Of all the great lead-producing powers the United States is the only one which does not possess a government-controlled lead monopoly. Threatened commercial world monopolies of lead, as of other minerals, have therefore, through the revival of nationalistic spirit due to the war, given place to national-commercial monopolies by three powers (Germany, France, and Great Britain), each intended to become as world-wide as possible, and thus competitive with each other and with the purely commercial organizations of the American lead industry. In England this movement has taken the form of a British Metals Corporation (covering not only lead but other metals). The British Treasury is represented on the Board of Directors.
In France, the nationalist movement has resulted in the formation of consortiums or trade monopolies for each industry, organized under government auspices. That of the mineral industry is the Société Minerais et Metaux. The official announcement states that this society is organized under the auspices of the French government, in order to group the French metal producers, operating both at home and abroad, into a co-operative association for the purchase and sale of metallurgical products.
In America, the principal commercial factor is the American Smelting & Refining Co., dominating the market through its control of reduction plants, although it controls directly only one-third the production.
Zinc.
—Zinc and lead are commonly associated in mineral deposits, so that their geological and geographical distribution is nearly identical. Of the world’s production of zinc, the United States produces 35 per cent., Germany 25 per cent., Australia 15 per cent., and Italy 5 per cent.
Up to the outbreak of the war in 1914, the position of zinc was extreme among the metals, in that political control or state sovereignty exercised only a minor effect upon the industry. “Economic factors,” says our author, “made ineffective any control not international in scope. A very large percentage of the zinc ores of the world were transported from the country of production to another for treatment, in some cases even being re-exported.” During the war, however, political control was largely invoked to strengthen and restore commercial control to the chief belligerent nations. This movement was particularly marked in the British Empire, where there now exists, as above noted in the paragraphs discussing lead, a joint political and commercial control. Alien interests were eliminated by government action, and the government retained a share in the control through interests in marketing organizations or financial participation in treatment works.
In the zinc industry, as in that of its closely associated metals, copper and lead, the ownership or control of reduction plants, and more particularly marketing organizations, have been more important in determining commercial control than state sovereignty or commercial ownership of mines. In recent years the marketing organizations became world-wide and completely dominated the industry. The ambition of German commercial interests to control the metal markets and resources of the world was more nearly realized in the case of zinc than of any other metal.
In France, as noted above in the case of lead, a government-controlled metal marketing organization has been formed for the same purpose—protection and advantage in competition. However, British domination of the European zinc industry seems certain. Only the American industry remains untouched by close organization under government auspices. Should Germany lose Silesia, she will probably become a small factor in the zinc industry. With so many doors closed in her face by the British and French political and commercial combinations, there should be governmental precautions taken by the American Government that she should not re-establish herself in the United States, nor so far as possible (following out to its logical conclusion the Monroe Doctrine) in the rest of North and South America.
Note that in the zinc industry, as well as in every other industry, Japan is rapidly expanding, and having reached the limit of her own resources, her field of growth is in Korea, China, and Siberia. Japan’s present zinc-smelting capacity is greater than her domestic consumption, and much greater than the domestic ore supply; and ore is imported from China, Siberia, Indo-China, and Australia.