Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1888-07-23
STEEL SCHEDULE
is SET DOWN In THE HILLS BILL.
Better for the Soft Steel Industries Than The
Present Tariff.
sp,eiai 7sl,o-nm N "A, S,raoy p,ots,,

| Special Telegram 10 tie Sssaday Register.
WASHINGTON, d. C., July 2l.-Your
correspondent this morning asked Con-
gresham Wilson how the question of hard
and soft steel stands id the Mills bill, o.
finally agreed upon. There is no dis
tiuction in the existing law or in the bill
between hard and soft steel az such. The
law imposes duty of forty-tive per cent
on steel blooms, ingots, slabs and billets,
and duty Of seventeen dollars ton on
steel rails. The rails, I suppose, are
meant by 'hard STEEL" the blooms,
etc, by soft Steel" on this
classification. In preparing the Mills
bill the committee were Impressed
with the belief that this was too great Q
discrepancy, and was due TO the influence
of the steel rail combination. They cut
down the duty on rails from seventeen to
eleven dollars per ton, and had placed bill
lets and slabs on the came footing But
it was found that the rails were the finished
product, while billets and slabs were the
raw material, 80 to speak, of many of the
commonest articles of use necessity. To
raise the duty on these beyond what the
law now makes il, and especially beyond
the schedule Of 1888, VIGOROUSLY made by
the iron and steel men themselves, was
against the theory of the bill, and
when the Republicans under the
lead of Msjor Mckinley, Bit
terly attacked the classification of billets
and slabs with rails, and denounced it M
an act of wrong to the farmers, etc, il wa
deemed best on one side to leave the former
as they are in the law, at As per centum,
and to diminish the difference between
them by cutting of six dollars from the
steel rails. This does not equalize them AZ
the bill at first proposed, hut it takes
away an immense part of the advantage
which the steel rails have heretofore under
the existing tariff had over billets, etc"
"As the matter Cow stands, these bill
lets, blooms aud ingots are rated ut As pei
centum, thai being the existing law, and
your bill cuts down rails from ST. to $ll
per top?"
Mr.. Wilson-"That is it exactly"
l append Major NJ -Kinley's remarks,
when discussing the Mills bill who had
no hesitancy 10 running down protection
when it answered his purpose.
Now, here il single item, steel bill
cts The present duty on steel billsts il
Is per ceut. al valorem. In this bill il is
incr eased to $ll per ton, which is equiva.
lent to 6S. % per cent.-an advance Of 45
per cent. Do you know what is made ont
of these steel biilets? Wire fencing, which
incloses the fields of the West; and the
raw material is increased as per cent. by
this hill; aud if the principle Of the gen
tlemen who advocate the bill be true, that
the duty is added to the cost, every pound
of wire fencing that goes to the West will
be increased from pe-luarter 10 one-half
cent pound; all this under Democrs-
tic bill. What else il made ont of steel
billets? Nails, which everybody uses,
which enter into the everyday uses of
the people The duty upon nails is re-
duced 25 per cent, and the raw
material ia increased As per cent.
Laughter As q friend near me sug-
gests, when one end goes up the other goes
down; aud the latter, trust, will be the
fate Of this bill. Laughter.
Why, sir, the duty on wire fencing il
only d5 per cent. nd vslorem; yet the billet
from which wire fencing in made mnst pay
IN this bill SO per cent Here illustrat.
ingl isa piece of wire rod drawn from
these steel hillets, and which finally goes
into fencing. That il dutiable At Is per
cent. under this bill; and the steel from
which it il made il dutiable ut G3 per
cent. What do you think of raw mate
rial for manufactures? laughter. No
account is here taken of the labor required
to draw the rods"