Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1883-02-18

less pays two and a quarter cents n
pound duty. Now, the new tariff
schedule says that cast-steel valued at
five cents pound pays a slightly
smaller duty, but II moves steel pay
ing between five aud seven cents a
pound up into the next grade. thereby
throwing the increased tariff on the
grades of the greatest consumption
What is the lowest grade OF cast
steel used for ~
MAINLY for moving and reaping
machine sections, for shoyels, cotton
gins saws and long saws. This KIND
ofcast-steel amounts 20 about 254 per
cent OF the entire cost of the steel inn
portations. In order to get their
hooks IN. they make reduction on
steel below five cents, OF which only
per cent. comes in. That leaves 21l
per cent. of the kind of steel ! have
named 10 go up into the next class, on
which the duty has beer Increased
per cent. pound. Do you sec how
transparent the trick is
YES, a nice calculating, Jeremy
Diddler must have done it,
"Just so,u said the manufacturer.
"Now we can come to the second
grade under the old tariff, which was
csst-steel valued mt seven sto eleven
cents pound that has been paying
three cents pound duty. This kind
of steel Is used for tools, axes, taps and
dies, drills and the general run of
what is known In America as the
best cast-steel Now this kind of steel
makes 81 per cent. of our total steel
importations."
HHow do they change that grade ? y
"Why, instead OF making the limit
eleven cents pound, they limit the
second grade To nine cents pound,
and put in the bogus reduction of per
cent. whereas 90 out of 81 per cent. of
the second grade Of steel, according TO
the old tariff, costs between nine and
seven cents pound. so the effect Is
that the reduction only falls on 8 per
cent, while % per cent. pays half u
| cent pound more duty. This devilish
ingenuity runs right through the list
| in the new schedule, and that ought to
| awaken our people TO the vices of the
| old tariff centres of our country, where
! they make the raw iron and steel, and
care nothing for the different depart
ments of manufactures, where IN
! genuity, method and competition
come in. The demand for change Of
tariff was from the over-taxed makers
Of tools and implements. The pick
pocket who has got into this commits
sion must have done II great deal of
rascaity in his time to deceive almost
the elect In this way"
"Well,n said /, ~ come now to the
third class ofsteel under the new tariff. y
1.-THE present highest class of steel,
which is valued at over eleven cents Il
pound, is used in America for circular
| lat at Al
average duty on this has been four and
three.ifths cents per pound. Com
paratively little of this grade is used
its relation to the total imports OF
cast-stccl being only 81 per cent. Here
the classification is also changed
While there is tri6ing reduction o
onc-tenth of n cent per pound, the
better part of the steel of the next
lower grade is thrown up into tn,
highest grade schedule, and 81 pei
cent, of whut formerly paid 81 cents
per pound must pay four and three
fifths cents II pound. In short, the re-
duction IA announced by the commits
sion is nothing but "a pretense of the
most bare faced kind
''Can you put these figures into n
form where / can epitomize them""
"Yes. The lowest grade of steel Ia,
been 80 diminished that 1t becomes
only per cent. of the total steel i'm
ports, instead of 26s, a. beforc--malS
Ing reduction of II quarter OF
cent per pound In appear
ance, but an increase of II quartz
of n cent per pound in fact. The seconc
grade, which was formerly 81 per cent
of the importatlons, Is regulated so u
to include 30 per cent. of them; an'
here again there il IA smaller duty of
quarter of cent pound. But whei
you come TO the third and highes
grade which was of old only o. pc
cent. of the total steel inportations,
, is run up to be 6S1 per cent. of them
. aud there falls the highest duty OF all
In short, suppose you had three pen
for cattle, marked one hundred.d0lla
cattle, seventy-tive-dollar cattle an
!, iifty-dollar cattle. You would advel
' tise, IL you were n triclster, that 20
:, meant To reduce the price of your cattl
? 10 per cent. Then you would go an
: drive all your tifty-dollar cattle mt
!. the hundrcd-dollar pen, and you woul
! reduce the hundred-dollar cattle to IS
: u head Don't you see the
/, the aggregate price you woul
get for all your cattle would b
. much more than previously \,
Y there would seem to be reduction
Now, 1t just happens that consumer
: use those grades OF steel in the large:
y amounts which are thrown into th
y highest pen. If a member of congrc
y were To Toe guilty of such IN actas thi
y and II could he explained to the Poop
. like the Credit Mobilicr performance
: It would drive him ont of public Ii
Y and into private contempt, But the!
= makers of raw steel, snealling into Il
y tariff commission ~ if they we're gel
tlemen, contrived this dirty conspirat
y agsinst the farmers, who are 10000, 0l
!, of all the consumers in the c0untr
~ and also against the inventors, impl
ment-makers, tool-nakcrs, saw-ma
:, ers, etc, aud then wipe their brow
MS Mr.. Oliver has been doing, and "a,
"0h, how we have labored to rcdu
y the burdens OF the people.h
!, Well said |, shat II very clea
w Now, suppose you apply this eXposu
!. to some fixed amount of steel, say II
y tonsph
!, "Nery we'll. Under the present Ia
p iil'in the proportion that these grad
=, Of steel have been imported the
;" would hc twenty-siN and n half tons