The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1883-12-19
OUR IRON INTERESTS.
WHAT COL. KING THINKS OF THE
ELECTION OF CARLISLE.

last SATURDAY evening, when the pas
senger train on the East Tennessee,
Virginia and Georgia railroad going
east, arrived, and presently, we noticed
Col. o. G. King in one OF the cars in
close and animated Conversation With q
strange gentleman of rather fne appear
ancs. The strange gentleman seemed
to be doing most of the talking, and
from our position we could not help but
overhear a detached word now and
then, such as "Specular." "Simonite,"
manganese" Roofing Slate" &C.,
&c After the train departed, seeing
Col. King on the walk, we accosted him
and took the liberty of inquiring who
the gentleman was with whom he had
been conversing in the car. He replied:
THAT is . gentleman whom I hav.
had employed for the past two months
examining my mineral lands in Cooke
county,"
MAY I inquire" said we. "what has
been the result of his examinatioBP"
81 have no objection to stating,n said
he, ''that he has cursorily examined
about 2, 900 acres of my lands. At sew
eral points he has made close and care
full examinations; has made several
openings, and exposed the ores to a
considerable extent. He reports the
| iron ores at several places as of iRcalcu
liable extent, and of remarkable purity;
| easy Of access from the railroad and
| the river; some of them in close prox
| unity to splendid quarries OF limestone,
also on my lands, and all of them adj
mirably situated for both mining and
manufacturing. The lands are, for the |
most part, heavily timbered, and the |
ores of q character suitable for making
the finest of charcoal iron and STEEL"
"was this gentleman looking at your
lands with view to buying them."
"Ohl no. He was introduced to me
by friend in Louisville, as practical
miner and mineralogist, having large
experience in iron ores especially. J
knew had vast quantities of iron ores
in Cooke county, and believed them
to be nne ores; but desired to hav
hem examined by an expert in the
business; so, employed this gentleman
for that purpose"
HAS he completed your work; and if
so, does he remain in this country, or is
he returning North"
she has completed the work for
which l employed him, and, learn
from him, that he is now on his way to
Pittsburg."
"What arc your prospects fer Undue
inc capitalists to invest in our iron
oresi"
Il think they are very good"
"Will not the election of Carlisle as
Speaker, and the prospect of reduction
of the tariff initiate against the devel
opment of our country?"
mo, sir. On the contrary am con-
WINGED that our country has much to
hope for from a reduction of the tariff
on iron. AS long as our Government
continues to pay the manufacturers OF
iron bonus of 50 so per ton, the wealth
now invested in that business will re-
main in Pennsylvania, Notwithstanding
the fact that, in order to make iron al
all, they have to haul wo-thirds of their
ores by rail and water from 1900 to 1900
miles to their furnaces. In East Ten
nessee we have all the different kinds of
ores. and the pursst ores in the world
and they lie close together, but we
haven't the money to build furnaces and
mills. Let the Government Withdraw
the bonus it new pays the Pennsylvania
manufacturer to haul his ores from
Lake Superior and Iron Mountain, Mis- I
seuri, and he will soon be forced to
bring his capital to Tennessee where
the different kinds'of iron ores are in
juxtaposition, and in close proximity to
coal, and where there are Is, 0O0, 900
verted into charcoal; where we can
make, from our native ores a charcoal |
iron that will compete fat-footed, with
out protection, in any market in the /
world, with the finest charcoal iron that |
can be made in Sweden. The Ameri- |
can people will not submit much longer
to the outrageous injustice-the rob-
bery-which the tariff laws have infiict-
ed for more than 20 years. In few
years East Tennessee, North Alabama,
North Georgia and Southeastern Ken
lucky will manufacture iron for the
Union; and when our waterway to the
Gulf is opened, our iron masters will
ship their surplus to Eugland-they will
"carry the war into Africa" Let Con-
gress cut off the bonus which it has
paid for 90 years out of the pockets of
the people to the Pennsylvania manu-
facturer, and it will, at the same time,
throw down the only serious barrier to
the development of our immense min
eral wealth."
81 doubt the correctness Of your
views, Colonel, but / must confess it
looks now very much as If we would
have chance to test them pretty soon."
"Well. hope SO. fear, however,
that the reduction will net he radical
enough to test and demonstrate scin
pstceT, the soundness of my theory.
honestly believe, that, if the present
Congress should absolutely remove all
protection-take entirely away the boz
nus now paid the iron masters-yon
might, in i've years from to-day, ride |
from one end of East Tennessee to the
other, without being out of sight of the
smoke Of furnace or an iron MILL"
20 ended little talk begun by us in
a spirit of inquisitiveness. but which
drifted naturally into the subject new
c1aifnihy mare ar 1ess the attention of |