Omaha daily bee., 1883-03-16
MATCH MAKING.
Mr.. Thurber's Scheme For Manu-
featuring Cheap Matches
For America IN tho
Swedish Plan.

New York World.
L. was reported yesterday that Ii.
X. and +. Il. Thurber 81 Co., have
recently made large contracts With
Swedish and Norwegisn firms Of match
manufacturers, with the object Of e1.
tensively importing matches manu-
featured in Norway and Sweden, and
placing them In the market to compete
with the American producers.
A reporter Of The World visited
last evening MI. Christian Bors, the
Swedish and Norwegian consul at this
port, to learn tho extent of the match
industry In Norway and Sweden, and
with whom Mr.. Thurber would likely
make q contract. Mr.. Bors said:
II have no idea with what manu-.
faoturer Mr.. Thurber would make q
contract. The match industry In my
country is very great, ard there Ia
much competition. There are hun.
dreds Of large match manufactures in
Sweden, and they make q match supe.
rior to any l know of. 1t would not
DO profitable to import the Norway
and Swedish match to this country
under the present high tariff. I an.
derstand, however, that the tariff on
matches has been abolished or re.
duced, but l have seen no %oficisl re.
port to that effect. But IL the tariff
has been done away with or reduced
l think that q matches can be i'm.
ported to this country and a goodproft
realized.
"Have you heard that Mr.. Thurber
hos contemplated importing matches
from Norway and Sweden?" inquired
the reporter.
"No," replied Mr.. Bors; shut I un.
derstand he Is Interested In q project
to build a large factory up in the
northern part of this state to manu-.
facture matches similar to those made
in Sweden. There are o number eff
influential men interested ia 1t, and /
think Mr.. Thurber Ia one of them. A
countryman of mine, who has had a
great deal of experience In match
manufacturing, came to this country a
short time ago, and l believe he is to
have charge of the factory. I know
nothing definite. The factory may be
already built. From what I under
stood, however, the work will be done
entirely by Swedes."
"What Is the extent of the match
industry in Norway and Sweden2"
1T Is very extensive" replied Mr.
Bors. SIN Norway and Sweden tim.
Der 10 plentiful. In fact, we supply
both France, Spain and other Euro
pean countries with lumber. There
fore we have any amount of material
for manufacturing matches. To a
great extent we supply Europe, some
parts of Asia and even South America
with matches. There lis no tariff on J
matches In Norway and Sweden, save
the ordinary manufacturers tax, and
the United States is the only country
to my knowledge where q duty ia i'm
posed IN q box Of matches. Conse-
sequently we Are able to manufacture
q superior match, cheaper than our
competitors in other European coun.
tries can import our timber for that
purpose. The wood of which our
matches are made Is saturated with
oil, 81 that 1t burns very readily and
gives q light almost az bright as q can.
die. We would like very much to in.
troduce our matches in this country,
for 1t Is the biggest market In the
world. You Americans are wAsteful
Of matches = On you are of other
things and naturally there would be
q great demand. But even though
the tariff were abolished, 1t would DO
difficult to introduce our matches here,
as there exists what IL known as q
match ring among the match man u
facturers, which 10 powerful enough
to exclude all other competitors
from supplying the market to any ex-
tent.