The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1890-08-15
Senator Wilson ON the Tin-Plate Duty,

Senator Wilson ON the Tin-Plate Duty,
Senator Elk. Wilson, of Maryland. made
one of the most forcible and valuable speeches
of the session, in the Senate, on Monday, on
the proposed increase Of duty on tin-plate,
for which he deserves the thanks of his con-
stituents and especially of the Gamers of
Hartford county, who are largely interested in
this matter.
"In ;he first place" he said, 1--WE start
out with the notorious concession,
increase of duties upon tln-plate, that
not a single pound of this article
of commerce is now manufactured in this
country, and that it can not be made here
with q secure profit to those who embark in
the business till the already high duty of 344
per cent, ad valorem is increased to a rate of
seventy-six per cent ad valorem; whereby, it
is virtually conceded, that the first effect will
be to make every consumer of tin-ware in
this country pay freight, insurance and COM
missions included, not far from 80 per cent.
more than the article would cost in Europe"
Mr.. Wilson also showed that the prohibi-
tive duty would not give employment to as
many men as has been claimed, and Of these
the skilled operatives would have to be
brought from Wales, as there are probably
not one hundred men in this country capable
of making tin plate.
ION the contrary the result would be the il
legal importation of foreign labor to compete
with our own workingmen, and greatly in
creased tax on the canning industry, which now
supports nearly If not quite million of men,
women and children, and upon the entire popu-
lation of the country, the consumers of articles
of tin-plate.
On the latter point Mr.. Wilson said
''You see no howell 80 poor as not to have ar
ticles of this ware In daily or hourly use. You
see no mansion 80 lordly that its comfort and
convenience are not promoted by impressing
them into its service. To every farmer, partic
ularly those engaged in dairying, and to every
miner and lumberman it furnishes necessary
implements Of their trade. II it could be left
to the votes of the people of this country to de-
eide, ss an Isolated proposition, whether they
should have free tin, or whether they should be
annually taxed to the tune of SIG, 49,, 100, not
for the needs and purposes of their government,
but as Q tribute to an omnibus load of men who
infest the purlieus Of the Capitol in seemingly
Incompatible characters of beggars and masters,
they would doubtless make short work with
those who are thus trifing with their rights and
interests"
Concerning the canning industries of
Maryland Mr.. Wilson said:
1.-THE canning industries of my own State,
Mr.. President, have reached very large proper
tions, and have from their beginning, now some
twenty years ago, been stimulated to increased
development by the policy of our government,
persistently and undeviatingly followed, of pro-
viding them with cheap tin-plate. The business
is spreading throughout the State. There are
many large packing-houses in Baltimore, as
well for fruits and vegetables as for oysters.
The business Is so important in my State that
we have in Baltimore q Canned Goods Ex-
change. There are canneries also to be found
in almost every county, and in some the bus
iness has assumed very large proportions. But
few, II any, more striking examples can be
found In our whole country Of the potent in
huence Of this industry ever agricultural de-
velopment in the Eastern States, where it
seems to be the one thing needful to redeem
ford county, Maryland. Some twenty years ago
this business was begun in that county. After
the lapse OF about ten years, when the statistics
OF this trade were taken by its farmers and can
ners, there were In that country 300 factories,
and they had reached pack Of IS, 400 900 cans
Of vegetables and fruits, "a 600 600 being of to-
matoes and 12, 600, 900 of sugar corn. The raw
materials for these SO, 600, 600 cans of tomatoes
and corn, leaving out other fruits and other
vegetables, required the yield of 10, 900 acres of
tomatoes and 5000 acres Of corn, involving an
outlay Of $500, 600 for agricultural labor alone,
OF $1S5,OOO for labor in can making, and of
500, 600 for the labor of preparing the vegeta-
Dles, filling the cans, processing, labelling, box
ing and shipping,
Such, said the farmers and Gamers of Har-
ford county, Md, In 1882, SIS a statement of the
canning industry of little corner of our State
winch does not touch upon that industry in
other parts of the State. Yet from these fig
ures an idea may be formed of the Importance
of this great and fourishing industry not only
In Maryland,ibut throughout the whole coun-
try, the very existence of which depends abso-
lutely upon the cheapness of tin-plate.'
MIR. Wilson also said that the manufactur-
ers of tin utensils and the canning industries
with their dependent occupations, give en-
ployment to some two millions of persons
As against this vast mass of hnman beings,
vitality interested in cheap tinware we have
some few dozen of manufacturing capitalists,
who are seeking to multiply their wealth
through government favor, and 10000 men
who will to large extent be brought over
from Wales.
'.1n the effort to stem the tide which has
been bearing them to destruction" concluded
Mr.. Wilson, "the farmers of the Eastern and
Middle States and gradually those of the West
have been starting canning establishments for
their fruits and vegetables wherever there
seemed an opportunity to diversity their occu-
pations and to gain new access to markets for
their products. Possibly they may have over
done the business. At any rate, canned goods are
scarcely paying their prime cost. The margin |
profit of is extremely small and in many cases
does not exist. To force these men now to pay
millions OF dollars for their raw material Of
NH tAh In, fha - to-
ten per cent is necessarily wasted, would sure
ly entail wholesale ruin upon them In their pre-
sent condition"
Copies of this excellent speech and of the |
able speech of Hon. Herman Stump on the |
same subject, may be had by application to
either gentleman.