Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-07-28
4 COSTLY INFANT.
THE TIN PLATE INDUSTRY AND
WHAT 1T WILL COST.

| Senator Aldrich's Promise to Iabor-A
Manufacturers Estimate of Costs-Nfc-
Kin1ey's Infant" Will Be a Burden
| to Consumers.
The more the brilliant promises of our
tin plate statesmen are examined and
subjected to the rules of simple arith-
metic, the more they vanish into thin air
One OF the most magnificent promises
made for the new industry is that of
Senator Aldrich, to the effect that it
would give employment to 10000 work
| men.
Now it is worth while to make a cal
| culation to see what these 10000 work
men will earn. We imported last year
$50, 000,00 pounds of tin plates, worth
$50, 92S, 900, or 307 cents per pound Let
US assume, however, that for the next
few years our consumption of tin plates
will be considerably larger, say 500, 0O0,-
900 pounds per year.
Now, while the tin plate politicians
never stop to figure, occasionally manu-
facturer whips out his pencil and counts
the cost of making tin plates in this
country. One manufacturer has made a
calculation of the cost of manufacturing
plates in Pittsburg, and this has been
printed in the New York trade paper,
Hardware, journal very much in SYM
pathy with the unborn tin infant. This
manufacturer is not himself a maker of
tin plates, but he objects to seeing our
iron manufacturers swim along the cur
rent without going into close calcula-
TONS Hence he makes for them cal
culatlon to show that the cry which GER
tain Welsh manufacturers raised when
they visited this country some months
ago, that American manufacturers Of Tin
plate could not compete with them with
less duty than four cents, was alto
gether false. According to this manu-
facturer the total labor cost of making
tin plates in this country will be as fol-
lows:
Cents
Making steel sheets ready for Timing
- - ;'''''..'.''........-. l2
Total labor cost. ........................ ia
Now, then, let us see what Senator
Aldrichs 10000 laborers Will get for
making 100000, 900 pounds of tin plates:
Total labor cost Of making SO0.OJOG0O
pounds Of tin plates at l.50 cents
per Po,.nu. Sl36O0,000
and each man gets yearly wages OF SlQ43
This Is certainly very low wages for
skilled labor. Perhaps, however, the
Rhode Island senator Will enter the pro-
test that he meant to include the iron
miners and pig iron workmen in his
estimate. Well, be it so. Even with
this correction made, the senator will
hardly get American wages for his
10000 workmen.
The figures sent by United States
Labor Commissioner Carroll D. Wright
TO Senator Carlisle during the tariff de-
bate last September will furnish us with
a correct statement of the labor cost Of
the steel billets with which the tin plate
mill begins. The estimate Of Mr.. Wright
was for making one ton of steel rails;
and we shall not err by taking his fig
ures down to the point where the billets
are to be turned into rails. The total
direct labor cost in ton of steel billets.
including the ore, coke, limestone, etc,
was reported by Mr.. Wright to be SIS. 10.
As there is waste of about 6 per cent.
in converting billets into sheets for tin
ming the labor cost of making l34 pounds
of billets must be added. This, together
with slight addition for the labor, cost
of coal used in the sheet and timing
mill, brings the total labor cost of tin
plate up to 81 cents a pound. With a
total production of 800, 900. 900 pounds.
Senator Aldrich's 10000 men would then
get 81, 1850, 900, or $248 year for each
man. This Is not half of what work
men in other skilled labor occupations
receive. Even coal miners get much
more.
The figures here given viii aid US in
arriving at the total cost to the consumer
Of S0O,O00,OOO pounds of Mckinley tin
plates About 81 per cent. of the weight
OF tin plate Is steel, the other per cent.
being tin. Steel billets are worth now
twenty-six dollars per ton of 2.24O
pounds: but from this we must deduct
the labor cost, 1910, which has already
been included, thus leaving a cost of
5000 per ton. This would be 1914 of
one cent per pound, and therefore 776.-
100000 pounds. exclusive of the labor,
would cost 1854 900. Tin costs 2O.75
cents pound, and 24.0O0,O00 pounds
will cost 81, $50. 900.
The manufacturer already quoted al
lows S12.4S per ton for acid, fuel, waste
and incidental expenses in the sheet
mill. This would give total cost of
81, 322, 900 on the amount of sheets re-
quired. In the timing mill, too, he al
lows $10.75 per ton for acid, palm oil,
bran, boxes and incidentals, making an
additional expense of s., S40,00O
This puts us, then, in a position to
estimate the total yearly cost of the