The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1894-09-08
A GREAT TIN FAKE.
How the Mckinley TaraR Protects imam
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A GREAT TIN FAKE.
How the MCKINLEY TnraR Protects Infant
1ndastfiess
since the veracious ELI Perkins Wis
ited those tin mines ~ Harvey Peak
and overtaxed his very elastic imagin-
alton in a written description of their
fabulous wealth, scarcely hnything
has been heard Of them until how;
when some rather ugly legal proceed
ings brings them once more before the
went to Harvey Peak as an agent Of
the American Protective Tariff league:
He was unable to make . thorough
examination of the vast deposits OF
metal because the tin lying on the sur
face over an area of about sixty square
Dakota sunlight that his power OF
vision was injurious1y affected. His
truth telling faculties were not par |
alvzed, however, for his report was ~ |
dazzling as the resplendent surface Of |
the great tin deposits had been when |
rately the substance of his report, he |
found that sixty per cent. of the sur
face of the earth in the neighborhood
of Harvey Peak was pure tin
The Harvey Peak Tin Mining, Mill
ing and Manufacturing company has
had hard time of 1t trying to utilize
the vast deposits that burst upon the
enraptured vision of Perkins. The
company is ten years old, but 1T has
sold no tin in commercial quantities.
There was q time, we think. when
few small bricks of metal were made
and distributed as specimens or manu-
featured into campaign badges for the
followers of Mr.. Benjamin Harrison
But no pile of tin bars was erected In
the Black hills in order that the presi-
dent and presidential candidate might
rest one hand on it. and, in that inter-
<>,1@ f<.xv
about the beneficence of the Mckinley
tariff. 1t was reserved for the English
| owners of the great San Jacinto tin
mine in California to make such a con-
tribution to the history of Mckinley
symbolism, but where is the San ia
! cinto tin mine now? Where is the
| Harvey Peak mine, for that matter?
| Where is the tin the dazzling sheen of
' which almost blinded Mr.. Eli Perkins?
| The San Jacinto mine is stored away
' somewhere with the Harrison cam
paign banners and badges and torches
of 1892, and for the latest information
about those marvellous deposits at
Harvey Peak we must refer our read-
ers to the suit brought against the
company and the officers of 1T by GER
tain stockholders in England. The
lawyer who represents these plaintiffs
texse1y describes the condition Of tho
concern, as it appears to him, in the
following words: ''Twenty millions
to its debit; lot of unpro-
ducing and Abandoned alleged
mining properties to its credit:
and not one cent in It's treasury"
A very, interesting chapter of the
company's history may be disclosed by
these proceedings. The plaintiffs, who
have already procured the appointment
of a receiver, assert that $4,000, 600 In
stock and 81, 900 in bonds were
issued upon mining properties valued
l1, AlIeOa-
tions are made on that side, and the
, defendants tell an interesting story
; for their side of the case. 1t is proba'
: BILE that all the facts will come out be.
fore we hear the last of the suit, and
that we shall know what has become
of that principally of tin ore, sixty
per cent. pure metal, that also blinded
= Door Eli Perkins when he incautiouslJ
| looked at it.
The American people have bone K
| pick with the promoters of this com
pany, but they can more easily reacf
the senators and representatives wht
| rivalcd Perkins in their description
of the richness of the Harvey Peal
| deposits. and the great political part.
that. under the influence of these zen
ators and representatives., imposed
upon tin, the metal, a duty of four cent
a pound. The arguments to which tn
makers of the Mckinley tariff yielded
when they loaded this duty upon tn
raw material of many important indus
tries were those of certain legislator
who covered pages of the Congress
.sional Record with stories Of the fat
ulous wealth Of the Harvey Peak con
pany's mining claims. Some of ther
even asserted that these deposit
would soon ''suPply the world" wit
tin.
We have yet to discover how thes
persons were induced to tell thes
n stories and just what motives In
t. PEELED them. But every Manufacturing
+ | who uses the metal knows what tn
y. | effect has tecn. In the ten month
II ended on April 80 these manual
"a turers and the consumers Of the
h wares paid nearly $500, 900 in duties fc
the ''protection" of the Harvey Pea
h. | tin mines, so called. The sum woul
10 have been much larger if great qua1
II tity of the metal had not been in
10 ported before July l, 1898 (when tt
"a duty went into effect), in order tn;
the taA might be avoided Our norm
~ rate of consumption requires from AZ
~ 600, 900 to $4,000, 900 pounds Of the me
,u tai per annum, and this would invol'
AZ | a tariff tax of from 81, GOO. 900 to 81 800
I'd | 600, but the imports last year rose
re- 81, OOO, 900 pounds, for the reason ju
given, SO that about a six months SUI
ii ply was carried over. In the Pendir
tariff bill the metal is on the free lis
RI from which it ought not to have bee
. taken and where it would have +
, | NAMED If Eli Perkins, the protccti'