The daily Nome industrial worker., 1916-07-12
ANTIMONH.

company in San Francisco WherelA if is stated that the market for an timony ore has dropped so badly only $15 or $20 can be offered for the highest grades of the ore.
 .rGe firm states that it is in possible to compete with Chlna which is now supplying the market with enormous quantities or tne ore and unless the Alaskan ore can he got out at the above price they cannot handle it.
 Naturally under existing cond1- tions there will be no attempt made to handle antimony ore in this sec tion of the country.
 This matter is worth more than temporary consideration.
 In the first place it reveals the fact that industry is assuming moro and more international nature
 The good republican protectioniSt will right away declare that the only remedy for thfs state of things IS to put on a duty on this ore. They will blame democratic free trade TOT the Chinese competition.
 But suppose they did place heavy ad valorem duty upon this antimony, it is evident that the ma nufacturers using the ore would then have to pay more for thelr antimony, and the product Of their plants would, with the increase ln raw material, be placed at a disad- vantage with the plants which Tn other countries received the antl- mony, and the product Of their nlants would, with the increase in raw material, be placed at a disad- vantage with the plants which In other countries received the anti mony free of duty.
 Protection as a policy would ne effective from an employers point of view were American trade con fined solely within domestic limits Then all would benefit to the extent that the antimony mine owner would benefit, because the Amer can manufacturer would be protect ed in the American market against goods made from cheaper antimony and the like.
 But these are days of world trade. The raw material such as antimony ore and the like must be had as cheaply as possible so that Amer ican industries utilizing such will not be at a disadvantage compared with those using the cheaper raw material. The manufactured goods of one and the other will meet in the same plane on the foreign mar- kets in this event and not other wise. 1t is then that other indus trial advisers suggest breaking down the American standard of wages to that of other countries, so that the American manufacturer will be at no ike Disadvantage in this re- gard
 These are the great industrial questions which the system is de- veloping within the womb of the present, for profit making of the future.
 It was all very wcll just as long as the Americans could by improved machinery and by speeding up and efficiency counterbalance in produc- tiveness of the few the cheap labor of the many coolie3 in oth coun- tries. But those days are gone by. The modern Chinaman uses machin- cry and modern tools. He is build- ing hydro-electric plants, machine drills, steam, compressed air, cleo xric cranes and all the wonderful Improvements in technology, many of which Americans don't know a thing about.
 For the past ten years technical advance has been more marked h Europe than America. Only Amer jeans living in the shadows Of the setting past think otherwise. The American mechanical engineer knows better, and he is struck with the marvels of the later internal combustion engines, the chemical xeyelopments and the applications of the ast thing in science to in- dustry. Most of these arc being adapted in Japan, in China and in India. So that in addition to the cheapest labor in the world and the most simple standard of living, the oricntals thanks to Caucasian in- xtruction, are now utilizing the lat est technical Improvements in the Industries.
 Take this antimony ore mining