Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1890-05-31

blessings greater by adding the b!eaS
ing of protection. As II tho strong were
not sufficiently strong already, we sap
tho strength Of the weak In Or
der to make the strong still stronger.
There Is not a pillow, harrow. or har-
vester, or threshing machine, or any
other farm machinery, into which iron
or steel enters, that does not take out oil
the farmers pocket the protected mine
owners and steel-makers per cent; and
as ten thousand springs and brooks make
one great river, so the contributions u
ton thousand farmers and other consula-
ers find their way into the great stream
Of dividends which flows into the pockets
Of iron and steel companies.
In view OF the great profits OF the
mine-owners, it was thought by many
that the duty Of IS cents ton on ore
ought to be removed. The manufacture
ers of New England particularly were
anxious to have this done, and pct.tioned
the committee to that effect. The iron
industries of New England have for sew
eral years been in languishing condi-
ton. The freight charges on ores from
interior points have been such as to
render business Improbable, and many
establishments have closed up, or re-
moved away to more favored localities.
The manufacturers Of New England
think that II they could get FREQ ore,
and free coal for their furnaces,
they could hold their own and
not be crowded to the wall. About
three hundred manufacturers Of New
England. engaged in the various forms
OF manufacture which use iron, united
in a petition to the Ways and Means
Committee asking to have free ore and
coal. 1t is needless to say that the
petition was not granted.
1t is interesting to compare the reports
of great profits in iron mining just de-
scribed with the statements made by the
mine owners and others before the Ways
and Means Committee. Three men took
what they called "a broader view OF the
question" than that taken by New En-
gland, and one of their number kept
saying they wanted to be alone. Mr..
George II. Ely, Of Cleveland, O., who is
president of the Western Iron Ore
Association, was before the COM
mittee to oppose any reduction OF
the duty on iron ore. Although this
gentleman confessed that he had been
in the business for thirty years, it was
found impossible to get him to make
any definite statement of the cost Of
of ~ IN
of labor per ton. 1t was found equally
impossible to get at the value of ore
lands. One fact Of interest, however,
was brought out. 1t was admitted that
the freight from Marquette, Mich, had
fallen from So ton twelve years ago to
l.25 ton last year. This is saving
of $l.75 a ton.
Now, If the mine-Owners could operate
their mines twelve years ago at a profit,
paying So q ton for freight, how much
greater must those profits be to-day.
with freight at S1.25 q ton? Again, as
the owners Of mines have saved Sl.75 a
ton on their ore, how much would they
suffer now by removing the duty of IS
cents ton.
1t was further shown before the COM
mittee-but this time by an Eastern
man who wants free iron ores-that the
duty of rs cents ton would not pay the
railroad freight on imported ores to a
point more than 100 miles west of New
York, and that the free foreign ores
could, therefore, in no case compete
with the Western ores.
Mr.. Ely said that he did not want
things too cheap; and the great profits
of the Western companies, already re-
ferred to, show that the Michigan mine
owners have nothing to complain Of on
lo oonro