Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1908-12-03
W Iron and STEEL In The
TARIFF.
Captain Ofothe Iron and Steel Indus.
try Says 1t mo Longer Requires
Aid OF the Tariff. Mr.. Carnegie
Has. S..AdvOCafedR ReduC tiOn of Those
DutieS1f Years.


There is nothing new in Mr.. Car
negie's tariff views. Several years
ago he expressed the opinion that the
tariff ought to be reduced, and that
iron and steel needed little help from
the government, and the New York
Tribune attacked him for it and in
sinuated that he was trying to in
gratiate himself with the Cleveland
administration, with which he was
having a controversy over the pres
ence of blowholes in armor plates.
The impairment of the value of the
plates was computed by Navy de-
partment experts, and the Carnegie
company paid the damages. There
were no favors given or received on
either side.
On January 1, 1901, the New York
Evening Post published series of
articles on progress during the Nine
teenth century. The article on iron
and steel was by Mr.. Carnegie, and
he gave the most striking instances
of the extent to which machinery has
reduced the amount of labor employ
ed in prOdcuing ton Of steel. Mr..
Carnegie showed the amount Of labor
to be so small the differences in the
rates of wages became insignificant,
hn 1a ah0r in CfoQ1 a
in most products, is to be found where
wages are highest and there is the
beast amount of labor employed.
Mr.. Carnegie's success has been
achieved not in getting high prices
for his products, but in reducing
costs. He refused to go into the
Steel trust. He broke the Steel
Beam trust by building the biggest
beam mill in the world and reducing
the prices. He was in the Steel Rail
trust for time, but disagreed with
it's policy, broke it and sold rails for
about $14. He was quoted as saying
that his company could go still lower
anu ludhC d plOliSs aC otdtCulChI ehe' Y
steel rails can be sold for $12 has
been made in print by a man who
was Carnegie's secretary or the sec
retary of his company, and has been
attributed to Charles Schwab, who
used to be superintendent of the
Carnegie Steel company.
uLo ooo,,,o,,c forf,poc fbot bovo
been made in iron and steel are no
torious and prove phenomenal pro-
fits. In nine months of the current
calendar year this country exported
iron and steel and their products to
the amount of $116,00,00O. This
year has not been very good one. In
nine months of last year we exported
$146,00O,000 worth. Every rational
human being knows that this would
be impossible unless iron and steel
were more cheaply produced here
than abroad. No one knows more
about the business than Mr.. Carnegie
and he says steel is made cheaper
here than anywhere else, and our ex-
ports prove it.
If course Congressman Foulkrod
and Cook are greatly disgusted at
Mr.. Carnegie for turning states evil
dence. The republican party needs
the tariff. The manufacturers don't,
though of course they like parts OF
1t. But the republican party needs
it; it has nothing else to live on.
But Walter Wood, of r. D. Wood &
Co, iron founders, agrees with Mr..
Carnegie that manufacturers who can
sell abroad have no excuse for de-
handing protection, that tariff tax
in excess Of necessary protection is a
damage and a danger, and that steel
no longer requires protection.
The testimony Of Mr.. Carnegie and
Mr.. Wood that the business needs no
protection is of infinitely more i'm
portance than the howls OF score
or a hundred manufacturers who in
sist upon protection because they
can make bigger profits under the
system, and who sell abroad for less
than they will take from their fel-
lcw-countrymen.
n