Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1891-02-14
chicago Tribune Publishes a
Gross Falsehood About the
New Tin Industry.
80 other Papers, More Foreign
Than domestic in Interest, Fall
Into Like Error.
r-,,+h About the Manufacture OF
Tin Plate by Norton Bros,
Chicago.

r,;U.boss contemporaries to waste sympa-
Inv on Norton Bros, the tin can makers of
TSicago. They took imported Welsh iron |
MAZE and caused It to be dipped into pots
II melted tin (also imported) by Welsh |
,rorkmen (recentv importedl, and when
tbe mates so made were exposed in the |
,gindaws of a mili-boss organ under the
American flag, bearing the legend; The
First Sheet of American Fin Plate Made |
;nCbicago by Norton Bros, they accepted |
lbe dubious hOnOrs of the misleading state
mspt without protest AS yet the Nor
ION Bros. have made no tin plate for the |
market. and it Is yet question whether |
thew ever will be aOie to make any lower |
rates than those now paid. If they d. they |
frankly avow that they will use imported |
lin. and while the experiment Is gong on
beAmerican people will be taxed some |
thing like $4,000 900 year to sustain it |
and others like it.
The most ordinary spirit Of patriotism
ouuht at least to prevent the tree-trader
from throwing any Obstacles in the way
of an industry which is trying TO make a !
Start in this coGntry. That even this
slight degree OF real Americanism is want
inc among "reiormers," and that they
are only too eager to exert all their powers
of vilhhcatOn to make the establishment
of American tin-pdte mills impossible. is
SHOWN by a communication sent by Norton
Bros, TO the Chicago Tribune in answer to
It's unwarranted attack upon them. The
letter which is addressed to the Tribune,
says;
I'VE are not politicians nor candidates
for office We are simply American citi.
zens and Chicago business men with local
pride which we think is shared by the
Tribune. We believe in a duty on tin
plate high enough to induce the Ameri-
can manufacture Of all that the country
c5usumes-not the dipping of imported
black sheets In imported laoor, but the
manufacture of steel sheets from the ore,
the use of American TN if that can be
obtained, and the employment in the BUSH
ness of American labor. We should not
favor this if we thought that the result
could only be obtained by a permenant tax
on the consumers equal to the additional
duty, but we expect American enEenuity
to devise machinery to do the work which
is now done entirely 10y hard 10y the crudest
processes, and to produce plates at much
less than the Engllsh cost, An experience
more than 20 years in similar business
leads us TO think that is reasonable ex-
pectation based on what we and others
have accomplished by machinery in re-
cent years We think that within three
years or five years at most, American
made plates will be sold here at 81 per
box. The lowest price for which Eng lish
plates Of the same quality have been sold
here As 81 30. The present price is s. 80,
We think the reduction will not stop at
81, but with increased experience and
greater competition among home manu-
tacturers the prices will continue down
ward.
The statement in your editorial that
we are simply timing English black shee-s
is for the moment true, 1t is practically
misleading. We have no intention Of
continuing the business in this way. We
have nearly finished a complete Siemens
steel furnace and rolling mill at haywood,
and long before the new duty on tin plate
takes effect will be making our own steel
pIa es entirely from domestic material and
with American Labor. The addition of a
furnace and rolling mill to the industries
OF haywood will be appreciated by the
people of that village as a decided gain to
them m many ways,
Your Statement, hat SO imported Welsh
anoers to do tie timing is wholly wrong.
We have not imported a man. A major
lty OF our wJrHugmen are Weshmen
originally but they came here to better
their condition years ago. Most of them
are already naturalized American citizens,
and as a class they are a kind of imml-
grant that the United States gladly well
comes, One II our most expert worknen
has leeu in our employ seven years max
ing cans. lie had formerly worked IN
Welsh timing works and Is pleased to
Ha5 work at has old trade. Without eX-
cepfI1u our hands were all obtained here,
aaJ there are plenty more obtainable who
..- the Wect tin works, with their starry
anon wages, and came here to work in
other business. but VIII be glad to work
ifW and others at their old trade.
Your statement that the tin we use is
imported, while true IN fact, is misleading
Wien taken IN connection with the almost
universal superstition that the English get
...lr tin at home At least 80 per cent OF
.a' tim used in plating steel by he English
obtained by them from Australia or the
eEalts Of Malacca. The English mines n
cornwall bear about the same relation e
iae English tin plate making as the Black
KILLS. mines do to ours We can get oul
or from the same place and at the samt
price as the English get theirs. The pilct
q lock tin--or pig tin, as it is gener lily
cl.!ad-isp practically the same in New Y )rl
and London. We hope the supply may b,
obtained from Dakota, but if that shoulC
not prove available, the building up Of th,
ta plate industry will not be checked Of
i-at account. Our firm alone paid nearll
million dollars in 1890 10 the English FL
.e plates We cut up for tin cans. W.
.-Hsit would be for the interest Of tn,
ntry that those plates should be mad
re, even it We must send to Australia fo
2. TN, which you say Is only ) per cent 0
'la whoe"
Vow, will the free trade papers whicl
LaTe given the lbels of the Chicago Iri
5ue such wide circulation apologize t
Asssrs Norton Bros, or at least cop
-r PLAIN and interesting statement 9