New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-10-03
TINpLlTES-coSr AND PRICES.

The rise in tnpates is to many persons con
elusive evidence that the new corporations have
advanced prices arbitrarily and unfairly. The
question IS one which defenders of the new in
dustral methods have need to meet squarey,
because the prevailing impression that prices OF
Tin utensils depend upon the cost Of tinplates
leads multitudes to suppose that the personal
expenses Of the working people are increased by
this advance. If it is an unreasonable advance,
one of the corporations at least will be held in
imical to the welfare Of the people. On No
vcmbcr !. 1898. when the many makers were
completing their consolidation, 100 pounds Bes-
semer l. C. coke plates, IA by 20. were selling
here at 50 s., and now they cost 81 s.. an ad-
vance Of Just So or 75l5 per cent Welsh plates
have advanced abroad. It IS true from JOS to
lbs. or 80 per cent but why has the rise been so
much more here?
The foreign problem Is readily solved. Bes-
scmer hcmatlte pig has advanced in England
only from J4S TO los less than 30 per cent. But
Bcsscmcr pig at Plttsburg has advanced from
sos on November I. 1895, 10 S23 - on October
t. 1N99-more than 10 per cent. When the tin
plate association was formed Bessemer bllets
were selling at SO - a ton. and now sell at S39
n ton. As about - per cent is lost in rolling and
plates are made from a ton Of pig. the material
which cost 81 cents a box In 1898 now costs
s. 1G7 a box. an increase Of 81 30 box. The
zig tin which then sold at l1&s cents pound
now commands 30 cents and the two and one
half pound. required for n box Of plates then
cost iI.l cents and now costs SO cents nm adj
vance of 3~1 cents. The rise I'm wages Of labor,
Il Der cent in July. following an advance early
"A a.rtfg haX
Of fuel Connellsvlc coke having advanced from
81 - TO - - a ton may bee reckoned rs having
advanced about o. cents box. These items
nlonc show an increase Of 81 99l2 box, the
selling price having advanced 50. This would
indicate no increase in profits OF makers Dut
actual decrease. because other materials, such as
acid. palm oil. hux. castings and boxes have be-
come dearer the difference amounting to much
more than one-haf cent box, as their total
cost was formerly about II cents box.
This comtarison is in one respect unfair how
ever. because the price for billets differs much
from their cost to those who manufacture them
from pig or buy them long contracts The
ospecial demand for blllets just now is such
that sheet bars from which the tlnplates are
directly made were selling last week AT $3i
Tom M Plttsburg against $50 for billets, while In
Novnmber. 1895 sheet bars cost SIG -, against
SLIPS for billets But, reckoning the cost OF
sheet bars for both dates. 1t appears that the
or,utitv per box now costs 81 1872 more than
Inst wear and with the other items given the IN
crease In material and labor would be 81 S2I n
hnv without any allowance for the advance IN
noln, ou acid castings and boxes. The advance
I'm railroad frcights on material must also be re-
,n.nherod With less than Is cents OF the adj
youcn not covered by known cost Of material
and lnbor. the profits of makers cannot have
hnnn unreasouably increased. Nor should II be
forootten that IN November last year. after
long ncrod Of severe competition, the tinplAte
manufacture had become entirely Improbable
FOR many of the works. so that they were not In
oprration. while the best and most fortunate
works were making only narrow profits.
In the light Of these facts 1t must be admitted
,hot tho tinplate combination does not appear
to baye advanced prices arbitrarily or unfairly
II its profit I'm times " such extraordinary pros
u.rity ms now exists has not been Increased
be, oud bare living base more than these com
parisons Indicate. the consumers surely have no
ri,,ht 10 COMPLAIN Nor have they if 10y means
of greater economy In management or produc-
tion than was possible for many scattered con
Germs the corporation has been able TO realize
an additional profit. for that gain IS In that case
only the legitimate reward for n wiser and bet
trr organization Of the industry. II Is claimed
that the gain 10y this change in management
has been enough. without any other 10 pay
comfortable dividend If 50. the concern earns
ifs living. 80 10 speak by useful service. and II
an the other Industrial corporations could make
as good "A showing there would be- small reason
10 denouncc them as hostile 10 the public vel
fare. As no other Of these combinations has 80
little competition within lis field as the Amer
can Tin Plate Company. the record Of its per
Torrance has some value as evidence that extor-
honate charges do not Of necessity follow n con-
solldaton Of producing interests