Evening star., 1952-01-01
u. 5. Near Showdown
In lis Price War With
Foreign Tin SuppIiers
BY The Associated Press


BY the Assoeiated Press
The price war between the
United States and foreign tin sup
pliers is heading toward a show
down.
The struggle over the price of
tin is entering a decisive stage
because the United States is grad
Iually running out Of tin ore, ex-
Icept for Its stockpile. And for
ieign suppliers are still holding out
for a better price.
Within the next few weeks, in
formed officials believe, the Tru-
man administration will have to
decide whether to continue the
fight or make the best possible
IDEAL.
Unless there is a change in the
picture. this decision will turn on
the question whether the United
States should dip into its tin
lstockpile to prolong the struggle.
Under the law, only the President
can give an order to use a stock
pile Of raw materials.
RFC Influence Increases.
For many years before the war,
the International Tin Committee,
made up of the principal foreign
Isuppliers, met annually and set
the price.
Negotiations broke down., and a
few days later the tin study mis-
sion left for Malaga and Indo-
Inesia. The group returned on the
week end of December Is.
| Meantime, the administration
took steps to hold out as long as
lit could. On November 8 the De-
ifense Production Administration
halted stockpiling altogether, so
all suppliers could go to industry.
lDPA Administrator Manly Fleisch-
man started talks with the British
on the possibility Of swapping
United States steel for British tin
under the NATO reciprocal aid
agreement.
DPA and the tinplate manufac-
turers worked out an ALLEGATION
system for tin for the first quar-
ter of 1852.
But what about the second
quarter? The tinplate people
pointed out they need to know
well ahead Of time. There was
one possible answer. Dip into the
stockpile.
Defense, State Worried.
| The State Department, worried
over the bad reaction to RIGS
price Slashing In Bolivia and the
Far East. decided to oppose any
such move on grounds this would
violate a promise not to use the
lstockpile as an economic weapon.
The Defense Department, too,
was reported opposed on the
|ground that the stockpile should
be kept as a reserve for a national
emergency.
Knowing Of this opposition,
lRFC delayed putting the question
to the President. It still had q
possible trick in its hand.
AS Mr.. Welsh related it, II the
tin mission showed any favorable
prospects of making price deal
with the Far Eastern producers
the stockpile question would be-
come relatively insignificant. Such
a deal would also break the Bo-
flivian holdout.
| If it didn't, he acknowledged
then the question of dipping into
the stockpile would be a real, live
issue.
If the United States should do
so to prolong the price war, Bo-
livia has already warned she will
take the case to the organization
/ of American States on charge
Of economic aggression.
But the japanese conquest of
Malaga and Indonesia changed all
that. Then the United States,
Through the Reconstruction FL
nance Corporation as sole Ameri-
can buyer of tin, had a lot more
ito say about the price than ever
before. Bolivia was the major
United States source of tin during
the war, and purchasing contracts
were negotiated periodically.
After the war, tin buying was
returned to private trade. But
after the Korean attack and the
United States defense mobiliza-
ton program, tin prices shot up
from around 81 cents a pound to
over $1.80.
Alarmed over the rapid rise, the
Senate Military Preparedness SUBJ
committee on March 4, issued a
|blistering report, demanding that
the Government take action. The
|RFC, meantime, had become the
sole United States buyer again
and w. Stuart Symington, the
administrator. stopped all new
purchases for the stockpile to put
an end to price gouging" of the
American people.
The price war was on.
RIG then began an avowed
drive to force down the world mar
ket price. For well over month,
|RFC daily undercut Singapore
and London market prices. It did
this by selling stocks on hand to
American tin users at prices from
one to two cents a pound under
the Singapore and London quo
'tations.
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