The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1890-05-31

~
esty OF the great State Of North Da-
kota in this exposition Of the Worlds
development.
PRENATAL PROTECTION.
SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT
THE TIMED PLATE sWiNpLE.
Increased Duties Hovering In III Future,
Threatened Industries Protesting = In-
tended Blessings Of Nature Twisted Until
They Become Curses.
Our high protectionist law makers have
such maternal instincts that they not
only furnish protection garments to in
FAINT industries which have recently seen
the light Of day, and to others which
have grown old and hardened in their
sins, but they VI so further and pro-
vide q wardrobe for those not yet born.
A cas- in point is our unborn timed
plate industry.
Timed plate consists Of sheets OF the
very best grade of Bessemer and Sic
mens-Martin steel covered with q coat
ing Of tin. The use Of this timed plate
in this country is m and is rap
idly increasing. According to the latest
treasury reports, we brought in last year
742, 49,, 900 pounds, bearing a value Of
$21, 726, 900. The duty is one cent q
pound and amounted last year to 81 ,421,-
GOO, which is equivalent to an ad valorem
duty Of about 81 per cent.
Our supply Of these plates comes from
Wales, where the principal factories Of
the world, some ninety-ive in number,
are located. The cost Of the plates in
Wales, coated with tin, polished, cut
into the required sizes, packed in stout
oak boxes to prevent rusting at sea-, and
delivered on board ship, Is slightly less
than three cents a pound. The cost In
this country of American made steel
sheets, not coated with tin, not cut into
required sizes, not packed and delivered,
Is today four cents a pound or more.
This we w to one of our numerous
highly protected trusts-an infant indus
try some forty years old.
The uses Of the plate are many and
various. There are milk pals and pans,
dinner pals and pans for making bread,
cakes and pies; there are colanders,
graters, skimmers, strainers, tea kettles
and coffee pots; there are boilers, wash
basins and foot tubs; there are cans for
packing vegetables, fruits, oysters, fish
and cooked meats-all Of these, and
many more useful and necessary articles,
all made Of tin plate. It is thus Of vital
interest to some millions Of men, women
and children In this country that tin
plate should be as cheap as possible.
The canning industry Of the United
States has grown enormously in late
years, and it only awaits cheap tin plate
to develop into proportions lswer heard
Of before.
II we had cheaper tin plate we should
hear less about fruits and vegetables
Cutting our markets every summer, and
often being sold at prices ruinous to the
grower. Not only would our surplus
fruits and vegetables find a ready market
at steadier prices. but the growth Of
these articles would be vastly enlarged,
thousands Of men, women and children
would find more profitable employment
as growers or as laborers in the fields
and canning factories, the consumption
of these canned goods would be incalcu-
lably increased, and the whole public
would be benefited in every way.
But what does congress say to all that?
It says that the steel trust must have its
pound of flesh, which, like Shylock, it
exacts from the heart Of the unprotected,
uncared for consumer.
But what is the steel trust doing to
merit such tender consideration for its
every wish? What return is it making
for the 45 to So per cent. duties which
congress levies on sheet steel to protect
this thrifty infant? Like all other thrifty
infants, the steel trust cries vigorously
and necessarily for mor It has taken
q great liking to its protection diet, and
in obedience to its lusty cries congress
will doubtless give it more. They already
have the free block tin, which is used In
coating sheet steel to produce tin plate.
But why should the trust undertake to
manufacture tin plate SO long as it can
exact from the the present ex-
brilliant profts2 Our steel magnates do
not need to exert their ingenuity to make
. new article, from which it might not
make as high q profit as it gets now. "A
steel trust is q ''rustler;" but it knows q
good thing when it sees it.
And SO we make no tin plate; but all
the same the custom houses continue to
collect the ad valorem duty Of about $34
on every 500 worth brought. in. The
plea is that, though we have no infant
industry Of this kind, we do not know
how soon M may be born, and we must
take time by the forelock and be pre-
pared for such accidents. As such birth
seems very imminent just now, owing to
recent discoveriesof tin mines within our
borders, we must make all the better
preparations for it. II "a per cent. on tin
plate, it Is argued, did not hasten this
birth while we had no tin mines, q larger
duty will certainly do It, now that we
have mines.
Hence it is now proposed to increase
the duty on tin plate, which Mr.. Mills,
the wicked, unpatriotio Texan, proposed
W Pug jig 1I0o AlSt. GAu pidG0
dutyof the aborted senate bill Of 1888
will apparently become the duty imposed
by the Forthcoming tariff bill. That
would more than double the duty on the
grade Of tin plate which Is most used
with us.
Already protests are being heard from
many parts Of the country against this
Ubiquitous piece Of high projection folly.
The Maine lobster Gamers, various deal
ers in New York, the cannlakers and
roofers Of Baltimore and the western
Gamers, In convention at Indianapolis,