Johnstown weekly Democrat. (Johnstown, Cambria County, Pa.) 1889-1916, 1890-02-28
THE DUTY ON STEEL RAILS.
How Our Rail Manufacturers Look Upon
the Proposition to Reduce the Duty to
$40 Per Ton.


the Proposition to Reduce the Duty to
$40 Per Ton.
At present the duty on steel rails is SIT
per ton. The Ways and Means Commit
tee will likely recommend to Congress
that the duty be reduced to $40 per ton.
Various papers have been gathering opin-
ions from leading railmakers all over the
country as to whether the duty proposed
was suflic ient protection against English
rails. The interviews with our local steel
men are given herewith
Mr.. A. y. Moxham, President of the
Johnson Company, which make entirely
steel rails, said
/ believe the only thing that will
benefit our country is absolutely free
trade. We will soon find out that If we
once had free trade we would be shipping
rails TO England"
Mr.. Max NJ. Suppes, Superintendent of
the rolling mill of the Johnson Company,
said L have been looking much into
the matter lately, but l don't think there
are many rails coming over from Eng.
land now. Il don't know whether the $40
rate would benefit our country or not"
THE LABOR IN A TON OF RAILS.
Mr.. John Fulton, General Manager of
the Cambria iron Company, which makes
thousands of tons every month said
The price of steel rails in this country
and England at the present time is about
the same, but this is abnormal and cannot
be relied upon as permanent. The latest
quotations of steel rails at Philadelphia
for heavy sections, put them at $35 per
ton at the mill There are intimations of
even lower figures but they are not to be
relied upon. In England at the same
time the quotations for heavy sections
was G7.10, or about $35.25. In arranging
a schedule or tariff that will answer for
times when the market is flush or slack,
we have to ascertain the labor
III ton of rails. That would
consist in the mining of the ere
and coal and making coke at fur
mace and mill operation, and then the pro-
portion would simply be the difference in
wages in the two countries. In England
they have strong advantages in assem-
bling material. Labor here and labor In
England being considered, the difference
is about forty to fifty per cent, increase
here over the English labor. That is all
the protection we need or ask for.
Whether $40 ton is sufficient duty as Il
protection against English rails or not de-
pends upon the difference IN labor be-
tween the two countries, and the relative
advantages in assembling the material.
THE advantages which England has
over us in the latter respect is not usually
taken into consideration. We are opera
ting on broad continent, involving long
freight charges, while England is an
| island in the sea inheriting much
cheaper ocean transport. She reaches
out to Spain for ores and gets them very
cheap there, and has large fields of coal
for coke making at home.
/" AT the present time there is boom
in rails in England, consequently, under
these conditions the market is not in its
normal condition, and it would not be
air to reason from this that the, relative
cost of production OF rails would continue
as at present. Wise craftsmanship would
establish tariff to meet the average diff
ference of Tabor and assembling material
in the two countries. Whether $40 a ton
will be sufficient to cover this difference,
is question that is fairly open to discus
sion"