Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1906-04-24
People Pay the Profits.

Farther along Mr.. Perkins, in speak
ing Of the different prices of lead in
Canada and New York, said:
Is the price-the enhanced price of Sc
cents for which pig lead Is now sold in
the city of New York-necessary in order
to cover the enhanced cost of lead in this
country? In other words, If lead can be
sold at 3.65 cents in London and can be
sold at Toronto at the same price, is 1t
necessary to have duty Of cents In
order to cover the enhanced cost Of get
ting out the lead in this country?
To that, Mr.. Chairman, there are two
answers. In the first place, do not be-
lleve there is man in this house or out
Of this house who believes that with the
richness of American mines, with the ia
cilities of American machinery. with the
enterprise of American operators lead
ore cannot be produced in the United
States as cheaply as it can in any other
part of the world. I believe 1t can be pro-
duced more aheaply here.
But there Is another answer, Mr.. Chair
man. We have seen these corporations
organized with, will say, preferred cap
italization Of, roughly, s1OO,00o,0Oo, that
represented, doubtless at a very liberal
valuation, the cost of the various plants
the capital that had gone into mines and
smelters. Ce tainly they We're entitled to
fair profit on that and If it was neces=
Bary to hav' q duty upon lead, pig lead
or lead ore to enable those engaged in
that business to obtain a fair profit I for
one would be entirely willing to support
such q measure But the report of the
smelling company shows a profit, a net
profit, for the last year of 100000. It's
report and that Of the other subsidiary
companies show that If the s7,50OOOO addi
tional cost of lead sold by this company
had not been obtained-in other words.
Il the profits had been $7.50O.OO0 less-it
would have made enough to pay liberal
dividends upon every dollar of preferred
stock of these various corporations. In
other words, the enhanced price of lead
has furnished the possibility of paying
dividends upon s1OO,0Oo,OO0 of common
stock.
The 100000 which it Is estimated the
American Smelling company and its sub
sidiary companies make by reason of
this tax pays of itself dividend Of Z
per cent on a hundred million dollars. In
other words, as the result Of this specific
schedule on lead-and here I come up to
the precise question-it is possible to give
value to hundred millions of stock that
represented nothing but the paper upon
which 1t was printed, and the increased
price of lead which has made this profit
possible has been paid by every man that
in the United States uses lead. Is a
schedule to be forever retained that
makes possible the creation Of imaginary
property and yields profit on it, profit
which is paid by those who certainly are
quite as much entitled to the benefit of
the governments friendly hand? Take
the American Smelling company. Its
common stock when first issued repre-
scented no property. Some was sold early
in its history at 90 80 and 40, and that
was clear profit. The subsidiary com
panies received preferred stock for their
property and vast amount of common
stock as bonus, and the man who sold
this and got 80 or 40 cents on the dollar
did well.
But the more sagacious man who held
on did better, becauGe as a result of the
enhanced price which the American
Smelling company, controlling 80 per cent,
has been able to fix upon lead all this
stock has become valuable. 1t pays divi-
dends. The last repnrt OF the smelttns
n