Kootenai County Republican. (Rathdrum, Idaho) 1899-1903, 1900-04-20
100000 MORE WAGES.
Significance of the Increase Granted
by TIN Plate Employers.


The increase Of 10 per cent in the
wages OF the tin plate workers Of tho
United States Is a very significant and
noteworthy incident. 1t is significant
for two reasons first, because the
ability Of employers OF tin plate work
ers to pay higher wages. or indeed TO
pay any wages whatever. Is wholly,
admittedly and indlsputably due to the
operation Of the duty imposed on for
eign tin plate by Republican legisla-
ton, aud, second, because the tin plate
industry is directed by concentration
of organized capital, which democratic
demagogues are never tired Of quot
ing and denouncing as q type Of all
that Is most dangerous and reprehensl-
Die in the line OF industrial monopolies.
No Intelligent man can reflect upon
these two circumstances without be-
ing impressed by the weight and scope
of their significance. There never was
n clearer, stronger. a more incontro-
vertible example of the benefeent and
influential operation Of a protective
tariff in building up home Industries
than that afforded by the history OF
the tin plate industry in the United
States Prior to 1890 no tin plate was
manufactured In this country. Ameri-
cans use more tin plate than any 9th
er people. and all we used was bought
abroad. mostly In Wales. THIS was
because the foreign manufactures, be-
MI Id t..t.
about half the rate Of wages current
In this country, could make lin plate
so much more cheaply than 1t could
then be produced here TINT compcu-
tlon with him was impracticable. This
situation was brought to tie attention
Of Inc ways and means committee, Of
which Mr. Mckinley was then chair
man. and the tariff bin Of 1880, the so
called Mckinley bill. subjected foreign
tin plate 10 Il protective duty.
The result WAS immediate. To the
utter confusion of the Democratic free
traders. who insisted that tin plate
could not be manufactured here and
/ who shed many bitter tears over the
7 distress Of the workingman who would
D DE cUIliittl4tA ~ pay ~ AAHA a 4Atpi 49,
his dinner pail. American tin plate
manufactures sprang MP al once. The
industry advanced by leaps and
bounds. AMI by the time the calamity
breeding Wilson tariff was enacted II
+ had attained 20 such proportions that
/ even the Democrats shrank from ne
1 moving the protective barrier behind
witch II bad been developed. They re-
duced the tin plate duty. but did not
repeai II. and the industry, 10y that
time Too firmly established to be seri.
I ouslv affected. continued 10 prosper.
II was properly cared for In the Ding
lev or present tarlff, and now IT en-
Dlovs some 2oeeo men n excellent
wages ard II Is estimated that the nd.
vance lust granted viii involve the
distribution among them 81 an add
tlonal million dollars annually. Could
/ the protective principle he more con.
/ clusively yindieatedF
4 Note also that this million dollar IN
Z crease In wages was made 10y n SO
called trust with control alleged "a
be absolute of It's particular field os
praauefion. Can II be possible that
the trust Expresses the workingman
only in the speeches Of Democratic
politicians and the columns Of Demo
cratic newspapers? II such be The
| fact. the workineman mag be trusted
/ 10 know it.-Philadelphia Inquirer.