Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1889-11-07
Tin Plate is Too Useful.
so 1T MUST BE TAXED OUT OF
THE COUNTRY TO PROTECT
THE SHEET-STEEL
INDUSTRY.
Some Interesting Facts which Show
why Sheet Steel Men want to Check
the Import alton of a Cheaper and
More Useful Article.

Nothing is more unsighty than an EN-
pity, useless tomato can. 1t seems to have
no resting place in the economy of ma
ture. Occasionly, some want turns uI
which this empty can is exactly suited
to fill, but it is jostled out of its place
by twenty other empty cans all wait
ing to be employed. As there are near
ly 500, 100000 tomato cans filled with
tomatoes by the canned.goods manu-
facturers of the United States each
year, it is not surprising that there
should be surplus of empty cans.
Yet each of these empty cans has
been indignified by the tax collector
The overfowing treasury of the United
States has received half cent apiece
on each of these folorn-looking objects
This half-cent has finally come out o
the pocket of the consumer of the can
ned tomatoes. AS canned goods aver
age cheaper throughout the year than
the fresh vegetables, the incident oi
this tax falls on the poorer classes
Half a cent does not look much by it.
self, yet nearly $2,O00,000 of revenue
were raised from this source alone last
year.
Tomato cans are manufactured in
this country from timed plate. This
timed plate consists of thin sheets OF
steel coated with pure tin and afterward
polished. BY weight, ninety-five per
cent of timed plate is made up of steel
and five per cent of pure tin. The only
place in the world where timed plate
is manufactured in quantity is South
Wales. 1t is a peculiar industry, and
requires a great deal of hand labor.
Until some process is discovered by
which machinery can be substituted
for hand work, it is impossible to COM
pete with the present holders of this
trade. Except during the Civil War,
timed plate has never been manufac-
tured in this country. The high price
of steel plates alone is an absolute bar
to its successful production here. 1t
costs three cents pound to turn out
finished timed plate in Wales. The
cost of sheet steel of the same thickness
in this country is four cents, without
regarding the expense of the tin, the
process of thinning, and the cutting to
exact size and boxing of the finished
sheets.
AS far as this history is concerned,
timed plate is raw material. 1t is a
substance peculiarly suited to the gen
ius of the American people. 1t is light,
durable, does not easily rust, and is not
corroded by ordinary acids. 1t has in
Vulnerable uses, besides acting as a
vehicle for preserved foods. In all the
large cities of the country, timed plate
is driving out wooden shingles as a
covering for the roofs of houses. 1t is
not inflammable, and can be made ab-
solutely water tight,
Every kitchen is filled with tin uten-
sils, from the nutmegg ater to the large
saucepan. In dairy work tin is even
more important. The milk is received
in tin pail, is poured through tin
strainer into milk pans. From these
pans it is conveyed in large cans to the
cities. Sometimes it is put up in the
form of condensed milk in the small
tins known to everybody.
Another industry into which timed
plate largely enters is the manufacture
of toys. Germany is the headquarters
of the world in chldred's toys. Many
Germans who have come to this coun-
i try have brought knowledge of this
art with them and cheap American toys
now command the home market. Not
only that, but Mr.. Leo Schlesinger, one
of the largest toy manufacturers in the
United States, says, that with cheaper
timed plate large export trade in toys
would soon be developed.
The export trade of the United States
in canned goods lags behind where it
ought to he. The present duty of one
cent pound on timed plate means a
tax of eight per cent on an ordinary can
of preserved vegetables. This eight per
cent would pay freight and expenses
across the Atlantic ocean. The govern
ment offers a rebate on all exported ar
ticles partly manufactured in this r"un-
try, on the raw material of which All
import duty has been paid. But before
this rebate can he collected, there are
the expenses of entry and other vexa-
tious hindrances to be surmounted. In
small assOrtments of various kinds of
preserved goods, it does not pay the
manufacturer to go to the trouble of OBJ
tanning this rebate. In fact, the great
est part of the rebate paid on timed
plate last year was set down to the ac-
count of the Standard Oil Company.
This corporation annually receives $500
900, or nearly two-thirds of the total re-
bate on timed plate.
The great developments in the uses of
tin plate have primarily come from its
cheapness. In 1874, the average price
of timed plate was about six cents a
pound. In that year the United States
imported from Great Britain 204, ISL $3.50
lbs. of timed plate. Tn 1888, the value
of timed plate had fallen to three cents
pound at the place of production. In
that year, the United States imported
654, ,SS4, 100 lbs., or more than three
times as much in 1874.
The only set of persons who wish the
present duty on timed plate to he in
creased are the manufacturers of sheet
steel and roofing iron. These persons
say that the substitution of timed plate
for painted iron sheets has already hurt
this industry. To meet their views, the
Senate bill of last year proposed to in
crease the tariff on timed plate from |
cent to 2.15 cents per pound.
This would doubtless benefit the man
ufacturers of sheet iron roofing, but it
would be at the expense of the whole