—European production increased about 50 per cent. between 1913 and 1918, mostly in Portugal, and the output of tungsten ores in Portugal apparently did not reach its maximum. Both placers and veins have been exploited and there seems to be placer material still to be worked as well as veins that are said to be far from exhausted. The official statistics of production given by Portugal during the greater part of the war are declared by engineers conversant with the situation to have been too low, because of ore being smuggled into Spain and on board ships bound for England. On the other hand, in 1918 England and France objected to the shipment of Portuguese ore to the United States, but would not pay equivalent prices. The Portuguese government therefore issued an order preventing the export of tungsten ore except at fixed prices approaching the current American prices. American owners could not work their mines successfully under the British-French embargo, with the result that the output was probably much smaller than in 1917. In spite of the uncertainties the official estimates have been used as far as they are available, for no better figures are at hand.

As to the Spanish output, prophecy is difficult because the data concerning the mines are meager. It seems probable that under similar prices about the same output as in the past may be expected from the English and French deposits. The English output decreased in 1917 and increased only a little in 1918. No accurate data are available from France. The German and Austrian deposits were probably worked so hard during the World War that less is to be expected from them than they have heretofore produced.

Summary.

—The principal changes in the distribution of production during the next few years would seem to be: Further development in Korea; possible development in Manchuria; development of deposits in southern China and Siam; further development in Bolivia; a tendency in the United States to largely increased production from deposits in the Great Basin; and development of both veins and contact-metamorphic deposits in Mexico. Production will possibly decrease in the Atolia and Boulder fields of the United States; and in Australia, Japan, Germany and Austria.

POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL CONTROL

The actual control of the world’s tungsten deposits differs considerably from that indicated by the production within political areas. Actual control is justly obtained through ordinary competitive buying, ownership by nationals (sometimes by governments) of deposits, and through commercial alliance. Control through ownership of banks and transportation lines may be just or it may be by coercion and commercial brigandage, seizing ports for coaling and repair stations—methods that are merely refinements evolved since the days when “They sought their fortunes as they pleased abroad, the crown annoying them with no inquiry to embarrass their search for Spanish treasure ships, or their trade in pirated linens and silks.”[86]

[86] Wilson, Woodrow. “A History of the American People,” vol. 1, p. 25.

Table 29.—Actual Control of the World’s Tungsten Output in 1917 and 1918.
In Short Tons of 2,000 Pounds

19171918
QuantityPercent-
age of
world’s
output		QuantityPercent-
age of
world’s
output
British:
Possessions
Burma and Shan States 4,600  4,870
Federated Malay States   853    920
Trengganu   350    350
Johore and Kedah   200    582
India    75     46
Australia 1,404  1,662
New Zealand   241    146
England   265    330
South Africa    24     37
 8,01228.4 8,943 24.9
Obtained through trade and political pressure
Japan and Korea (including ores for France)   790 None
China and Hongkong (including ores for France) 1,105    900
Siam   600    600
Billiton and Singkep    60     60
Argentina -(including ores for France) 2,035    950
Bolivia
Peru
Portugal   960    800
Spain (including ores for France)   446    425
 5,99621.3 3,735 10.4
Total ores under British control14,00849.712,67835.3
French:
France   182    180
Tonkin   422    450
Siam   170    190
Portugal   650    440
Bolivia (See [Great Britain])? ?
Argentina (See [Great Britain])? ?
 1,424 5.3 1,260  3.5
German:
Germany   200    200
Austria   150    150
Norway?
Portugal? ?
Spain? ?
   350 1.2   350  1  
American:
Mexico   340    326
Peru -  4,320  4,680
Bolivia
Argentina
Japan and Korea (including some Chinese ore) 1,010  1,650
China and Hongkong   395  9,300
Portugal   130     60
Siam    30     12
Domestic production 6,144  5,068
12,36943.921,150 59  
Japanese: (Quantity smelted only)
China?    300 - 1.3
Norwegian:
Norway    10     10
Russian:
Russia   110    150
Total28,178 35,832

Owing to the close relationships between some foreign governments and private firms—as illustrated by the German government’s interest in dye, potash, and shipping firms, and the British government’s participation in nickel mining and ferrotungsten-making companies—it is not practicable to draw a line between governmentally and privately controlled deposits. In countries with weak governments, the deposits owned by British subjects are to all intents and purposes British; but foreign deposits owned by Americans are not necessarily under American control; in fact, instead of helping and encouraging our pioneers in foreign trade we are apt to harass them and destroy their business with drastic tariff laws.