St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-08-22
"rIN-CLAD" PRoTECTIoNIsTs.

During the war there was a class of
gunboats on the Mississippi which were
called "hn-clads" in derlsion for the
slight armor which protected them from
the bullets of the guerillas. The pro-
tectionistS in their warfare to-day have
a large number of tin-elads in their navy
-venturesome craft, which run right
under the guns of the enemy, clad in
the gauZiest of sODhistical armOr; shell
tered, sometimes by their Ignorance,
oftener by easily punctured lies. Often
the same craft is provided with all these
sorts Of amor. and dons ana doffs them
with the readiness of a chameleon.
OF such, we note with regret, is our
able and, we believe, would-be honest
contemporary. the Tribune, of Mime
apOliS. Some time since it stated that
1--WE are the greatest consumers Of tin
plate in the world, and are at the mercy
Of foreign dealers and foreign prices.
The American housewife pays 80 cents
for dishpan that costs the British
maker IA cents, and the American work
ingman pays sc cents for Il dinner-pail
On two subsequent occasions the GLOBE
has said that the evident intent of this
statement was to impress the readers
mind that it is a fact that British tin
ware is imported into this country, and
we have asked our usually we'll
informed contemporary to tell US
what articles of tinware, and OF
what amount and value. were in any
year imported into this country from
England So far the Tribune has main
tanned "dignified silence worthy of
QUAY. but, we trust, not having the
same excuse. As matter of simple
fact, we are exporting, not importing,
manufactures Of tin. the value of our
exports in 1890 reaching 1854. S96.
The GLOBE is under the necessity of
again puncrurIng the 'facts' of our
''tin-clad'' contemporary. In a leader
in the issue Of the 2lst inst, it gives the
usual prOtectiOnist history" of tin
plate. It says: "A few years ago we
had moderate duty on tin. As that
article was selling at 50 box at that
time, some enterpriSing gentlemen in
Pennsylvania thought they would start
a mandatory of their own and thrive
at the business. They put $4,000 into
a plant and went to work. Then the
foreign manufacturers began to knock
down the prices. They put it at IS,
then 81, then ST box. and when the
little American shop still lived they re-
duced the price to s.. Then the Yankee
safely wiped out the price to American
consumers was raised again, and soon
went back to the old figure.'
While we have every degree of con-
fidence in the wish of our contemporary
to be truthful, the above skaters our
confidence in its ability TO be so, Ow-
ing, we prefer to think, to guilelessnesS
which lays 1t open TO be imposed on by
the bad. bad men who furnish protec-
zionist facts for the New York Press
and American Economist. The flew
years ago" when we "had a moderate
duty on tin" lacks precision. In '46 it
was 10 per cent; in 81 it was per cent;
in 'Gl, 10 per cent; in '62. % per cent;
III ~, ID per cent; in 10, specific duty
VI IL OClllo q pOuila M1liSlA III % Mdo
reduced to l cent, rate equivalent to
about 81 per cent ad valorem. When,
during all these years, was the
moderate duty" sufficient protec-
ton to warrant those 'enterpris-
ing" Pennsylvanlans in engaging
in making tin plate? Or was
it not the war prices, which sent tin up
to $40 box, which provoked their en-
terprise? At least. it was that period of
inflated values that the Tribune's Pitts
burgers went to plate making, and it
was because OF the return to normal
values that they quit. Nothing is so
discouraging to the average PennSylYa-
MAN as normal. competitive values.
The "a few years ago." when 1.-The
price was 50 a box" must have been
some time in the sixties, as the nearest
approach to it since 1869 was III 1854
when the price averaged S7.65: and long
after 1.-The Yankee concern went under"
the price kept on dropping instead of
being raised again to the old figure"
until it reached S2.SS a box in 1884.
When the MCKINLEY bill passed the
average price for &c cOkes was $3.50.
Since that time the price has been
steadily advancing. as the effect Of the
passage of that measure.