Greenbelt cooperator., 1942-01-09
Our Stake in the Pacific War;
Is Vital to Lifeline of Nation

The Division of Information,
Office for Emergency Manage
ment, last week released the fol-
lowing survey of our material
stake in the Pacific:
The United States has vast and
vital interests in the Pacific, so
vital that our lifeline to the Orient
must be kept open with all pos
sible energy. Our interests are
In raw materials that are not OBJ
tainable elsewhere in the quan1-
ties we need.
The Nation was prepared-mat-
erials-wise-when the japanese
blow came. For many months we
have been building stockpiles. We
have lots of the stuff we need
and we are going to get more,
which will insure our ability to
press the fight for democracy on
all fronts.
Best known of these vital I'M
ports are tin and rubber, but they
are by no means the only mater
ials for which we look to this
far corner of the world. Cromite,
manganese, and tungsten for
hardening steel; kapok for making
life preservers; graphite for lub-
ricating the machines of modern
war; mica for insulation; manila
fiber for making rope; the tea
that we drink and pig bristles
for brushes-these things re-
quired for our national welfare
we intend to get from the Far
East and the Pacific.
Tin Most Important
Tin is probably the most i'm
portant of our Pacific imports,
and We consume more than 100,
900 tons of tin a year, produce
practically none. Singapore and
the Netherlands Indies provide us
with our supply.
Canned food, a taple of Ameri-
can life, for soldiers as well As
cililiane, uses most Of the tin i'm
ports. While glass can be substi-
tuted to some extent, and studies
nave been made of the use of
silver as a lining for cans, tin
is the most practical.
We have a good stockpile of tin
on hand in this country; we are
building a smelter in Texas to
refine Bolivian tir ore. Careful
conservation of our supply and
possible expansion of the Texas
smelter will help US get through
the emergency. Nevertheless, the
best solution is to keep the Paci-
fic sea lanes open.
Rubber From The Orient
Our situation in rubber parall-
els that of tin. Ninety-eight per-
cent of our crude rubber supply,
and we are consuming more thar
100000 tons year, comes from
the Orient. In no other part of the
world are the quantities we obtain
available.
Fortunately for US, we have a
second line of defense" in rub
ber. Rubber is reclaimable. We
now are using about 80 percent
reclaimed rubber to 70 percent
crude. We can double that use of
reclaimed rubber within a few
months.
While reclaimed rubber has GER
tain disadvantages, for inner
tubes particularly, it and our re-
serve supply of rubber will carry
the nation for many months.
Meantime, we have embarked on
an ambitious synthetic rubber
production program, that probably
could be expanded to fill military
demands.
Manganese, chromite, and tung-
stem are also drawn from the Pac-
ific area. If steel is the bone of
modern warfare, these alloying
elements are it's marrow. They
make tough, hard steel, the kino
that is used for armor plate and
for proiectiles that will pierce
armor. They make possible modern
tanks and fighting ships, war
planes and guns. We need these
minerals, all of them we can get.
We can facilitate the manga
nese problem by increasing I'M
ports from Brazil, Cuba, and
South Africa, and by rapid ex-
pansion of domestic production
from low-grade ores. Molybdenum,
plentiful here, may be substituted
for tungsten in many cases.