Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1893-01-19
BUeBEARs OF TsE GLASS BUSINESS

BUeBEARs OF TsE GLASS BUSINESS.
Mr.. r. NJ. ATwATER in the american
Manufacturer discusses the ups and
downs Of the glass business in 1892,
which year he does not hold to have
been a successful one. Two causes
evils. he calls them-have been large
factors in bringing about this condition,
namely. too much dependence on a
high protective tariff, and natural gas.
The glass makers Of the country, I"
SAYS Mr.. ATwATER, shave been led to
rely upon an artificial basis, that rs the
tariff, for their profits instead Of on
the only safe basis, the open market.
Protection fails to do its work if the
methods OF manufacture are not i'm
proved. The result of twenty years OF
protection shows no material improve
ment Of glass manufacture markedly in
the department of furnace construction
and economic ,auxlng. Meanwhile for
eigu makers have practically made the
business entirely over, and are to-day
with poorer material ami higher fuel,
making better glass than ours at about
half our cost"
As to the part natural gas has played
he says:
1t is safe to assert that il this bountiful
endowment had fallen 10 any OF the manu-
featuring countries Of Europe II would
have completely transferred the business
OF the world to those countries. Equally
may IL be asserted that properly handled
10 would have given America the glass
market of all the Americas and the East
Indies. But the wave has come and nearly
gone. II fiickers on the western limits OF
its domain, and aside from few paltry IN
fiated bank accounts, it has brought US no
good or permanent benefit.
The tariff and natural gas together have
CON bined 20 make the glass business neld
for gamblers in gas fields, boom towns and
merchandise. Every Spectator in gas
fields has invited glass factories 10 help
push his boom. They could be built IN a
week with the smallest outlay of capital of
any business that put so large amount OF
cash into circulation. The markets were
flooded with job lots OF ware from locau-
ties that but a few weeks before had never
seen q bottle blown. The demOralZing
DAYS Of the ffties ia California were al
most eQualed in the rush 10 these lands OF
promise What might have been source
Of blessing and permanent advantage be-
came verita0le gift OF Mephistopheles.
All who have watched the rise and
fall Of these mushroom towns have
read the lesson here taught. The man
ufacturers who had not the intelligence
or foresight to see that the gas fields
must soon play out, and removed estab-
lished plants into the regions Of the
cheap fuel, are now the worst of Of
all. Dear fuel, instead, they and the
glass business generally have found 1t
TO be. Here is where the excellent
maxim, LET well enough alone, should
have come into play. There was no
excuse for manufacturers to leave be-
hind the cheap aud permanent fuel and
the excellent facilities of, for instance, a
peighborhood such as this to "try their
luck" in the gas fields of Ohio and In
diana, and indeed this vicinity was for
tunate in resisting TO the extent it did
their allurements.
The foolish manufacturers see their
error now. Let US trust they and
others will profit by their hindsight.
A BILL has been favorably reported
to take Utah into bed with the sister
hood Of States. The surplus wives who
haven't provided themselves with hus-
bands when the change comes will have