Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1892-08-25
qIN PLATE HISTORY.
rue DIVERSIFIED USES TO WHICH
IT IS APPLIED.

III
= u,s - . Food Wrapper-How the
r,xlnisy Tariff Is Injuring the Tarin
r,1ustry--what Tin Plate Is and How
M Manufactured.
Inplstes since the tariff discussion
Sacerning them have become an item
duubic interest. There seems to be a
mpriing ignorance on the part of the
rcple concerning their manufacture,
ihe dvwsifed uses to which they are
ppled, as well as to the qualities which
naks them important in the economy of
living
\ Briefly stated, tin plates are iron or
i aeel sheets cut to q convenient size
rstsd with tin; in other words, iron or
Gtsel plates painted on both sides with a
III coating.
4 Ninety per cent. of all the tin plates
0ummed in the world are made in
Wales For ITO years that little coun-
ty has deied all competition in their
manufacture. Added to a thorough
knowledge Of the practical features of
| hs trade, the Welsh manufacturers have
Proved great inventors in bringing into
" labor saving and material saving
machinery.
As iron and tin constitute the entire
bulk Of and 90 per cent. of the entire
cost Of tin plates, their price and fuctu-
alton are the history of the tin produc-
don Of the world and the sheet steel in
dutry. Owing to the scarcity of tin,
prices advanced from 1864, when it was
M per ton, to 9159 in 1892. There was
nearly as marked an advance in iron
during the same period. This sent the
price Of tin plates up to 26s. per box. In
1878 tin reached the exceedingly low
price Of e52 los. per ton. Iron reached
correspondingly low price, Philadel-
phia pig being quoted in 1876 at 1880,
as against $50 in 1879. The cheapness
Of these ingredients lowered the price Of
TIN plates to 12s. 11Sd. Since that date
the decline in plates has been in strict
Keeping with the price of iron and tin
down to June, 1890, when speculation
Incident to the Mckinley tariff on tin
plates set in.
Inc cheapness of tin plates, together
with their durability for certain uses,
and their adaptability as wrappers for
dramatically sealed canned food has
greatly stimulated their importation. In
lSoO the importation was only 100000
boxes; now it has reached over 5000, 900
boxes. Our natural increase in con-
sumption Of plates since 1887 amounts
70 $4,000 boxes each year This increase
y directly traceable to the development
Of the canning industry, which now con-
sumes more than $500, 900 boxes yearly.
These cans or wrappers for canned
produce are made up with large per-
centage of tin for soldering, as the SOL
ger needs to be strong and noncorrosive.
from ID, 600 to $4,000 tons of pig tin are
required for this purpose annually.
Inc canning industry would never
nave developed to it's present status had
" not had the advantage of cheap tin
plates. Glass was found to be too ex-
pensive and the matter of its breakage
700 extensive to prove economical as
wrapper for a food product. Tin cans
were found to be as wholesome as glass,
proof against breakage and less than
one-third the cost Of the glass jars.
Under the stimulus of these cheap
wrappers made from tin plates the can
nlng industry has made wonderful de-
veiopment, and being a direct evolution
d agriculture has stimulated class Of
intensive farming in the older settled
portions Of the country which has not
only rescued farmers from an actual
'erogression, but has made their farms
One million acres of land
ire now under exclusive cultivation for
'nese canneries. AS farmer on an
lverage devotes from eight to ten acres
y his farm to this class of culture, it is
hown that 100000 farmers, or 100000
'eople, are interested in the cultivation,
rowing and picking of these fruits and
vegetables which these can wrappers
onvey to the consumers of the country.
1t was under these encouraging con-
litions of the canning industry, and the
dvantages thus created by home
market for the farmers produce, that the
opposed prohibitive duty of 1890 on tin
lates was inflicted.
Put forth as a protection pure and
nipple to a few. sheet roofing men in
rder to drive out competing article,
be law utterly ignored the canning
ndustry, which, unable to substitute
advanced iron or sheet steel for tin
lates in it's manufacture of Theoretically
called food products, hence had no alter
alive but to pay the enhanced price or
o out of the business.
Reports from all sections of the coun-
y indicate clearly the effects of this az
itrary interference on the part of the
overnment with an established indus
". Letters received from over 100
oncerns, both Gamers and manufacture
rs of tinware, and of all political
hades, and scattered from Maine to
california, set forth in most emphatic
erms the injury of the increased duty
n tin plates to their business.
The policy of spoliation, however, has
zen perfectly indicated. The sheet
ron mills have been able to advance the
'rices of their products according to pro-
Iramme, and American consumers OF
IN plates have been taxed $21 900, 900 to
create an industry which up to date has
supplied us with less than twenty-five
YOURS consumption of American plates
~ Of 80 per cent. imported material
Ano by imported mechanics.
THOMAS l.. BUNTING.