The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1890-12-01
PLATTE GLASS TARIFF.
How tho Industry Has Grown
Under the Protective Policy.
THE INCREASE OF PRICES
Until They Are Now Within tho Reach
ofAll-Country Stores Now Afrord
tho I1uNury-h Great Flu.
turc For tho Industry.

PIrTsBURoH, Pa, Nov. 30.-This fall
druggist living In the mountain ias,
nesses OF Indiana county sent IN orde
to the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Compan
for large sheet Of plate glass for hi
show window front. 1t was shipped I
him from tho works at Tarentum. IL
does business in village twenty mile
from the county seat, which is his neares
railroad station. At Indiana, therefore
the glass was taken from the car, and il
its huge framework Of wood set III
leng.hwisO in the middle of n wagon
supported by sticks nailed TO the aides
ofthe wagon bed, and in this way haulei
over twenty miles Of rough and billy
country roads to its destination.
Mr.. Alex. Painter, the Pittsburgh iron
manufacturer, recently purchased S70(
worth OF plate glass for the windows 0!
his new residence in Allegheny. II
spend 500 on window glass ior Il single
house may be considered luxury, bu,
in the interior rural town OF Clarion
which is only tapped by single railway
and that narrow gauge-three resi-.
dences OF country merchants may be
seen With plate glass window panes.
WHAT PROTECTION DOES.
With two instances like these, it is re,
freshing to be able to exhibit some ad
vantages OF high protective tariff. it il
the fashion just now among free trade
papers to cite instances in the increase
in price OF certain articles under the
workings OF the Mckinley bill. Here is
an example OF how prices on an article
which used to he very extensive form
OF luxury have decreased under a tariil
schedule that ie continued unchanged
in the Mckinley bill.
Captain J. B. Ford, the founder o!
plate glass making in the United States,
and a member oil the Pittsburgh Com.
pany, says that where you used to find
the consumption Of plate glass confined
to large cities, now you will find almost
every country town in the inter.
ior with its drugstore fitted with plate
glass front, and from two to ten dwell
ing houses along its suburban streets
furnished with window psnes OF plate
glass. He says that in a city where for
merly few residences with plate glass
windows were Curiosities because of
their expense, now from 80 TO 100 or
more residences can be found with plate
glass utilized in their construction in
stead Of ordinary window glass.
BLAINE AS \ PIONEER.
The new use Of the beautiful plate for
this purpose is constantly growing. Its
high polish, crystal transparency and
extreme thickness combine in it both
ornamentation and practicability, One
OF the men to adopt it earliest in the
United States for tlouso windows was
james G. Blaine. In building his ST. m
mer residence at Bar Harbor, Maine, he
used the best American plate in all the
window frames, and it cost good deal
more per foot then than now.
For store show windows, the cost Of
plate glass has steadily decreased under
the policy OF tariff. 4 store front that
would have cost $500 few years ago
now sells for $3.50. That lets in the
country stores, while the city stores
would have had to have the article at
any price anyhow. High tariff has
therefore been direct blessing to them.
The price OF plate glass in the United
States in 1889 had declined to 50 cents
per loot. In 1868 and 1860 it sold in
New York and Pittsburgh ior 50 and
- SO per foot.
TWENTY YEARS OF TARIFF.
The story OF how the tariff fostered
the plate glass industry is best read by
taking mp some old reference book pub.
lished before the business amounted to
much on this side OF the ocean. The
American Cyciopedia, for instance, says
that in 1870 the entire output OF plate
glass in the United States was SS55, ,oo5C
worth, in making which 200 hands were
employed. The importntions OF plate
glass into the United States from France
and England in 1872 were 2,4S2, ,35g
square feet, worth Sl,550,S57. In Isl;
the annual product OF plate glass in all
Europe was little upward OF 10000 O0C
square feet per annum, OF which sbou
/ O0O. 900 feet were made in France. The
Cyclopedia adds: "The industry is limit
ed TO q few large establishments, there
being six each in France and England
and Two each in Germany and Bel GUM
Since that Cyclopedia was printed
and that was late one-America ha.
worked wonders, and Pi.tsbursh's en-
viroas have been the scene OF most o
them. Only last April there we're print
ed original figures showing that the pro
duction OF plate glass in the Uni,e(
States had reached the enormous aggre
gate OF 9,S43,3S5 feet in one year.
THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE.
IN the same article it was shown tha
When improvements then pending wer
finished, and when pev works then pro
jected, the production wonld ieaci
15,400,0O0 feet annually. Those figure
are scarcely realized yet, but since Apr
the output has increased so rapidly tina
it is. yearly 12000,000 feet annually
And only back in lS7, the production o
oil Europe was only 100000 ieet. Tn
industry in Europe has half a centur;
Of growth, but had free trade. The in
dustry in America only had fifteen O
twenty years growth, but it had tariff
to help it. Iu 1889 the Pittsburgh Dlat,
Glass Compauy's various works alon,
turned on! 5000, 900 feet; the Howard
works, on the Monougahela, $4,000
and the Butler works, 100000 feet
There were in April six companies alto
gether in the United States.
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