The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1912-03-02

with the supply companies who turs,
nish supplies We have thought once
or twice that we would have To lioui.
date labor and have been holding on
with the hope of better things, until
business would get over the dead cen
ter. There is no apparent hope for this
In the Immediate future and. with
drastic tariff legislation, labor liquida.
ton will be forced upon us whether we
wish TO consider it or not. The tariff
as far as ore. iron and steel Is concern.
ed, is no longer protection TO the in.
dustry and not even on the present
rates protection TO the labor. II we
are going forward on protective bas.
is, he should at least have sufficient
protection to protect the labor, with.
out asking for protection possibly ON
our profits. and instead Of being a pro.
iective tariff for the industry it should
be called protective tariff for labor.
Under the present tariff. the rate
on ore is too low. rs we'll az pig iron
We have lost the Pacific coast TO the
foreigners in almost all departments
and in 1911, there were 2. O0O, 600 tons
OF ore brought into the eastern market
from foreign countries. Assuming
this ore to be worth in the neighbor-
hood OF ~, 500, 600. there were dis
placed between 80. 500, 900 and Sc. 600.
600 wroth of labor 90 the miners. rail.
road employees vessel employees. and
others in the Lake Superior iron ore
industry. In addition to this. our fur.S
naces on the eastern seaboard paid TO
foreign miners and vessel owners 81,
300, 600 which went out OF the coun.
try In prosperous times, even with
the traiff of 40 cents ton. foreign ore
came into the country, but only 10 the
extent that our labor could not produce
II. Since the passage of the Payne.
Aldrich bill. we have. as above men.
TONED, lost this business that we en-
Joyed in the east. The states OF
Minnesota and Michigan nave imposed
burdens in the way OF taxes, which in
many cases will run as high as 10
cents ton on the ore produced from
certain mining properties The Can
adian government at the present time
is proposing TO pay their manufactur-
ers bounty of 81 ton on pig iron.
and where the pig iron IL made from
Canadian ore, an additional bounty OF
about 90 cents "A ton. whichlis bound to
stimulate production of iron ore In
Canada TO a point where there will be
very considerable surplus 10 be ship.
ped to this country Every ton of ore
and every ton Of pig iron imported
displacos three tons of ore which could
have been mined bv American miners.
Some OF the foreign ores are mined by
workmen receiving 40 cents day this
is true in Spain. The miners OF Lake
Superior in underground work receive
~. 90 per day or more, occording 10 the
nature OF their work.
Therefore. We should not only pro-
Test strongly against the Underwood
Oil, but there should bo restoration
OF the duties on iron ore prior TO the
payne-Aldrich bill. and also on pig
iron, In my opinion as its effect will
simply be an economic one. Internal
competition will keep the price OF iron
and ore within reason and in prosper.
Gus times there will be both pig iron
ana ore imported. In times OF depres-
sion. however, | feel that our own
labor should have every consideration
and be furnished all che work possible.
to the exclusion OF giving the business
to foreigners. "