Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-10-12
TARIFF AND PLOWS.
How the Tariff Increases the Cost
of Manufacture.
b. -. Buford, Esq. Assails G. H.
Deeres Recent Utterances---Forei-
bic Letter From Gentleman Thor
oughiy Posted In the PIow Business

ny. This interview was called forth BY
some Moline correspondent of the Inter
Ocean, stating that Deere and Rosenfield
had become lIkewarm republicans on &C.
count of the tariff platform of the party;
that Deere had been made elector at large
to fill vacancy in order that these two
rich manufacturers might be again
brought into line. 1t seems now that
both of these men repudiate any lack of |
fealty to the protection cause. As to Mr..
Mr.. Rosenfield, will state that he has |
heretofore maintained that protection was
injurious to his business. This was no. |
tally 30 when he was barred out from the |
Winnipeg trade few years ago. by Can |
ada placing duty of IS per cent on wag-
ons and plows. Mr.. Deere is chairman |
of the bureau of labor in the state of H. |
inois, appointed by the governor, and any |
utterances of his have semi official char
aeter and when scattered broadcast must
have weight. Hence feel it my duty to
answer his statements.
He says the pillow steel industries Of
Pittsburgh were built up by protection,
but he fails to tell that two years ago the
pool of a half dozen Pittsburgh manufac.
turers Of soft-center syndicate pillow cast
steel advanced the price eighty dollars
per ton to such pillow manufacturers as
would go into an organization TO advance
the price of plows 10 to Is per cent, and
one hundred and twenty dollars per ton
to such manufacturers as the Eagle COM
pany of Davenport, Iowa. who refused to
| sign the agreement for the advance. The
| steel men advanced prices to make more
money, feeling that they had duty of
As per cent back of them, and believing
that should the English steel makers I'M
dertake TO ship soft center plow steel here
they could under the management OF
Kelly and Mckinley, get an advance in
tariff to keep them. The pillow COM
bination has gone to pieces, but the steel
pool still holds its grip. Mr.. Deere
states some self-evident truths. He does
not claim that a single workman in the
protected mills or factories in the United
States contributes one dollar to his
| support, but maintains that the
prosperity of the plow industry
depend exclusively on the prosperity of
the farmer, and that whatever helps or
hurts him affects the pillow industry the
same way. He claims that England cant
compete with him in the higher grades of
plows In spite of their cheap labor. for
he sells some pIows there. He might
have added that he sells plows in limited
quantities to Australia and Sonth Ameri
ca, wherever they have alluvisl soils, that
require high gradeiof tools and where
there happens occasionally to be fonnd
some customer. who in spite of our Inns
tied intercourse and commerce with them,
have heard of the superior qualities of
Illinois plows. Now if England has such
cheap labor and material at about half
the price here, how can Deere & Co. sell
plows there and com pete with them also
in the open markets of the world: Is
not Mr.. Deere forced to admit that uOth-
ing but his improved and perfected ma
chinery and the skill of his mechanics
now enables him to overcome the great
advantages England has. But if Mr..
Deere is correctly reported (which | must
doubtl he makes some statistical state.
ments that are amazing for a man of his
experience and who occupies his official
position.
The sveras duty on the raw material
of which plows are now almost exclusive
ly made, will average As per cent, and still
Mr.. Deere says that taking off this duty
would not reduce the cost of plows pei
cent. | will call his attention to the ties.
timony of Lucius Wells, given to the
tariff commission of 1882, in which b,
says that the protective tariff advanced
the cost of plows made BY Deere u Co
Is TO 25 per cent. Wells was ther
Deere & Co.'S. principal office man, anC
is now managing the branch house o
Deere, Wells Il Co. at Council Bluffs
Iowa. Mr.. Deere also SAYS that lsbo
and freight constitute two>thirds Of th
cost of a plow, and that chespe
plows could only come from chespe
labor. To show how inaccurat
such statements are, yesterday
had consultation with pow superin
tendent who has had years of experienc
and is perfectly familiar with all the de
sails of manufacturing. We took as
basis an iron beam, IA inch plow of tn
best quality, and an iron beam walkin
cultivator both made by the Rock Isl
and PiOw company. The figures wi
j, not vary twenty-five cents when apple
, to the same goods made by any othe
leading plow manufacturer. A close es
innate makes the labor and the freigh
on materials used in this pillow less tina
% per cent of total cost and on the CT
tivator the freight and labor togethe
amount to less than Is per cent of Il
total cost. Now if it be true that tn
farmer alone supports the pillow industr
it should be the policy of the plow mai
ufacturer to make the farmers burden
Ms light as possible. Forcing him to pa
extra prices on everything he buys at .
advance of from rs to IS per cent an
selling his crops, both at home ar
abroad at prices fixed at the free tra(
port of Liverpool, certainly does not il
crease his capacity for purchasing al
= paying for plows. The same is true
workmen in pillow shops. That industl
~ gets no protection and still the men ha'
Y to pay tariff on everything they buy ar
consume. The rise and progress OF Il
steel plow industry has in the west bee
the result of necessity. The rich prair
soils Of the western states could not
worked by the old cast iron pillow
sheet steel would not answer for mou
boards, because the slick and quartz sal
in the soil soon cuts streaks in it al
soon wear i: away. The sticky los
would adhere to it and the pillow won
w not work and scour. Finally speci
soft centre steel cast was substitute
which admitted of being highly temper
without being brittle. As result, t
perfected steel pillow of today, scours p
fectly in any soil, does twice the wo
- and has three times the wearing qualit
r originally possessed. Such has been I
progress and improvement 10 the mach
u cry used, that the quality and wo
turned out has been greatly increase
One man now with a helper to heat ,
, materials in a furnace can with a DIR
press forge and weld 300 shares in a d,
: The mould boards. shares and cultiva
/ shovels are shaped at one blow. As !
- Deere truly says we can compete "
England even handicapped with high pl
tective duties on all our raw materis
for skill and improved machinery are
! over match for "pauper labor"
The great trouble with the pillow,
, well as the agricultural industries is t
the business is overdone. The pres
\ perfected pillow wears twice as long
before, and the increased acreage has
\ kept pace with the increased capacity
pillow works. As consequence the c