Show A IVE WELSH OPINION TOE AMERICAN TIN PLATE IN INDUSTRY DUSTnY AS ABROAD 0 will w ve bialt blake our 0 ow tin tl ovi only but W WO acine 6 croat creat ta lie tin il 11 ite gt industry fc we are ow uw in n iron sir J 11 rogers is managing partner extensive south W wales ales tin plate of f the works Ll anely ly and the tin plate works swansea and is chairman chain nan of the welsh tin plato sinkers makers association no ought to know something about the business of aftin tin plate ture from the nature of things ho lie can hardly ly be 0 accused of that degree of sym the mckinley tariff which V can 8 e him to tum turn tin plate liar ju the interests of american tin plate borers what does lie say about anew american industry which amer aa Cobden ites tes pronounce absolutely myth abl ri 31 both as to its present existence an and 01 future U ture prospects the south walts wales daily news of march ga 4 published mr rogers views for the WA ruction of its readers important tinong whom are those dependent on auth wales tin plate making first conics cecii 3 a letter of his to one mr T phillips secretary of the tin plate workers association of Ll anelly A few choice extracts we present for the edification of the american tin plate liar sir mr rogers says 1 I write not as chairman chain nan of the association cia cla tion tiou but as one who wishes to minimize so far as possible the distress and privation which I 1 fear must como come to those employed in the f finishing ini shing departments of the tin plate trade owing to the determination of the governments and slid manufacturers of various countries that they will jo lo longer bo be ae dependent pendent upon t this As country for their supply of tin ples and lud he be adds 1 I will not enter into details at the rno moment ment but simply point out bow how th the e pig iron steel rail machinery and other trades have left this country go far as supplying the requirements of t those ose coun countries ries which now consume most of our tin plates and there is no reason why tin plate should not follow I 1 the same natural law mr rogers agrees to a dot with the american economist as to the possibilities of yankee improvement in process A of manufacture 11 no one lie goes on ll 11 having a knowledge of machinery and 0 of f the tinning of black plates and the ingenuity of our american cousins can seriously doubt that shortly the work will be done automatically without lither tinman or lie evidently had bad never heard of the great american tin plate liar or lie would lave known that there are those in this country who not only doubt this but proclaim from the the utter inability of our people to do any such thing recognizing the importance of the letter says the daily news our reporter interviewed mr rogers at the offices of the south wales works one of the first questions asked was whether sir rogers thought it would be wise or unwise on the part of the men to refuse to work black plates abich would be exported ported to and coated with tin in other countries mr rogers replied 1 I think it would be a most unai unwise F 0 o step as there is now no doubt at all that lilack black plate will bo be largely coated not only in america but in some european countries as well if wo we refuse to make the black plate it will be made elsewhere and that would mean that not only would the tiamen and washmen was limen be thrown out of work but also the men in the steel works the mills and the fi finishing department it lias has been said mr rogers that the tin plate industry would be as firmly established in the united states a few years hence as the iron and steel industry that is so and it is not very long ago that I 1 remember mr menelaus of the dowlais iron works saying that america would never make iron and steel sufficient to meet her requirements ui re that was the general opinion at the time among the iron and steel makers but today wo we see the americans making practically the whole that they require what would mr rogers say we bov wonder 0 n if he lie knew that among all the free shraders st traders in america and they all without a single exception complacently as eunie that what they dont know about industrial development and phenomena is not worth knowing not one of them can remember anything about the condition biti 0 n which mr rogers easily recalls on the contrary they hold that all our industries especially iron and steel were established and developed in lutio nary times that protection nothing to do with it the interview did not terminate until mr rogers had also thrown some light on the question na as to who is paying the tin plate duty here liere it is with tho the que question tion which brought it forth la Is it true that manufacturers now are malting making plates below cost price and consequently at a loss 1 I should say that works buying their bare bars at the present market price and selling their plates today could not avoid making at a loss unless they had come special market where they got higher prices than can be got for tho the general market in the united states I 1 which is simply to bay say that export prices of tin plates have been driven so low in ill efforts effort sto to get into this country over the mckinley duty that they actually r bell ell at a loss in other words when the welshman subtracts the new duty from his soiling selling price that is lays pays it himself he finda finds that selling price below cost uis ilis only escape is to igwe to america all in all these expressions of opinion ly by perhaps ler haps the leading authority on tin plate in the world are most sig significant ant and little calculated to bring comfort into the free trado trade camp |