Evening journal., 1892-09-23
EVILS OF The TARIFF.
A Republican Manufacturer
Scores the Mckinley Law.
ITS EFFECT ON AMERICAN STEEL

Existing Tariff Law Injuries American
Trade aud Prevents Employment Of a
Greater Number OF Men.
The rotrograding principles of the
Mckinley tariff law are not only antago
nistic TO the wage. Garner. but are prov
ing detrimental TO the manufacturers as
we'll This fact is testified 10 10y an
interview with well-lsnown manufac
turer. in the Philadelphia Times
Charles j. Harrah. president Of the
Midvale. Pa. Steel works, the largest
mandatory Of its kind in the country,
and which does large amount Of gov
ernmont work in the way of gun forging,
was questioned yesterday on the much
mooted question Of the effects of the
Mckinley bin on the steel industry. Mr..
Harrahs firm does an extensive business
in the manufacture Of steel tires for
locomotives. and he is exceedingly well
posted on the tariff bill so far as Il ap
plies TO his business For years he has
been leading and forvent Republican.
He was asked what effect the removal
of the tariff on iron and pig iron would
have on the steel industry.
In the first place, said Mr.. Harrah,
''if the duty on iron ore which Is
sevcnty-iive cents a ton and the duty on
pig iron. which is So so a ton were re-
moved. we would be able 60 sell the tires
which we make 10 English railroads, be-
cause only a year ago we were selling
ii es at exactly the same price RS they
were being sold in Sheffield, England.
At these prices, however, we were nos
making any money, aud other firms IN
l.. l.. L.. tIaa
ON the other hand. n we had derived
the advantage Of importing foreign pig
iron and also iron ore without paying
duty on them we would have been able
% make tires at those prices and made an
ctual profit
Inconslstencv of the Tarin.
'.Let me show you the Inconsistency Of
the tariff II we import steel rails we
have 70 pay a duty Of 81 ton. II we
import scrap steel which can't be used for
anything but melting purposes. we have
Go pay Sill 20 a ton. In other words, we
can import a steel rail, use IL until il is
worn ont. then cut Il up for scrap aud
sli.i save twenty cents a ton over tho
duty W. would have 10 pay on the scrap
itself
wow let us take another view Of the
matter. No one except the treasury
derives any benefit from the duty on Gre.
Tie Western and Pittshurg steel mills
uae thc Minnesota and Michigan ores.
The freight bv water from Duluth 10
Cleveland and by rail from Cleveland to
ritfsburr Is So heavy as 90 prevent
Eastern steel rail mills from using
ratire ores Ia Consequence Of this both
The Bethlehem works and the Penn
sTIrania Steel company have 20 import
their ORES from Cuba. where they own
large beds. and the fact Of their having
to pay ocean fneights from Cuba 20
Ialiiuore or Philadelphia handicaps
them In ttcir competition with the West
cfn mills Under the existing circum-
stances tie Eastern rail mills cannot sell
tLfr product la Western markets. nor
can TIE fittshurE pnorle or the steel
complnr ~ Illinois sell theirs 90 Eastern
railroads
tNlo would b. benefited. Mr. Harrah.
ty the removal OF the duty on oress' was
a-kcd
The makers OF pig .iron in the South
principally iu Alabama because by the
Introduction of foreign ores into The
mixture of native ore from which they
make their iron they could produce q
grade % pig sufficiently good for Bessmer
furnaces. aud possibly even good enough
Tor 0ren-heaffh practices. As IL is. the
iron that IS made in the South today Is
80 poor that ID cant be used in Pitts
burg. although o great many attempts
have boon made In that direction by al.
most every maker Of steel
The Tarin Hampers Trade.
1T would also ssist materially tn,
furnacemen Of this state We make
some excellent pig iron here, but unfor
iunately the percentage of copper it con
tans is so very great as 20 almost rem
der it impossible to use the pig iron
made from native ores I'M the manufac
tire of the better quality OF steel
With the removal Of the duty on irol
ores the Eastern rail mills would be ablg
t0tompete with Belgium, English an,
German makers for East Indian con
tracts In other words, the tariff a
present compels us 90 sell 90 6j. 600. O0
penple only, while without the tariff W.
could sell TO the whole world
What Is the consequence of this con
dition OF aifairsg'
"One result Is exemplifed by an orde
we took today. Il was for 400 tires in
ANHANN ANA IA AAAAlAn lhltlNANs HIS OF
der should have gone to Vicsers. OF Shei
field but Ia order to secure Il had {
take it almost nj cost / only took
from a spirit Of patriotism and TO pr,
vent the Englishman from gettin
it, There is no money IN e. but az IN
seventy five cent tariff was of Of ore an
the So 80 of Of pig, We would mall
money at the prices at which we took q
order.
"Tho injury done by this outrageor
tariff system goes even further For il
stance, N there was not enough work
this country for us and we were con
PEELED TO compete with English tiremal
crs for the trade we would have TO r
duce our prices very materially for n
finished product, and. as we could not !
TO the secretary of the treasury and col
pol him 10 admit our ores and our d
free of duty. we would be compelled.
order 10 lessen the cost of productio
10 reduce the wages we are paying Of
men. So that the man who would la
TO stand the brunt Is the fellow vi
could least afford it,
DO you agree with the tariff refol
views OF Mr.. Clevelandy
The Tariff Local Issue.
'No think that the man who ,
pressed my views best was General ia