TIN-I'LATK INDUSTRY IN TIIK INITKI) STATUS. 



719 



1'Yom sworn statements made by the m:"iu- 

 factutvrs lo the Treasury Department, it ap- 

 pear- tlial for tin- lir>t quarter, ending Sept. :!(), 

 IS'.M. ."> factories reported a product of 152,489 

 |M>umlsof tin plate and <>?4,4;{:i pound> of terne 

 plat< a total of N20.922 pounds. The statistics, 

 from tin- -aim- source and to the same depart- 

 ment, showed that during the fiscal year ending 

 .lime :;n. IS<I;J ( .K factories having reported in the 

 last i|iiiirten, the tin and terne plates manufac- 

 tured aggregated 13,040,719, of which 9,29(5,553 

 were from American black plate and 4,350,160 

 were from foreign black plate. Those manu- 

 factured during the fiscal year ending June 30, 

 1898, aggregated 99,819,202, of which 43,599,724 

 were from American plate and 50,219,477 from 

 foreign plate. There were 5,620,807 pounds of 

 American sheet iron and steel made into articles 

 and wares, tinned or terne plated, during the 

 lisca'l year 1892; and 8,802,681 pounds made 

 during 1893, making the aggregate manufacture 

 of tin and terne plates in the United States dur- 

 ing 1892 19.267,586 pounds, and 108,621.885 

 pounds during 1893. The total number of 

 American plates used was as follows : 1892, 14,- 

 917,420 pounds: 1893, 52,402,405 pounds. The 

 total production of black plates during the fis- 

 cal year 1893 was 63,081,541 pounds. The out- 

 put *of tin and terne plates proper of the lighter 

 class during the fiscal year 1893 was 93,850,487 

 pounds, showing an excess over and above what 

 may be termed the one-third requirement of 

 14,542,548 pounds. This, the report says, is ex- 

 clusive of the manufacture of American sheet 

 iron and steel made into articles and wares 

 tinned or terne plated. According to the report, 

 this would indicate that the entire consumption 

 of the United States during the fiscal year 1893 

 was 720,000.000 pounds, of which more than 15 

 per cent, was of American manufacture. Of the 

 commercial plates manufactured during the fis- 

 cal year ending June 30, 1892, about 33 per cent., 

 and" of those for the fiscal year ending June 30, 

 1893, nearly 40 per cent, were tinned as distin- 

 guished from terne. During the fiscal year first 

 above named 90 per cent, of the output of com- 

 mercial plates consisted of the class weighing 

 lighter than 03 pounds per 100 square feet ; and 

 during the last fiscal year, 94 per cent. 



On Sept. 30, 1891, the special agent of the 

 Treasury Department, who had charge of gath- 

 ering the statistics, figured that the American 

 manufacturers, in order to maintain the duty on 

 tin plates after Sept. 1, 1897, must produce in 

 one of the six years ending at that date 50.000.- 

 000 pounds of tin and terne plates weighing 

 lighter than 03 pounds to the hundred square 

 feet. The rcjxirt of the special agent. April 20, 

 1892, declared that, by the terms of the McKinley 

 tariff, the largest year of production may be 

 compared with the smallest year of importation 

 in tne final determination as to whether do- 

 mestic manufacturers have complied with the 

 one-third requirement, relative to production, as 

 set forth in the act. Under a ruling of the 

 Treasury Department, the coating of metal 

 sheets, or "black plates," as they are called, 

 whether of American or foreign manufacture, 

 with a tin or terne coating, constitutes a manu- 

 facture of American tin plates within the mean- 

 ing of the law. It has been held that the tin 



used for the coating, whether of tin or terne 



plate.-, may be either of American or foreign 

 production. On the other hand, with n--; 

 the sheet iron or steel applied or wrought in the 

 manufacture of articles or ware- tinned ( , r terms 

 plated in the United States, the Department has 

 rigidly held that they must be of American pro- 

 duction, as the law explicitly refers to "sheet 

 iron or sheet steel manufactured in the United 

 Stales." It is not understood that the limita- 

 tion relative to minimum weight applies to 

 these manufactures, the last proviso of para- 

 graph 143 being silent upon that point. After 

 the reports for the fiscal year ending June 30, 

 1892, had been received, the amount required of 

 American manufactures, in order to Keep the 

 duty on tin plates at 2-flj cents a pound, was fig- 

 ured at 79,307,939 pounds. The report of Sept. 

 18, 1893, declared that the output of tin and 

 terne plates proper of the lighter class during 

 the fiscal year ending June 30, 1893, was 93.850,- 

 487 pounds, showing thereby an excess, under 

 the former interpretation of the law, over and 

 above what may be tenned the one-third re- 

 quirement of 14,542,548 pounds. This was ex- 

 clusive of the manufactures of American sheet 

 iron and steel made into articles and wares 

 tinned or terne plated. The total production of 

 commercial tin and terne plates from American 

 black plates of the lighter class during the fiscal 

 year ending June 30, 1893, was about 94 per 

 cent, of the product from that source, or 40,- 

 983,741 pounds. To this add 8,802,681 pounds 

 of products from American sheet iron and steel, 

 tinned or terne plated, and there is a total of 

 49,786,422. In other words, the product from 

 American plates during the fiscal year ending 

 June 30, 1893, of the kind subject to compari- 

 son with the net importations of the lighter 

 class of plates, was five eighths of the amount 

 necessary to enable manufacturers to meet the 

 one-third requirement under the law, compari- 

 son being made with the net imports of the fiscal 

 year ending June 30, 1892. 



, The making of tin and terne plate is one of 

 the simplest of all processes of manufacture. 

 In tin plate the steel or iron plates form from 

 93 to 97 per cent, of the weight, the remainder 

 bfing pure tin, or tin mixed with a small quan- 

 tity of antimony or lead. In any quantity of 

 terne plate, used chiefly for roofing. 95 per cent, 

 is steel or iron, and the remainder two parts of 

 lead to one of tin. For commercial purposes, 

 tin plates are divided into two classes, which are 

 termed "charcoal plates" and "coke plates," 

 according as charcoal or coke is used in the 

 manufacture of the iron bars from which the 

 plates are rolled. The plates are carefully 

 cleaned and pickled by being immersed in hot 

 diluted sulphuric acid. The sheets are placed 

 on edge in a wooden rack, and the whole is 

 immersed in acid. A mechanical arrangement 

 imparts to the rack holding the sheets a regular 

 up-and-down motion, thus maintaining a circu- 

 lation in the acid bath. When all the scale, or 

 oxide, has been dis.-olved. the rack holding the 

 sheets is immersed, and the whole is washed sev- 

 eral times in fresh water. The sheets are then 

 dried, packed in annealing boxes or pots, and 

 annealed twelve to twenty-four hours in a rever- 

 beratory furnace. This softens the sheets, and 



