The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1883-03-01
WHEELING. ". VA, MARCH !. 1855.
The Dead level Of Production and Pro.
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There ID o feature Oh tne tatlu uIStunoloH
which deserves more attention than 1t Is
receiving. Southern Senators and Repre-
sentatives for the most part are undIsSuised
free traders; II the term be offensive let US
say that they stand on the platform Of
their party, a tariff for revenue only. "But,"
they say I'VE must raise certain amount
Of revenue, and you Of the majority are
bound to raise it on the protective prin-
ciple. While protection is going we'll take
what we can get for our States" And SO
the sugar and the rice and the sumac and
other Southern interests insist on protection
for their soil products.
New England's manufactures are touched
lightly, and she Is satisfied. And the rep
resentatives OF New England and the
South join hands to strike down the iron
and steel industries Of the Middle and
Western states-a new combination worth
inquiring into. The reason OF the alliance
is not difficult to End, and It is surprising
that It has not been pointed out in Con-
gress. Her own manufactures sufficiently
protected, New England would find addi'
tional profit in cheap iron and steel
and such manufactures thereof as she
uses in M her mills in the shape Of
machinery or to be advanced to
still higher grades Of manufacture. Even
this would be an advantage Of uncertain
duration; for, the market at the mercy Of
British iron masters, prices would go to
where they might choose TO put them, once
the American furnaces and mills were shut
out OF competition. But men do not always
look ahead too many are satisfied with
the profit OF to-day, leaving the future to
take care Of itself. Not all men are
patriots. There are Tories in trade to-day
as there were in the bloody politics Of the
Revolution.
We come now to the other party TO- the
un-American alliance. Southern Senators
have stood out against protective tariff
on iron. Senator Morgan, OF Alabama,
one OF the ablest aud most persistent, has
said that his State wants no tariff on iron,
but II there must be tariff let 1t be a low
one. He is shrewd enough to know that
iron will not be put on the free list, but he
wants to keep the tariff down to point
very clearly established in his mind. Now
what Is the aim OF the Southern advocates
Of o low iron tariff? Mr.. Watterson, in
his Nashville address, puts it clearly in
this terse aphorism: production, II left to
itself, will seek its level" The meanest
understanding will take, hold Of this
thought.
In respect Of from, where is the level Of
production to be found? Free traders know
no bounds OF country. The lowest level OF
iron production is in England, and there
Is nothing in the so.called political economy
or the patriotism OF American free traders
to forbid them to seek it there. But this
is not what they mean. Their selfish in.
terest restraints them, and they mean to
apply their dead level theory to this coun-
try, for at present it seems that the South
has great advan.age-how much adyan-
tase and the precise location c: .se lowest
level, are matters not SO definitely aScer-
tanned.
The cost Of making ton OF iron varies
with the varying conditions Of location anu
MANAGEMENT Us between works not far
apart; and men are not always willing to
give the exact cost to them Of commodity
which the have for sale. The figures given
by Southern champions will serve the pres
ent purpose: Cost Of making ton Of iron
in Pennsylvania, SIS; in Tennessee, ST 81,
SIC 4S, sl4, and SIS; in Alabama, 50 to
$3.50. The dead level in Tennessee is
where iron can be made for Sl1 81. But
the lowest point Of all is in Alabama, and
that furnishes the dead level OF iron pro-
duction for the whole country. And the
lowest level for Alabama Is in the vicinity Of
Birmingham, and that brings the dead level
within still limits. Mr.. Campbelrs
recent letter to the INrEILIaEScER from
Birmingham gives the reasons for the ex'
ceptional good fortune Of that locality.
Now suppose we leave iron production
to itself, that it may seek its level. The
furnaces that cannot compete with Birming-
ham must shut down, II Birmingham or q
dozen Birminghams can supply this mar
ket. But the American Direct Iron and
Steel Company, near Pittsburgh, claims to
be able to produce ton Of iron at cost
Of 50, the cost Of the ore added. Perhaps
another process will BIO devised by
which the cost will fall to q still
lower point and the level this time be
removed Westward, 1t might be to Colorado.
Without further elaboration the reader will
have observed that the dead level doctrine
is narrow, selfish, uncertain in its opera
tions, brutal in its Determinations. 1t
might be good policy for State or
county; 1t is no policy for nation whose
laws are for all States and all counties, "to
promote the general welfare" and foster
the industrial independence OF the re-
public.
II Tennessee and Alabama can make
iron cheaper than New Jersey, Pennsyl-
yania, West Virginia, Ohio, Illinois, Color
ado, let them make it and take their greater
profit. Cheap production will be home
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