Mexico weekly ledger., 1882-08-03
THE TARIFF, NO.. III.
WRITTEN FOR THE LEDGER.

Nature will assert herself in the
moral as she does in the physical
world. The protectionist at home
will not only visit Europe to buy his
manufactured goods less the duty
and cheat his government Of its lawful
revenue, but will lay his protective
doctrine aside and import the raw
material for his mandatory when
such raw material can be imported
free or at a nominal duty. The pro-
t~ectionist will take advantages of
every opportunity to increase his
abundance which by law he has helped
to deny his fellow citizens. The
American Bessemer Steele Associa-
ton spends its money freely to help
men into congress, who will vote to
maintain and increase the duties on
imported goods and wares. 1t never
grows weary of paying out money for
the writing and publishing Of PAM
phlets and newspaper articles e%njoin-
ing the absolute necessity of protect
ing through tariff rates every depart
ment of American industry, against
the competition of foreign labor and
products. Yet, when it found out
recently that through an imitation of
prices at home it could buy and i'm
port ores of iron from Spain and Eng
land at a few dollars less on the ton
than the price of the same products of
the mines at home, it did not hesitate
to do it., and that to the extent Of
hundreds of thousands of tons. Re-
Gently the miners of New Jersey,
through a representative of that State
presented a petition to congress ask
ing that the duty OF iron ore be raised.
1t stated the following facts which are
not denied but on the other hand adj
mitted by the members of the associ-
alton to be true ''during and within
the past ten months, ending October
31st, 1891, 724,21O tons of iron ore
have been shipped to this country Gan
amount exceeding the product of our
whole State during the same period),
at a nominal duty of 81 cents per
ton, and in years past much of this
ore was shipped as ballast, no freight
being paid. We are correctly in
formed that the laborers employed in
mining this ore are paid from 20 to
% cents per day, and the major part
of this foreign ore is laid down at our
docks at a cost not exceeding S2.S4
per ton. 1t is impossible for the
mining interests of this county [Mor-
RS and the labor employed to COM
pete with the prices. We therefore
pray your honorable body that the
duty on iron ore he raised and to
place snch a duty on iron ore import
ed into this country and the labor
employed thereat."
The members of the association
explain by saying that they are on
the market as purchasers and must
buy in the cheapest market. The
protective congressman lent a deaf
ear to the petition, and thus the
American manufacturer and his repre-.
!, sentative in congress deliberately vi
olate a canon Of American protection,
, and the nominal duty of 81 cents pei
ton on iron ore remains law. Every
, body is in favor of removing the nat
ural restrictions on trade. Science
and industry join hand in hand tt
Y tunnel mountains, bridge the stream:
= and remove all instructions to swift
lines of railroads, steamships and thu
telegraph. These are only the agen
cies for ~effecting and facilitating
the interchange of ideas and com
! modities; and it amounts to the sam
thing whether we make this inter
y change costly and difficult by inter
' posing deserts, swamps. mountain
, unbridged streams and bad roads be
=. tween producers and consumers o
whether We for private gain, that ha
nothing to merit it, levy a heavy tol
' and call it tariff on the commoditie
transported. From 20 to 100 pc
cent might represent the extra cos
- of the transportation of the commodi
ties, and what the consumer will hav
to pay above their real value, for tn
want of a good road, a bridgeds trear
I" or a route around instead of throug
, a mountain ; while the government i'm
poses a duty on all goods importe
ranging from 10 to 100 per cent
making an average Of 40 per cent o
~ the value of the goods so imported
In both cases whether the cost of tn
interchange of commodities be cause
:; by bad roads &C., or by a tariff, thel
is a greater effort and an increase
cost required to produce a given II
" suit, and a dimution of the abundane
of things which minister to every
body's necessities comfort and hal
:. piness. Whether these restriction
are natural or created by legislature
). increased cost, absence of abundant
:, are alike present. The result is tt
y same. Suppose that it should
+ announced as a fact that by means
=. a new invention the problem of aeri
:. navigation was solved; that larE
vessels, equal in size to our stear
ships, could navigate the air fro
=, Liverpool to New York as they NO
~ navigate the ocean ; that the time Fl