Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 September 1891 — Cheap Tin-Plate Boasts. [ARTICLE]

Cheap Tin-Plate Boasts.

And now the tin-plate epidemic has struck Baltimore again, it having been quiescent there since last fall, when a bogus report was in circulation that an enormous plant was to be established in that city to manufacture tin plate. Report now says that the firm of Coates & Co will build a large establishment at Locust Point, near Baltimore. A curious feature in connection with this report is an interview Jn the Baltimore Manufacturers' Record with Dr. L. R. Coates, the head of the firm, in which that gentleman boasts thus; “From all that we have been able to learn, we have reached the conclusion that tin plate can be made as cheaply in the United States as in Wales, in France, in Germany, or in any other part of the world. ” This is the same boast which was made two years ago by W. C. Cronemyer, Secretary of -the, American Stnnefl-Plate Association at Pittsburg, Pa. In a published'circular this gentleman said: “And it is a fact, and we can prove it by figures, that they can be made here and sold with profit at present selling prices. ” Notwithstanding this assertion of our ability to make tin-plate without any increase of duty, the patriotic Mr. Cronemyer was one of the., most active and, persistent workers securing the present duty of 2 1-5 cents per pou'nd. If thess tin-plate people speak the truth, why do we need that high McKinley duty?