TIlKnsnl'IlY. 



TIN-PLATE INDUSTRY. 



717 



events so shaped themselves that I did travel 

 buck to London in her company. With n<> am- 

 bition, no home, no home tics, no strong attach- 

 ment, she seemed ali'iir in t he world, and w* in 

 many respects the ni't indifferent person I ever 

 knew." 



Mesides the I>i- I'nveiled," the "Sacred Doc- 

 trine," and other works by Madame Blavai>ky, 

 the modern literature of theosopln includes "The 

 Occult World " and other works by Mr. Sinnett. 

 A branch of the Theotopbistl in the United 

 States is led by Prof. Elliott Cones, of tin- Smith- 

 sonian Institution. In a lecture delivered in the 

 city of New York in 1889, Prof. Coues spoke of 

 modern miracles. He condemned the commer- 

 cial kind of spiritualistic seances, but he main- 

 tained that the phenomena of spiritualism were 

 so generally experienced that it no longer lay in 

 the power of any one to deny the spiritual exist- 

 ence. The astral body could certainly make it- 

 self manifest to some beings to such as were in 

 sympathy allied to it ; but only those who had 

 been initiated could understand the mysteries of 

 theosophy and enjoy its philosophy. To these 

 there are no mysteries. In the astral existence, 

 time and space do not embarrass as they do in 

 the material existence, and the range of the as- 

 tral intelligence is not limited by them. The 

 number of those who sincerely desire to receive 

 the light of theosophy and to believe is rapidly 

 on the increase. 



The third annual convention of the American 

 Section of the Theosophical Society was held in 

 Chicago in April and May, 1889. Dr. A. Keight- 

 ly, of London, was present as the representative 

 o'f Madame Blavatsky. A letter was read from 

 Col. Olcott, in which he said that he was in Ja- 

 pan, preaching Buddhism, and that he delivered 

 his first sermon at Kobe, in the temple of Mofa- 

 tofi, where Buddhism was first taught in Japan. 

 A letter was read from Madame Blavatsky. say- 

 ing that " Col. Olcott is on a visit to Japan, in- 

 vited by a strong and influential deputation to 

 lecture there on Buddhism among people who 

 are mad and crazy to acquire Western civiliza- 

 tion, and who believe it can only be obtained by 

 the suicidal adoption of Christianity." Madame 

 Blavatsky made an appeal to her American fol- 

 lowers to recognize that the altruism of theoso- 

 phy was not an ideal, but must be practiced, say- 

 ing she had no faith in the future of the order 

 if her followers did not make the vital factor of 

 theosophv a part of their lives. " The enemies 

 of the order, she wrote, "are materialism, preju- 

 dice, obstinacy, and the lower order of phenom- 

 enalists, the blind worshipers of illusionary phan- 

 toms of the dead," by which she meant spiritual- 

 ists and others who " talk so glibly of magic, 

 occultism, adepts, etc." She announced the se- 

 cession of the French journal " Lotus " from 

 theosophical doctrines, and said that "La Revue 

 Theosophique " had been established in its stead 

 in Paris. She and the Countess D'Adhama were 

 the editors. There was also a request in the let- 

 ter that the term " esoteric " be used less fre- 

 quently, as it was "a term that had been discred- 

 ited by Boston people." Madam Blavatsky died 

 in 1891. 



The opponents of theosophy. speaking through 

 a recognized medium, say that "it is the most 

 cheerless and hopeless of all the creeds known to 



the world, proclaiming existence itself to b- the 

 i-nr-e of mankind; and, while ready to accept 

 millions of deities into its pantheon, is in reality 

 atheistic-, as knowing of no absolute being worthy 

 of the name <.f (Jod none that may not be 

 plunged to the lowest depths of degradation in 

 Ins next stage of existence and \et it ha.-, found 

 its propagandists in America. No doubt then- 

 is something in the spirit of our t imes which fits 

 into tliisdismal creed. and makes possible its ac- 

 climati/ation in the Western world of Europe and 

 America." 



TIN-PLATE INDUSTRY IN THE 

 UNITED STATES. The first attempt to raise 

 the tariff on tin plates, so that they could be 

 made in the United States, was in 1864. The 

 tariff of that year contained this provision : "On 

 tin plates, and iron galvanized or coated with 

 any metal, by electric batteries or otherwise, 2$ 

 cents per pound." Some doubt having arisen as 

 to the construction of this clause, the Secretary 

 of the Treasury, Hon. William Pitt Fessenden. 

 at once gave the following opinion : " It would 

 appear that an error of punctuation has been 

 made by some one, most probably by the clerk 

 who engrossed that part of the act. If the 

 comma which is inserted after the word ' plates' 

 be omitted, and a comma placed after the word 

 ' iron,' the true sense will be had. which unques- 

 tionably is, that the tin plates, as well as the 

 iron, must be galvanized or coated with any 

 metal by electric batteries or otherwise in order 

 to bring them within this provision." It was 

 claimed by those who depended upon the enact- 

 ment of the tariff that the loss of it postponed 

 the making of tin plates in the United States. 

 But there appears to have been an ad valorem 

 duty of 25 per cent, between 1867 and 1873. 



In 1873, 1874, and 1875 tin plate was made at 

 Wellsville, Ohio, Leechburg, Pa., and Demmler, 

 Pa. But the Welsh manufacturers cut the 

 prices from $13 to $10; then to $9. $8, $7, $6, 

 and $5 : and finally to $4.50 a box, in order to 

 meet the opposition. The plate was also made, 

 in limited quantities, at Pittsburg and at 

 Martin's Ferry, Ohio, in 1889. The presidential 

 and congressional elections of 1888 having been 

 favorable to the Republicans, they found them- 

 selves, in 1889, in full control of the executive 

 and legislative branches of the Government. A 

 new tariff act, popularly called, after its author, 

 the " McKinley bill," 'was passed Oct. 1, 1890. 

 The " Mills bill," which passed the Democratic 

 House of Representatives in July, 1888, placed 

 tin ore, pig tin, and tin plates on the free list, 

 but it did not become a law. 



The McKinley hill placed tin ore. cassiterite 

 or black oxide "of tin, and tin in bars, block?, 

 pigs or grain, or granulated, on the free list till 

 July 1, 1893. After that date they were to nay 

 a duty of 4 cents a jHiuml. But if the product 

 of the mines of the United States should not in 

 some one year be f ore July 1. 1895. exceed 5,000 

 tons of cassiterite. and bar, block, and pig tin. 

 then the President must issue a proclamation an- 

 nouncing the fact: and, alter July 1. 1^95, all 

 imported cussiterite. bar. block, and pig tin shall 

 be admitted free of duty. The effect of this 

 provision was to develop the resources of the tin 

 mines at Temescal, Cal., at Harney Peak, South 

 Dakota, and at several points in Virginia, Tin 



