Iron may be regarded as a commodity essential to a state of civilization; and, consequently, a certain and sufficient supply, for the demands of each respective country, should be placed beyond the contingencies incident to foreign production and foreign commerce. A country may be rich in all the elements of wealth; its inhabitants may be inteligent, industrious and enterprising; and, yet, if it depends upon others for its iron, its progress is always liable to be embarrased by causes beyond its control. And, therefore, it may be safely affirmed that no people, dependant on foreign countries for a supply of this indispensable commodity, can attain to the first rank among civilized nations of the present age.

While the truth of these assertions is obvious to every inteligent mind--and denied perhaps by none-yet, many people of this country, looking alone to what they esteem their individual interest, acquiesce in the existence of a policy which is rapidly driving the producers of iron into other employments; and, increasing its importation to an extent calculated to produce embarrasments in commerce and a consequent depression in all the leading pursuits of the nation.

Believing that the true condition of the Iron trade in the United States is not generally understood by the people of the west we have collected, from sources deemed reliable, a variety of facts calculated to show the condition of the producers, and, also, the bad effects likely to result from large importations of iron from other countries.

The following facts relating to the condition of the iron trade in Pennsylvania are derived from the report of a committee on statistics, appointed by a convention of Iron Masters held in Philadelphia in December 1849.

It appears that the Chairman of the Committee made a tour through the State, visiting in person, or obtaining authentic in

formation from each of the Iron Works in the State; and we have rarely met with a more complete collection of statistics relating to any branch of industry. We have selected such parts only as bear more immediately upon the points under consideration. We extract from the Railroad Journal.

"Production of Iron Ore. The following table shows the number of furnaces of each sort and of bloomeries in the State. The capital invested in land, buildings and machinery. The actual make in 1847, 1849, and the probable make of 1850, respectively.

Of the 298 furnaces in the State, 149, or exactly half, are in blast this year-and of this number about one-third are making no preparations to blow, during next year.

The make of 1850 cannot exceed the amount above stated for this year, and will probably not equal it. It is estimated simply by deducting from the make of 1849 the amount produced by such furnaces as were at work last year and are now idle.

The estimate allows nothing for any diminution consequent on the further decline in the price of iron which has taken place since the date of my visit, nor for stoppages and failures.

Fifteen furnaces were sold by the sheriff in the first four months of this year, and other sales under execution, will probably reduce the make below the amount above stated. A comparison of the make of 1850 with that of 1847 shows a decrease of 190,537 tons, or 49 per cent. in three years. If the present state of things continues, the make of 1851 will not exceed 100,000 tons.

Conversion of Cast into Wrought Iron.-The folllowing table shows the number of forges and rolling mills in the State. The investment in lands, buildings and machinery. The total number of converting fires and their capacity per annum, and their make in 1847 and 1849.

Charcoal forges
Roling mills..

Totals....

........

|200 $7,580,500 402 436|224,650 203,727 136,853 * 402 fires at 125 tons per annum.

†436 furnaces at 400 tons per furnace per annum.

The make of 1849 shows a falling off from that of 1847 of 66,874 tons, or 33 per cent.

In Eastern Pennsylvania, the manufacture of all descriptions of iron that come in competition with the English is extinct. All the markets accessible from the sea or the lakes being entirely supplied with the foreign article.

A small amount of railroad iron is still made for the interior, but this branch of manufacture shows the following decline: Present annual capacity of the State

Make 1847
Make 1849 .

64,400 tons.

Decrease in two years 21,993 tons, or 54 per cent. The make of 1850 will show a still greater falling off-but it cannot be accurately estimated, as the mills run or stop as they succeed or fail in obtaining contracts for their iron. On the six rail mills in the State, two are stopped entirely, and the remaining four are not averaging half time.

The other rolling mills now running are sustained almost entirely by the manufacture of boiler plates and cut nails, which are less seriously affected by foreign competition, though the prices and the demand have been much reduced by it. The English cannot make, at any price, boiler plates equal to our best charcoal plates, but they now furnish all the inferior ones, as well as all the flue and sheet iron now sold.

Cut nails are exclusively of American invention and manufacture, and they have never been imported.*

The total number of nail machines in the State is 606. The annual productions of each machine average 1000 kegs of 100 lbs. each, making 606,000 kegs, or 30,300 tons a year. Of the product of the forges two-thirds are sold in the form of blooms to the rolling mills, and are manufactured into boiler plates, horse shoe rods, and bars for the manufacture of scythes, axes, edge tools and cutlery, and other articles requiring a high polish. The

The price of cut nail has steadily declined in consequence of improvements in the method of manufacture and of domestic competition, from 6 cents per round in 1839, to 3% cents, the present rate. It cannot be reasonably doubted that a similar result must follow the permanent establishment of other branches of the iron manufacture, and hence the fallaciousness of those arguments against initial protection, which are founded upon the assumption of a perpetual tax upon consumers.

remaining one third is sold in the form of hammered bar iron in competition with Swedish and Russian iron.

The Conversion of Iron into Steel.-The following is a list of all the works in the State engaged in the conversion of steel:

These works have only been in operation six months: 44 tons of the above amount is cast seel.

The total number of iron works of all kinds in the State is 504. The capital invested in lands, buildings and machinery, $20,502, 067. The number of men employed, 30,103. Number of horses employed, 13,562.

The capital includes only such land and buildings as belong to the iron master, and such as are directly dependent on the iron works for their value.

Thus the value of farms, grist and saw mills, and similar property, horses, wagons, tools and the like, and the dwellings of workmen near large cities, are excluded, though belonging to the works, because they have an independent value.

The value of all coal land has been also excluded, both for the reason just given, and because it is the custom throughout the State, with but very few exceptions, to purchase coal delivered at the works. The capital, and men, and horses employed in mining and transporting this coal to the works, and in transporting the finished iron to market, have also been excluded from the above account, because sufficient data were not in my possession for more than a conjectural estimate.

More than one half of the anthracite furnaces, and a portion of the charcoal furnaces purchase their ore of the farmers in their vicinity, who dig it on their farms and haul it to the furnaces in the winter, and at other times when they are not more particularly occupied with their agricultural labors. There are other large

and valuable ore banks in the State which belong to parties who work them and sell the ore to furnaces in their vicinity. The value of all these ore banks and the number of laborers employed at them, are excluded from the above account, which comprises only such real estate as belong to persons in the iron business, and is indispensibly requisite to cary on such busines-and the number of men and horses directly employed by them.

The number of men thus engaged, over and above those reported to me as in the pay of the iron manufacturers, may be very nearly approximated by reference to tables A and B, pages 89 and 91 in the communication of S. J. Reeves, Esq. on the elementary cost of making pig and bar iron. On the basis of these tables I have calculated the number of laborers not in the pay of iron masters, but directly dependant on the iron works for support, to be 7,081 for the blast furnaces, and 4,432 for the rolling mills, forges, etc. making together 11,,513 to be added to the number above stated, or a grand total of 41,616 men dependant on the iron business in the State. Allowing five persons to each laborer, we have a population of 208,080 persons, or about one tenth of the entire population of the State dependant on the manufacture of iron.

The consumption of fuel in all the iron works of the State in 1847 was as follows:

Anthracite coal, 483,000 tons, at an average value of

$3 per ton

Bituminous coal, 9,007,600 bushels at 5

Wood, 1,490,252 cords, at $2

$1,449,000

450,380

2,980,504

$4,879,884

The following statement of the iron works now running, or in running order, shows the number of each kind built in each period of 10 years previous to 1840, and in each year since that date. Also the number of failures in each of the last ten years: