American Geographical Society

Tin Under Control by K. E. KnorrReview by: Jean GottmannGeographical Review, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Jan., 1946), pp. 166-168Published by: American Geographical SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/211087 .

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THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

admirable condensation of factual geographic data, the treatment of the political aspects of the problem is far less successful. Here, condensation has been carried much too far. For

example, to summarize the international political aspirations of France in two pages is an

impossible task. Such a section should either have been omitted-and the topic dealt with elsewhere in detail-or have been considerably expanded so as to be really informative to a student. The addition of a dozen extra pages on this topic for each of these great powers would have given a better balance to the manual, without unduly adding to the slender bulk. If a genuine wedding of politics and geography was desired, a more equitable distri- bution of material should have been attempted. The same criticism applies to the final

section; little of significance can be said on postwar problems within the compass of eight pages of text. Here, too, the section should have been expanded considerably or omitted

entirely. The maps throughout these three little volumes are uneven in quality as teaching aids.

Those accompanying the chapters on the strategy of the various campaigns of the war are

excellent, but elsewhere the maps are by no means as clear as they should be. The reviewer is not a cartographer, and this comment is made as a layman's criticism, but it is the lay- man, and not the expert, for whom the work was prepared.

However, it is not intended to make a detailed and captious critique. The importance of the manual lies in the fact that it represents a recognition of a new need-that of studying all the fundamental aspects of national power-which will not disappear now that the war

is over. On the contrary, it is to be hoped that the new position of the United States in the

world will bring forth, as indeed it must, a wider recognition of the need for such studies

as a part of the peacetime education of every intelligent citizen. It is trite to say that democ-

racy depends for its success on the education of its citizenry; it is less trite, but not less true, to say that there must now be a special emphasis on the study of international relations if

there is to be the necessary popular support for American postwar foreign policy. Such a

study, if it is to succeed, must be based on geographic realities as they affect the equally important historical and political factors that combine to determine the foreign policy of a

world power.-GRAYSON KIRK

TIN UNDER CONTROL. By K. E. KNORR. xi and 314 pp.; maps, diagrs., index. Food

Research Inst. Commodity Policy Studies No. 5, Stanford University, Calif, I945. $3.00.

914 x 6 inches.

To its fine series on commodities the Food Research Institute now adds a well planned and

thoroughly documented volume on tin. The relative importance of tin in world economy has steadily declined since the Bronze Age, but it is still an essential raw material. The Ameri-

can way of life, with its enormous use of canned goods, has greatly increased tin consump- tion, and during the war every household learned something about the economics of tin

and cans. The road to tin has always been a long and important one: in remote times Phoeni-

cians and Greeks ventured into northern seas for the tin of Cornwall and Brittany. In I939 four countries, British Malaya, the Netherlands Indies, Thailand, and Bolivia, "accounted

for 70 per cent of the world tin output of I77,000 tons." But consumption was located

elsewhere: of the total world absorption, 42.3 per cent was consumed by the United States,

4I per cent by the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, and the U.S.S.R. together. Thus tin is an important item of world trade, involving bulky transport and the interests of

many nations.

admirable condensation of factual geographic data, the treatment of the political aspects of the problem is far less successful. Here, condensation has been carried much too far. For

example, to summarize the international political aspirations of France in two pages is an

impossible task. Such a section should either have been omitted-and the topic dealt with elsewhere in detail-or have been considerably expanded so as to be really informative to a student. The addition of a dozen extra pages on this topic for each of these great powers would have given a better balance to the manual, without unduly adding to the slender bulk. If a genuine wedding of politics and geography was desired, a more equitable distri- bution of material should have been attempted. The same criticism applies to the final

section; little of significance can be said on postwar problems within the compass of eight pages of text. Here, too, the section should have been expanded considerably or omitted

entirely. The maps throughout these three little volumes are uneven in quality as teaching aids.

Those accompanying the chapters on the strategy of the various campaigns of the war are

excellent, but elsewhere the maps are by no means as clear as they should be. The reviewer is not a cartographer, and this comment is made as a layman's criticism, but it is the lay- man, and not the expert, for whom the work was prepared.

However, it is not intended to make a detailed and captious critique. The importance of the manual lies in the fact that it represents a recognition of a new need-that of studying all the fundamental aspects of national power-which will not disappear now that the war

is over. On the contrary, it is to be hoped that the new position of the United States in the

world will bring forth, as indeed it must, a wider recognition of the need for such studies

as a part of the peacetime education of every intelligent citizen. It is trite to say that democ-

racy depends for its success on the education of its citizenry; it is less trite, but not less true, to say that there must now be a special emphasis on the study of international relations if

there is to be the necessary popular support for American postwar foreign policy. Such a

study, if it is to succeed, must be based on geographic realities as they affect the equally important historical and political factors that combine to determine the foreign policy of a

world power.-GRAYSON KIRK

TIN UNDER CONTROL. By K. E. KNORR. xi and 314 pp.; maps, diagrs., index. Food

Research Inst. Commodity Policy Studies No. 5, Stanford University, Calif, I945. $3.00.

914 x 6 inches.

To its fine series on commodities the Food Research Institute now adds a well planned and

thoroughly documented volume on tin. The relative importance of tin in world economy has steadily declined since the Bronze Age, but it is still an essential raw material. The Ameri-

can way of life, with its enormous use of canned goods, has greatly increased tin consump- tion, and during the war every household learned something about the economics of tin

and cans. The road to tin has always been a long and important one: in remote times Phoeni-

cians and Greeks ventured into northern seas for the tin of Cornwall and Brittany. In I939 four countries, British Malaya, the Netherlands Indies, Thailand, and Bolivia, "accounted

for 70 per cent of the world tin output of I77,000 tons." But consumption was located

elsewhere: of the total world absorption, 42.3 per cent was consumed by the United States,

4I per cent by the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, and the U.S.S.R. together. Thus tin is an important item of world trade, involving bulky transport and the interests of

many nations.

I66 I66

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GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEWS

But access to tin has not been only a question of crossing space; it could have been pro- duced in much larger quantities than required had not international control been estab- lished, with its complication of the situation. It is mostly with this aspect that Dr. Knorr's book is concerned. But at the same time, to give a full picture of the problem, he does not

neglect the study of production, trade, and consumption, and his book is therefore a con- tribution not only to economics but to geography as well.

After a rapid introduction outlining the problem, the character and uses of the com-

modity are described; then a chapter studies the "nature of the demand for tin." Starting with the demand is undoubtedly the right procedure, and not only for tin. Satisfaction of demand is, after all, the ultimate goal, and the traditional commodity study in geography, which begins with production and attempts to go on from there in a strictly logical way, often is lacking in realism. Dr. Knorr gives an excellent instance of how the economy of a raw material is influenced more by business activity than by anything else. The geographer, however, would have liked, in the analysis of demand, greater emphasis on the fact that tin

plate is used mainly to preserve in cans the surpluses of nondurable goods; its consumption is thus under a certain stress of weather, both meteorological and political.

The greater part of the book tells in detail the story of the international control of tin, which arose out of the overproduction after World War I. The failure of voluntary restric- tion of output brought the industry under compulsory international control in I93I. The scheme, administered by an International Tin Committee, was aimed at the reduction of

price fluctuations. Tin control is generally considered a successful experiment. What suc- cess for producers may mean to international economy as a whole is carefully analyzed and explained by Dr. Knorr in the chapters on "International Control Appraised." He does not accept the "success" appraisal. He agrees that "international tin control saved imprudent investors from heavy losses. By its patent success in maintaining a high, 'fair' price of tin, control generally benefited-though to varying degrees and only from the short-run view-

point-the world's tin producers, the producing and the investing countries." But control obviously did not prevent price swings and therefore did not help industrial consumers interested in stable but not in high prices.

"Tin producers and producing countries gained at the expense of tin consumers," Dr. Knorr concludes. "From the standpoint of all-round social utility, consumption and the advancement of consumption levels must remain the ultimate end of the production of material goods." This criticism of the working of international control comes at a time when schemes of control for many products are under discussion. And the general trend seems to be well in agreement with Dr. Knorr's conclusions-toward a larger participation of consumers' interests in the operation of controls.

The last chapters of the book are devoted to tin in wartime and postwar prospects. The Japanese conquest of Southeast Asia severed the normal route of tin supply of the democ- racies just when the need for containers rose. New sources and replacement products were developed. "There will be a fluid area of competition between old and new techniques of tin use and between tin and rival materials." High prices of tin may prove in the future more harmful than profitable to tin producers. Moreover, production has been expanded in the Belgian Congo and Nigeria. The specter of a postwar surplus output appears. Finally, the question is asked whether the United States will maintain its large tin-smelting industry at Texas City, which may turn in favor of maintaining a control scheme, for the Texas smelter produces at high costs.

I67

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THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

Dr. Knorr suggests a slow, planned cure for the ills from which tin suffers today. He recognizes, however, that the implementation of plans which take little care of vested inter- ests is not likely. His book does not solve the problem of access to tin, but it provides a use- ful and intelligent discussion of the problems of the industry. We welcome his compan- ion study of rubber, received as this review goes to press.-JEAN GOTTMANN

OIL POSSIBILITIES OF SOUTH AMERICA IN THE LIGHT OF REGIONAL GEOL- OGY. By JOHN L. RICH. Maps, diagrs., ills., bibliogr. Bull. Amer. Assn. of Petroleum

Geologists, Vol. 29, 1945, pp. 495-563.

This report by Rich is a useful evaluation and summing up of the geological knowledge ot South America as it applies to the search for oil-bearing formations or the existence of con- ditions favorable to the formation of petroleum and accumulation of petroleum deposits. From it, the reviewer draws three conclusions: (i) The highly reconnaissance nature of the surveys of South America; (2) The high costs involved in attempting to make detailed surveys of the more promising districts; (3) The substantial contribution toward reducing survey costs through the use of aerial photography.

The author acknowledges the difficulties of the attempt to "assess the geological features of an entire continent . . . whose geologic story has been only imperfectly deciphered." Nevertheless, he has done a creditable piece of work in this provisional classification.

Since a knowledge of paleogeography and of the formation and filling of sedimen- tary basins and troughs is fundamental to a study of petroleum geology, the author finds it convenient to start with a description of the late-Paleozoic mountain bek extending west and northwest from the Atlantic coast south of Buenos Aires into northern Chile. With this belt of ancient crystallines and metamorphics as a point of departure, he makes a sys- tematic examination of the petroliferous areas to the north and south. Twenty-five areas of different sizes are distinguished and the geological characteristics of each described, the amount of detail naturally varying considerably.

The conclusions of the examination are summarized in the form of a map showing the possibly petroliferous areas in three categories. The largest area in the highest rating is the sub-Andean trough extending from Trinidad to northern Argentina with its southern expansion, the Chaco. Adverse climatic conditions and dense forest covering have pre- vented adequate exploration of much of this area. Other first-category areas are the Men- doza district, the San Jorge basin, and the Rio Negro trough in Argentina; in northwestern South America, the Maracaibo basin, already known for its prolific oil production, the lower part of the Magdalena trough, and the lowlands of northern Colombia; and sections in the Talara region of northern Peru and the Ecuadorian coast. In Brazil, only the southern part of the Baia trough and a coastal strip to the north are given first rank.

The final word is that "although South America has much territory in which the geo- logical conditions are favorable for the presence of oil, the finding and the development of that oil promise to be more than ordinarily difficult."-WALTER H. VosKuIL

THE GEOGRAPHICAL BASIS OF GOVERNMENT: Specially Applied to New South Wales. By J. MACDONALD HOLMES. vii and i68 pp.; maps, diagrs., bibliogr., index.

Angus & Robertson Ltd., Sydney and London, I944. I2s. 6d. 934 x 7 inches.

The chief purpose of this study is to discover and outline the principal geographic subdivi-

Dr. Knorr suggests a slow, planned cure for the ills from which tin suffers today. He recognizes, however, that the implementation of plans which take little care of vested inter- ests is not likely. His book does not solve the problem of access to tin, but it provides a use- ful and intelligent discussion of the problems of the industry. We welcome his compan- ion study of rubber, received as this review goes to press.-JEAN GOTTMANN

OIL POSSIBILITIES OF SOUTH AMERICA IN THE LIGHT OF REGIONAL GEOL- OGY. By JOHN L. RICH. Maps, diagrs., ills., bibliogr. Bull. Amer. Assn. of Petroleum

Geologists, Vol. 29, 1945, pp. 495-563.

This report by Rich is a useful evaluation and summing up of the geological knowledge ot South America as it applies to the search for oil-bearing formations or the existence of con- ditions favorable to the formation of petroleum and accumulation of petroleum deposits. From it, the reviewer draws three conclusions: (i) The highly reconnaissance nature of the surveys of South America; (2) The high costs involved in attempting to make detailed surveys of the more promising districts; (3) The substantial contribution toward reducing survey costs through the use of aerial photography.

The author acknowledges the difficulties of the attempt to "assess the geological features of an entire continent . . . whose geologic story has been only imperfectly deciphered." Nevertheless, he has done a creditable piece of work in this provisional classification.

Since a knowledge of paleogeography and of the formation and filling of sedimen- tary basins and troughs is fundamental to a study of petroleum geology, the author finds it convenient to start with a description of the late-Paleozoic mountain bek extending west and northwest from the Atlantic coast south of Buenos Aires into northern Chile. With this belt of ancient crystallines and metamorphics as a point of departure, he makes a sys- tematic examination of the petroliferous areas to the north and south. Twenty-five areas of different sizes are distinguished and the geological characteristics of each described, the amount of detail naturally varying considerably.

The conclusions of the examination are summarized in the form of a map showing the possibly petroliferous areas in three categories. The largest area in the highest rating is the sub-Andean trough extending from Trinidad to northern Argentina with its southern expansion, the Chaco. Adverse climatic conditions and dense forest covering have pre- vented adequate exploration of much of this area. Other first-category areas are the Men- doza district, the San Jorge basin, and the Rio Negro trough in Argentina; in northwestern South America, the Maracaibo basin, already known for its prolific oil production, the lower part of the Magdalena trough, and the lowlands of northern Colombia; and sections in the Talara region of northern Peru and the Ecuadorian coast. In Brazil, only the southern part of the Baia trough and a coastal strip to the north are given first rank.

The final word is that "although South America has much territory in which the geo- logical conditions are favorable for the presence of oil, the finding and the development of that oil promise to be more than ordinarily difficult."-WALTER H. VosKuIL

THE GEOGRAPHICAL BASIS OF GOVERNMENT: Specially Applied to New South Wales. By J. MACDONALD HOLMES. vii and i68 pp.; maps, diagrs., bibliogr., index.

Angus & Robertson Ltd., Sydney and London, I944. I2s. 6d. 934 x 7 inches.

The chief purpose of this study is to discover and outline the principal geographic subdivi-

Dr. Knorr suggests a slow, planned cure for the ills from which tin suffers today. He recognizes, however, that the implementation of plans which take little care of vested inter- ests is not likely. His book does not solve the problem of access to tin, but it provides a use- ful and intelligent discussion of the problems of the industry. We welcome his compan- ion study of rubber, received as this review goes to press.-JEAN GOTTMANN

OIL POSSIBILITIES OF SOUTH AMERICA IN THE LIGHT OF REGIONAL GEOL- OGY. By JOHN L. RICH. Maps, diagrs., ills., bibliogr. Bull. Amer. Assn. of Petroleum

Geologists, Vol. 29, 1945, pp. 495-563.

This report by Rich is a useful evaluation and summing up of the geological knowledge ot South America as it applies to the search for oil-bearing formations or the existence of con- ditions favorable to the formation of petroleum and accumulation of petroleum deposits. From it, the reviewer draws three conclusions: (i) The highly reconnaissance nature of the surveys of South America; (2) The high costs involved in attempting to make detailed surveys of the more promising districts; (3) The substantial contribution toward reducing survey costs through the use of aerial photography.

The author acknowledges the difficulties of the attempt to "assess the geological features of an entire continent . . . whose geologic story has been only imperfectly deciphered." Nevertheless, he has done a creditable piece of work in this provisional classification.

Since a knowledge of paleogeography and of the formation and filling of sedimen- tary basins and troughs is fundamental to a study of petroleum geology, the author finds it convenient to start with a description of the late-Paleozoic mountain bek extending west and northwest from the Atlantic coast south of Buenos Aires into northern Chile. With this belt of ancient crystallines and metamorphics as a point of departure, he makes a sys- tematic examination of the petroliferous areas to the north and south. Twenty-five areas of different sizes are distinguished and the geological characteristics of each described, the amount of detail naturally varying considerably.

The conclusions of the examination are summarized in the form of a map showing the possibly petroliferous areas in three categories. The largest area in the highest rating is the sub-Andean trough extending from Trinidad to northern Argentina with its southern expansion, the Chaco. Adverse climatic conditions and dense forest covering have pre- vented adequate exploration of much of this area. Other first-category areas are the Men- doza district, the San Jorge basin, and the Rio Negro trough in Argentina; in northwestern South America, the Maracaibo basin, already known for its prolific oil production, the lower part of the Magdalena trough, and the lowlands of northern Colombia; and sections in the Talara region of northern Peru and the Ecuadorian coast. In Brazil, only the southern part of the Baia trough and a coastal strip to the north are given first rank.

The final word is that "although South America has much territory in which the geo- logical conditions are favorable for the presence of oil, the finding and the development of that oil promise to be more than ordinarily difficult."-WALTER H. VosKuIL

THE GEOGRAPHICAL BASIS OF GOVERNMENT: Specially Applied to New South Wales. By J. MACDONALD HOLMES. vii and i68 pp.; maps, diagrs., bibliogr., index.

Angus & Robertson Ltd., Sydney and London, I944. I2s. 6d. 934 x 7 inches.

The chief purpose of this study is to discover and outline the principal geographic subdivi-

I68 I68 I68

This content downloaded from 169.229.32.137 on Thu, 8 May 2014 18:26:18 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions