Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1906-01-08
THE "TlN" OF INDIANA


New York Evening Post
If IL is a great thing to establish an
industry where none existed before. it
must be far nobler to create an industry
that does not exist at ALL Such, how
ever is the achievement Of our enter
prsing contemporary, Worlds Work. In
It's January number it publishes an arti-
Gle entitled GLOW Men Get Rich" which
undertakes TO explain the manner in
which "honest fortunes have been ac-
quired recently by American captains of
industry and generals of finance. A
prominent place is given TO certain mag
mates who have acquired many honest
dollars in tin-plate and railroad enter
prisos. II has been commonly supposed
that these gentlemen owed their wealth
TO the tariff upon tin plates, to pro-
moters' profits realized in floating the
Iin-Plate Trust, and TO bold speculation
In railroads; but it seems that this is a
mistake. The real basis of these mag
nidcent fortunes is nothing less than the
magnificent tin deposits of the State OF
Indiana. Listen TO the story as told by
the Worlds Work; A Junior officer of
the Pennsylvania railroad visited Wales
during vacation spent in Europe.
wales fascinated him. Wales was the
country that supplied the world with
tin. He knew that the huge tin deposits
of his State Indiana, had lain idle be-
cause the tin of Wales held the worlds
market, including Indiana. The people
of his state, whose houses were built
over tin deposits paid to Welsh manu-
iocturers every year many thousands of
dollars for TIM Returned again to his
native heath, he "talked tin. thought tin.
dreamed of TIM "Under our feetr he
said to his neighbors, "lie miliions;T why
not start q tin IN of our own2" The
idea once conceived, Indiana tin did the
rest
This is really a startling discovery.
Every one has known, of course. that In
diana produces coal and limestone and
novelists and natural gas, but no one
ever suspected that it produces tin. No
state gcologist ever reported the fact:
nor even the Geological Survey Of the
United States. Then, too, the Census of
1900 was so far wide of the mark as to
state that pig tin has not been pro-
duced In the United States since the cal
endar year 1898, in which s.39s pounds
were smelted, valued at Sl,7SS" Even
il this had all come from Indiana-,and
none of it was reported to have done so
lit would have been an inadequate basis
for the "honost fortunes of several mil
lionaircs. And in 1902, when the Census
made its last survey of mineral re-
sources. it was unable to learn that tin
was produced in material quantities in
any part of the United States. OF course.
/ tin plates are manufactured in Indiana.
and elsewhere, in considerable quaint
ties; but it was supposed that the pig tin
used in coating the plates was imported
from other countries-at least the COM
/ pliers of our import statistics have
labored under that misapprehepsion But
| it is impossible to suppose that a mining
expert employed near Wall Street can
have confounded tin plates with pig tin;
and we are driven, therefore to the con-
clusion that the Census and the Geologi-
cal Survey have been at fault for many
| years When Mr.. North and Dr. Walcott
read the Worlds Work, they win realize
that the reports of their respective de-
| partments need an immediate and thor
ough overhauling. If they prove remiss
in chs matter, the President, with his
love for natural science and departmental
efficiency, should take prompt and vigor-
Gus action. We shall expect to read any
day that Senator Beveridge has called at
the White House to demand justice for
the mineral interests of his State.