ABSTRACT
From the Spring of 1931, it was evident that the ITC had an extraordinary challenge ahead. Stabilizing the industry would involve three stages: getting production to the level of consumption, getting it below consumption and, finally, getting it sufficiently below consumption that the accumulated stocks could be liquidated. As consumption continued to fall throughout 1931 and 1932, the magnitude of the problem simply increased. However, as the ITC began to take effective control over the tin market, it attracted more and more attention as not only setting a model which could be fruitfully applied to other commodities but also as an important weapon in the arsenal of counter-depression measures. Getting to that point required several difficult decisions.
