Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-09-17

| things OF pure art value.
| Americans have known, certainly. that
the great manufacturing nations OF
Europe annually sell US hundreds Of mil
lions Of dollars worth OF needful wares,
but they have ascribed this import to
cheap foreign labor and similar causes
rather than to a lack In the develop
ment of home industries. Inc stories.
therefore, Of hardships that might De
caused to US by a disturbed inportaIa an
| have been received with no small
measure of establishment, and, follow
| ing this establishment, there mas come
| a determination to take opportunity a.
| it's utmost offer and remedy all snort
| comingS.
| Tin is one of the commodities which
we must buy from foreign sources. Tin
| Is neither mined
| No Tin produeed nor smelted in the
United States.
in United States. While this coun-
eral resources, cassiterite, or tin oxide,
The mineral from which practically all
lin is obtained, does not occur here, 30
FAR as is known, in deposits Of any COM
nercial value. Scattering deposits small
N quantity and poor in quality have been
.ound in California, Connecticut, Georgia,
IDAHO, Maine, North and South Carolina,
South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, wash
ngron and Wyoming Paying tin mines,
however, have not been discovered. As
we are lacking in the ore, so We have
neglected to build smelters. We have
smained content to depend upon foreign
producers for this metal.
Bolivian barilla or tin concentrates
we're once smelted in New YORK. A
number of years ago a company known
as the International Tin Smelling Com
pany was organized, with plant at
Bayonne, N. j., for the smelling of
ores from the Straits Settlement, WHICH
produces the greater part of the world s
supply, but finally such a heavy ex-
port tax was placed upon the ores and
concentrates that the project had to be
abandoned. The plant Is now being
used by another company for the man
ufacture of vegetable oils. In regard
to the Bolivian tins. some authorities
insist that these ores can be worked
only at great expense to degree OF
purity sufficient for the making Of tin
plate and high-grade solder. Never
theless, 1t is good American that neces-
sity should become confused with OPP
portunity, and, that our present need
and uncertainty for our tin supply
whole tin industry all of their own
with which to guard against future
scarcity.
A prominent importer of this metal
sidering the es-
Plan of Importer tabaishment Of a
to Erect Smelter. the importation Of
Bolivian ores. Another importer of tin
Il Vfo0 tstra nf
the metal to erect their own smelters,
which course, he says. will not only en-
rich the country by one more industry.
but will enable us to extend out trade
with Bolivia. If we buy the ores from
this South American country, it will
have more money to spend with US,
and, moreover, we will save all Euro
pean middleman's and refiner's charges.
In 1913 the United States imported
more than 100000 pounds of tin. in
value $1,495.556. from Germany. This
source has been completely closed.
From the Netherlands we took during
the same year 3,52s,220 pounds Of tin.
$1574,336 in value; while Great Brit
ain furnished us in 1913 with 52,340.-
52S pounds of tin, in value s24, 661 .62S.
1t is not unlikely that the shelters in
Holland are either shut down or their
outputs greatly diminished. since this
land has it's citizenry under arms for
the protection of it's neutrality. and
since other disturbances Of the titanic
war across its borders must have oper-
ated to smother its industry. Great
Britain. too. probably is feeling the
lack of labor, the lack of capital and
the lack of regular transportation to q
degree greatly diminishing her impor-
lance as a factor in world production
There seems every opportunity, then
for the United States to steal another
In, frV, - &c
| competitors by establishing an infant
| tin Industry and bringing 1t up to a
| lusty youth before the European ma
| lions have regatned their financial and
| Provided the Bolivian ores cannot be
| shipped to US in sufficient quantities to
| cover all our needs
| Other Sources there is no reason
| -, why we canno,
Are Available. draw upon the
Australasia supplies. Straits Settle.
ments and Cornwall tins are probably
| the best known sources Of supply. Our
| imports of this metal have increased
| largely in the last quarter of cen.
| fury. In 1890 the United States i'm.
| ported tin to the amount of $4,000 tons
and in 1912 It imported about 10000
tons During this period the price
jumped from 20 cents a pound to &c.
| cents a pound in 1874. An infant til
industry in this country would have &
promising home market. The con
| sumption of tin in the United States 1.
1 steadily increasing.
/ Bolivia's tin mines are in the noun
/ tains near Lake Titicaca. They are sit
/ uated about 1900 feet above the sea
4 level. Oruro is the center of this min
/ ing industry. English and German
! own a great part of the mines. bu
| the largest single owner is Senior Dor
simon Ratino. whose mines turned GU
4 $4,000 tons Of ore in 1912. This outpu
1 was valued at Ss.800.000, and formed
about So per cent of the total til
mined in Bolivia. The cost of produc
ing the Concentrates" at these mine.
is about 81 ton. Freight to Bolivia.
port of tin export Is about $46 ton
while the government imposes an ex
II port tax OF $3.50 a ton. The ore l.
not smelted in Bolivia, but IL shipped
| in the form Of Concentrates" because
of the high cost of coal Some small
quantities Of the ore are ome-smelted
Great Britain 10 the commanding
center Of the tin industry. and prob
ably will remain
Britain Is Center in command a
Of Tin Industry. war. But Their,
is no reason why she should not re