St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-01-03
MES ABA ORE AND THE TARIFF

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protectionist Republicans to work up
an apparent public opinion at Duluth
III opposition to it, and to the accuracy
of the statement OH which the claim is
based that Mesaba ore cannot compete
with untaXed Cuban ore.
Complicated with this question and
sought to be connected with it as illus.
trating the effects of free ore, the clos
ing of the mines on the Gogebic range
has been exploited as the best possible
demonstration of the disastrous effects
Of free ore, since the mere apprehension
had closed the mines and thrown the
miners upon the charity of the country.
The New York Times sent cor
respondent to Duluth to ascertain and
report the exact facts, without refer
ence to their bearing upon the tariff
question. In two letters to his paper he
gives the facts which he has obtained
by inquiries made of competent parties.
regardless of their partisan relations.
Close as we are TO the ranges which
produce these ores. and familiar as we
should be with their relative conditions,
there is much in the letters which we
believe is not generally known, and
which should be known in order TO ill.,
diligently discuss the question of free
ore as matter of policy, and disregard
ing any abstract questions of right.
Prior to the discovery of the ore OIL
the Mesaba range the Eastern market
was supplied from the mines lying
south of Lake Superior. These ale deep
mines, from which it is necessary to re-
move, 1t is estimated, two and half
tons OF water and from a half to two
tons Of rock for each ton of ore taken
out. 1t was widely printed as an ex-
traOrdlnary achievement that, fotr
years ago. Capt. Florida. who super
intended the Chaplin mine in Michigan,
with 1000 men upon his pay roll, put
out 5000 tons of ore in one day. This
was regarded as wonderful feat. and
is probably considerably above the aver
age output OF ore per ton per man in the
mines south of Lake Superior.
Capt. Florida is now the superintend-
ent of the Oliver mine on the Mesaba
range. and this year, with forty-one
men on his pay roll, including himself,
with one steam shovel. he mined and
loaded into cars $500 tons of Bessemer
ore in eleven and one-half hours. AL
lowing usual miners wages and s25 a
day for management and fuel and re-
pairs, the cost of miuing that days out
put was SIS cents per ton. AS the cost
on the southern ranges, exclusive of
royalty, of putting ore on the dump, is
80 cents ton, it can be readily seen
that what the southern ranges need is
protection against Mesaba. and not
against Cuba. In fact, it is inevitable
that the mines south Of the lake will be
the Mesaba ore, and that their shut
down is inevitable, and will continue
until these conditions change.
We get side light On the motives
which impel sundry uneasy gentlemen
in Duluth, VINO are more engaged in
mining the investing public than in
mining iron ores, from some further
statements Of the correspondent. We
all here recall the wave of speculation
which swept over the state when the
discoveries of orc ON the Mesaba were
made public Leases of the lands be.
longing to the state were greedily
snapped up; the fee of lands bought
from the government was purchased at
fancy prices, and stock companies, the
face value OF whose stock aggregates
, SlS9, 100000, were formed, Ostensibly to
mine ore. in some instances to actually
do so, and in others to exploit the eager
investing public. The spectators saw
rich field before them, and entered it
eagerly. They contracted with the lease
holders OF fee owners of the land for
the right to extract the ore, agreeing
to pay royalties averaging 25 cents a
ton. and in addition stipulated to take
out fixed quantity of ore each year,
the royalties on which were to be paid
whether the ore was taken out or not.
So eager were these spectators to make
sure of the harvest whose ripening they
deemed absolutely certain. that they
contracted in the aggregate to mine &c.
100000 tons of ore annually, and to pay
the royalty whether mined or not; and
competent authority estimates that the
total tonnage under contract to be
raised. mined or dug is over $4,000, 900
tons. This amount largely exceeds the
entire amount of ore used in the pro-
duction of iron and steel in the United
States in a year.
1t will thus be seen that the specula-
tors in the Mesaba range. who are
mostly located in the city of Duluth,
have, to borrow phrase from the street,
"bit off more than they can chew"
They have agreed to mine or to pay
royalty Oh quantity of ore largely in
excess of any possible market for it..
On top of this dilemma came the finan-
cial panic, which was particularly severe
on all speculative movements, and which
made it extremely difficult, and in
the majority of cases impossible. for
the spectators to fully operate the
mines without loss, or pay the royalties
they agreed to pay. Imaginative wealth
shrank into actual bankruptcy, and
where this was not the result it left the
spectators hanging OH to their invest
ments by their teeth.
Then came the Wilson bill, with its
provision of free imports of ore. Specu-
lators and producers alike lost their
heads. Instead of perceiving and utiliz-
ing the real advantage which free ore
gives the Mesaba operators over those OF
any Bessemer mines in the country; in.
stead of demonstrating to the investing
public, who are, even in times of panic,
anxious to secure safe investments. the
absolute control of the iron ore market
which the marvellous cheapness with
which the Mesaba ore can be mined
gave them, they all joined in howl of
alarm denounciDg the Wilson bill as one
that would ruin them and their industry.
Their sole salvation lay III inspiring in
vestors with the certainty that any
change in the tariff couldn't possibly
affect the value of their mines. They
proceeded with incredible folly to assure
the investing public that change GER
tain to come would destroy the value of
their properties. Able to show that