Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-02-10
WHERE PRoTecTicN FAILS.
High Duties on Steel Rails Do Not Pre-
vent Loclout> and Strikes.


High Duties on steel Rails Do Not Pre-
vent Loclsout> and Strikes.
The country has never seen u time,
perhaps when there was SAGA an abun-
dance of evidence 10 show that protection
cannot guarant 20 ''stea " work and high
wages That high tariff organ. The
Boston Commercial Bulletin. furnishes
the following two items, placing them
together:
The rolling mill and pipe works at
Scottlale, Pa. have been closed down
indefinitely, as have been also the Char
lotte furnace and coke works About
10000 men are ont of employment in
Scottdale alone The Frick company has
also shut down nearly 1900 ovens.
The officials Of the Illinois Steel COM
pany give the following reasons why the
rolling mills at South Chicago, Ills, have
been shut down. They say: I'VE are try
ing to settle scale of wages with the men
for the coming year, and want time to
adjust It. We have been negotiating
with the men for ten or fifteen DAYS in
regard to the wages. and can't tell how
long it viii b. before we arrange the
entire scale. We viii be obliged to make
some reduction in wages, as the mills in
the east have done so. aud we want to
meet the difference" The Illinois COM
pany's mills have generally been shut
down at this season for repairs
This statement that the wages of steel
rail workers have been reduced is of in
terest in view Of the facts brought out in
the senate debate on the steel rail tariff
last summer. 4 dispute having arisen
as to the difference between the labor
cost OF making steel rails in America and
IN Europe, an inquiry on the subject was
sent to Carroll d. Wright, United States
labor commissioner. He reported that
the labor cost III one ton of rails in Europe
Is S1l.32 and il America $11.59, differ
ence of twenty-seven cents. In his let
ter to Senator Carlisle, moreover. Mr..
Wright made the following striking
statement:
You will pardon me if | call your at
tention to one analytical feature which
should be observed in the use of the
analysis herewith forwarded. Labor
cost in one ton Of steel rails-I mean af-
ter ali the materials have been assembled
in the steel rail works and are ready to
be subjected to the proper manipulations
for the production of standard steel rails
should be less per ton relatively in this
country than In Great Britain or on the
continent, because American producers
Of standard steel rails dispense with at
least one expensive process still adhered
to by the foreign producer: and further
more, our materials, ore, etc, are purer
than those used in most other places: so
the quantity of ore, for instance, required
for the production of ton of standard
steel rails is less in this country than in
other places, and of course the labor re-
qulred to produce one ton of steel rails
Is, so far as the purer materials are con-
cerned. less here than abroad"
To cover the difference of twenty
seven cents a ton the two houses of our
high protective congress put a duty of
1914 ton on steel rails. The price of
rails Is now S24 ton in England and S2S
in the United States. The American
railmakers are now consoh dated into
Ouly six or eight establishments. and
they have practical monopoly of the
home market.
The shutdown of the Chicago concern
is not the only evidence that the steel
rallmakers are not getting ali that high
protection promised. The great steel
rail king of this country is Andrew Car
negie. The following interesting news
item has recently been printed: Five
hundred employees in Carnegies steel
works at Bradford, Pa. have struck for
the advance in wages which was prom
ised before the Mckinley bill was passed,
but has since been indefinitely post
p0ned."
Here is another from Philadelphia
paper:
The Edgar Thomson Steel works of
Carnegie Brothers q Co. Qimited) have
again broken their phenomenal record
at rail making. An output of /, All gross
tons of rails Ill twenty-four hours is now
the record, the best previous perform
ance having been 1.417 tons The best
days work by any other mill is said to
be 1,312 tons.
The differences between the price in
England and America, as above given.
Is 81 ton, which would be S5,764 on
carnegie enc day 5 output. To insure
carnegie against the competition of the
cheaper English rails the McKinleyites
imposed tariff of 1914 ton, which,
on Carnegles / All tons, would amount
to tariff protection of S19. 366.O4.
How beautiful Il thing 1t is for brethren
to dwell together In unity and tax them
selves to make inillionaires!