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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 2, 1899)
' F t "Che Conservative , WINDOW GLASS TKUST. Anothcr Example of n Tarlft * Trust. While the various gloss industries nro not now as conspicuous tnriff trnst indus tries as the tin plate industry , they illus trate even better than does the tin plate industry the pernicious effects of the pro tective tariff and the outrages of the combinations , or "trusts , " to which it leads. The history of our glass industries for the last 20 years has been a succession of combinations , pools , lock-outs , price- list committees , and agreements fixing prices and wages and limiting produc tion on the part of the manufacturers ; and of labor unions , strikes , wage com mittees and wage-scale agreements , on the part of the glass workers. "Wages and prices change often and radically and nearly all of these tariff-nursed in dustries are always in an unsettled , un stable and unhealthy condition. The Industry In a Backward State. The result is that we usually pay double price for our glass and both the industry and the workers are in a back ward state of development fully ten years behind those of Belgium. Instead of making the best and cheap est glass and of dominating the world's markets , as our unrivalled opportunities for production would warrant cheapest. . and best silica , coal , gas and lumber we are , thanks to our tariff system , only partially supplying our own market , and even that with inferior goods which sell at double the price of better goods in Europe. Instead of the workers being as are most workers in the unprotected in dustries the most skillful and inde pendent of any on earth , they are especially in the highly protected win dow glass industry not as highly skilled as are the Belgians who are continually coming over to recruit our skilled labor ranks , after paying the $500 per capita tariff which our labor union forces from them before they can go to work. The glass trusts , with their tariff clubs , hold up the American consumer and make him. pay § 2 for one dollar's worth of glass. The labor unions , with their alien contract labor laws and stringent apprenticeship rules , hold up the manufacturers and succeed in get ting about 25 cents out of every extra tariff-dollar wrung from the consumers. The evils of such methods are not only apparent throughout the glass in dustry and in the glass-consuming in dustries , but they extend into state and riational politics and form a part of the "boss" system of government. Under such conditions and circum stances , it is a national sin to continue this tax on sunlight. Some of the lead ing manufacturers do not hesitate to say that if there had never been any tariff on glass our glass industry would now bo twice as large as it is and w.ould be employing twice as many men and using twice as much coal , gas , lum ber , etc. Tlio Glass Trusts. Besides the window glass , which will be considered at some length , there are the following trusts in the glass indus try : Pittsburg Plate Glass Co. , capital $10- 000,000. Controls G82 ont of 940 pots , and agrees on prices with most outsid ers. Has about doubled prices in last two years. Pays very low wages mostly $1.85 to $1.80 a day and allows no organization of workers. Has very high tariff protection and utilizes all of it in its scale of prices. National Mirror Manufacturers Asso ciation , has a membership of 58 and covers every section of the country. Met on September 80th , and advanced prices 10 to 15 per cent. The National Glass Co. , the table ware combine , is almost completed with $4,000,000 capital. It will include about 20 plants with a productive capacity of about COO pots. The Macbeth-Evans Glass Co. owns nine lamp chimney plants and over half of the producing capacity. Is excep tional in that it exports largely , asks for no tariff favors , but for free raw materials. Both the Green and Flint Bottle manu facturers have organizations which fix prices and wages. There are smaller trusts within these trusts and in other branches of the industry. The Labor Unions. Labor unions , which are more of the nature of trusts than are most labor unions , exist in about every branch of the glass industry , except that of plate glass. Some of these organizations are : American Flint Glass Workers Union , Window Glass Workers Association , Window Glass Cutters Association , United Green Glass Workers Associa tion , Window Glass Flatteuers Associa tion , Green Bottle Blowers Association , Improved Green Glass Pressers League. There are many sub-unions under these national and general unions and hundreds of branches and secretaries. Thus there are thirteen sub-unions and 183 secretaries of local unions in the American Flint Glass Workers Asso ciation. It is not intended here to complain of labor unions in general any more than of trusts in general. It is only intended to show that the protective tariff tends to make both trusts and unions bad , and to enable them , together , to lock up an industry in the hands of a few who dis regard entirely the interests of con sumers and outside laborers. The tariff invites manufacturers to organize to fight their employees and the consumer , and almost compels the employees to organize to fight the manufacturers and the consumers. Tariff and trusts are the two parts of the machine for regu lating production and prices ; and iron clad agreements , ' appronticeship""rules and alien-contract labor laws constitute the workers machine for extracting a part of the tariff spoils from the trusts. The Window Glass TruHt. As in most other branches of the glass industry , trusts in some form have existed in window glass for twenty years. The American Window Glass Manu facturers Association with its "Price List Committee , " its "Board of Con trol , " its "District" and "National Wage" Committee , and its "Tariff Com mittee , " was running full blast from about 1880 to 1888 , and was deciding how many and what works should be closed and what wages should be paid and prices charged. It worked hard to prevent the passage of the Mills bill in 1888. In 1884 , when there was a short age of glass , caused by a lockout and a long fight over wage scales , the manu facturers themselves became importers to supply the trade. There have been since 1880 , periods of comparative competition and low prices ; but during such periods the "trust" people have been playing for a new deal and a new grip on the industry. Since 1890 the United Glass Company , a cor poration owning 17 of the 108 plants then in existence , has formed the back bone of the window glass trust. From 1893 to 1895 the trust was not in good working order and prices were com paratively low. ThoPresent _ Trust. In 1895 the American Glass Company , selling pool for 85 per cent of the factories , was formed. This pool soon had prices Tip to the importing point , where it held them firmly until suc ceeded by the American Window Glass Company , a corporation with $17,000- 000 capital formed in October , 1899. This owns factories with a capacity of about 1900 pots out of a total capacity of about 2,000 pots. It has not lowered prices which are about double what they were four years ago. The estimated value of the 48 or 50 plants absorbed is said to have been put at $0,190,000 by one of the > rganizers. Prices and Profits. There are so many sizes and grades of window glass , the schedules of prices and discounts are so complex , and the prices change so often and differ so much in different districts that it is difficult to compare prices. In general prices for the last three years have been nearly double what they were for the previous three years , and , the duty averaging nearly 100 per cent , prices are about double what they are in Belgium or England. The following summary
