Production and Prices of Bessemer Steel Rails in the United States.

The following table gives the annual production of gross tons of Bessemer steel rails in the United States from 1867 to 1905, together with their average annual price at the works in Pennsylvania and the rates of duty imposed by our Government at various periods on foreign steel rails. Prices are given in currency:

An analysis of the exports and imports of the United States for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1906, shows that compared with the previous year the exports of agricultural products increased $148,382,867, and of manufactured articles $59,607,593. Of the imports, food products alone of the various classes show a decrease, the amount of loss being $18,466,376.

The totals under the several clauses and the gains and losses compared with the year 1904-05 are:

Tin Plate Industry.-Wire Nails.

Perhaps there is no single American industry which has been FO much considered during the past few years as the tin plate industry. This is not due so much to the importance of that industry as compared with other industries of our country, but more because of the assault made upon the imposition of a duty by the McKinley bill, and the most emphatic example of the immediate and substantial workings of a Protective Tariff, which has been afforded by the rapid and successful establishment of that industry.

Going back to 1864 we find that in that year a duty of 2 1-2 cents per pound was fixed on tin plate, the wording being as follows:

“On the tin plate, and iron galvanized or coated with any metal by electric batteries or otherwise, two and one-half cents per pound."

On July 22 of that year, William Pitt Fessendon, the Secretary of the Treasury, rendered a decision which is embraced in the following letter to Hiram Barney, Collector of the Port of New York.

"It would appear that an error of punctuation was made by some one; most probably a clerk who engrossed that part of the act. If the comma which i inserted after the word "plate" be omitted, and a comma be placed after the word "iron," the true sense will be had, which unquestionably is, that tin plates, as well as iron, must be galvanized or coated with any metal by electric batteries or otherwise, in order to bring them within the provision."

The same Tariff law contained a clause which read as follows: "Tin in sheets or plates, terne and taggers' tin, 25 per cent. ad valorem."

Tin plate consequently was made subject to an ad valorem duty of twenty-five per cent. instead of two and one-half cents per pound. No attempt, therefore, was made to manufacture tin plates in this country, until 1873, when four mills were started and an attempt to establish the industry developed the fact that we could make just as good tin plate in this country as we had been importing. At that time the price of tin plate was from $11 to $12 per box of one hundred pounds. The American manufacture was, however, no sooner found to be a success than the Welsh manufacturers reduced their price from $12 a box to $4 50 a box. The result was that our mills were closed, and that as soon as this happened the foreigners again put up their price, and for nearly twenty years we paid whatever they chose to demand. The McKinley law of 1890, however, imposed a duty of 2.2 cents per pound, although that clause of the bill did not go into effect till July 1, 1891. The result of that duty is most clearly seen in the following tables:

First, let us see about these thousands of concerns which it has interfered with or ruined; let us find out how many canning factories were compelled to reduce wages, and discharge hands, and pay lower prices for vegetables and fruits. Let us look into this enormous loss to the farmers. It must be remembered that in 1890 we had no tin plate industry in this country; that we were importing all we used. Let it be remembered also that ten years later the industry was firmly established in this country, and that we were making almost our entire consumption. The following from the Census of 1900 shows the condition of our canning and preserving industry in fruits and vegetables in 1890 and 1900:

Production and Prices of Bessemer Steel Rails in the United States.

The following table gives the annual production of gross tons of Bessemer steel rails in the United States from 1867 to 1905, together with their average annual price at the works in Pennsylvania and the rates of duty imposed by our Government at various periods on foreign steel rails. Prices are given in currency:

An analysis of the exports and imports of the United States for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1906, shows that compared with the previous year the exports of agricultural products increased $148,382,867, and of manufactured articles $59,607,593. Of the imports, food products alone of the various classes show a decrease, the amount of loss being $18,466,376.

The totals under the several clauses and the gains and losses compared with the year 1904-05 are:

Tin Plate Industry.-Wire Nails.

Perhaps there is no single American industry which has been so much considered during the past few years as the tin plate industry. This is not due so much to the importance of that industry as compared with other industries of our country, but more because of the assault made upon the imposition of a duty by the McKinley bill, and the most emphatic example of the immediate and substantial workings of a Protective Tariff, which has been afforded by the rapid and successful establishment of that industry.

Going back to 1864 we find that in that year a duty of 2 1-2 cents per pound was fixed on tin plate, the wording being as follows:

"On the tin plate, and iron galvanized or coated with any metal by electric batteries or otherwise, two and one-half cents per pound."

On July 22 of that year, William Pitt Fessendon, the Secretary of the Treasury, rendered a decision which is embraced in the following letter to Hiram Barney, Collector of the Port of New York.

"It would appear that an error of punctuation was made by some one; most probably a clerk who engrossed that part of the act. If the comma which i inserted after the word "plate" be omitted, and a comma be placed after the word "iron," the true sense will be had, which unquestionably is, that tin plates, as well as iron, must be galvanized or coated with any metal by electric batteries or otherwise, in order to bring them within the provision."

The same Tariff law contained a clause which read as follows: "Tin in sheets or plates, terne and taggers' tin, 25 per cent. ad valorem."

Tin plate consequently was made subject to an ad valorem duty of twenty-five per cent. instead of two and one-half cents per pound. No attempt, therefore, was made to manufacture tin plates in this country, until 1873, when four mills were started and an attempt to establish the industry developed the fact that we could make just as good tin plate in this country as we had been importing. At that time the price of tin plate was from $11 to $12 per box of one hundred pounds. The American manufacture was, however, no sooner found to be a success than the Welsh manufacturers reduced their price from $12 a box to $4 50 a box. The result was that our mills were closed, and that as soon as this happened the foreigners again put up their price, and for nearly twenty years we paid whatever they chose to demand. The McKinley law of 1890, however, imposed a duty of 2.2 cents per pound, although that clause of the bill did not go into effect till July 1, 1891. The result of that duty is most clearly seen in the following tables:

First, let us see about these thousands of concerns which it has interfered with or ruined; let us find out how many canning factories were compelled to reduce wages, and discharge hands, and pay lower prices for vegetables and fruits. Let us look into this enormous loss to the farmers. It must be remembered that in 1890 we had no tin plate industry in this country; that we were importing all we used. Let it be remembered also that ten years later the industry was firmly established in this country, and that we were making almost our entire consumption. The following from the Census of 1900 shows the condition of our canning and preserving industry in fruits and vegetables in 1890 and 1900: