Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1898-10-08
BUILT UP BY PROTECTION.
Remarkable Growth Of the Anne rican
Tin-Plate Industry.
me Manufactures.

The phenomenal development Of
the tin-plate industry in this country
continues. The American product
now not only has practically secured
control of the entire American mar
ket, but it has also been sent in small
quantities over the seas in the form OF
tin-plate and in large and increasing
quantities in the form of tin cans, in
creasing American provisions and
canned goods. These goods were ur-
til recently sent out, as a rule, in tins
of foreign plate in order to secure the
rebate, but the low price to which the
American product has been reduced
makes this no longer an inducement.
The canning trade is the most i'm
portant consumer Of tin. since granite
ware and other forms Of porcelain
covered steel have supplanted that
product in a large measure in the
manufacture of kitchen utensils.
The American n-plate manufacturers
were obliged at first to content them.
selves with sending their products
east of the Missouri river only.
Gradually the new and more economi-
cal methods of manufacture intro
duced and the readjustment of freight
rates have enabled them to put their
products on the market in nearly all
parts of the country in competition
with the Welsh plates, and within
comparatively short time it seems
probably that all foreign plates will
be practically driven from the field.
Not only has the American plate Sc
cured strong hold on the American
market, in spite of the opposition of
the long established Welsh industry,
but during the year ended June so,
1903, there were exported to foreign
countries nearly thousand dollars
worth of plates, tact which is re-
markable when all the circumstances
are taken into consideration.
Little by little this infant indus
try" as it was termed at the passage
of the Mckinley law, has spread out
till it now practically controls the
American market. The imports OF
the foreign product have fallen off
from S35.746, o2o worth in 1891 to only
little over So, 900, 900 worth in 1898.
Many efforts have been made to find
paying deposits of tin in this coun-
try, and the discovery of such de-
posts has been announced from time
to time. None of the discoveries,
however, have proved to be worth
working, and consequently the
American tin plate mills seem doomed
to be dependent on outside sources
for their tin supply for an indefinite
period, if not forever. This difficulty
is not such serious one as it would
at first appear, however, as the tin
makes up but from to S per cent of
the weight of the finished product.
This industry, which has since the
beginning of this decade grown from
practically nothing to such proper
tions that it is equal to supplying the
entire home demand for tin-plate, is
now pointed to as striking example
of the effect of judicious tariff legis
lation.
Before the passage of the Mckinley
tariff law, in 1890, which placed
duty of ? 2-Io cents per pound upon
foreign made tin-plate, the industry
in this country was for all practical
purposes non-existent. The cost OF
material and the cost of labor were
too high to enable Americans to COM
pete with the English makers. 1t was
the favorable treatment in that law
which enabled the industry to get
foothold in the United States. The
Wilson law of 1894 still continued the
duty, though at reduced rate of is
cents, and the Dingley law increased
it to u cents.
Knights Templar Triennial Conciave.