Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1890-10-30
LA TOILETTE AND LEAD,

production of lead ore in this
country, owe a large debt of graft
tude TO Congressman LaFollette for
his able and effective championship
of their interests in Congress and
as a member of the Ways and
Means committee. As is well rec
ognized, it is owing to his work III
their behalf that under the new law
there is operative for the first time
in many years an adequate and just
protective duty upon this important
product.
The history of the American lead
mining industry, as connected with
the tariff laws, although Il matter of
record, is not so generally known
but that "a brief statement of it will
be of interest TO many. Until 1854
lead ore was free of duty but it was
then found necessary to place duty
upon it, and consequently it was
made dutiable at 4 cents per pound.
SO long as this duty was enforced
upon all imported ore it proved a
sufh cient protection To the American
miner, but after the lapse of few
years outside producers found a
method of avoiding its payment.
Extensive mines of lead and sill
yer ore intermixed had been dis
covered and opened in Mexico.
These were owned chiefly by foreign
capitalists and were developed by
the employment of cheap spoon
labor" the poems being sort of
half-slaves, who were hired at from
25 cents to so cents a day. Many
old miners in this neighborhood,
who have been among these Mexican
mines as foremen and captains"
will easily recall their observations
of The peonage system of mining
there. The owners of these mines
shipped quantities of their ore into
the United States, and not relishing
the l cent per pound duty, sought
to avoid it. Now, in the old tariff
law there was a general provision
that when an article of import con-
tain ed an admlxture of two materials
it sh ould be classified as belonging
to the material of the greater value.
The corporations and syndicates
owning these Mexican mines claimed
that the value of the silver in their
ore was greater than the value of
the lead and contended that it
should be admitted free as silver
ore, which was not then nor has
been su bject to duty. They sent
their agents and attorneys to repre-
sent this view of the matter at
Washington and finally secured from
the Treas ury department the ruling
they clamored for. For years since
this ore has therefore come in un-
tax ed. The cheapness of their peon
labor put the American miner at a
very great disadvantage and the
large shipments made by them into
this country has tended powerfully
to depress the American market and
rust the pick and CAD in American
lead mines.
Some idea of the extent of for
eign competition with the home
miner in his own market can be
obtained from the fact that last
year alone there We're shipped into
this country sixty-six millions of
pounds of foreign mined lead ore.
As mining people well know the
value of lead ore consists chiefly in
the labor required to produce it, one.
fifth TO one.tenth being the share
usually paid to the mine owner as
rent; and the United States can
fully supply its own market.
Mr.. LaFollette urged these facts
and contended that the product
should receive adequate protection.
Arrayed against him were the great