New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-02-03
unU DETECTION PROTECTS.

According to current reports the weekly out
put Of iron has been increased in some quarters
during the month Of January, although 1t was
within \ few tons Of the largest ever known at
the beginning of tina, month. Although the de-
mand appears to be increasing, the price Is Il
little weaker. the Thomas Company having re-
duccd its pric, fer the best anthracite hail
dollar per ton, and Bc,Semer iron is quoted %
cent, lower at Pittsburg. This appears to indi-
cato that the consumption, wonderfully large as
il *. has not yet quite caught up with the I'M
preccdented production.
Not many comprehend what it means when
they SEQ that the country is turning out lsS,OOI
tons Of pig -iiOn every week. II means that tins
great industry has been 50 thoroughly cStab-
lished by Protection that it is now able to sup
nly more than ten times the quantity OF iron
produced in 1860, the last year of a icvenus
tariff. and at prices averaging over 80 less pei
ton. The best known brands o. No. | Anthra-
cite now sell at SIT 30 in the same market where
iron By no means as good averaged So 80 III
1860, and had never sold for less than S2O
even in a period Of extraordinary Depression
Only once and for month or twO has iron cNcl
been cheaper than it is now if indeed the i'm
provcmcnt in quality and grading does not war
rant the statement that it was never cheaper
But in 1878, when the average for one month
was SIC 80, the production was only 2,57 1851
net tons. whereas for the last seven months 1t
has been az the rate Of 100000 net tons IN
a year. and in 1890 the production was H.
3O7.02S net tons. What marvellous increase In
only twelve years, Yet the circumstances differ
even more than the figures in 1878 the indus
try WAS Frustrated and even the furnaces IN
operation were scarcely able to make ends meet :;
but now furnaces arc thriving so far that new
works are being fastened to completion or have
recently gone into operation, although 1l,oO0,-
600 tons of iron are going 10 consumers at prlc1S
scarcely above those of 1873.
Thi, would have been utterly impossible had
not the manufacture Of iron and steel IN forms
for u>e been vigorously protested. The indus
try has grown not because especial advantages
havc-6ccn given to the makers of pig-ron but
because a homo demand has been steadily de
vcopcd for all the iron they have been able T.
produce. Now and then for short periods, -
within the last year, i; has seemed questionable
whether production had not outrun the demand
But the consumption III 1875 was not moic than
>. 500. 900 gross tons foreign and domestic iron
Included, Nnllc III lNJU Il WIS dDoul ',VVV'"V
gross tons, and during the last half Of 1891 has
been at an even greater rate.
Some features OF the new tariff contribute
powerfully to this increase Of the domestic de-
mand. Owing to defects in the former tariff
the country used to get most Of It's cotton-tic'
from Europe now substantially the whole sup
ply is made here. Imports of wire rods, steel
ngots, and cutlery have been greatly reduced,
and all these changes involved the use Of many
thousand tons more of American iron, besides
employing the additional hands required in now
manufacturing works.
The tn-pla,e duty alone, if sustained undl it
works out it's legitimate results, will add more
than 300, 900 tons to the consumption Of Amcri-
can iron, besides employing many thousand
hands in working up the iron into tin plates.
As if they instinctivey hated most those duties
which promised most benefit to American labor
and homo industry, the Democrats have been
constantly threatening 10 repeal the new duty on
tin plates. But they will find 1t necessary TO
elect President first