The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1918-11-21
TIN

Our consumption of tin is larger than
that of any other country OF the world
It is safe to say that it nearly or quite
EQUALS that of all the rest of the world
We have no tin mines and depend entlre-
lv on importations which come to us IN
blocks, pigs or bars. We use most OF our
Tin in coating sheet iron for making TIN
ware tin cans, etc. The warning is
s;ven that there is shortage OF tin and
# ;s nrobable that this will continue for
at least year. England controls the
Tin market of the world and has done SO
from the day when the economic Value
of the metal was first fully realized. II
;s unite generally believed that England
produces great quantities of tin but TINS
is a mistake The annual world pro-
duction of tin is about 100000 tons, and
the home mines of England produce only
about four and one-half per cent OF this.
Mare than half the tin ore of the world
is mined in the "Straits Settlements
which are in the southern part of the Ma
Law peninsula, in Asia, and islands near
nv owned by Great Britain. Here are
British colonies, banks and business
houses. The mining, sorting and con-
centration of ore is done by cheap labor,
LARGELY by Chinese. 1t is then carried to
England mostly in English ships and is
there refined. In no country IN the worlo
is the refinement of metals from concen-
,rates so thoroughly done as there. Not
onlv does England get the tin ore from
her Asiatic colonies but she gets about 10
per cent of the production OF the Dutch
colon;es which are near her own, and
also gets more than 20 per cent OF the
worlds production from Bolivia. thus
it is seen that England controls the out
nut and tine price of at least 90 per cent
of the TIN used So great is the profit
from refining that she can, by selling at
cost for few MONTHS discourage would
he councillors and, in year or TWO,
drive them out of business. Our tin I'M
Dorts in 1912 were SAC, coo, 600. Owing to
increased use and higher prices our tin
hill in the next year will be 500, 600, 900
IF we can get all the tin we need Eng
land will get handsome profit on every
mound of it. The distance from the
Straits Settlements and the Dutch colo
MES to England is 5000 miles, and from
Bolivia to England via the Panama Canal
the distance is about the same. From
Bolivia to the southern ports OF the Unit
ed States is less than half that distance
England transports the tin ore OF BOLIVIA,
toll free through canal built at our eX-
Dense. carries it, 900 miles past our doors,
refnes the ore and sends it back to US,
charges us a good round profit and we
nav the freight both going and coming.
Bolivia is a country where cheap labor
abounds. Her undeveloped deposits OF
tin ore are adequate to supply the world,
if utilized. The business enterprise OF
this country can break the British mo-
nopoly of the tin trade. Indeed an at
tempt has been made to do so and a
smelling enterprise was undertaken here.
1t failed to get secure foothold as
through its banking and business asso-
Citations in Bolivia made it difficult for
our people to do business there. The fact
is apparent that it has been, and is, the
hope of England to dominate the world
of trade by persistent and tireess energy
even as persistent as has been Germany
in her endeayor to dominate the world of
trade by the sword. Germany has fallen.
Her sword is broken. Her trade, once
flourishing and world wide, now lies in
ruins. England, although weakened,
will emerge from the war more eager
than ever for a continuation of the trade
war which has been interrupted. In this
war the United States will have to sus-
tain the severest attack because it is
growing, wealthy and spending nation.
England has "cornered" the tin market.
That corner must be cleared. We are
1000 miles nearer, than England, to an
ample supply of tin ore, we shall soon
have plenty of American ships, we have
money and we have scientists, and we
have, right here at home, market for
S100, ZOO, 600 worth of tin every year. 10
smelt and refine tin successfully and to
hold for ourselves the market which is
our own is one of the many peace prob
lens which are about to present them
selves for solution.