New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-08-03
yFW.EyGLAYD INDUSTRY TINDIcA1ED.

Even fit Is midsummer. il viii not On 70 pass
in silence the assertion Of The Boston Post"
that " between 1880 and 1887. Of the iron mills
4 Massachusetts,, SO PER cent died Of protec-
tion:... during the same period the production
Of rolled iron and steel in New-England de-
creased 40 per cent. The industry may be con-
sid.red dead-killed by protection" Not even
6endish weather would be an excuse for asSer-
lions 80 strange 70 truth. Massachusetts, had N
1880. according % the directory published by
the American Iron and Steel Association
twenty-five works. not including one which was
abandoned in that year. and was ancient ana
unfit. having been built in 1900. The directory
for 1883 showed that there were then in opera
ton twenty iron mills in Massachusetts, and
gave in detail the history Of all the others \
decrease Of FIVE out Of twenty-five is not SO per
cent. Moreover the annual capacity Of works
specified a. operating in 1850 was 1890
tons. besides 30 600 kegs OF nails; the annual
capacity Of the works specified in 1855 was
226. 600 tons, besides 4O7 900 kegs OF nails
and $4,000 car wheels Does il hur Massa-
chusetts To have its beS; works enlarged and It's
old and most decrepit concerns abandoned, when
the net result is more workmcn and more
product?
Killed by Professionalism the net product
is greater than al any time before. The asser-
ton is worthy Of the source. One Of the mills
closed was that Of the Navy Yard. and its fate
was due 10 Democratic policy but not to tariff.
Another went out Of existence "a a separate con-
Germ only because bought by one which is sill
running One was built in 1915 and closed in
tr,;l- sr
1925. burned in 1856. and not considered worth
rebuilding. In place Of these, works with more
modern and effective machinery went into
operation, and the net product increased and
this is called killing by protection. The actual
production in 1850 q all iron mills in MaSsa-
chu>etts was about l3l. 900 tons Of iron and
steel. nails included; in 1870 it was about
6S. 600 tens. and in 1860, as far as can be de-
termined, not half 50 great, and this is called
killing by PROBATION. The actual product ap
pears 20 have increased 70 nearly or quite
200. 600 tons in 1855, and this i called killing
by protection
To waste more time on the assertions of The
Boston POST would be foolish. since the " de-
crease in New-Engiand 40 per cent" is not
more true than the decrease in Massachusetts,
90 per cent Dul IL y Hoi a waste ol llur W
consider what has happened when certain glass
works have been closed. not by protection, as
that journal asserts, but by the excellence and
cheapneSs of natural gas at Pittsburg and what
would happen if superior advantages in other
States should cause the stoppage OF this or that
iron mill Is the Nation TO abandon a policy
which gives it vastly larger and cheaper sup
plies Of iron and glass, because some works in
this or that section are superseded by better {?
The New England people have never voted and
never Will vote for a course so narrow and
sdngy.
1t has taken larger ideas and larger men to
build this Nation. There never would have
been these United States if the men of New
England had cared nothing about the Carolinas
Virginia or NevYork. and only about them
selves. There never would have been any en-
enlargement of manufactures in the interior
States if New-England. having enormous ad-