Oxford Democrat., 1884-09-09
TIE COST or TRANSPORTATION or
WESTERN fARM PRODUCTS
SELECTED nv y

Free trade college professors and news
paper editors Of the free trade class never
tire Of repeating the charge ihs, Pfotsc'
tion. by Increasing the cost Of railroad
construction aud equipment, necessarily
increases the cost of transportation. Now
10 dlsproye Il. aud We hope In way which
will prevent II nom being agaln repeated.
We say ,ha, Protection has made the
iron sni steel rsqalrci by our railroads
cost less than Il otherwise would have
cost Through lts benencent Influences u
has developed the manufacture Of these
articles Ia large quantities IN this county,
and Iron AMI steel rails. the Iron for loco
motive and car wheels. and for AL other
use. Cor balldlng AMI equlping railroads has
been furnished by American manufacturers
A. chcsply a. they could have been by for
eign manufacturers. II l. but reasonable
h state here, aud the assertion cannot be
dculsd-lhat hAd there been no home CON-
petition. The prices OF articles, from foreign
hands. would have been kept much higher
than they have been ami are now. That
home competition was necessary 10 reduce
The prices, and that home composition
could not have been without Protection.
To illustrate In is6i, when our Ore,
Bcssemcr steel works were undertaken,
the American railroad managers were
paying a. high A. sii2 In gold then sell-
log f,r large pr,miopl delivered a. Eug.
llsh scapogis In 1897 gold stlil CON
maudlng a large premium these rails siill
soI for from go 10 $50 per .on 10 gold.
IN isGs. the American mills were ready 10
seil and deliver rails Since then the
competition Of American mills has redaced
The price % both American And Engllsh
rails, greatly. In Jaly, 1870, The price of
steel rails Eag.lshl At the Eagllsh sca.
ports va. sis % ton in gold. Since
isso a million tons % steel rails of Amcfl.
can manafActarc have been sold fof less
than s55 0O . ton in currency.
Ia is57. tea years sftor American manu-
flctarers were able 10 an orders. their
rail-. hai been rciuscd % go a ton, ani
now notwithstanding the eHtrAorilnry de-
mani for them. ant ths Increased cosi of
raw materials. ,hc price i only sis PET
ton.
Ia r,ply 90 The qacs,lon-I' he Amcrl-
can manufactures are now established, n
they are not. now. In their lnfsucy, Why
L. Protection Necessary fof their pfosPcrl'
~ AMI coniluuancci reply. because IA
bof demands aui receives higher WAGES
iu ihls couuiry thaa in Earope and be-
cause. The rcmo,cncss 90 some of The raw
material. from others. coal being taken
from PcnusylyAnls - Chicago ani 81 Louis
ani iron ore from LNkc Supcrior % ohlo
ani Pennsylvania. r,qairc charges FOR
transportation % bring them together,
hundreds Of miles Intervening between The
ore AMI The coal. mskiug u coH more 10
manufaciafe iron ani .;ecl Ia ihi. country
than la Esropc, where the raw maierials
usually DE- close 30 each other slylns IA.
ropean manufacturer. an advantage over
bone manufactures which must BE- of'ci
ard which canno, be other iasa BY pro-
trctlvc tuir There Is not an iron mana.
f.cturcr ln EuglNnd who wouh not h. 4
rroisciioulsi from necessity II his works
were ln America
NoN a. 10 cost of transportation. Be-
low give table from the report of Mr.
Nimmo. Chlefof the Blfcaa ~ Statistics
OF che United states. showing The average
freight charges PER bush,l for ,fansPorta-
alton % wheat from Chlcsgo % NY