22

OUR  MINERAL  RESERVES.

These  calculations  do  not  take  into  account  the  increased  exports
of  zinc  pigments  that  must  absorb  some  of  the  domestic  surplus  zinc
resources.  Moreover,  the  United  States  imports  each  year  from
Continental  Europe  about  2,500  tons  of  zinc  dust.  This  supply  of
zinc  dust  is  now  cut  off,  and  the  dust  has  already  greatly  advanced
in  price.  Zinc  dust  is  produced  at  two  American  smelters  and  could
easily  be  produced  at  others,  so  that  no  doubt  the  better  prices  will
result  in  the  whole  demand  being  supplied  from  domestic  sources
and  thus  absorbing  another  portion  of  the  surplus  zinc  ore.

LEAD.
The  effect  of  the  war  on  the  lead  situation  is  as  yet  uncertain.  One
month  of  war  has  not  disturbed  the  already  low  price  of  lead  in  the
United  States,  but  it  would  seem  that  the  conflict  must  ultimately
enhance  the  price.  All  exports  of  lead  as  well  as  of  copper  and  zinc
have  been  forbidden  by  the  English  Government,  which  has  requisitioned ­
  all  visible  supplies,  so  that  no  lead  is  now  available  for
the  English  consumer.  Great  Britain  will  apparently  be  the  best
market  at  present  for  American  lead,  although  the  lead  now  imported
into  England  comes  mostly  from  Spain  and  Australia,  and  so  long  as
ocean  transportation  is  available  it  will  naturally  continue  to  come
from  those  countries.  In  1913  the  imports  of  lead  into  Great  Britain
exceeded  her  exports  of  lead  by  over  180,000  short  tons.
The  following  table  shows  the  lead  output  of  the  principal  producing ­
  countries  in  1912-13,  in  short  tons:

World's  production  of  lead  in  1912  and  1918.

392,517
205,799
194,666
118,387
132,276
56,438
32,187
34,282
115,961

1,282,513

1913

411,878
223,767
199,627
127,867
68,343
55,997
33,620
30,864
118,495

1  270.458

United  States  (domestic  refined).
Spain
Germany
Australia
Mexico
Belgium
Great  Britain
France
Other  countries

It  seems  likely  that  the  war  will  curtail  this  output  about  250,000
tons,  nearly  one-fifth  of  the  total  production.  Inasmuch  as  the  product ­
  of  those  countries  affected  by  the  war  would  probably  have  been
mostly  consumed  in  the  countries  themselves,  and  as  they  are  not  now
in  a  position  to  use  much  of  the  metal  in  arts  and  manufactures,  it
seems  probable  that  the  market  value  of  lead  will  not  be  much
affected  by  the  curtailment  of  production.
Lead  smelted  from  foreign  ore  in  bond  and  articles  manufactured
from  foreign  lead  and  exported  with  benefit  of  drawback  have  been