Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-01-18
ST|cKNEY PLANT CLOSED.
Nay Throw More Men and Work to
Local Industries.
SWEEPING REDUCTIONS IN WIN
DOW GLASS-DISRUPTION OF
THE FRUIT JAR BUSINESS IN
INDIANA FIELD - ALL BUT
FOUR POTTERIES IN TRUST.
MORE INJUNCTION WRITS IN
w. e. l.. E. CASES.

The hot mill department of the tin
mill of the Stickney Iron Company, at
Canton, where the hot steel is rolled in
to plates, was closed on Saturday by
order of the American Tinplate Com
pany. Work in the tinhouse, where
the tin is applied to the sheets of~.steel,
will be continued until the end of jan
uary, when. it is stated. that depart
ment will also be closed. The Stickney
Iron Company received notice late Sat
urday afternoon to shut down the hot
mill at once, and the other departments
as soon as practicable.
About one hundred and twenty men
will be thrown out of employment,
among them many skilled mechanics,
such as. rollers, heaters, doublers, catch
ers, and screw men. The pay roll of the
company amounted to $500 every two
weeks, the employees being paid twice
a month. The place will be shut down
for an indefinite time, and all the tin
will be made at the larger mills of the
trust, located at Pittsburg, Connells-
vile, New Castle, Pa, and at the big
plants controlled by the syndicate at
Martins Ferry. The weekly output of
the Stickney is 1000 boxes and the
quality is said to be first-class. The
employees are preparing to leave for
other sections where the mills are to be
kept running.
The sweeping cut in window glass
prices made by the trust are being
taken advantage of by the jobbers. One
or two of the big independents are SELL
ing glass 5 per cent under the Is and
20 per cent discounts made by the
trust, and it is now thought the trust
will make another sweeping reduction,
bringing prices way under cost of pro-
duction.
The fruit jar industry is in a complete
state of disruption and plants are clos
ed down. At Muncie, in the Indiana
field, a year ago, Ball Bros, introduced
machinery by which they are able to
produce fruit jars at labor cost of six
teen cents a gross, thereby making it
impossible for the manufacturers who
blow by hand to compete. In that To-
cality the hand" manufacturers-ex-
cept one-have closed their plants and
are changing plants for other glass
manufacture. Two cent jars will mean
that the tin can trade will be disrupted
more or less, and that all fruits will be
packed in glass.
Bottle making is undergoing a
change scarcely less pronounced, while
plate glass is evolving strange methods
and taking, by reason of low prices, |
the best the window glass market at
-fords. Tableware is very slow now.
In every branch prices are down to the |
marrow now, and it takes very cool
financial heads to figure out what is
going to happen in even three months
from date.
= It comes from a source that should
be deemed reliable, that the pottery
trust, capital $27, 000, 900, has succeeded
in inducing all the plants in the United
States, except four, to enter into the
combine. 1t it believed that among
the four independents, East Liverpool
has a representative, reports to the
contrary Notwithstanding. The small
number which has stood out makes it
improbable that they could in any way
affect prices, but it appears it is not
their intention to do SC. 1t is stated
there will be selling arrangements with
the outside four, so they will not be
Objectionable competitors. The an
nounced object of the combine is
omy in freight rates, and in the
marketing Of products.
Yesterday Deputy Sheriff Westwood,
of Belmont county, received a number
of summons in the Injunction suit
brought by the c., l.. & w. Railroad
Company against the Wheeling & Lake
Erie Company, and last night served
one on T. j. S%tringer, contractor for
the work to be done along the river
front at Martins Ferry, and another
on T. C. Cordell, one of the Wheeling
& Lake Erie officials.
Several Wheeling & Lake Erie Off
Gals were in Martins Ferry all day
yesterday, but some of them left on
the 6 p. m. train. The railroad stu
alton was quiet yesterday, and there
is no apprehension of trouble in the
near future.