Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-01-16


poses Where Galvanized or other Sheet
Iron Steel Is Now Used.
A large part of the timed plate i'm
ported into the United States during the
past ten y,sa s has been what are known
| as terne or roofing plates, made by coat
| ing sheet iron or steel with a mixture of
tin and lead lead being the chief COM
| ponent part. These plates have been
! used almos5 exclusively for roofing.
None of these plates Is made in this
country, nor do those iron manufactur-
ers who, by few slight additions to
their mills III the shape of extra rollers
and timing stocks, could readily pro
duce them intend TO do so. The rea-
| son for this inactivity on their part is
| that they are now engaged in the pro-
ductiOn of galvanized sheet iron and
steel, which they sell III competition
with imported terne plates, and which
! also are used for roofing purposes. Be
tween terne plate and galvanized iron
there is therefore intense competition.
The galvanized iron manufacturers
have long had a strong combination to
regulate production and control prices.
| The only difficulty which they have had
| to contend with during the past ten
years has been the constantly falling
prices of terne plates. This cheapening
| of terne plate has greatly increased its
use for roofing, and by 50 doing has de
creased the demand for galvanized iron.
To keep their product ON the market
| the combination has been forced to re-
duCe its prices with every reduction in
the price OF terne plates. The problem
which has PerpleXed the combination
has long been what means could be de-
vised to decrease the use of terne plates.
When the Mills bill, which put terne
plates on the free list, was being dis
cussed, the galvanized iron manufac-
| turers organized an annex t. their com
| bination which they called the Ameri-
can Timed Plate association. the sec
| retaryship of which was given to w. C..
| Cronemeyer, a large manufacturer of
galvanized iron. This annex appealed
to the senate finance committee and in
duced it to increase the duty on te4ue
plate to an average Of > 2-lO cents per
pound in the substitute bill which the
mlttee, how Yer. gave away the Oh
ject Of the increased duty when it
issued its report. prepared by Senators
Aldrich and Allison, by declaring that
the free imjsSion OF iron or steel
! sheets of all thickness coated with tin or
! lead would cause a substitution of i'm
| ported tin plates or sheets in most case,
! for roofing and other building purposes.
/ and for dUmestI uses where galvanized
| or other sheet iron or steel is now used. 3"
Mr.. Cronen"yer and his associates
composing the galvanized iron combina-
ton wanted it to appear that they in
tended to make tin and terue plate.
| Their real object. however. was to make
terne plate cost so much that builders
would buy more Of their high priced
| Compared with low duticd terne plate)
| galvanized iron.
| They were successful last year, and
Mckinley, al their request, increased
the duty on terne plate to 2-1O cents per
/ pound. What has been the result:
In the first place, the price of terne
| plate has been increased by the amount
OF the alleged duty; in the second, the
galvanized iron combination has not
taken any steps to produce it in this
country. but, in the words of The Iron
Age, $50 far a. we can learn, there are not
many sheet manufacturers to be added
to the list of timed plate makers The
business appears to be remanded by quite
! general consent to those who will make
a speciality o. it. The sheet mills are
evidently not inclined to make the
timed plate manufacture an appendage
of their business thus showing clearly
the object which they had i'll advocating
! increased duties on timed plate.
! And now the galvanized iron makers
have made another move. Hardware
for Dec. %, 1891, has an article entitled
Tin Plate and Galvanized Iron Max
ers," and says: Two important meet
ings were held in Pittsburg recently.
when the board of directors of the
American Tin Plate association held a
session, as did also the board of directors
of the Galvanized Iron association. The
two meetings We're held separately, and
afterward the directors Of both concerns
Eeld Joint discussion. After
the meeting adjourned the directors of
each concern entered into an arrange
Inent that will finally lead to the fedora
ton of the association. None of the
directors would make public the terms
Of the agreeu ent. but said that satisfac-
tory relations had been agreed upon"
! The galvanized iron combination. of
| which the tin plate association is only
an annex, as shown above. did make
| public part Of the results agreed upon
| by making the following increases in the
| prices of galvanized iron:
| Weight Old New
per so. IT., price per price per
| Ouices. 100 lbs 100 lbs.
| Il to "a. ............. :S TO ~ SIS NJ ST -
| 2j "a. ............. 10 y l. 1 - 1 G2
| p 26. ............. IL u lEs 81
! =, ......-.-.....,..-. II ~ , y
| q Observation-Disclosures. - rs ) 81
This was the object of the increased
/ 4 4