Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1888-07-03

look Before Yes Leap.
u II = iust - well for newspaper editors
I. hnve soms sort Of general acquaint-
nnoo With the things that they are dis
1u1Ilns. because it is o fair assumption
1>at sll their readers are not ignorant
nbout them and this need Ii the more
lmperative, q we'll a. the more easily
oarplied, the greater the journal Ii in
rsvenue and circulation. We are moved
% make this criticism by the ignorance
ol the iron industry, palpably and stead
~ shown by the Philadelphia Record,
e btoo important an industry In Penn.
tylvania for an important newspaper not
60 hs posted concerning. tits true that
& generally seeks protection which is 80
hateful to the Record, but still 1t ought
{, Try to manage to seizs hold OF the
thing--with q tongs--long enough to
~ some smattering acquaintance with
6, % that 1t may bs able to talk about 1t
With some show Of intelligent informa.
tion.
It discusses the "great Pittsburg
strike" and suggests that the 100000
Workmen thrown into idleness thereby
win have time to reflect upon the bles-
sings Of the tariff. The workmen will be
likely to find a very great blessing In
the tariff, IL it is that which enables
them to demand s5. 80 per ton for pudding
Iron, or thrice as much as European pud-
llers get, and as the Democratic party,
which Is the Records party, does not
propose to materially reduce the duty on
puddled iron, the question arises as TO
wherefore 1t would have the iron workers
reflect during their coming months of
Industrial idleness and political activity,
upon the wrongfnlness Of q tariff on iron
that IL supported by all the parties in the
country.
The Record displays conspicuously lis
ignorance In telling the workingmen In
the rolling mills and forges that while
they :: do not receive higher wages than
the average in other industries in the
United States, the manufacturers have
rapidly accumulated enormous fortunes"
instancing Mr.. Carnegie's alleged profit
OF one and half millions Of dollars In
single year as by no means an isolated
Instance Of the bounties which the tariff
confers upon Its favorites." No well
informed journalist could have made
such statements. lie would have known
that the iron worker is paid far higher
wages than the average Of craftsmen, the
reason cling found in the severity of his
work, the unusual degree Of skill required
In It and the strength of the union which
compels 1t. lie would have known
Furthermore that the Bessemer steel
manufacture In which Mr.. Carnegie got
his great profit in single year--if he
ever got it's not the manufacture
"a which the hundred thousand
men are engaged, upon whose strike
and present idleness the Record Is com.
menting. II Mr.. Carnegie ever made
Z million and half dollars out OF pud-
ding iron and rolling iron or steel, we
should be surprised to hear it. In the
booming days of the war doubles, for
tunes were made in the iron business as
In all others but outside of the Besse
mer steel industry there has been no
great fortune made since that time In the
iron business, we feel very sure. The
Bessemer steel fortunes were made out
Of protected industry--and 1t was pro,
lection by government patent against
which our contemporary might reason.
ably direct its move rather than agains,
The comparatively innocent tariff.
The iron industry Of Pennsylvania ha.
been for many years past in disma
state Of depression, out of which it come.
By 6ts and starts for brief breathing
spell. There is too much competition ia
tho business to enable the most successful
managers to realize more than fair profit
out Of it; and it is ignorance and dema.
g0gism Of the worst kind to charge
that great fortunes are reaped fron it by
virtue Of the tariff protection it gets. But
for that protection 1t could no. exist
with that protection it cannot obtain ex-
cessive profits because Of the great home
competition, which makes the sup
ply generally greater than the demand
And these things every interested
man and certainly every Pennsyl.
vania journalist should know. And
no such journalist should be found
70 ignorant as to say, as the Record says
the Pittsburg mill owners say that they
cannot pay present wages because of 6
decline in their products caused by the
enormous development Of the iron and
steel industries Of Northern Alabama
East Tennessee and other portions OF the
South and West" The " enormous de-
velopment in these sections has been in
the manufacture of pig Iron, which is the
raw material OF the Pittsburg mill owners
and the cheapening of which is their
benefit. The Pittsburg mill owners, We
bs,ieve, do not charge their inability to