The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1890-07-17
FREE RAW MATERIALS.
Would They Benefit Our Laborers
and Industries?

w uld They Benefit Our Laborer.
and Industries?
WHAT ARE RAW MATERIALS ?-Hov
THEIR IMPORTATION WILL EFFECl
OUR OWN PRoDUCTIoNs-oUR AGRI
CULTURAL INTERESTS CONCERNED
HOME MARKETS.
The term raw material has only 9
relative Specification. The materials
witch form the basis of one industry are
themselves the finished products of an
other. Cotton is the finished product oil
the Southern farmer, but only the raw
material of the manufacturer OF cottons
Lumber is the finished product of the
lumberman, and trees in the forest his
raw material.
There are evidently degrees in the
removal of materials from the form
which nature gave them. Iron ore goes
through number of intricate processes
of manufacture before it goes to the
consumer as part of a complicated and
perfect piece of machinery. On the
other hand, anthracite coal, when it
leaves the hands of the miner, is ready
for the consumer, and requires no furth-
ais represent much and varied labor
others represent little work, and that OF
the simplest kind.
i The great American economist, Henry
G. Carey, taking the term in it's broad
meaning, defines it thus: "All the pro-
ducts of the earth are in turn finished
commodity and raw material Coal and
ore are the finished product of the miner
but the raw material of pig iron. The
latter is the finished commodity of the
smelter. yet only the raw material of
the puddler and of him who rolls the
bar The bar is again the raw material
OF sheet iron and that In turn becomes
the raw material of the nail and the
spike
1t is obvious that if this definition is
accepted, however accurate it may be as
a basis from which to reason, the ques-
ton involves the whole problem of Free
Trade and Protection. In all the tariff
discussion of the present time the term
has acquired a narrower meaning than
the one given by Mr.. Carey. Two cita-
lions from representative men of differ
ent schools of political thought will
sufficiently illustrate the present appli-
cation Of the term.
AbramS s. Hewitt defines raw materials
thus: by raw materials l mean fuel,
all food products all materials to which
no process of manufacture has been APP
piled, all metallic ores and all waste
products which are fit only to be manu-
featured
John Sherman, in referring to raw ma
terials Of manufacture, says: 1.-THE chief
of these are agricultural productions,
namely: wool, flax, hemp and other
textile grasses, hops, bristles and seeds.
The remainder are chiefly in metals in
ore or pigs, coal and marble
These two representative views are
concise and substantially the same. We
may then say that raw materials, as now
understood, include agricultural and
food products, the crude products of our
mines, quarries and forests and all com
modities which have undergone no pro-
cess of manufacture All these different
products vary in Importance to our in
dustries, and in guam tity produced.
Having now a definite conception of
what is meant by raw materials, we are
ready to consider whether or not it
would be advantageous to the labor and
industries of the United States that
these should be free.
The industries of our country may be
classified as agricultural, mining, manu-
featuring and commercial, and in these
all our labor is employed except that en-
gagged in services of a personal and pro-
fessional nature, which minister to all.
Here, then, in these industries and the
labor employed by them, are to be found
the advantages, or disadvantages, of free
raw materials.
The raw materials imported come into
direct competition with the labor and
capital engaged in producing like arti-
cles in the United States. The Austria
liam wool comes into competition with
home grown wool. The iron ore of Eng
land completes in the American markets
with all which represents American la
Dor expended and American capital in
vested. The lumber from Canada dis.
places the products of our native forests.
The coal from Novia Scotia completes
|
through the list of raw materials of this
class.
1t is manifest that raw materials pro
duced abroad under more favorable con-
either because of cheap labor, cheap
lands or greater natural facilities, will
seriously affect those engaged in such
production in our own country.
The tenth census of the United States
shows that, in 1880, there were engaged
in agriculture, 7,670,493 in professional
and personal services, 4,O74, 23S; in min
ing and manufacturing, 3,837,112; in
trade and transportation, 1,810,aa6; and
in all employments, 1890
exceeds the number finding employment
in any ope of the other industries of the
United States. and the importance of
this class is made great both on account
of it's numbers and from the relation
which the industry sustains to the other
three, since it furnishes them their food
supply, and the raw materials of manu-
facture to many advanced industries.
According to ]. r. Dodge, statistician of
the department of agriculture, the total
farm value Of all our agricultural pro
ducts for 1886 was So, 727, s1s, 1894, of which
there were exported projects to the
value Of ssa74, saO. sos, or 1O.1 per cent. Of
the total production.
All the various products which go to
make up the total of our agricultural
production come under the head of raw
materials, and the question of tariff or
no tariff becomes of vital interest to the
farmer. The great international compe-
tition in grain production has not yet
fairly commenced. In the past, England
has depended for her supply of food
products principally upon her own pro-