The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-06-09
OUR TIN PLATE TARIFF.


 and What 1t Has Failed to Do For
 Us-Two Million People Wronged In
 Order to Benefit Fifteen Thousand.
 Lord Avebury. better known to Americans by his former name of Sir John Lubbock. said in a speech at Dundee not long ago:
 We used 10 hear great complaints about the United States duty on tin plates. and the case is interesting and instructive. not to say amusing It has been admirably told by Sir J. J. Jen- kins tLord Glantawe). who knows the trade intimately.
 "As soon as the duty was suggested the price went up in the United States. and our manufacturers sent over large supplies. on which they made a mag ni6cent profit. When the tariff came into operation the trade. of course. fell off. But the change proved disastrous to the American industries dependent on tin plates. The American fruit grow CTS could no longer compete with those of Mexico. Canadian salmon could be canned much more cheaply than that of the United States. so that if our tin plate mahufacturers suffered in the United States their trade with oth- CT countries was increased.
 Eventually the outcry in the United States became irresistible. congress agreed to give rebate of no less than 99 per cent of the duty. and at present almost the whole. of the canned goods exported from the United States are packed in Welsh tin plates This re- bate on the Welsh tin plates is more than the cost of the carriage and in suranee.,. 50 that the result of the American duties. therefore. is that Cal ifornian fruits are, sold in London as cheap as or even cheaper than in San Francisco. I may add that the tin plate industry ih America employed 2,Oo0, 900. % that the net result is to benefit 15.Oo0 people and to injure 100000 and to give us cheap fruit and salmon"
 And now comes the New York Trib- une, that great protectionist paper, backing up this story with circumstan- tial details. In letter from it's Brit ish correspondent published in its is- sue of May 16 it says:
 "Welshmen are not easily beaten when they are fighting for lifeblood. They have sHfvitedfthe Mckinley tar if and several variants of it which have left the American home industry at an advantage over rival manufac lures abroad. Swansea. instead of be ing ruined, has multiplied its foreign markets. enormously increased it's product of tin plafe. improved its process of manufacture, adapted itself to American requirements and prosper ed generally.
 '"Tin plate is now shipped to thirty six countries, Japan. China. Korea and Siam being among them, and the home consumption has been largely increas- ed. Every improved process employ A thinner washS of tin is employed in the treatment of the steel plates, econ omies have been introduced in the acid and palm oil baths, and a man and boy with superior machinery accom- pNsh the work which formerly em- ployed seven pairs of hands,"
 More remarkable still. we are assur- ed that America remains the best cus- toner for WeIsh tin plate notwith- standing the development of the Amer ican tin plate industry
 Two things may be learned from the history of the tin plate tariff-viz. the folly of meddling and muddling with natural trade conditions and the tonic effects of competition in helping a trade out of it's difficulties.