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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 19, 1899)
V 4' " , ' . * : 'Che Conservative. ments and are inferior and chenp , the most of them were good producing mills. An average of somewhat les * than fifty men to a mill were employed iti these plants. Prices nml Profits. When the trust was being formed in November , 1888 , what wore said to be conservative and carefully prepared estimates of sales , earnings and profits for ] 898 were made public. These esti mates were as follows : The gross outputof the mills was. stated to be 7G83 5SG boxes. On the basis of the 1h n operating expenses n profit of 85 cents a box , or § 2,671,754 was made by the mills when prices of tin plate were lowest. Under the new arrangement the operating expenses were to ba reduced by § 1,000 000 mak ing a total estimated profit of $3.671,754. After deducting § 1.260.000 for dividends on the preferred stock , $2,441,754 would be left for dividends on the common stork. The prices at which the stock has been sold on the N w York and Chicago Exchanges show that in good business circles these estimates were regarded as reliable. When these estimates were published tin plate wns selling at $2.65 at the mills , or § 2.80 in New Yoik for 100 pound boxes. Average Prices of Tin I'lalu at New York. Date 1898. Juno July August. . October. November December. 1800. January . February . March. . . . . . April. . . . May Juno July AURUflt. . . . Sonteinber Am or lean. $ 2.85 2 80 2 80 2.b ( ) 2 80 2 80 2 00 8.20 8 65 4 no 4.074 4.i5 ! 4 ( ill 4 85 En il Nh in Bond. 2.50 2.60 2.50 2.65 2 60 2.00 2.00 2.00 2 05 2.70 2.80 2 00 8 10 it. 00 it 70 ! ! Co Difl. .80 . ! iO .25 .80 .20 .80 .00 .HO 1 BO 1 2J Thus not only did the trust advance prices immediately , but in March , four months after the trust was formed , it had them within 1-5 of a cent a pound of the importing point the duty being ] } cents. The trust raiped prices at the mills on July 14 , to § 4.87) and again on August 26 to § 4.65 which price has since been firmly held. Although this makes the price at New York 80 cents under the importing price for 100 pound plates , it is so near the importing price for 80 pound plates that the trust dares not mark up prices again for the present. Price Advances Not Justified by Cost of Materials. * s To what extent were the advances in price justified by the increased cost oi raw materials ? * Iti the first place , it is not true , as often asserted in protection papers , tha lit * ' . : the advances were caused by the in creased cost of raw materials. On the contrary the advances in price of tin plates preceded the advances in billets and tin. Thus from November 15 to January 0 tin plate advanced 85 cents a box , while the rise in raw materials was only equal to about 14 cents. From November 15 to February 17 tin plates were'marked up 85 cents , while the ad vance in raw materials was only 80 cents per box. From November 15 to Mnroh 8. prices of plates were marked up § 1.22) , less than half of which was explained by the prices of materials. From November 15 to October 6 tin plate prices advanced just § 2.00 , although the advance in prices of raw materials justified a rise of only § 1.55 , or of § 1.75. if , as the protectionists claim , labor had advanced 20 cents a box. Thus it is clear that the trust advanced prices arbitrarily and with more regard to the price at which foreign plates could be imported under a protective tariff than to the increased cost of Bessemer bars themselves the product of another tariff trust which as we shall see also arbi trarily advanced prices. The following are Pittsburg prices of steel billets or tin plato bars and of pig tin and tin plates at different dates , the first being two days before the formation of the trust was announced and the others those on which the prin cipal advances in price of tin plates were made : Prices at I'iltslmrjj. Date. Nov. 15. Jan.O . . Feb. 17 Mur. 8 July 14 Auc. H. . Oct. 0 . Billets pur ton. $ 15.09 10 25 18. UO 2.1 00 ii ; : uo 80 OJ HS ( II ) Tin Plato per 100 Ibs. $ 2 05 800 11.50 8 8TH 4 87 } | 4.Co 4 05 Because of false statements widely circulated in protectionist organs it is necessary to explain the above carefully ascertained figures in detail. About 2) < j pounds of tin are required to coat 97) < < Ibs. of steel sheets and pro duce 100 Ibs. of steel plates. The sheets are rolled from Bessemer bars which now sell at the same price as steel bil lets. A ton of bars (2,240 ( Ibs. ) will yield on an average 20 boxes (100 ( Ibs. each ) of tin plates , about two of which are seconds or "wasters" slightly in ferior plates which sell for about 25 cents per box below the other price of the other 18 boxes. The 290 pounds of unused steel is valuable as scrap ant sells somewhat higher than pig iron having risen in value like other steel The advance in the price of coke is said to add about 9 cents per box to the cost of producing tin plates. A claimed ad vance of 20 per cent in the cost of labor is said to add 20 cents per box , though as the total labor cost was bolosv 75 cents a box in 1898 , it is not clear how the 20 cents is reached , even if it is true as is doubtful that a 20 or even 25 ) er cent advance has actually become effective in all departments. Taking the prices of November 15 and the present prices wo obtain the C * A < j \ * % * , ' following results : Oct. 0 , billets | 88.00 Nov. 15 , billets 15.00 Risn in billets 23.00 Hiso in billets per box 1.15 Rise of scrap per box 085 tfot rise steel'per box 1.005 Oct. 0 , tin 1100 Ibs. i $ 82.25 Nov. 15 , tin (100 ( Ibs. ) 17 85 Rise in tin (100 ( Ibs. ) 1480 Rise in tin per box 8(5 ( Rise in steel per box 1.005 Rise in labor per box .20 tliso in other items per box 105 Total rise of all items per box 1.78 Oct. 0 , tin plates per box $ 4.05 Nov. 15 , tin plates per box 2.05 Rise in price 2.00 Increased cost of product 1 78 Rise in profit 27 Profit stated in 1898 85 Present profit 02 Profit on 7,500,000 boxes $ 4,050,000 7 per cent on preferred stock 1,200.000 8,800,000 12 per cent on common stock 8,800,000 Surplus 80,000 Percentage water in common stock 100 Percentage water in preferred stock 40 Percentage profit on value plants 40 The above estimate of profits does not include the $1,000,000 which the con solidated or trust method of production was to save in expenses. That 62 cents per box is not far from the present actual profit is asserted by those in the trade who have heard officers of the trust say that the present cost of pro ducing plates is close to $4 per box. The Tin Plate liar Trust. But the officers of this trust do not get all of their tariff profits from this trust. As stated before , they organised the National Steel Company to control the principal raw material of tin plates. It * # matters but little whether they sell Bessemer bars to themselves at a low price and take all of their tariff profits in tin plates , or whether they mark up . - " / . " , % bars and get much of their profits from - . - > > -id : ? that source. They have concluded that it looks better to compromise and to * take profits on both tariff trusts. Last November tin plate bars were selling in England at L4 15s § 28.08. They are now selling at L6 5s $80.42. Hence the foreign advance has been only § 7.84 while the advance at Pitts- burg has been § 28.00. While not all this difference $15 66 is chargeable to the tariff , it is evident that the present high prices could not be maintained * - , A3 were there no duty on imported steel. Again the price of English tin plates in bond has gone up only $1.05 per box.
