Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-06-09


Tin plates since the tariff discussion
concerning them have become an item
Of public interest. There seems to be a
surprising ignorance on the part of the
people concerning their manufacture,
the diversified uses to which they are
applied, as we'll as to the qualities which
make them important in the economy of
living.
Briefly stated, tin plates are iron or
steel sheets cut to convenient size
plated with tin; in other words, iron or
steel plates painted on both sides with
tin coating.
Ninety per cent. of all the tin plates
consumed in the world are made in
Wales. For 10 years that little coun-
try has defied all competition in their
manufacture. Added to a thorough
knowledge of the practical features of
the trade, the W elsh manufacturers have
proved great inventors in bringing into
use labor saving and material saving
machinery.
As iron and tin constitute the entire
bulk of and 80 per cent. of the entire
rost of tin plates, their price and fuctu-
alton are the history of the tin produc-
ton of the world and the sheet steel in
dustry. Owing to the scarcity of tin,
prices advanced from 1864, when it was
eS7 per ton, to el59 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
q correspondingly low price, Philadel-
phia pig being quoted in 1876 at $3.50,
as against $53 in 1872. The cheapness
of these ingredients lowered the price of
tin plates to 12s. 115d. 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.
The cheapness Of tin plates, together
with their durability for certain uses,
and their adapta oility as wrappers for
Theoretically sealed canned food has
greatly stimulated their importation. In
1850 the importation was only 10000
boxes; now it has reached over 6,000, 900
boxes. Our natural increase in con-
sumption of plates since 1887 amounts
to 100000 boxes each year. This increase
is 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 a large per-
centage of tin for soldering, as the sol
der needs to be strong and noncorrosive.
| From 10 900 to IS, 900 tons of pig tin are
required for this purpose annually.
The canning industry would never
have developed to its present status had
it not had the advantage of cheap tin
| plates. Glass was found to be too ex-
pensive and the matter of its breakage
too extensive to prove economical as
a wrapper for 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
ming industry has made wonderful de-
| velOpment, and being a direct evolution
Of agriculture has stimulated class of
| intensive farming in the older settled
portions of the country which has not
only rescued farmers from an actual
retrogression, but has made their farms
remunerative. One million acres of land
are now under exclusive cultivation for
these canneries. As a farmer on an
average devotes from eight to ten acres
of his farm to this class of culture, it is
shown that 100000 farmers, or SOC, 900
people, are interested in the cultivation,
growing and picking of these fruits and
vegetables which these can wrappers
convey to the consumers of the country.
1t was under these encouraging con-
ditions of the canning industry, and the
advantages thus created by a home
market for the farm ers' produce, that the
supposed prohibitive duty of 1890 on tin
plates was inflicted.
Put forth as a protection pure and
simple to few sheet roofing men in
order to drive out g. competing article,
the law utterly ignored the canning
industry, which, unable to substitute
galvanized iron or sheet steel for tin
plates in its manufacture of Theoretically
sealed food products, hence had no alter
native but to pay the enhanced price or
go out of the business.
Reports from all sections of the coun-
try indicate clearly the effects of this ar
bitrary interference on the part. of the
government with al established indus
try. Letters received from over 100
concerns, both Gamers and manufactur-
ers of tinware, and of all political
shades, and scattered from Maine to
California, set forth in most emphatic
terms the injury of the increased duty
ON tin plates to their business.
The policy of spoliation, however, has
been perfectly indicated. The sheet
iron mills have been able to advance the
prices Of their products according to pro
gramme, and American consumers of
tin plates have been taxed $21 ,000, 900 to
create an industry which up to date has
supplied us with les than twenty-five