The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-06-20


 be that one of the incidental results un- eXpectedly occasioned by the European war will be the development in the United States of very large tin smelt- ing industry. This industry will be con . centrated in part in New York city and in part a Perth Amboy, N. J.. which is within the metropolitan district. The New York plant is to be established upon Jamaica bay in New York harbor, and will be one of the first of the great in- dustries which it is presumed will with in few years be established upon that water front
 With the exception of three or four very small tin smelting plants in the United States, there has been no indus try of this kind in this country. England commands the business because England commanded the tin production. Her manufacturers were able absolutely to control the American market. and al- though several attempts were made to establish the tin smelling industry here, England speedily put an end to them. Probably the chief reason why we have had no industry of this kind is to be found in the fact that tin in commercial quantities is not found in the United States, and so far as the men of science have been able to learn, we shall never discover tin mines of any commercial value, excepting possibly in Alaska.
 But upon the American hemisphere is to be found republic which is the sec ond largest tin producer in the world. The Straits Settlement mines which are
 
 ones which surpass in richness and mag nitude the tin mines which have now for sometime been worked in Bolivia, and to the commercial advantage of that country Bolivia has for some years mined tin in great amounts Lut she eX- ported the metal to England. So large was this export that Bolivia rejoiced m the receipt yearly Of an export tax which added greatly to the revenue of that re- public.
 Now, as one of the remarkable eco homie advantages which the United States will gain on account of the Euro pean war, there is the decision of the William Harvey corporation to erect one of the grea test tin smelters in the world at Jamaica Bay, which is within the boundaries of New York city.
 One of the large industries of the United States, the National Lead com pany, has been persuaded that it is to it's advantage to invest heavily in this new enterprise. The investment is under stood to be 50 per cent of the capital of the corporation. It is easy to under stand why the National Lead company was persuaded to make this investment because it enters the market every year for the purpose of buying $10,090 900 worth of in concentrates But when the great smelter upon the shores of Jamaica bay Is completed, the company Will be able to secure through one of it's subordinates. or through company in which it is heavily interested, all of the concentrates which it needs
 ALL FOR BOLIVIA All of the tin concentrates will be brought here from Bolivia, and the prob- abilities are strong that after the war is ended England will not be able, not witrstanding her vast possession of tin l properties, to gain complete control of the American market If this should prove to be the case (and the men of capital who are making heavy invest ments in the establishment of big smelting plant believe that it will bel, then the command of a considerable part of the tin smelting industry will come l to the United States as result of the , war, supplementing the command of con- siderable part of the dyestuff industry, hitherto controlled by Germany, and it may De the command or consldefaple portion of the potash industry, which heretofore Germany has exclusively con- trolled, and upon which it is believed her men of commerce rely for a renewal of world trade, especially With the United States, after the European war is ended. There is almost as much romance in the first development of tin industry in Bolivia, as there is real romance in the transfer to the United States. at least during the war, of her tin exports, as the story of the discovery and oper- aion of copper or silver mines in this country tells.
 From the time of the Spanish conquest until the beginning of the present cen