Evening star., 1941-02-14
First Supply Pinch
OF Defense Drive
Seen in Metals
Ruling on Magnesium
Turns Spotlight on
Complex Problems
BY FRANK Fl. MacMILLEN,

NEW YORK, Feb. 14.-The first
real pinch in fundamental supplies
for Americas rearmament drive ap-
pears to be developing in the metals
field, business observers today said.
When the Defense Commission at
Washington yesterday ordered
makers of magnesium, lightest of
the common metals, to devote their
full output to armament needs, it
threw the spotlight on a whole COM
pleX of metal problems which have
been cropping out with increasing
frequency lately, these sources said.
Most of these metal supply situa-
tions, trade quarters said, are in the
nature of "squeezes" rather than
full-sized shortages. That is, they
appear so far to be temporary fail
ures of particular kinds of metal
production facilities to keep up with
suddenly expanded demand. In
many cases the plants necessary to
catch up are already planned or
under way.
Trade quarters cite zinc, a prime
ingredient of brass, as one of these
bottlenecks. Shell-makers In some
cases nave not expanded output as
much as they otherwise would have
because brass producers were slowed
down for lack of zinc.
Steps Already Taken.
Various steps, metal men say, are
already being taken to meet the
lack of zinc New plants are being
rushed to production, the industry
has conferred with Government
representatives on the possibility of
curtailirg non-defense use, and one
important shell manufacturer is said
to have redesigned the usual pro-
jectile form so as to save 20 per
cent of the brass now used
In aluminium, most important
structural element of planes, there
has been much dispute as to wheth-
er existing supplies are adequate
Metal men say there has been def
mite 'tightness" in deliveries of some
fabricated aluminium forms, such
as specialized castings. On the
other hand there appears no def
mite agreement as to whether IA
cilities for producing virgin alumni
mum are adequate.
Large new construction by Alumi-
mum Co. of America and the Rey-
nolds Metals Co may make this
question academic in few months
but meantime some curtailment of
military use is a possibility,
some metal trade sources think.
Meantime fabricators of aluminium,
in cooperation with the defense
authorities. have agreed to conser-
vation Of aluminium scrap, although
this is admittedly a small economy.
Market Is Nervous.
With war alarms loud in the Far
East, where the Dutch and British
possessions are the home of tin. and
with reports of a withdrawal of
Dutch shipping from some import
ant Pacific trade routes. there have
been nervous f1utterings in the mar
ket for that metal
Today and Tuesday saw sharp
jumps in tin prices in New York
dealings, and at Singapore, center of
the tin trade in the Orient. and in
London business was brisk at higher
prices.
Metal men say a disturbance in
the producing lands of the East
would probably have little effect on
the supply situation here for a time.
Large users are reported to have
about years requirements on hand
in this country, and the Federal
Governments Metals Reserve Corp.
holds about 6 months normal re-
quirements.
Tin is available in considerable
quantities in Bolivia, but the United
States has no important smelling
capacity to handle the South Amer
lean ore.
Defense representatives are known
to be comforting with metal con-
Germs looking to establishment of
tin smelling plants here and at least
one large refner of other metals is
said to have made experimental re-
finings of Bolivian tin.