The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1890-09-04
TALKS On TIE TARIFF.
"Chsar FEMME f.sto," tn England MAKES
,r,, olaf. rr0ttr tiOn M cys.nry Here.

"Chepp Femnls LstOi" 10 tpEfHnd hiaHef
Tin Plate PrOts elton Necessary Here.
Nets York Prt9.
Tho Senate last week adopted the
metal schedule OF the Mckinley bill as
far rs the item miscellaneous metals
and manufactures OIL" This means
that It finished the iron aud steel sched'
ule, including tho important provision
for n duty OF 90 cents n pound on tin
pla.c after July, 1891. We quote from
Tho Bulletin OF the American Iron and
Steel Association tho following account
OF the process OF making tin plate and
the necessity for the duty IN order to
establish the industry here:
"rin nlateB arc not made In the
United States because the existing duty
Of ono cent n pound Is no. sufficient TO
cover the difference In the cost OF pro.
| duc,iou In this country ind in Wales,
from which our supply OF tin plates Is
now almost wholly obtained, Tin plates
are composed OF iron or steel sheets
which have been washed with tin or
mixture OF tin aud lead, and IL duty is
therefore required which will not only
compensate for the difference in tie
cost of producing the sheets themselves
but also cover the difference in the cost
OF washing or dipping them when
converted into tin plates. The dipping
process il not and cannot be prosecuted
TO auy considerable extent with
labor saving machinery. Tin
plates arc product Of hand
labor and a great deal Of land labor.
The iron or steel sheets TO be converted
into tin plates are cleaned In snlPhutic
acid, rubbed, annealed In a hot fire, pol
iahei by cold rolling, again auntaled,
asain cleaned, then dipped in q bath Of
melted grease, then into several baths OF
tin, then into melted grease again, then
rubbed 10 remove greaae and dirt, and
Gualiy sorted and packed In boxes. The
process Is virtually the same to-day that
It was q hundred years ago. It is
usuinat the cheap hand labor OF Wales,
therefore, as well rs ogainst the cheap
inbor employed in producing iron and
steel sheets, that American capital and
labor need TO be protected II VIC would
build up an American tinplate industry.
"liow cheSply hand labor in Wales
may be obtained can be easily inferred
from the frank admission by the Lon.
don Iron and Steel Trades Journal for
April u, 1909. That paper then said:
The great obstacle TO tin plate making
Oh q large scale in the States Is the'cn.
tire absence OF cheap female labor, so
necessary in the industry, and 80 abund-
ant in Wales. but II the enormous duty
oftweive shi.lings Il box is adopted pcs
sib!y the labor difficulty may be got
over Our English contemporary was
in error ia stating that the proposed
new duty would amount to twelve shil-
lings q box. 1t would amount 10 about
ten shillings.
THAT the existing duty Of one cent a
pound has wholly failed to give this
country even Il start in the manufacture
OF tin plates is shown by the fact that We
haye not made mt box Of tin platea for
tho market for eleven years. We are rs
skilliu! in tho manufacture OF iron ard
steel sheets as any people in the world,
and the quality Of the sheets we produce
ia not excelled anywhere. The skill
that is required TO clean these sheets and
dip them in a bath OF tin or tin and lead
is already here, as was proved at the
rittsburg Exposition last year, where an
experimental tin plate works produced
as fine tin plates as are imported"