Rock Island daily Argus., 1892-01-21
EFFECT OF .HE LEAD ORE DUTY.

EFFECT OF 'HE LEAD ORE DUTY.
| 1t Inju res the Eead Industry of the United
State, and Builds Up That of Mexico.
| Mckinley acceded to the demands of
the lead miners of Colorado and i'm
posed a duty of IL cents per pound on
the lead contained in the silver lead ores
imported. nearly all of which Is import
ed from Mexico. The effect of this duty
on the production of lead in the leading
states was as follows:
-Production~
1890 1921.
! Tons. Tons
! Arizona and California. lOOJ 100
| Colorad, . 6OnD 6I.OOO
! Idado nd Montana........ 2i,OO 25.No
| Nevada - eco 2JQ1
| Utah. 24O0 $500
Total...................... Ill,5m 1880
The production of lead in these states
increased during the year only 5000 tons.
The producers and smelters of lead in
Missouri. Illinois. Kansas and Wisconsin
! opposed the imposition of duty on i'm
ported lead ores, declaring that it would
injure their business. The effect of the
! duty is shown below:
| 1870. l>9l.
! Product -oa-..........,..........55 on $500 1900
The ret result is therefore a decrease
of 5000 tons in the total production Of
| the leading lead producing states.
| How this was brought about Is shown
I by Mr.. Rothwell, Of The Engineering
and Mining Journal, in his annual re-
3 .
Rothweu: For a short time indeed. to-
ward the end of 1890 the price Of lead
was adv anced by the Mckinley bill, and
I the smelling charges on dry silver ores
We're also increased quite heavily, owing
/ 10 ten porary scarcity OF lead fiuXing
( ores. bu1 n more liberal Interpretation of
! the bill IF the treasury department again
I allowed the Mexican ore to enter. The
[ price Of lead thenceforward declined
I Though smelling charges did nOt), AMI
as final outcome it must be apparent
/ TO every one, from a study Of these sta
/ tistics, that the Mckinley bill has been
/ an injury rather than a benefit to the
[ lead, AMI especially TO the silver miners
: Of the west"
This result must set some of the in
! telligent miners to thinking who protited
when thay We're injured, or at least not
benefited, by the legislation which they
We're told would prove 50 greatly to
their advantage But had Mexican lead
( ores continued to come in free. what
would have been the result: Uudoubt-
edly the smelling II the Mexican ores
would have been done in this country
to the obvious advantage Of our metal
lursical industry instead of in works
built with American capital in Mexico
Lead might have ruled lower in
price hal very large amount of ore
come in from abroad but this would
have greatly stimulated consumption
and would have kept down smelling
/ charges On dry ores, the mining of which
/ gives occupation to more men than does
! the mining of lead ores.
| Turning from the injurious effects on
/ the lead industry here. caused by the
/ duty, to the effect on the production Of
! lead in Mexico. Mr.. Rothwell says:
Previous to 1890. only few unimpor-
! tant smelling works existed in Mexico.
/ the product of which was very small.
( but when the American market was
/ CioScN 20 Nlc htAlCdu miners, VINO tpuk'i
/ not afford to pay the heavy freight
/ charges II Europe on the low grade ores,
| nothing was left for them to do but 10
| establish a smelling industry of their
own. The opportunity was promptly
seized, not only by them, but also by
some of the larger American smelters.
who found themselves deprived of por-
ton of their supplies; they, too, went
over to Mexico. and started mp smelling
works, wlica are now partly in opera
| ton, and Will be entirely 50 early this
| year.
"At present the production of lead bull
hon in Mexico goes ON at the rate of
about 1000 tons per month, but very
shortly this will be increased to about
$500 tons, and may by the end of this
year amount to 5000 tons. If this latter
figure is reached it will mean that Mex
leo will thus produce about one-sixth
as much as the United States, and there
can be no doubt that most of this bullion
would have been produced here had not
the law been altered in a most deplor-
ably narrowminded spirit"
If the lead ore duty works nothing but
injury, as shown by Mr.. Rothwell, why
| should it not be repealed?