9° 



HOLLAND: MICA DEPOSITS OF INDIA. 



completely changing the nature of the imported material : the lower 

 grades became shut out by the prohibitive tariff, and, at the same time, 

 amongst the higher grades roughly trimmed naturally became prefer- 

 red to cut mica, the latter being imported to the States only when 

 wanted for special purposes, and then bringing, of course, a special 

 price of which the poundage forms a small fraction. The working of 

 this law gave new life to many old mines in the States, the domestic 

 production rising at once from 17,630 lbs. in 1896 to 1 18, 852 lbs. in 

 1 S97. At the same time, the tariff caused a severe shock to those mines 

 in India which produced only second-rate material. There is, of 

 course, a comparatively small demand for rectangular cut mica outside 

 the United States, and English consumers naturally wish to see the 

 market flooded with such material, not because they want rectangles 

 only, but because the preparation of the mica in this form makes it, on 

 account of the peculiar working of the Dingley tariff, less acceptable 

 to American buyers whose competition is thus avoided. Of the 

 sheet mica imported by the United States in 1900, that classed as 

 " unmanufactured " amounted to 1,892,000 lbs., w 7 hilst the " cut or 

 trimmed" mica reached only 64,391 lbs. 



In the preparation of rectangles the mica sheets are, after the pre- 

 liminary drying, splitting and cleaning, " scribed " with the help of 



Fig. 19. Tulle with knife for cutting large sheets of mica. 

 Scale, I inch=2 feet. 

 ( 80 ) 



