The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-05-07
TIN IS HUMBLE
 BUT VITAL METAL
By HOLLAND

By HOLtsAND
 New York May 6.-(Special-) )-Witn silver at s1 an ounce and tin at little over s1 a pound as examples, it is possi- ble to refer to some of the peculiar and urexpccted effects of the war upon indus tytry and finance in the United States. | The reasons are excellent for the high 1 ifice Of silver, for they reflect the needs of other nations for this metal which is
 to serve for money purposes. The silver miners of the far west have waited long time. but they have not waited in vain, or the probabilities are that for q year or two at least after the war is
 ended silver will command the market
 at the rrice which has recently been os
 tablished for it.
 Although tin is one Of the humblest Of
 metals, nevertheless many of the ex-
 lerts regard it as seccGd only in I'm.
 portance, a some of the baser metals, to
 iron and copper. At this time it is vital
 for the United States that plentiful
 amounts oi tin be secured. since 1t fslr-
 nished ,rs plating for cans which are
 now utilized and are long to be utilized
 in vast amounts for food containers. The
 world would be greatly embarrassed were
 the tin mines to be exhausted. It is the
 one metal of important use in industry
 which is not found excepting in smaI!
 amounts-anyw here in the United States,
 although the day may come when word
 is received from Alaska that large de-
 pcsits of tin have been uncovered there.
 Horace G., Knowles, who was United
 States minister at Bolivia in the admin
 lstration of President Taft, upon sne
 latest of his visits to the United States
 before he retired from that office, spoke
 to men of capital Tn New York Of the
 magnitude of the tin resources of Ro-
 livia. With the opening of the Panama
 canal for navigation these tin ores could
 be transported, he said. to the United
 States at considerably less cost than
 was entailed in England But there were
 no sJnel. ng works in the United States,
 and Mir Knowles appealed to men of
 capital on behalf of Bolivia. and not as
 private individual. in the attempt to
 secure a large import of tin from Bo-
 livia to the United States. But his ap-
 peal failed. England controlled the tin
 market of the world. Even when the
 United States did attempt some years
 ago to establish tin smelling plant,
 England was able by diplomatic business manelvers to prevent an attempt to se- cure tin ores direct from the Straights Settlement. England was, however. eager to sell refined tin to the United States.
 Suddenly, the situation has changed Men of capital and of experience did venture two or three years ago consid- erable amounts of money invested in the establishment of smelling plant near the harbor Of New York Now by reason 1 of the war Great Britain is unable to control the export of tin from Bolivia and the United tSates is procuring a klarge amount of tin ore from that South I1American nation which finds it's way to the smelter plant that now has ca pacity, and is using it, of 800 tons a month. Having thus begun the tin in- dustry by reason of the war, there seems to be no doubt but that the United States will be able in due time to estab- 1 fish very large smelter plants and to l import from Bolivia practically all of the 1 tin that is needed Tin today is very scarce commodity and the government is somewhat concerned over the situation. We must have tin in order to make the cans in which vast amounts of food which IS to be transported to our armies in France can be contained. The prop- lem has not yet been worked out, and the difficulty of it is suggested by the fact that this humble metal now com mands a hitherto unheard of price some what in excess of s1 a pound the chances being strong that this price will be in creased. Therefore. tin, one of the hum i blest of metals. and silver,s one of the precious metals both reflect some of the unparalleled conditions which have been occasioncd by the war. Meantime gold. as far as market prices of commodities, the purchasing power of gold has been greatly diminished
 VALUABLE SCRAP HEAP Attention has been within a day or two called to a paragraph in the report. |probably written by President Truesdale
 of the Iackawana Railroad company.