New Iberia enterprise and independent observer. (New Iberia, La.) 1902-1944, 1904-10-22
DUTIES ON IRON AND STEEL.

DUTIES ON IRON AND STEEL.
The New York Journal Of Commerce
| takes the positive ground that the iron
and steel duties should go because they
serve no good purpose whatever. This
is the belief of the democratic party
as we'll as large numbers of the re-
publicans, hut despite the plain facts
in the case, the outrageous abuse of
| the principle Of protection and the i'll
| Justice to the American people, the
dominent element of the republican
party proposes to stand pat. The
| Journal of Commerce asserts that
there are no industries III the country
more completely beyond the need of
protection from foreign competition
than the steel trust, and this shown
by the way it charges eXtortionate
prices at home and unloads its surplus
on the foreign markets at much lower
prices.
Now what is the need of the Ella
borate and intricate system of protec
tion for iron and steel and everything
made from them - asks our contem-
porary. I've have the richest iron
deposits in the world, so far as at pre-
sent known and those which are most
easily and cheaply mined. While
Great Britain has to go deep into the
earth in mines that have been worked
for scores of years for ole, i'll the Lake
Superior region better quality is
scooped from the very surface with
steam shovels at a cost of about 30
cents ton, and transportation even to
the distant furnaces of Ohio and Penn
sylvania adds only about dollar a
ton to this cost. We are supplied i'll
equal abundance with bituminous coal
from which coal is derived, and with
other materials used in reducing ores
and making iron and steel. The in
dustries have been highly developed
for many years, vast capital has been
accumulated in them and our furnaces
foundries and steel mill exceed in
capacity and equipment those OF any
other country. We excel all others in
the mechanical appliances used in the
processes of manufacture, and are in
ferior to none in the skill employed.
1t is fact, indisputable and not den
led. that iron and steel and the vari-
GUS products derived from them can
be produced and are produced in this
country at less cost not only in ma
terial but i'll labor, than in any other
country on the face of the earth. The
industries not an infant but giant,
and there is no competition that it
needs to fear. Why should it be pro-
tected from weaker rivals at the ex
pense of other industries in this coun-
try?
Such was the view that chairman
Joseph Weeks Bapcock of the republi-
can congressional committee took OF
the matter until he was silenced by
Dalzell, Payne and other influential
republicans of the house. When Mr..
Rapcock felt free to talk, he spoke
plainly. He pointed out that the
United States steel corporation was
selling its products at higher prices
| in the United States than in Europe
and argned that the duties ought to
be removed This concern still make
it q pfactice to sell steel rails 81. "a q
ton cheaper in Europe than in the
United States the result being that the
great and fertile territory of Russia
| is being developed at a lower cost than
our own stretches o. unoccupied -ter-
ritory. AS transportation charges are
among the heaviest burdens our in
dustries have to bear, it seems strange
| that the Ameraicn government shonld
permit this trust to rob the American
railroads and American commerce for
the purposes of stimulating the devel-
opment of new areas and encouraging
lower transportation rates in Europe
and Asia, our competitors both in
manufactures and agriculture.
1t is not contended that the steel
trust sells below cost in Europe. II il
does, it is poor policy, for it clearly