8 The Conservative *
TIN PLATBS AGAIN.
A Former teller ItrniiRht Up to Date.
MatcrlnlH Cheaper , Itut Tin Plates arc
Kept tlUHt an
Mr. Byron "W. Holt's letter of October
10th , describing the tin plate trust , has
been widely published in the press and
has aroused comment all over the
country. It has not been refuted , however -
over , and the course of events since its
publication not only supports its asser
tions but emphasizes them.
The trqst has maintained the high
price of tin plates , although materials
have declined , more mills have been
closed and more men thrown out of
employinont , while the testimony given
before the industrial commission ( much
of it by officers of the trust ) has fully
berne out the charges of monopoly , overcapitalization -
capitalization and extortion made pos
sible by the protective duty of $1.50 per
box of 100 Ibs.
Mr. Holt's letter upset the pretence
that the cost of raw materials caused
the trust's advances in price , by showing
that the advances in tin plates preceded
the advances in steel and pig tin. Ho
also showed that the advances in steel
and pig tin were insufficient to justify
the trust prices , and that the latter were
arbitrarily set at the highest point to
which the trust could judiciously go
under the protective duty on imported
tin plates.
If it were true , as asserted by the sup
porters of the trust , that its prices were
regulated by the cost of materials , then
why does the price remain at $4.65 ,
instead of dropping five per cent ?
Mr. Holt's letter gave prices of
October 6th. Since then steel has
dropped $2 a ton , or 10 cents on the steel
in a 100-lb. box of tin plates , the cost
being $36 per ton on November 27th , as
against $88 on October 6th. On October
6th pig tin was $82.25 per 100 Ibs. , while
November 27th it was $27.60 per 100
Ibs. , making a drop of 11 % cents on the
tin in a thinly coated box of tin plates.
November 27th , then , materials have
fallen nearly 22 cents a box , but the
price of tin plates remains the same as
on October 6th , $4.65 , or about a dollar
more than tin plates sell for in the
English market.
It is not probable that the trust made
tin plates , however , out of steel that
cost as high as the above figures. It
worked in admitted confidential rela
tions with steel combinations and it is
well known that the nominal price of
steel this summer and fall has applied
only to new purchases , not to old con
tracts. The Iron Age recently said :
"As a matter of fact , the figures at
which new contracts for 1000 delivery
are being entered into , say $86 , Pitts-
burg , is a heavy advance on the figure
at which the old contracts now expiring
were taken. "
But Mr. W. T. Graham , vice-presi
dent of the American Tin Plate Co. did
not breathe a word of this in his testi
mony before the Industrial Commission
at Washington , and declared that "the
profits were not so large as formerly. "
However , the officers of the American
Tin Plate Oo. in their testimony con
flicted with each other in a most amusing
way. To balance Mr. Graham's state
ment about former profits Mr. D. G.
Reid , the president of the company ,
testified that "the consolidation had
been made to prevent absolute failure ,
as many of the tin plate establishments
were rapidly drifting into bankruptcy. "
Against that , however , Mr. F. S.
Wheeler , the treasurer of the company ,
anxious to explain its capitalization ,
testified that "the common stock of the
company represented the price of the
good will of tha different companies
which constitute the combination. "
Now what was the commercial value
of the "good will" of about forty estab
lishments , many of whom "were rapid
ly drifting into bankruptcy" ? Was it
$30,000,000 , or even $20,000,000 ? Was
it any thing ? So far as any other than
the future commercial value was con
cerned there was none , for the tin plate
manufacturers had not earned any good
will.
Since October 10th the trusts has
greatly increased the sad list which Mr.
Holt then gave of 9 plants , comprising
84 mills , shut down to adjust the supply
to the restricted demand at the artificial
ly high prices. Under date of Novem
ber 1st , the following statement was
sent to the American Metal Market
from Pittsburg :
"The American Tin Plate Company
today served notice of discharge on the
superintendents and clerks of all its
mills in Pittsburg. The discharges will
take effect November loth. Some of
the plants have been closed , temporari
ly it was said , for some time , but the
latest move shows the shut down to be
permanent. "
Another item , from Washington , Pa. ,
Nov. 18th : "The American Tin Plate
Company's works have been shut down
until further notice. No reason has
been given out for the suspension , and
the local officials say they are acting
under orders from headquarters. Five
hundred men are thrown out of em
ployment. "
Mr. Wm. H. Griffiths , a tin plate
maker of Washington , Pa. , who has
undertaken the establishment of an in
dependent plant and who testified be
fore the Industrial Commission , said , as
reported in the Baltimore Sun :
"The managers of some of the dif
ferent plants in the trust were growing
restless under these restrictions placed
on them , as they were not running
nearly so steadily as before the combina
tion was effected. Of the 272 mills in
the combine 80 had been closed. Ho
also understood that the employees in
the trust mills were becoming appre
hensive , which he thought was illus
trated by the fact that of the 800 rollers
employed by the combination no fewer
than 150 had made application to him
for places in his establishment. "
An item from Pittsburg , Nov. 27th ,
in the American Metal Market , says :
"The Lisbon , Ohio , tin plate mill
closed Saturday , and it is stated that
106 out of the original mills taken into
the tin plate trust are at present closed. "
Thus , even in a period of great indus
trial and commercial activity , this trust
exposes the hollowness of the pretence , so
often advanced in support of protective
duties that they increase the opportuni
ties for the employment of labor.
The League presents this additional
statement about the tin plate trust with
no intention of hostility to the gentle
men composing the American Tin Plate
Company. They are men of good busi
ness reputation ; but the point that the
League would make is that it is not
safe to give to them , or to any other
body of men , the power which is afford
ed by protective duties such as the tax
on tin plates. Every well wisher of his
country ought to join in the demand
that this duty and every other duty
which protects a trust should be re
moved. HENRY W. LAMB.
Ofalltheanony-
THEY SAY.
mous liars and
slanderers in the world "They Say" is
the most successful , potent and diaboli
cal. THE CONSERVATIVE notices that
many members of the newspaper guild ,
doing work in country towns , are allured
by "They Say" into occasionally writing
vituperative and calumniating articles
about their neighbors. "They Say , "
steeped in malice , has caused more
hearts to ache and more homes to mourn
than any other modern method of
slanderers and liars. Decent men and
women who wish to make criticism of
the character of their fellows do so
openly , squarely and take the cense
quences. But the sneak and the coward
start the "they say" style of slander
after all those whom they regard as
their betters and superiors all those
whom they envy and hate because of
their achievements.
It is not probable that Nebraska will
bo very long represented in congress but
by a single senator. Omaha News.
Thurston was the only single senator
the state [ .ever had ; but he endured
singleness only a short time. Then he
married again. Single senators are a
singularity.
THK ° ONSEBVA-
SOAP
TIVE acknowledges
the receipt from the Oudahy Company
of a record of a carload of their remark
able soap and will advertise the same
with pleasure as soon as requested.
Soft-soap and bar-soap may be made co
operative.
operative.&i
&i W