The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-10-14
A LESSON AT ANDERSON
FURTHER PROOFS OF WHAT MKIN-
LEYIsM HAS DONE IN THAT CITY.
Tin-Plate Factory Pays n Million An
nuaIly I'm WaEes-Why a shovel
Factory Kept Up.


preSSiOnS concerning the past, present and
future of business. They all say, 1.-THE last
few years were bad. very bad part of the
time; the present is good. very, very good,
and the future is as rosy as a sunset in
June" When any one here is asked what
he thinks of Mckinley, or of protection, he
simply points in the direction of North An
derson and says: go out there and look
at that big tin-plate factory. Except for
Mckinley it would not be there. 1t is run
ming all the time and furnishes the support
for several thousand people. Can any man
look at it, with it's hundreds of well-paid
workmen, and then declare that protection
does not protect? That factory pays out
nearly million dollars every year in wages
to the people here. and yet there are some
people here very few, however) who will
vote for party that, when in power partly
repealed the law that put that factory there
and keeps it there. You might travel
throughout this country and you could not
find better advocate of William Mckinley
than that factory
Lying just east of the tin-plate works is
factory that was benefited, strange as 1t
may seem, by the hard times that caused
SO much suffering in the winter of 1S93-94.
While Indianapolis and other cities were
providing souphouses, food markets and
other charities for the unemployed. the
Wright Shovel Company, of this city, was
working full force of men. w. ]. Afford.
speaking for the company, offered an ex
PLANTATION of this condition which seems
novel at first thought, but which is I'M
doubtedly correct. AS winter approached in
1893 it became evident on all sides that, with
factories closing everywhere, there would
be want and restitution, and plans were laid
to alleviate the suffering as much as posi-
bic. The cry was raised everywhere for
cities and towns and states to do as much
public work possible as to give work
to the needy. AS most of the readers of the
Journal will remember, this plan was
adopted by cities and towns all over the
country. Men who had spent their lives in
factories bought shovels and went to work
on the public work being offered. This
created an unusual demand for shovels.
TT seemed to me-" said Mr.. Afford,
that every man in the country was hand
ling a shovel that winter, for we could
scarcely supply the demand The cities had
to make work or feed the people free, so
they made work. We have been very busy
ever since and have largely increased our
capacity. We now employ about two hun
dred hands, while we then had only about
$50. The future prospects are bright.
AT THE STRAWBORD PLANT.
The American Strawboard Company is
now running full time and will run all year,
while in 1894 and in 1896 it was in opera
ton only six months. A. E. Williams, SUI
perintendent, said:
1T requires the same number of men to
run our mill, whether we run one day or
one month-we can only reduce by shutting
down entirely. We have had a liberal wage
scale and have had no complaints from the
men, We made no cut in the hard times
and have made no increase now. The better
business conditions have allowed us to run
the mill this year double the time of any
year since 1922
Mr.. Williams shows that his pay roll is
$4,000 month, so that this year the fac
tory will pay out to its ITO employees $4S, Co.,
while since 1882 it has not paid over $50, 600
Below is the report of the Anderson Glass
Company. 1t is very instructive and will
open some eyes:
Number of employees. go $50 ESQ
Monthly pay roll: ,":.. $1,000 sls,So0 $4,000
Did you work S full fm nc yes oen No No.
what per cent. !.......... 100 so "
Commenting on these figures, the secre-
tary of the company said:
1892, when we were enabled to run the
plant the full time at wages to our work.
ingmen which were the highest known in
recent times. mat was under the MCk1n-
ley tariff law. BY the passage of the Will
son-Gorman bill the men suffered a reduc-
ton of z215 per cent, and in some special
wages. The Dingley law has restored the
2215 per cent and for the next year we
have already signed the scale with two
branches of the trade at wages a little high
er than the wages OF 1892. We expect to be-
gin operations next Saturday, with better
prospects than for years, and continue until
May 30, when we will close for the usual
repairs
WAGE INCREASE APPARENT.
"A httle further analysis of the figures
given by this company will throw more
light on the subject. There is no difference
in any of the years in the number of men
employed, for it REQUIRES certain number
of employees to operate the plant, and 1t
must either use all or none. In 1893 the
company paid in eight months to it's $50 en-
ployes $4,000; in 1896, for eight months
work, 1874, 400, and in 1898. for ten months
work. $180,000 Thus, while the report of the
number of men employed shows no increase,
the actual amount of money paid the en-
ployes was $4,000 in excess of the amount
paid in 1885, or increase of 60 per cent.
in five years While the scale of wages
shows an increase of less than 80 per cent,
the real increase in the wages of the en-
ployes is 60 per cent, and it is the dollars
and cents that buy bread and butter and
not per cent. For every SIP received by
the employees of this company in 1898, $3.50
will be received in 1898.
The National Wrought-iron Annealing
Box Company is not a very large concern,
but its history is very instructive, 1t de-
Ponds for it's existence solely upon the tim
plate factories, for its product is used solely
for annealing tin plate 1t now employs
twenty-three men, and every few weeks
see an increase. Two years ago sixteen
meh were employed and in 1894 only eight.
There is only one other factory in this
country engaged in making these massive
wrought-ironboxes. j. W. Jones, one of
the two owners of the plant, said:
we have increased the wages OF all our
men in the last three or four years, and
they are all we'll satisfied. We have more
orders booked now than we ever had be-
fore at this season of the year. We have
recently built an addition to our shop and
]. J. Markey is the other owner of this
plant Prior to 1890 he was a strong and
Woodworking Democrat He could not
conceive the possibility of any act of the
Republicans being right or of anything
done by the Democrats being wrong. He
always found among the local DEM
OCratic workers. When the Mckinley bill
became law and he saw what effect it had,
how it established an industry in this coun-
try of such gigantic proportions, he de-
the party that was pledged to ruin what
the Mckinley law had established and
since that time he has always voted the
Republican ticket, and says he always will
do so. WALTER A. ROYSE-
Fatal BOILER Explosion.
IONA. Mich Oct 13-Two boilers in the
Insane burst to-day, killing Harry Hanley,
of Saginaw, and fatally Wounding Jack