Copper, lead and zinc form a class by themselves as regards industrial utility and tonnage produced, ranking after iron, which far outclasses them, as the most important base metals. The annual production of each is considerably more than a million tons. In view of the industrial importance of zinc and the fact that brass, an alloy of copper and zinc, is an indispensable material in modern industry, it is not strange that the great industrial nations have contrived many expedients in the endeavor to control the zinc industry.
The ownership and operative control of the mines has been a minor factor in the commercial control of this industry. Economic factors force the location of retort smelting plants in industrial districts adjacent to coal fields, the most important factors being availability and cost of fuel and labor, and proximity to a market for spelter. A lack of fuel and scarcity or high cost of labor has prevented smelting in some regions producing considerable ore. On the other hand, the smelting done in some countries has been entirely disproportionate to their ore output. The revival of nationalist sentiment as a result of the World War may make ownership and operative control a more important factor in the future.
Electrolytic and electro-thermic reduction of ores makes possible the economic production of spelter where previously impossible and may bring about some decentralization of the industry.
Ownership or control of the reduction plants has been an important basis for control of the industry. The most effective control has been exercised through marketing organizations or trade combinations of reduction works, ore-buying and metal-selling agencies, with interlocking directorates, joint ownership and long-term contracts for ores, concentrates and metals. In recent years these became world-wide in their scope and completely dominated the industry.
United States.
—Below are listed the most important zinc smelting companies in the United States, together with the percentage of the total reduction capacity that each controls:
| Percentage of production controlled | |
|---|---|
| New Jersey Zinc Co. | 13.4 |
| American Metal Co. | 15.2 |
| Grasselli Chemical Co. | 10.1 |
| Anaconda Copper Mining Co. | 10.0 |
| United States Steel Corporation | 7.7 |
| American Smelting & Refining Co. | 7.2 |
| American Zinc, Lead & Smelting Co. | 5.7 |
| Beer, Sondheimer & Co. | 4.7 |
| L. Vogelstein & Co. | 1.7 |
| Various independents or of unknown affiliation | 24.3 |
The close affiliations of L. Vogelstein & Co., Beer, Sondheimer & Co., the American Metal Co., and their subsidiary companies, comprising 27.3 per cent. of the smelting capacity, and various ore producers, with their metal-selling contracts with other smelters, enabled them to dominate the American metal market in the interest of the German “Trio.” The Alien Property Custodian took over all three companies during the war and eliminated all alien-enemy ownership and control by disposing of German-owned stock at auction.
The American Metal Co. completely owns the American Zinc & Chemical Co., South American Metal Transport Co., Bartlesville Zinc Co., and South American Metal Co.; it has large holdings of stock in the Ohio and Colorado Smelting & Refining Co., Compañia Minera de Peñoles, Compañia de Minerales y Metales, Compañia Metalurgica de Torreon, Compañia Minera Palmo y Cabrillos, Fundicion de Guayacan, Balbach Smelting & Refining Co., and Nichols Copper Co., some of which operate in Mexico and South America. The capital stock of the American Metal Co. comprised 70,000 shares, of which 34,644 were owned by aliens affiliated with the German “Trio”; 18,620 shares belong to American citizens who have had control of the management, and the remainder belonged to the Merton interests, of London, which has been reorganized by the British government, eliminating alien ownership. The alien-owned shares have been sold by the Alien Property Custodian and the control of the business for a period of five years was vested in a board of five trustees named by him.
The National Zinc Co. was owned by Beer, Sondheimer & Co., one of the German “Trio,” which also owned other metal-producing companies in the United States and Cuba.