Rensselaer Journal, Volume 10, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 April 1901 — A Good American Plan. [ARTICLE]

A Good American Plan.

An English shipbuilder says that British shipbuilders are able to get American steel at from $4 to $8 less a ton than the same steel, is sold for on this side of the Atlantic. Adherence on the part of the American manufacturers to this policy of asking a high price at home and a lower price abroad will, he says, keep up the price of ships built in this country and keep down the price of those built in Great Britain. There is no doubt that American shipbuilders have been made to pay excessive prices for steel. The benefit of the great reduction in the cost of manufacture of that metal in this country has not been enjoyed by them as it has been enjoyed by men in the same" business in a foreign country. If the United States Steel company were to add the building of steel and iron ships to the industries it is to be engaged in it could turn out such ships for use in the foreign or coasting trade at prices which would defy competition. If the company were to build ships and sell them at a reasonably figure Americans would buy and use them to carry on trade with foreign countries.