The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-20

beligerent nations We can buy notes, but we cannot without running counter to the wishes of the administra ton float the bonds Of beliigerent nation
 Bolivia could undoubtedly have obtained a much larger sum had her government thought 1t worth while to ask for it. Some time in the late fai Horace c. Knowles who in the administration of President Taft was our minister to Bolivia and who gained the confidence of the Bolivian gov ernment was able to report in the fnan- cial district the extraordinary and critical condition in which Bolivia found herself because of the war in Europe Mr Knowles at that time represented Bo- livia in the establishment at San Francisco of Boivias building and exhibit for the Panama exposition. Presumably hs bi ought to the attention of men of capi. tai the opportunity which now offers for the United States to secure much the greater part of the business represented by the Bolivian tin industry which here tofore England has possessed Tin is an humble metal and there is nothing dra- tic or picturesque when it's uses in the worlds industries are spoken of. Yet its relation to manufacture and trade is pron- ably second only to that of iron and steel or copper.
 The story of the development of the tin Industry in Bolivia and of the very great fortune it has made for a citizen who only few years ago was not much bet ter off than any menial lahorer is as TO- mantle and sensational as are the nara tiyes which tell of the sudden bound from obscurity to great wealth which has been the good fortune of some men of South Africa, in the United States and in South America.
 Bolivia depended to a considerable ex- tent upon the export duty levied upon tin .ax oil of xxhiCh EnQla nd bonnbt for her national revenues. But when war be- pan this export was stopped and MT Knowles reported to his friends in this city that there were in sight tin ores val ued at about s50.000,o00, for which there was no market. or at least for which no market could be reached. Bolivia was situated somewhat as were the cotton nlanters of the south at the beginning of | the war and for two or three months after | bostilties began. For the south had a racord harvest in cotton but could not | reach the markets with 1t, and Bolivia | had ready for transportation tin ore Of tn" value of $5o,0Oo. GOO and was in expectation l that when this was exported ike amount would be ready for export The Rolivian tin Is regarded by the experts | as unsurpassed even by the tin produced l in the islands of the far east
 In the fall the suggestion was tenta- 1 tiveiy made in behalf of Bolivia that smelling plants be established somewhere near deep water upon the New jersey coast to which the Bolivian ores coulu be brought and smelted Engiand hau for years. and until the first of last August absolute supremacy in the tin industry of the world. and at one time she was ahle to forestall an attempt which was to be made by American capital to establish tin smeltng plants in the omted States New England's supremacy is' temporarily at least, lost, and the govern ment of Bolivia was persuaded that Nlth the cooperation of the United states we might gain. and if we gained would retain. supremacy in the tin industry. Bolivia was persuaded that no great amount of capital would be required After careful computations il was re- ported by the experts of Bolivia that Sooo' 900 was all that was necessary for the equipment and operation of the tin smelt- | ing plant in the United States. Bolivia ! thought that if she contributed one-hali of this or if she guaranteed the entire amount then capital could be secured I which would make the operation of the smelting plant possible.
 Later this plan was abandoned. Some 40 miles above New York city upon the
 Hudson there are furnaces especially adapted for smeltng tin To these fur i naces MT. Knowles took Bolivian tin or' and the ore was smelted As fine grade of pure tin as ever came from any smelt
 CT was the result of these experiments
 While there is no official authority fol iasserting that the loan which Bolivia hat just made has been perfected with inten
 to find in the United States a market fo
 Bolivian tin nevertheless the suspicion i
 strong that some part of this loan vii
 he used for that purpose. The Panama
 canal and convenient transportation iron
 tIn D,Itr to f+xa rxatr, n j the Pacific coast In Chile and Peru mak
 1t possible to utilize the raw material ex
 actly as Charles M Schwab purposes util
 izing the raw iron ores for which he ha
 a concession in Chile by conveying then
 in fleet of especially constructed steam
 CTS through the Panama canal to con
 venient point the Delaware river
 whence they can be shipped to the Beth
 lehem works.
 1t may be that Bolivia purposes usin.
 some portion of this loan for relief iron
 certain emba rra ssments which came t
 her after Percival Farquhar was com
 pelled to abandon the great promotions
 railroad and oil productions-whch he ha,
 undertaken in Bolivia. Farquhar was hi
 hard by the Balkan war few years a g
 and found that the men of capital in Eu
 rope from whom he had earlier obtaine
 assistance and upon whom he relied fo funds with which to complete his Bolivian
 plans were unwilling to advance him an
 more money. They were unwilling be
 cause the Balkan war and the underlyinl 1 dread of a greater war had made it es
 sential that European capital be carefu
 about investments. Farquhar's failur
 has left the Bolivian government in som
 embarrassment. If the railroad which h
 projected from central Bolivia to tn
 wonderful rich oil fields in southea ster
 Bolivia could have been completed as h
 hoped to complete it by this time, tn
 Bolivian government felt that the re I public's prosperity would be assured l
 may be- therefore that some portion O
 this loan will be used in aiding Bolivia t
 mitigate or perhaps overcome the embar
 rassment occasioned by Farquhar's fail
 ure. but whatever the purpose may be
 is in line with the disposition in Bolivj J to cultivate very large and almost ex
 elusive trade relations with the Unite
 States