Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-09-21
no doubt of their success Welsh tins
days are numbered.

Whistling TO Keep Up Courage.
A recent issue OF the Industrial World,
published in Swansea, the official organ of
the tinplate workers in Wales, is filled
with lamentations and wailings about
the gloomy condition of the trade
on the other side Of the water.
After giving list of the monies received
for the "tinplaters' distress fund.-" this
paper adds: every tinplater must feel that
to alleviate the great distress now prevail
ing, prompt attention should be paid to the
payment of the sixpence levy imposed by
the council"
In another place the journal records the
stoppage of several tinplate works. Will
lam Williams, the manager of Upper For
est Tinplate Works, supplements the
notice OF the shut down Of his works after
the expiration of 2S days with the follow
ing: 81 much regret to be obliged to take
the above step, but the continued increased
depression in the trade makes no alterna-
tive. 1 hope, after the expiration of the
above notice, to be able to find partial en-
ployment for you, so as to mlnimlse your
loss as TAR as possible. But of course all
will depend upon the demand, and the rates
obtainable for produce.
The Industrial World comments upon the
closing of another works as follows: 'It
will be observed that the notice only ap-
plies to the tinhouse; hence the inference
that the black plate worked at the Cwm-
bwrla Mills will be sent to be coated in
America"
Hoping for Better Times.
Editorially under the caption of ''The
Gloomy Outlook" 4" it prints the following:
American protectfonists doubtless rejoice
at the present gloomy outlook of the tin
plate trade, and naturally they crow as
highly as they can over the belief that the
Mckinley tariff has permanently injured
the great Welsh staple trade. That the tar
III has injured the trade is undeniable, but
not in the way the protectionlst
stagnation is certainly due TO
American-made plates pushing the
Welsh plates out or the market, and
that is the only thing that would justify any
shouting on the part of Cousin Jonathan. 1t
can readily be believed that the advance in
the price of tin has checked consumption
through the adoption of other materials,
and that the uncertainty of tariff or no
tariff in view of the election induces every
consumer to hold as little stocks as possible.
This, however, does not spell permanent
to gone through periods of depression al
most equal to the present, when
employers had not the boom created
by Mckinley to help them to tide 1t over.
Result of Trying to Beat the Tariff.
The great injury that the tariff did was to
bring about an unnatural demand for
time. To meet this, and to secure the high
profits then possible, mills were laid down
at old works and new works started, which
turned out almost the whole production of
the works now stopped through the de-
preston. The responsibility OF the present
gloomy outlook can be well divided between
Wales and Washington.
This week notices to terminate contracts
have been given at Upper Forest and Wor-
cester Steel and Tin Plate Works, Morristou,
Nf,al, Sxx-arN
Vale Tinplate Works, AOeravon. This, COM
ing as it does when so many other works are
idle already, makes the winter prospects OF
the thousands dependent upon the tin plate
trade most serious, facing as they do a CON-
ing winter.
This is rather weak way of putting the
matter when compared with the following
article clipped from the South Wales Daily
Meas:
1t is evidently in the interests of masters
and men that something should be done to
enable works to be carried on and prices
kept at such a figure that, despite Mckinley
and his tariff we should be able to under
sell the Yankee, and so render useless
his last attempt to overturn our industry.
Expecting an Unpleasant Surprise.
Something mere decided than he"sit down
and wait to see What will turn up policy is
required: for if we depend upo n the McKin-
lev act being repealed in the face of the
strenuous efforts that are being made in
America to produce plates we shall proba-
bly, be unpleasantly surprised within the
next few months. The question is what
shall we do? 1t is certainly not iair to the
manufacturer to expect him to carry on his
works at loss, nor, on the other
hand, can the men be expected
TO place the prOprietOrS in a position to
make an undue profit. Then it is obvious
that to enable works that are stopped be-
cause they did not pay to restart conces-
sions must be made. In all other trades it
ia tho cuStOm for 4 follow 11ricas
and down; until now the need of such a
custom has not been so pressing in the tin
plate trade, but against the exceptional
circumstances that have forced prices to
ID the lowest point ever known
it is clear that exceptional meas
ures must be taken, aud it is therefore
the duty of masters to meet their workmen,
explain the position, and explicitly eXpound
what would enable them to work without
loss, and it is equally the duty of the men
a duty they owe to their falnilies-to meet
the masters, hear what they have to say,
and do their best to meet them, remember
ing that carrying on the works at no profit
per ton is to the manufacturer actual loss
He loses the interest of his capital, which
on q work of eight mills, allowing the cost
to be but "a 600 per mill, would be O large
item.
Wages Must Be Cut Down.
Such a course, then, as that sketched
above would appear reasonable and just,
and one great step, l venture to say, toward
II NOuiu DO the men UNION 10 INSTRUCT
the various branches that they had liberty
to so meet the masters anu endeavor to
come to terms. One thing further may be
mentioned. 1t is said that the proprietors
of some of the works stopped have expressed
themselves as ready to receive proposals
from the men. This course, however, cer-
tainly does not commend itself, being cal
cuateQ to arouse the suspicion that what
these gentlemen require is not so much to
carry on the works to benefit their work
people and put down American competition
as to make profit, If possible, at the ex-
pense of the workpeople.
From circular of appeal which was
widely circulated at Pontardawe, the In
l1Ss:rial World prints an extract which ends
with 'Stick to your work boys at Pontar-
dave before the Americans take it,