Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1889-12-26
rhlladelphla Record, November al.

commissioner 81 the Record travelling
through different part5 OF Pennsylvania
and coming into contaet with various
persons, representing widely diverse in
terests and vcc9tlons, has been surprised
to find of what healthy growth is tina
tariff reform sentiment in this common
wealth. Farmers and manufacturers.
tradssmen and mechanics, Democrats and
Republicans, alike, seem to bs pervadad
with feeling that the time for revision
has come. qnestionabiy the ultra
protective idea has fsst lost its hold upon
the popular mind in Penney wanna.
While men in different localities diff r as
10 the best means of efectin9 revision,
and about what objects of tariff taxation
should earliest be the subject OF redue-
ton, there is significant universal
agreement that the obstinate, hard aud
fast resistance to any and all tariff re-
form, which has 80 long characterized
the bourbon Repub!icanism Of Pennsyl
vania must yield at last to the irresistible
march of ideas.
One of the most striking and effective
illustrations Of how the present operation
of the tariff laws bears upon Pennsylvania
industries and against the interests Of
Pennsylvania workingmen wag supplied
veraation recently overheard in railroad
car:
'tGive me free ORE" ssia Tie speaker,
sand I'll sell pig iron in Liverpool and
send steel rails to London. What Amssi-
can industries most want ia free oppoF-
tunity, and not legislative protection nor
restriction"
Learning that the speaker was the head
of the greatest industrial plant II Penn
sylvania with an experience OF almost I'M
interrupted prosperity and success, the
Records representative sought an intro
duetion, snd found the modest, unassum-
ing but frank and direct business man
whom he addressed 90 be Major i. S.
Bent, president, and for many years the
manager and controlling spirit Of the
Pennsylvania Steel Company, of Steel
SON, Pa. The traveller on the Pennsyl-
eylvsnla railroad, who is hurried by this
station, three or four miles east OF Har-
risburg, cannot fail to catch glance OF
hts manifold signs of activity, its blazing
heerths and furnaces, its hundred smoke
stacks, acres Of building and 100 GOO
toms of iron piled in its spacious yards
That the concern has boon managed
alike with business sagacity, with COM
prehensive wisdom and humane CON
sideration for the proper relation between
employer and employe, ia told in the
ssory of its progressive development.
Its product in 1868 was 1,005 gross
tons of steel, and il was not until 1873
that its first product OF rails, sg2regating
2,221 tons, was turned out. The com
pany having been organized in 1865 with
capital Of $500, 900, has increased it ia
e3,000,0G0; its present plant is wcrth
over 81 coo, 600; its product now reaches
$50 900 tons per annun, and, as will be
seen further on. it is being duplicated
and doubled at Sparrow Point, Nd.
Every year in its existenee has seen az
increase of business. No labor strike has
ever occurred at the works, and not .
day has ever been lost in its operation by
reason Of the distur bsnoe which so otter
mar the relations of labor and capital
by those familiar with the management
it ie universally conceded that these re-
suits and relations are in large measur,
due to the sagacity, business skill anl
personal tact of Major Bent Unde
nearly 20 years OF his practical snpar
vision not only have these works reached
their present extent, but the same com
pary 10 erecting Q mammoth establish
ment on the Chesapeake bay, six mile
below Baltimore ghich, when completed
will turn ont q half million tons OF Stee
per year. Certainly tue opinions of
man Of this large experience and praGtica
knowledge should carry weight with Linn
yes, Gir,n continued hlaior Bent, :.
nsan exactly what ! any. IL our bust
ness, fer wAich il is supposed proteC
tive tayif is most especially devised ID
demand for free raw material must B
met, and we ere qEite prepared for 81
the psau0tion in tariff Gu..ss ca matt
featured products taet an accession 7
this demand logically carries with il
For tha fret time within the axpGfianc
of thoBe now 5ngaget IN the iron al
steel business this country is throw
entirely upon its Cwn rsucurc IS III orc
duction 10 supply tho demGud Of ines
articles This Gew aud eatirsly ms
pseted condition OF affairs has pssn SUI
denly thrust upon the country after
long depression of these inGuasrlas. On
of the principal GAUGES which hGs broug:
about this condition OF Gfaiss ID tho STA
of the business il Europe. Not OIL
have prices Of iron and stosl there q,
vaEced TO point where expectation
this country ls prohibited, but they la,
cOpae up abreast, and in a1ma Apacialli,
have advanced beyond those ruling .
LnLA Alut VI tAS Nhsbfs y bBOW u
these prices are not speculative, here Ii
lAge market report from Lonien 'Sla
Eai!a-ko further change in prices, b
demand active and market strong. HuM,
sections quoted at g6 lOs.. eqa2i 10 q,
I, o. b., shipping points. Basaemer pig
large business done. Prices still gurth
advanced and strong at 77s., equal
}$to.25 f. o. b. These are Ameeio
lnYiuaa This ia AZ, pupmalnu5 copSifi(
lot affairs, and though it presumably OF
mot long continue, that il has actual
tocrnrred is one Of the striking events
1.-THE time. The causes which have co
ytributed 10 these rapid advances
resey except limited factor cs specn
zion lin my opinion, are Tiers 20 Ets
They are, first, the suaTci:y o. gWiJfi
such as fusl and ore; thess RrS aplfsAl
ing exhaustion in England, NH tusEa 4
continued increase in thH coAl o. Eaia
k,Aeondiy, manufacturers abroad lave
meet the labor problem; waves ths1a
as no distant day destined to eQnAl VIA;
here"
what would b. the result of equal
Ing the wpgesf"
81 beieiYs tEat we wouid have m
vantage, because of the grAsta- nrod
tive power of Amsrioan labor. There
be no doubt that this ezfsta. gDsre i
radical difference between the cAssRc
OF the American and Of tbs tprel1u w0
ingman. 10 per cent advance
wages ia our iadns.Hai estabiishfua
means, ~ rule, 10 per cent OF SAW
which IL made IN itself productive By
empleya, and an increag3d effort on
part 10 get N more hours and prod
more TORS thereby Increasing the