Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1901-05-02
Tariff, Prices and Wages.

lRONToN, MO-, April Is, 1901.
Register-Referring to a recent artl-
Gle in a trade journal that speaks with
authority, / cotice that ..Pig iron,
steel rails and other manufactures of
iron and steeln can be manufactured in
the United States, delivered in Eng
land. Scotland or Ireland, and sold at
10 per cent. less than they cost to mau-
ufacture at the mills in the United
Kingdom; and, still leave margin.
not very large one, but still q mar
gin of profit, to the American Manu-
facturer. The reason given for this is
three fold: England draws her best iron
ore from Spain; her coal costs her
from 20 to so per cent more, laid down
in the stack-house, than 1t does in this
country; and the mills and engineer
ing works in this country do the job,
be it of great or small dimensions, in
from one-third TO one-half the time it
takes in the English mills. This same
VI quo yOuhhoAs SoOS ou W SsoeO kdoep III
consequence of these three advantages
accruing to the American manufac-
tured product, the United States has
derived millions of pounds worth of
commerce In steel rails. bridge and
other engineering work in Canada. In
dia Australia, and other British de-
Tendencies.
Recent advices from England state
that in order to meet the competition
of American manufactured goods the
wages in some of the largest mills
there have been cut from 20 to 80 per.
Now. sir. can our Republican friends
kindly explain of what advantage is 1t
to impose bounty in the form of
protective tariff upon commodity in
which we can undersell our rivals In
their own markets? The plea is al
ways made that protection inures to
keep up the price of labor, but with
the iron and steel industries under the
single control of a body of men whose
interests are identical, the labor mark
ct, like everything else, must respond
to the law of supply and demand, and
will In this case, at least, haye to hire
out in the cheapest and buy in tho
dearest market.
Mr.. Edward Atkinson has lately COM
piled some statistics, to show that the
domestic consumption of Iron and al
lied products, which in 1S99-1900 was
$50 pounds per capita will be. in 1902.
estimating the population at S0,000.-
900, at the least 400 pounds per capita,
or in round numbers 10000. 900 tons OF
1000 pounds each, while our export
trade will take a further $500, 600
tons, based on the present outlook.
These figures are admitted by this
same trade journal to be correct and
conservative. Why is it that we must
make the American artisan pay this
extra tariff on 100000 tons when
our only rivals cannot make the pro-
duct sufficiently inexpensively to keep
their own marketp
1t Is related of warrior in the olden
time, that he had a two-edged sword,
with which he would kill one OF his
enemies with blow, and with the re-
coil would account for another. Is 1t
that our Iron-masters and the manipu-
lators of these vast commercial enter
prises are arming themselves with
similar weapon to use against those by
whose labor they are enabled to earn
increment upon their capitalp
All parties have declared themselves
as desirous of dealing effectively with
the Trust issue. II the Republican
party is honest In it's declarations, let
it strike at the root OF the tree and
place iron, steel and iron manufactures
on the free list first; then follow this
with other commodities until the
American working man is enabled to
purchase the necessaries OF life in the
cheapest market, and he will be found
perfectly capable of dealing with the
wage problem himself. At any rate,
this wage problem is one that cannot
be regulated by legislation and most
follow the law of supply and demand.
Yours, truly,
A WORKING MAN.