Evening journal., 1911-06-03
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
The Metal That Mckinley
Held to Be Most Value
able to America
BY ~HOIIand."

"I sometimes think tnat the great
est schoolmaster, both for an Ameri-
can business man and for a member Of
Congress, is a tariff bill when 1t is
under consideration, either by the
Ways and Means Committee OF the
House of Representatives, or by the
House itself in committee Of the
WHOLE
Il was in 1882 that this statement
was made to me by William McKin-
ley, who at that time had been for six
years member of Congress and had
already become prominent because Of
his mastery from the protectionist
point of view of all questions relating
to the tariff. A tariff commission had
been appointed in 1882 whose duty It
was TO report TO Congress a revision OF
the tariff. II was while Mr. Mckinley
was discussing some OF the difficulties
that this commission would be COM
PEELED to meet and overcome that he
made the remark to me which is quot
ed above
1T is impossible for any man faith
fully to follow the hearings before the
Ways and Means Committee, or 70
serve upon the Ways and Means Com
mittee, without learning more OF the
material resources Of the United
States, whether they are developed or
latent. or what the possibilities OF de-
velopment are, than could be learned
by him In any other way continued
Mr.. Mckinley. "If / have any special
information which qualities me to
speak with some authority upon the
resources of the United States and
their development and their chances
Of development, il is due wholly TO the
fact that | have made a careful study
of the tariff my chief work, especially
since / have been member OF the
Ways and Means Committee. | will IL
lustrste what | am saying to you by
asking you a question. II is this: What,
do you think, is the most valuable min
eral-valuable in the sense Of the
greatest possible development-to the
United States?"
"Do you mean to include the preci-
GUS metals, like gold or silver?"
asked
mo, because gold and silver are OF
especial and exclusive importance be-
cause they are the basis of our
money"
We'll. then, of course, ! should say
that iron is the most valuable
"I have my doubts about that" Mr.
Mckinley replied "Of course, iron is
OF the utmost importance for the de-
velopment of our industries, and fol-
our railroads; we have, however
plenty Of iron. On the other hand the
metal which. in my opinion, is almost
as valuable and important as iron tc
this country, is one of the. few min
erals which the United States does not
produce in any commercial quantity
Can you guess now what it is?'
/ shook my head.
1T is tin." said the man who was
ITO be the framer OF tariff bill, who
was to write the tariff plank in two
national Republican platforms, anc
who was to be elected President upor
a protection tariff plank THE world
now largely depends upon the use o.
tin for no small part of its food. With
out tin, food could not be put int
packages so that armies can be fe'
wherever they are; without it pros
pectors who are exploiting our re
sources and explorers could not b
assured of their daily supply of food
Without food, what is an army, wha
the ability of the men who are build
ing railroads across deserts o
through the great forests and noun
tain stretches of the West? Tin cans
tin cases, humble tin receptacles of al
sorts-what an important part the
play in everyday life, in the averag
kitchen of the Republic. Yes, my ex
perience in the school of tariff max
ing has led me to the belief that thi
humble metal. which nature has de
MED the United States, may be com
pared with iron itself so far as its ma
terial Importance TO this country
concerned. and though I do not care {
say this publicly at this time, som
day | shall do So
Seven years later, as chairman OF tn
Ways and Means Committee of tn
House, William Mckinley framed tn
tariff bill that bears his name in his
tory. Probably the most striking singl
schedule in it-and unquestionably III
schedule that caused the greatest por
ular discussion-wa that whic
placed a duty upon tin plate, and be
fore he died Mckinley had the salts
faction of knowing that because G
this duty the United States had be
come independent of the world as
manufacturer of tin products, and a
exporter of them as we'll.
Copyright, 1911. by E. j. Edwards. A
rights reserved)