Arizona republican., 1917-07-31
TIN WAS PRODUCED
 LONG BEFORE THE
 TIME OF CAESAR

The threatened shortage of tin is reminder of the importance of that metal and of the part it has played in the commerce and industries of the world from remote times In all the books of history, treating of the an cient world, it is recorded that the Phoenicians made voyages beyond the pillars or the gates of Hercules-the Straits of Gibraltar-and sailed as far to the north as that land now called England, bringing back, among many other commodities, tin from Cornwall. Tin was al expert of prime import ance from the British Islands centuries before the invasion of Britain by the legion of Caesar.
 Tin is referred to in the Bible, and scholars have learned that copper was alloyed with tin by the Egyptians at least 1,600 years before the coming of Christ. Pliny had something to say about tin, and students of his writings believe that in his time the Romans had no very clear understanding of the difference between tin and lead, but they knew there was a difference, be- cause they called tin "kassisteros' and the Hebrews called it "bedhil"
 It was about the fourth century that the Romans, having come to a very fair understanding of the properties of tin, called it "stannum," which re- mains it's technical or scientific name today. It's symbol in chemistry is ''Sn," an abbrevation of stannum. At much earlier period the Greek al chemists, who long experienced with tin. called it "hermes.'
 The tin deposits in the south of Eng land are the oldest known workings in the world, and perhaps those that were next discovered and opened were in SaXony and Bohemia It is believed that the manufacture of tinplate, or, as it is sometimes called, ''terne- plate,' was begun in Bohemia early in the seventeenth century. that it spread l from there to SaXony, and it was in | troduced into England in the latter 1 half of the seventeenth century. It long remained one of the great | English industries. In the latter part | of the nineteenth century the industry was given a good start in the United 1 States and has prospered immensely. | In the old tariff discussions in the sos and the '90S the people of the United States heard and talked a great deal about tin-plate, and the arguments for and against the development by means of a protective tariff were hot and ire quent in congress and in the press l Tin-plate consists of iron or steel rolled into very thin sheets, which are 1 then coated with a composition of tin and lead, lead constituting from 75 to 1 90 per cent of the composition. There have been processes and improvements in those processes for coating the iron sheets with the tin-lead mixture and these processes of timing are very | interesting. The use and production of tin-plate have enormously extended 1 within. recent years, not only because
 of the remarkable growth of the can ming business, but because of the pop ularity of tinplate for making con
 tainers of many shapes and sizes for
 . great variety of articles.
 Tin is found in ores with many other
 metals and minerals and in Jumps and
 grains In alluvial gravels It is found
 in Siberia, Australia, Guiana, and in
 fact, most parts of the world, but the
 notable workings. those which furnish 1 the great part of the supply which the
 world consumes, are in Bolivia and the | Straits settlements.
 A large amount of tin is consumed l in the manufacture of tinfoil, tons of which are used annually in the tobacco 1 trade, and another extensive use for
 tin is in ''silvering' the backs of mir
 TOTS. In being used in this way, it is
 mixed with copper, Tin is a,so used
 in the making of bronze, brass and | pewter.