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U.S. tin stockpiles are perilously low (somewhat more than 20,000 tons against 100,000 at the start of World War II). Trying to increase them, the U.S. has boosted the import price on unprocessed Bolivian tin to 90¢ a lb., the highest in history. This week a new order was being readied to curtail nonessential consumption of tin in coffee cans, beer cans, etc. Old Albina knows that the world will be short of tin until the Netherlands Indies and Malayan mines get back into full production. Then there may be a world glut that will shake her empire. But that may be five years away. And by then, the tin-makers may have decided to put the cartel together again.