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Show 3naXLEVS T1X TAX. ;A note of discouragement from I THE BLACK HILLS. j .. Little Tin Them antt Hard to Oct At. Expensive V nr!;s Necessary A Case of Protection .Aeeonliiijj to William Mc-Kinley, Mc-Kinley, Jr. A corre.-pondeut r,f a Xev York trade journal Wriles as follows about the tin deposits in the l;laek ilills: ''Thero is no doubt that thro are enormons deji.isils of tin ore in Dakota, but to my mind it is in sueii shape as to mako its mining problematical. Some of the schists are loo feet thick, but tho cassitcrito runs unevenly, bein; i'o.md in strings, jia.tcln s and shivts, wild a dip of about 70 dogs. This is similar lo ihs Corny.all (e-tj;.iis, ma!:inu' a c on.lant clmiifjo of location ia w-.u-biui;. Tin-;.( r-centage r-centage will probably yield less than 2 per cent. Opposed to Ibis ope;e ivo working is that of .Malacca, free from arsenic, sulphur au.l woUV.im; i:i oilier words, ;ts pure as it ca a be, picked iro from the streams bv the cdieape-t hibir on the face of the globe; and wlien tbat is exhausted then comes Iho si ivaiii tin of Queensland and New South Wales, c'.io problem now in the I'iack liills re-gion re-gion is Malacca stream tin plus covlio Ula.---k Hills tin, lnaeliiiiei-y and Ui -Il I prieed labor." ' The problem hero relVnvd to iibn-I iibn-I tratci very forcibly the ab-urdily of the McKinley duty on pig tin which will come into operation July 1, I .::;. There is tin- in the I'lack liiils, but it can be had only by costly and laborious mining 'operations. Tho difficulties to bo overcome, over-come, the expensive machinery to be lai.lt and tho wages to be (.aid mako it necessary, as the mine owners claim, that they get a higher price for their tin than wo pay for that which now comes to us from the Straits of Malacca. In order to help them in gelling (his higher -rice McKinley took tin from the free list and imposed a duty ol 4 cents a pound on it. Tin now comes in five and sells for about 20 cents a pound. When the new dr.ty goes on next year the price will be 2! cents: and if by that time the Engh.-h company now oper.-oiug in the Clack Hills mines lias any tin to -ell it will demand this tariff price of 21 cents That is what protection is for. Here the cpiestiol: of tariff reform, the question of common sense, comes in: Is it not wiser to buy our tin from .Ma- lacca at 20 cents as at present thai; to pay 21 cents for it from the Black Hills: The Almighty has put li.i into the streams of Malacca in such tonus as to admit of easy and cheap production. Men wlrise minds are not perverted by protectionist f.illaeie : loo'; ttpoii tins as so much cl. ar gain t'oi-.tlie world. if the tin is ia the loo-;e sp.nd o'f thf river beds then no dorp shai'is will have-to have-to lie sunk through soiij i1!:1.s...; ,,f rock, no powder will need to be. v.xted in blasting and no exp -ic ive hoisting machinery ma-chinery will be called for But, according to the protectionist's position, the Almighty made a mistake in putting tin in such forms in Malacca, made a mistake in making it invisible fur us to get what we want v.i.h tl.o lea-t possible effort. Hence ilcKinlvy slops in to rectify the system of the universe, with a 4 cent tax on tin! Just as well tax the rain falling freely from the heavens in order to protect an irrigating company! |