266 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1918. 



than iron and coal. It is unfortunate that we have received so far 

 no information concerning their ideas on the subject of copper, lead, 

 and zinc. Great hopes are entertained by the French Government 

 for a post-war tungsten industry that would lie chiefly in the hands 

 of the Allies. The position of the ferrotungsten industry before the 

 war was one of the most striking examples of Germany's industrial 

 domination of a raw material in which she is herself essentially 

 lacking. In 1913 Germany produced only about 1 per cent of the 

 world's output of tungsten ore reckoned in terms of 60 per cent 

 tungstic acid. Yet through her imports she controlled over 60 per 

 cent, of the world's output. Great Britain, including her possessions, 

 produced 37 per cent of the world's output, yet she was dependent 

 entirely upon Germany not only for ferrotungsten, but also for her 

 tungsten steel tools, which even though purchased through English 

 firms were derived from German manufacturers. France's produc- 

 tion of 1913 amounted to 2 per cent of the world's output, and in 

 addition to this she controlled the production of the French mine of 

 Borralha in Portugal, and possessed an interest in the Bolivian 

 enterprises. Owing to her development of water power she had a 

 pre-war production of ferrotungsten, though it is certain that she 

 was not at that time in a position to compete with the German 

 market of ferro alloys, still less with their output of high-speed 

 tools. Her comparative poverty in this respect is shown by the 

 statement in La Metallurgia for April 30, 1918, that her consumption 

 of ferrotungsten had increased from 250 to 1.800 tons as the result 

 of the war. The suggestion is made that in the future tungsten ore 

 should only be sold to Germany at very high price in order to main- 

 tain the high price of tools. On account of the difficulty of success- 

 fully concentrating the tungsten business on a financially profitable 

 basis it is suggested that the tin and tungsten industries might be 

 organized into a combination which would increase the power of the 

 Allies in the Bolivian field, at the same time frustrating the activities 

 of Germany in that respect. 



The English ferro industry has reached such a point that after 

 the war it will be able to handle all the British production of 

 molybdenum, which is nearly one-third of the world's output. From 

 French sources comes the suggestion that the four French ferro 

 producers can, by reason of their cheap water power, handle all the 

 tungsten or molybdenum which the British might find difficult to 

 dispose of on account of the high cost of production in times of 

 peace. 



Vanadium and uranium. — Owing to the American control of the 

 vanadium output, the American Metal Company will become the 

 center for a combination which should dispose of the world's supply 

 of vanadium in such a way as to eliminate Germany's participation in 



