INTRODUCTION. J5 



foreign iron can be delivered in this country, even at $15 to $20 less cost 

 per ton; and still leave the handsome profit of twenty-five percent, to the 

 manufacturer, notwithstanding the advantages which Great Britain pos- 

 sesses in her cheap labor and in her capital. If this is true — and any one 

 conversant with the business can satisfy himself of its correctness by 

 investigating the subject — is it not inevitable, not only that establishments 

 for the production of iron must rapidly spring up in the western country, 

 where, in a year or two, four-fifths of the great demand for iron will be, 

 and at those points that offer the greatest inducements in the required 

 mineral resources, but it is moreover true, that the businessman hardly be 

 overdone; since the increased production, for years to come, can hardly 

 keep even pace with the annually increased consumption in railroad iron. 



So universally important is it to the interests of the United States, that 

 this branch of business should be cherished, that it has recently called 

 forth remarks from the executive. 



The same is true, to a certain extent, in very many other branches of 

 metallurgy, and applies, indeed, more or less, to all manufactures. 



