The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1894-03-22
schaefer On Tin

Schaefer On Tin
Editor Advance: s.. Nj
The vexed tin question like
Banquos ghost will not down. The
country press is industriosly circulat-
ing Pioneer Press editorial on tin
which appears extremely logical toone
unacquainted with the facts, and
naturally and quite properly arouses
the just resentment of the people.
The free advertisements are given to
an unsuspecting press, and b. it to
an unsuspecting people; by the ring
which reaps the sole benefit of the 70
per cent duty on tin, for the purpose
of arousing the indignation of the
people into strong sentiment of
opposition to any tariff Registration
which threatens to- reduce it's enor-
nous profits.
These profits are created by law.
A profit created by law is tax, and
the people must pay it.
The Pioneer Press article is neither
fair nor truthful statement of the
status of the tin plate industry. It
claims that the home production Of
tin for the last fiscal year was over
100000 pounds and says further
this is equal to third of the amount
imported that year. IL. ....
We believe the first statement to be
true, but the second is very far from
the truth, since the average .importa-.
tions for many years has. been about
700, 100000 pounds. But even if we
had succeeded in producing one
third of the amount in question, or
even if we had produced the entire
amount which we now import, what
would we have gainedl
The cost of tin plate is not so much
in the tin itself which is mere coat
ing but in the steel plates. Now the
actual fact is, we import the steel
sheets or plates, the pig tin, the dip
ping pots, and the Welshman to over
see the work, and this is called-by
the ruling of an interested U. S. Off
cial- American tin. It was demon
strated during the controversy in con-
gress, that the dipping process could
be performed by boys, and that few
of them could dip enormous quaint
ties of these plates. And for this the
American people are taxed about 20,
100000 dollars year. It is, we be-
lieve, generally conceded now
since Senator Moody of the Black
Hills tin mining district is out of con-
gress that there is no pig tin pro-
duced in this country We know by
U. S. Treasury reports that the i'm
portation of steel sheets of which tin
and plates are composed has in
creased from about nothing in 1890
to an enormous aggregate last year.
The price of these sheets-the
chief component of tin plate-has de-.
creased to such an extent in the.
markets of the world, that foreign
tin plates can now be bought in
Wales for about q cents per pound.
It was openly charged in congress
in 1890 that the tin tariff agitation
was caused by the "Steel Roofing
Industry" of the country, which
wanted tin raised to such a price that
their roofing would be used instead.
The present Mckinley protection
on tin plates is about 70 or 80 per
cent. the proposed duty of the
Wilson bill is just one half of
that amount. We leave it to any
candid mind, if IS or 40 per cent is
not enough protection for any indus
try, and if more than that is not rank
robbery7
And yet the Pioneer Press says
that this great industry is already
paralized. It does not mention the
fact however, that the people are be-
ing taxed 100000 dollars year SO
that a few boys may be furnished
with employment to produce about
1OO,O 100000 pounds of tin year, at a
cost of over 20 cents pound to the
American consumer. Nor did the
Pioneer Press think it worth while to
mention that all exporters OF tin, i. 9.
the meat exporters like Armour and
the oil exporters like Rockefeller,
both lti-millionaires, have 80 per
cent of the tariff refunded to them,
upon making affidavit that they i'm
ported the tin of which the coverings
e - L. L.