Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-06-12
PROFITS OF A TRUST
Which Has a Virtual Monopoly Of the
Manufacture of Copper.
CONSUMERS ENTER A PROTEST
Against the High Tariff as Fixed BY the
Mckinley Bill
ELECTRICIANS ASK FOR FAIR PLAY
SUMERS ENTER A PROTEST
ELECTRICIANS ASK FOR FAIR PLAY

with a representative of one the largest
electrical manufactures in the country he
was asked whether electrical people were
not pleased with the proposed reduction OF
the duty on copper in the Mckinley bill.
PLEASED? don't see why they should
be for they will not be benefited cents
worth by it. The only people who Will be
benefited are those In the copper manu-
facturers' ring, and we are under no obliga-
tions to them that we should be pleased to
see them pocket increased profits. They
have gouged us in the past as badly as have
the copper miners. This Copper Associa-
tion was formed several years ago and con-
trolls every mill in the country which manu-
factures copper ingots into the forms in
which we use it, i. e., sheets, bars, rods and
wire.
BIG PROFITS ExACTED.
During this time, while receiving prac-
tically no benefit from the tariff (the duty
on sheet and other forms of manufactured
copper being about the same as that on
ingots), this trust has been able to keep out
all foreign competition and pay large divi-
dends to its stockholders. 1t has always
put its prices al the very highest possible
notch, and that it has been able to keen out
what we may call all foreign competition
and vet make immense profits, we have
proof The value of rolled copper imported
last year was only s.. .049, and in the last
three wears less than s., 500 worth has come
in. The combination exacts from to Il
cents a pound ior rolling ingot copper into
sheets, while they have been told by gen.
tleman formerly in the copper business
that 2J1 cents pound will cover the cost OF
rolling, and also allow profit Isn't that
q gouge?
"And now Mckinley reduces the duty on
ineot copper 2 cents per pound, but leaves
the duty on this rings products the same as
1t has beenl have been wondering what
induced Mckinley to give them this extra
protection and have been compelled at last
to believe that the stories about lat frying
in 1888 were true and that these people are
merely going to have theirs returned to
them.
A PERPLEXING QUESTION.
'But anotherouestion has occurred to me.
Why does this new tariff bill take away just
one half of the miners protection since it is
merely turned over to the rollers? Did
they, after being ':ried' on one side, flop out
OF the pan when Quay tried to turn them
over? l wonder, too, whether Mckinley
thinks this reduction of the protection OF
the people, who went into the Paris syndi-
cate two wears ago and thereby made that
steal possible, wall make political capital
ior the Republican party in 1892 If he
does he underesumates the intelligence OF
the people whose votes he expects to af-
iect for it will not take them long to find
out that the pockets into which this 2 cents
goes are as sensitive as those it comes
out of.
"I see you want to ask whether electrical
manu- acturers are any more worthy of this
extra profit than are the wire and sheet
makers. surely think they are, but no
matter. They would get but a small per-
centage Of any reduction in the cost of copper
sheets and wire anyway, and that mainly be-
cause of increased sales.
AN ARGUMENT FOR FREE COPPER.
"There is but one branch of electrical
manu- -acture in which there is not heavy
competition, and that one was got hold of
only after the purchase of a large number Of
patents which seem TO be the best in that
line. In every other branch there is, as I
have said, great competition ana profits are
small. On account OF this competition any
reduction in the cost of copper would cause
q corresponding reduction in the selling
prices of our apparatus.
"That is, nearly the whole amount OF
that reduction would be left in the pockets
of the consumers. What the amount of that
saving would be were copper put on the free
list, where it belongs, and where we are
going to have it placed, you can figure out
for yourself when 1 tell you that at a low
estimate l25, O00. 900 pounds of copper are
used per year in the manufacture OF elec'
trical appliances. 1 said we are going to
put copper on the free list. l was not speak
ing as a manufacturer alone, but also as o
consumer OF electric light apparatus, being
interested In an electric light plant. The
ELECTRIC LIGHTING INTERESTS
of the country are in the fight for free cop.
per, and are going to stay in it till they win.
If the Republican party won't give them
free copper, they will go to the party which
will, and will carry a great many of Their
Republican customers with them. 1t is
upon the electric lighting companies and
their customers that the largest proportion
of the burden of the copper duty falls.
"Do you know how much copper enters
into the cost OF an electric light plant?
Well, little over 80 per cent. That means
that the present duty on manufactured cop
per increases the cost of an electric light
plant about u per cent Do you wonder
that the last Electric Light Convention
passed a unanimous resolution to petition
Congress to put copper on the free list?
And don't you see now how much you and
every other citizen OF cities and towns using
electric lights should be interested with the
lighting companies in fighting for free
copper?
THE DUTY NO PROTECTION.
"Let me quote from the recent speech o.
the Hon. Benjamin Butterworth which ha!
attracted SO much attention in tariff circles
There has not been a time in two decade:
when my countrymen have not produced cop
per as cheaply as any other nation in the world
and most of the time cheaper, and yet we have
those people who on an investment of 81, ,250, ,00t
have taken out over $50 000, 900 in dividends in
10 years, coming and asking additional protec
tIon. Will you tell me why the duty on copper
should be continued? Why not make copper
free to all the people who are using it in this
country7 DO you not know that every electri
clan in this country petitions to remove the
duty on copperf There is no apology in the
world for the duty, not the slightest. 1t does
not protect any industry, but il draws on every
family we represent. There is not a yard OF
in the land that does not pay tribute to these
people. That is not all Although they have
the American consumers at their mercy there
is not a nation on the earth the citizens OF
which do not buy American copper cheaper
than American citizens buy it!
''The electricians ask only for fair play.
They prayed Congress for protection against
their own countrymen who compel them to
pay them to cents per pound more for
copper than they charge an Englishman, but
their prayers were not needed. Next time
1t will be demand, and you will see Con-
gressmen tumbling over each other in nc
ceding to it. The electricians of this country
can exert an enormous power in politics II
they choose, and, as L have said before, they
have chosen
THIS srFxs erp.,or,u