The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-01-13
GREAT DEMAND FOR PIG
 IRON DURING YEAR 1907
Congressman Underwood Explains His Attitude Upon Steel and Iron Sub jects and Compares Cost
 of Production.

 Representative Underwood Of Alapaiua stated today that he had read an account of a. meeting of the Commercial clup ol Birmingham in which he was crlticiseo for not being in favor of the tarln ol A per ton on pig iron and in which those who asserted this fact seem to come to this conclusion because he had cross-eA- amined certain witnesses appearing nerore the ways and means committee.
 Mir. Underwood said he had never been in favor of protective tariff for pro- teetion's sake, but had always contormed to the principles of his party and ad- vocated A. tariff for revenue, believing that the incidental protection that would arse from a tariff for revenue would foster the legitimate business of the country. ne stated that the ways and means coiIIhlie- tee was endeavoring to write taril plii that would produce sufficient revenue 10 run the government and wipe out the very large deficit that now eXlsls' thde The present duty on pig iron was practl- callv nrohibitiye and in order that some revenue could be raised, reouctloh would be necessary but there was no oe- sire on the part of any of the members of the ways and means committee to uo anything that would seriously lnJure the hllSincSS more pig iron imported into the Uhlleu States in the year 1907 than the entire amount imported for the three preced- ing years. and that this was due to the high price and great demand Tor pig ron In that year; that the total 1mportaViohs amounted to 366,000 tons and the total pro duction of pig iron in the United states amounted to 25,307,00O tons' whicn snoWeo that the total importations into thls couIi- trv were less than 11z-~reE~eent of the nroduction for that year, and less than i per cent for the preceding years
 No Evidence Shown.
 ,xr 1rnderwood said that there was no evidence before the ways and means com ,,,,ttea that pig iron was made anywhere a,.a In the world at less cost than se so and that the average cost in Ger many and England was $ll per ton tnae average freight rates from the loreisn furnaces to New York was $2.So' Wnich would lay the foreign iron in New forh harbor at $13.S5. To this It Wouiu pe necessary to add the cost of loading on +ha oars and hauling it to the Amer ioan foundry for consumption; that sl & ton added for this purpose would cer- +oin1v he below the average cost when would make the cost price of foreign pis ..o,, Ioid down at the American foundry, In tbe neighborhood of $15; that the gov ernment reports show that the value oI foraign nig iron was s15.99 for l9Ui Sl5. 2o r 1ooe efa al for 1905 and $16.12 for 1904. ar an average of $15. 40 for the four years' to Jyhich add &. .S5 freight from the foreign e,,~,oce to the seaports, $1 for loading and domestic freight, which made the compe- t,tion price in the eastern market sl9' 70 a ion. exclusive of any tarif outy what evar He said that the average cost of niq iron in the Birmingham district
 thn york being s425, it would lay the Bir- ,,,inpbarn iron down in the foundries on the seaboard at about $14 25 or under s15 per ton.
 Cost of Iron.
 Tn a naper prepared for the British h. stitute of Civil Engineers by the Messrs. Head and afterwards quoted with ap- proyal by J. S. Jeans, secretary of the British Iron Trade association, the cost of a ton of pig iron at Middlesborough, Eneland. was given as 52 shillings g. nence or S1270 and these furnaces are certainly a fair average of the British pro- duction.
 Tn considering the question of compe- tition from abroad, it should be borne In mind MT. Underwood suggested, that the cheapest iron produced abroad did not come in competition with the American furnaces. for no man sought foreign market for his products where he could obtain domestic market at home, and the cbeaner iron always sold In the home ,narlrets and the higher priced iron was foroad to find other markets for its sale; so that if there was no duty on pig IF at all the difference in the cost or l' duction with freight added, between the Birmingham district and foreign iron would not be great in the eastern mar kets.
 Hiqh Freight Rates.
 Of course in the southern and western markets there would be no chance for foreign competition whatever, as the freight rates entirely exclude the foreign iron from these markets under any cir cumstances, He said that some of the furnaces in the Birmingham district were making pig iron at about $9 per ton, so far as his information went, but Sl0 on an average was probably fairer esti- mate. That, although these figures might not justify duty on pig iron from a protective tariff standpoint, nevertheless he was in favor of levying a duty on pig iron and the other iron and steel products for the purpose of raising rev. enue; that there was no schedule in the entire tariff list that more equitably dis tributed the burden of taxation than did the duty levied on the importation of iron and steel products; that a tax on articles consumed py the people such as sugar and clothing would more nearly be a her capita tax, each man paying not in nroportion to his wealth, but in propor- ton to numbers, whereas tax levied m iron and steel products was more near iv distributed in proportion to the wealth of the country.
 The poor man who had little property for the government to protect paid the tcx on his blow or his cooking stove, oh r,ore on the steel frame building, the au- tomobile or for great machinery used in his factories, railroad iron and other com- modities of like nature; thus making the burden of 8 tax levied on iron and steel more a tax on wealth than on poverty, which undoubtedly was just and for this reason he was now and had always been