The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-03-03
WAR IS BRINGING NEW TN INDUSTRY ID UNITED STATES The Government Has Just Bought Cargo of Ore in
 Straits Settlements
MINES OF BOLIVIA
 NOW OPEN TO US
Scientists Making Desperate Efforts to Produce Platinum in United States Or Find Suitable
 Substitute
By HOLLAND

New 4Ork, Marcn Z.-tSpecldlJ- lll- conspicuous item of two or three lines which was printed a day or two ago con tained nevertheless hint of the devel-
 opment of industry in the United States upon large scale hitherto prac- tcally unknown in this country The news item simply stated that the United States government, through the agency
 of the American ambassador at London,
 had purchased 200 tons of Straits Settle
 ment tin and 300 tons of Chinese tin. The
 metal is to be delivered to the navy de-
 partment when it arrives. The govern
 ment will have to pay no freight charges.
 since this tin will be shiped upon gov-
 ernment colliers. which otherwise would
 return from the Philippines in ballast.
 This would appear to be no more than
 a trade item without special significance.
 It does, in fact, suggest that the time
 may not be far distant when neither the
 United States government nor American
 industries will be compelled to rely ex-
 clusively upon tin produced from the
 Straits Settlements. from China from England.
 When the European war began, no one dreamed that among other changes which. it might cause would be one whereby Bo- livia would find in the United States large market for it's tin ore, or that a corporation having capital far up in the millions would establish smeltlng plant near New York for the purpose of smelt- I ing Bolivian tin ore.
 | Tin is humble metal, but it enters into l one of the largest world industries. We | have none of it in the United States Tn convenient quantities, and yet it repre- win cd three AIne- rican industries the aggregate of whose capital and the money value of whose output are far up in the millions. The in dustry gives employment to a large body of skilled artisans.
 A NEW INDUSTRY
 | The government has just bought 5Oo ! tons of tin ore for use by the navy de- ! partment in the Straits Settlements and | in China. The American Smelling and Refining company expects to be able to | put upon the market 800 tons a month of | tin made available for commercial use | all of which will be obtained from Bo- 1 Iivian tin ore. In the early spring of l 1914, Horace G. Knowles, who was min | ister of Bolivia in the administration of | President Taft, brought the attention ot | capitalists to the opportunity which was | opening in Bolivia whereby the United States could establish a new industry ! Bolivia's tin in quality is unsurpassed | by any in the world. Her tin mines are | inexhaustible. Her exports of tin prior l to the European war were exclusively to 1 England and the English manufactur- | CTS absolutely controlled the Bolivian tn markets. An export duty provided Bo- | livia with much the larger part Of hef | revenue.
 | Mr. Knowles, however, was unable to ] interest men of capital, although his ere dentials showed that he had no personal | interest in the proposition, but was siIh-
 ply doing friendly act for bollvia; 1 Suddenly the war changed the Sltua- l tion The American Smelling and Re1n- ing company, which is interested in cop per mining operations upon large scale
 in Chile, took heed of the Bolivian tin opportunity. As the managers or that l corporation never undertake anything
 which has not been thoroughly 1nvestl-
 gated, it was inferred that they had in vestigated this proposition before acting on 1t.
 The corporation has the resources, the 1 expert professional assistance and the lskilled artisans which should make the undertaking successful. England has for
 many years imperiously dominated the tin industry of the world and this indus i try has contributed in no small measure
 to the maintenance and increase of Eng l lands foreign trade.
 | w, tween Bolivia and the American Smelling
 and Refining company and the establish
 ment of a large smelling plant adjacent | to deep water in New York harbor, the
 prospect is fair that as a result of the
 European war no small part of the tin in-
 dustry which England has heretofore pos
 sessed will be transferred to the United 1 States.
 1 THE WARS ADVERTISEMENTS | Much has been said and printed about | the embarrassment in the United States which has been occasioned by the inability Iof our manufacturers to obtain German
 dyes. So, also. there have been reports
 frequently made which tod of the energy
 and persistence with which men of science in the United States are trying to
 overcome this embarrassment.
 ! It is however, not the only one which
 the war has occasioned. There is in the ] United States what is practically fam 1 inc of platinum due entirely to the Euro
 pean war. It is possible, however, that 1 1t may be followed by relief due to the
 American chemists and also by the min | ing of platinum in the United States. | If this relief is obtained by the services given by men of science, the jewellers and
 the dentists of the United States, from
 whom come the chief demand for plati- mum, will be greatly relieved. Before 1 the war the price of platinum was about
 $40 an ounce, or approximately twice as
 much as the value of an ounce of gold. ! Now the price is little over S1OO an
 ounce, and in spite of that large sum hardly any of the metal can be obtained. l At a meeting of the American Institute of Mining Engineers in New York city a few days ago, it was said that men of
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