The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1916-10-27
LA BELLE IRON co.
WANTS HIGH TARIFF
EMPLOYEES EQUALLY ANXIOUS
AS THEY KNOW WHAT LOW
TARIFF MEANS
Some Eioures That Show How the
Present Tariff Worked before
The War Opened.

STEUBENVlLLE, o. Oct. "6.---The
management and the 1000 employees
Of the La Belle Iron Works OF this
city, are more Interested III the ouL,
come of the approaching election than
. has been made plain to the public.
as this biz industry, the life" Of
Steubenylle, has felt the effects or
the cut in iron schedules by the De
mocratic Underwood tariff.
The La Belle management faced
the industrial depression OF l9l4 Win
out complaint making the best OF
bad situation created by soutnern tar
If thinkers and when times were al
their worst, and orders scarce, DONG
its level best TO secure business III
order to keep up its men on the pay
roll.
When the company Nas able 10
operate but three out of eleven open
hearth furnaces in 1914 the second
year of the Wilson administrator IL
was distributing the work to give al
its men an equal share. In those DAYS
the La Belle even accepted orders
at labor cost alone, to provide EN-
ployment for its workers.
Naturally, the firm wants tarin
enough to protect its skilled work
imen against European cheap wage
workers and their products under a
low tariff.
; \ few comparative figures, for l94"
and 1914, the latter the year follow,
ing the passage of the Democratic
Underwood tariff law, will serve, as
1.-THE only needed argument to satisfy
anybody of the damnableness OF De
Imocratic tariff tinkering.
The La Belle pay roll in 1913 was
s3,652,22104 After the Democratic
tariff tinker in 1914 the annual payroll
was s3,119,S26,3S.
! Shipments value in 1913 were Sl2,-
165, 32S,43. After the southerners'tar-
if bill passed, in 1914, shipments
amounted 10 $9,497, 546,41.
Net earnings in 1913 we're $1,926,44,
6,97. After the Democrats troubled
the tariff waters in 1914 they were
$55S,S11.S6. -
Note these comparative figures Of
production for 1913 and then for IVA
after the Underwood law was passed,
the figures being culled from the 1914
annual report as follows:
THE conlpany's manufacturing plant
operated at about 66 per cont Of ca
capacity during the year. with the eN-
ceplion of the last quarter when inc
operations were less than 33 per cent.
The tonnage produced in gross tons
and In comparison with the previous
years, are as follows:
Pig Iron ..1I0,O20 256,b79
Blllets and Slabs ..244,560 %27,SG+
Finished Goods ..%3S,4SS 4Ol.HS2
The 1914 annual report Of the La
Belle Iron Works. has this. solemn
statement which every laborlng man
hn
Viewed from whatever standpoint
the year 1914 was most unsatlsfac-
tory one in the steel business. Prices
were al an extremely low level
throughout the period and the demand
for finishd goods was very disappolnl-
ing. All branches Of the industry felt
the depression to greater or less
degree but the manufacturers OF rail-
way materials and supplies, were ct.
rected to an extent not experienced
In any other line. In normal times.
your plants are large producers or
rail car plates and they are specla1ly
equipped for that line Of work. Con-
I seQuently the inability Of the rail
roads to enter the markets for lt.e
purchase OF needed equipment has
had a most serious effect on your
comnany's business.
For several years the trend or
legislation both national and state!
large manufacturing corporations and
! the railroads. This has had ten
dency to impair confidence and check
new enterprise, causing a shrlnkage
in the demand for iron and steel pro
duct. Another factor in the unset1ie'
ment of prices, was the drastic revls-
ion of the tariff in the fall of l9l3.
These elements have all played their
! f;-,cr
and uncertainty that makes it lmnos-
sible at this time to hazard a p>,dic-
! tinn as to the coming wear.
Here are a few cold facts that were
apparent in the Pittsburgh district OF
which the LaBelle Iron Works Is a
part and sufferer under the Under
wood Democratic tariff law:
In 1911. after the Democratic tariff
got into full swing, German iron man
ufacturers were laying steel plates
down in San Francisco freight and
duty paid for $1.35 per hundred
pounds.
The freight rate from the Pitts
burgh district 10 San Francisco was
so cents per hundred pounds. This
left only Is cents per hundred pounds
for the iron manufacturer in the
Pittsburgh district for cost of pro-
duction.
On the basis of costs in the Pitts
burgh district in 1914 steel plates
could not be produced for less than
!S1.15 per hundred. Therefore the
manufacturer Of the Pittsburgh dis
trict in meeting this German compee-
!tition, lost exactly SIS per ton, which
is equivalent 10 Il loss of 5000 on
every IS ton carload shipped.
The above figures for the cost in the
Pittsburgh district do not include
official salaries. statesmen. taxes: IN
|terrst, travelling expenses. telephone
land telegraph bills, etc That won't
pay dividends very long.
LaBplle officials state with deep
| aaaaanr, md ona,ah n tina lily ihai tlnY