The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-06

Iron and steel need no protection be-
 cause they are produced cheaper here
 than anywhere else in the world, he urged that Mir. Carnegie now holds no | steel stock but only steel bonds. When asked whether MT. Carnegie's disin- terestedness at present would make him more or less credible witness" he replied: ''I think 1t would make him a less credible witness.
 Before fair and intelligent jury the witnesses produced at this hear ing by the iron and steel interests. after, the cross-examination which | they underwent, would have left the witness stand thoroughly discredited men. If their testimony does not make
 certain the putting of iron and steel I on the free list it will show that
 matters are not as they should be. During this hearing there was pres sented to the Committee a recapitula- ton of the reasons why the iron and
 steel duties should he, not reduced, but completely abolished, in the inter- est of the eighty millions of American consumers and the thousands of indus
 tries using iron and steel as a neces- sary material. These reasons includ- | ed the admissions of Mir. Carnegie and
 MT. Schwab as to the cost of produc- ton, the finding of an English Com mission to the effect that the Pitts burg cost of a ton of pig iron was $7.90 as compared with the English | cost of $12.70. Representative Dalzell, | of Pennsylvania, referred to this show
 as an academic discussion of the
 tariff", which the Committee did not care to hear. The further fact was
 presented, that a large part of our ex- ports of iron and steel manufacturers go to Great Britian. Germany and l France, strong competitors in this in- | dustry; attention was called to the excessive profits of the steel Corpora tion and its habit of selling abroad at reduced prices, as shown by its pub | lished official reports, also the fact
 that the Steel Corporation during the l industrial depression has kept prices at very high level, to the great dam age of all manufacturers using iron and steel as materials, and the fact tha | the allied iron and steel interests have met from time to time in New York, without pretense of concelament, and have practically fixed the prices of
 these most important commodities, as
 admitted by witnesses at this hearing It was pointed out that if the railways
 had enjoyed reasonable prices for rails
 and other iron and steel supplies, they I
 rates and increase the burdens of all who pay for railway transportation;
 also that all users of machinery, hard
 ware, and other articles containing
 iron and steel, pay an annual tax to
 these private interests amounting to
 many millions of dollars.
 Representative Hill of Connecticut
 referred to this showing. as criticism
 based purely on hearsay. not upon ac-
 tual facts" and conducted a long in- quiry for the purpose of obtaining the secrets of the steel combination, about
 which the witness was not in a posi- tion to know anything, asking for in- formation about foreign agreements in
 regard to prices, the mana cement of. the Steel Corporation, etc. While this information would be very interesting if possible to be obtained, it is hard to understand the type of mind which re- jects the plain case against the iron and steel duties. made out by state ments in the Steel Corporation reports and the admissions of those heavily interested in the business. This "case' was confirmed both by the unsatis- factory showing of such witnesses as appeared and by the failure of the stel Corporation to make any appearance whatever. If the men solemly charged to uphold the rights of the people will not act on the evidence before them, if they are not convinced by the facts that are now of common knowledge, they would hardly believe If one should rise from the dead to reveal the secrets of the steel combination.
 Unquestionably. the iron and steel interests have more political influence than any other industrial combination. Did tho monster corporation which dominates those interests know that 1t would be unnecessary for 1t to ap- pear, that any reduction made in this schedule would not be vital? The answer to this question would be more clear and satisfactory to the American people if the ranking majority member of the Committee were not well known to be the guardian of iron and steel interests, and if various of the other members were not known to have their Spet schedules, in which they or their districts are interested, and in whose faaor the political influence of the Steel Trust would be a most powerful factor.