The Globe-republican., 1891-11-05
THE PRICE or TIN PLATE.

THE PRICE OF TIN PLATE.
he New York Times says the Rise Il De
20 the New TariG-But How About .
the Mercy Of wslshmen-We VIII Soon
Be Out Of Their Power. However.
In an editorial headed Paying the
Duty ON Tin Plate" the New York
Times calls attention to the rise which
occurred in prices Of tin plates since
1889. This rise it attributes to the new
tariff. although the duty on tin plates
had not been disturbed when the price
advanced.
The Times says:
The price Of tin plate began to rise IN Nay.
By the end of August it Tas IS 70; in Octohe1.
after the bill ha l become a Law. it WAS $50
Since the beginning Of the year the price has
ranged from Is. 27h to So5a The price in July.
after the new duty had been imposed. was
about )o.ss1s; it is now about 50 This Is 1t
least E.lO moro than the average price for
1885, and about al.15 more than the price In
May. 1890. just before the passage Of the Nc
kinney bill in the house About IS per cent
has been added to the cost and this increase is
only little less than the additional duty Of
81. 30 per box
Without questioning the correctness
of these fgures-and our readers can
rest assured that they received the
usual mugwump twist to make them
jibe with the tax" theory-let US look
carefully at the argument of the New
York Times
The price Of tin plate began to rise
in May" They would probably have
risen had no tariff bill been thought of.
Markets continually fiuctuate. Tin
plate had suffered great decline in the
preceding months It must have re-
covered, tariff or no tariff. 1t is dis
honest to attribute the rise to the Nc
Kinley bill. since the tariff had not yet
been changed.
Not for fourteen months later were
tin plate duties touched In October,
still eight or nine months before the
new duty took effect, the price OF
standard grade coke plates is given by
the Times as S. so box, and it asserts
that the price had been as high as S. IS
box before last July, the day on which
the new duty took effect The price
in July, after the new duty had been
imposed. was about IS. 421a," the Times
adds Here is fall from TX to 121s
cents a box. Immediately following the
imposition of the new duty. Why is
there not more reason for claiming this
fall as due to the tariff, than for at
tributing to it all market fluctuations
that occurred for fourteen months be-
fore the new rate was imposed?
There is neither reason nor justice in
the position of the Times Before the
Mckinley bill was ever dreamed Of,
prices of tin plates were put up and
down at the pleasure of the Welsh tin
plate trust There was no Mckinley
law to take the blame for these exac-
tions in times gone by. so the Times is
not concerned in looking up their his
tory. The fact of the matter is that the
rise of 81. 10 or ST. Is box in nearly q
year and half, attributed to it by the
Gus market fluctuations before the tin
plate duty had been touched. Accord
ing to the price lists of Henry Nash &
Co., Liverpool, tin plates sold as follows
in the past:
Coke tin plates per box. June, 1879,
s.. So
Coke tin plates per box. February,
1850. So 90.
Here was 4 rise of So. so box in eight
months. To what does the Times at
tribute it? There was no Mckinley
tariff then. yet the price advanced twice
ae much in half the time.
We were then at the complete mercy
of our Welsh tin plate masters, and
they simply put the screws on. as they
dared not do from May, 1890, to Septem-
Der, 1891. Then our people seemed con-
tent with the lot accorded them by Mr.
Gladstone, and devoted themselves to
the raising of cheap cereals and cotton.
They did not bother their heads about
tin plate making, leaving it to the
''higher skill" of the Welshmen. So
the tin plate makers bled US to the ex-
tent of $50 . box. This year, with
American mills springing up to supply
our own plates, they did not dare to go
so far, and contented themselves with
a modest SL15 q box. If their exac-
tons in the latter case amounts to
SIS. 600. 600 year. as the Times says it
does, manifestly they must have reached
about S35. 600. 600 in 1880, when there
was no Mckinley law to block their
game.
If the Times really believed what it
says about tin plate taxes, under the
Mckinley tariff. and honestly follows
its logic to previous advances in tin
plate prices, it ought to shout in praise
of the measure which reduced the sum
of our tribute to Wales from S35 200. 900
to SIS, OOO, 900. The new mills springing
up all over the country will soon place
us out of the power of the foreign tin
plate makers altogether. That is how
the new tariff is related to "robber ex-
actions"
How the New Tariff Works.
That the passage of the Mckinley
bill is having good effect is seen ON
every hand Domestic competition con-
tinues to lower prices in every line in
which the tariff is we'll established