Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1888-10-31
Protection and Pig Iron.

ryan, anu TIE secTeIdTy anu IreasuIel
of the Elk Rapids Iron company
shows that reduction Of the tariff
on iron, would not injure those iror
industries that are operated on bust
ness principles. We have not room
for all his letter but submit the fol
lowing extract, and ask the reader
irrespective of party, to read it:
Practically the effect of protection
Oh the iron business has been to invite
parties TO build large and expensive
plants for the manufacture of pig iron
where neither the geographical loca
ton or natural advantages warranted
any prospect of success, unless aided
by some legal means for enabling their
owners to tax their neighbors. A:
proof of this, in July, 1882, according
to the reports of the Iron and Steel
Association, there were $50 blast fur
naces completed, and 80 in process OF
construction, making a total of ZIG
furnaces in the United States. In
November, 1887, there we're but 5S2
completed and 30 in process Of con-
struction, total Of 612, showing tina,
104 entire plants had gone out Of
blast and been abandoned in 5 years
wiped out as effectually as if de-
stroyed by fire or flood. Now any
system that induces mento build large
and expensive works in locality
where they never would have been
built but for artificial stimulus, APP.
pears to me to be bad one and il
protection is to be worth anything il
must be extended so as to enable the
most hair Drained idiot in maintain
ing his works in the worst location.
The facts are that while the people
of the United States have for a long
period of time paid an enormous tax
to support the pig iron industry, at
last the tariff is powerless to protect.
Furnaces are abandoned because built
in bad localities. Workmen are scat
tered and gone, and the result is dis
astrous alike to owners and operators.
The law of the Almighty that no
artificial stimulant can be applied to
man without corresponding depres-
sion, applies equally to manufacturing;
and we have for years been drunken
with this seductive beverage called
protection, and have now arrived at
the period of head and heartache
which follows as surely as does the
shadow of the setting sun. The ques-
ton becomes one of grave magnitude.
Does it pay to have a season of de-
bauohing with its present delights,
and suffer the depression which must
come, and has come to the leading
manufacturing industries of this ma
ton? The furnace with which / am
connected is not one which came I'M
der this rule, as the most important
question debated at the time Of its
construction, was: Does the locality
possess such advantages as to enable
it to run at a profit should the tariff
be removed-consequently / do not
write from the standpoint of one who
has been hurt by the evils which he
endures, to such degree as to dislike
system that once gave him large
profits. This company can and does
make pig iron at profit, and has
this ce,y gear shipped ocer 800 tons
of pig iron to England, receicing
therefor price tr!te better than for
any sold IN this country, and so could
they all had they built when sound
judgement UNBIASED by the glamor
which the protective system threw
over the iron industries of this coun-
try dictated.
AS to the laborer l plainly say that
if the tariff on pig metal was 800 a
ton and every cent of it went into my
own pocket | would hire my men in
the open market as cheap as | could.
If l wanted 200 men and found 400
sitting about I should get them cheap.
IF 400 were wanted and but 200 to
be had, | should pay them their price.
There is my opinion no more relation
between the price of wages and pro-
tective tariff than between it and the
transit of Venus. Every manufac-
turer who is willing to tell the truth
knows this. No man buys sugar of
Jones for ten cents that he can pur-
chase of johnson for eight-and the
manufacturer does not live who pays
more for labor than will secure it. II
is not common sense to suppose he
would. If he is philanthropically in
cliDed he will do something very diff
ferent-endow some institution for
the benefit of his workmen or their
families, or establish baths, reading
rooms, etc., but never will he pay
more for wages than supply and de-
mand compel him to.
With substantial reduction of the
tariff and an enlarged free list for raw
material ! believe we could manufac-
ture and sell pig iron to the whole
world. l, as an American citizen,
am not willing TO own that with the
best ores, best fuel, and | believe best
brains in the world, we cannot COM
pete with the nations of the earth if
allowed to do so untrammeled by leg
islation. Think Of mortal man as
suming 10 say whether $40 or any
other sum is just tax and the prop.
er quantity to lay upon pig iron. Only
the Almighty could determine ques-
ton so complex, and yet puny legis-
lators with their diminutive intellects
assume to say how many dollars and
cents shall be a just measure to exact
from sixty millions of people to enable
less than one hundred and fifteen
thousand TO engage successfully in the
busiuees If making iron.