.

FRIDAY EVENING DEC. 8. 1852.
Tariff Inequalities.
The tariff commission has recon-
mended a duty of fifty cents ton on
iron ore, which is about equal to the
present ad valorem rate OF twenty per
cent. In the Cresson convention OF iron
men the ore interest wanted a duty of
dollar a ton. and the convention recon-
mended one of eighty cents. 1t is very
doubtful whether good public policy
would not admit iron ore free of duty.
II it cannot be dug out of our ground as
cheaply as it can be imported across the
ocean, then it had better remain in the
ground until it can be. The industry
that extracts it is not one to be pro-
tected. The public benefit derived from
a protective tariff lies in the encourage
ment which it gives to capital to develop
the national resources of the country, to
increase its wealth and make it indie
pendent of other nations. But these
natural resources ought to be sufficient
" valuable when taken out of the ground
to he marketable without bounty be-
ing put upon their production. The
extraction does not otherwise increase
the country's wealth nor does it add to
its independence. The ores are al
ways with us ready at any time
to he mined should the foreign supply
he cut off and the mining become profit
able. Until then they are more valuable
to the country in the ground than out of
it, and it is not wise TO tax the people to
pay for taking them out. The owners
of lean ores have no claim upon the gov.
crnment for bounty for mining them.
Ii they can dig them up and get the cost
of the labor and a royalty OH the ore
by the sale of the product then they are
worth digging; otherwise they are not.
There are many iron mines in the cOun-
try that produce magnificent revenue
to their owners. The Lake Superior,
Iron Mountain, Cornwall, Lake Cham
plain and other deposits are of incalcula-
ble value. They sell at high prices be-
cause of their richness and quality. So
in Alabama, Tennessee and other states
in the South there are very valuable de.
posits of iron ore that pay large reve.
nue. to their owners. In fact there are
such mines in many states North and
South. They do not require a duty
levied for their protection. 1t is only
the owners of lean ores that are bene.
fitted by the tariff impost, and plenty OF
the deposits are so poor that no rate OF
duty would bring them into use. There
is no p7opriety at all in taxing the whole
country for the development Of the
property of one class of its iron ort
owners. 1t may be reasonably main
tained that all raw materials should b'
admitted free Of duty; but the argu
meat in favor OF such admission of :
raw material for which protection
is only demanded by portion of it
producers becomes so strong that it i
difficult to see how it can be fairly gain
said. The iron manufacturing interes
lies with that of the country in demand
ing cheap ores, and it should have then
wherever they come from.
There is duty also levied ut prcsen
on scrap iron, and the commission doe
not recommend its reduction very large
". This is another article which shoul'
he admitted free. There is no produc
tive interest so benefited b,
the import rs to warrant it. Scral
iron is made because it can
not be helped. 1t is iron that Ina
Outlived the use for which it was mad
and seeks conversion into another TIN
manufacturer of it for the new us
should get it at the lowest cost, and i
seems to he entirely unjustifiable to ia,
the public and to increase the cost t.
him for the benefit of those who hav'
already received the full benefit out o
the original form of the iron that the
sought fromit.
II the tariff should bc Intelligent
ami carefully revised, SO as to put Oh tn
free list such articles as the prosperity q
the industries of the country permit t
he put there, a great deal of money uSe
lessly drawn from the consumers cOul
lie saved to them.