The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1914-12-31
INDUSTRIAL OPPORTUNITIES
Extracts From Address by Geo. Otis
Smith. Direstor L, s. Geological
Survey, Before American Institute
Chemical Engineers, Philadelphia.

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action that we term industry. Tive
Of these, brain and Drawn, are organic
compounds and two are perhaps TO b,
regarded as inorganic money anc
material None of these compotents il
wanting here in the United States and
in fact their abundance affords the
best reason for an optimistic outlook
upon the present industrial situation
OF these four constituents, labor and
capital and brains are all more easily
transported generally than the crude
materials upon large tonnages OF
which the industry must depend
Thus, cheap coal attracts manufactur-
ers just as cheap land attracts farmers.
With distribution Of raw material is
linked the influence Of markets upon
the location Of industry The develop
ment of transportation systems makes
the problem of markets most COM
pick one. The industrial independence
of the small community Of century
ago has given way TO the system under
which your dinner table may repre-
sent the tribute from several contin-
ents. Even in a country so diversified
as ours in its natural bounties domes-
tic production Of everything consumed
is not desirable nor profitable. Ex-
change Of commodities with foreign
countries becomes necessary. so it fol-
lows that industrial independence is
the goal toward which nation should
face, but not goal which it should
have either the intention or desire to
attain.
To increase industrial prosperity
this country needs to export finished
rather than crude products and to i'm
port raw materials rather than man
ufactures. 1t is the product Of Ameri-
can labor rather than the bounty Of
our natural resources that preferably
should go into the worlds markets.
AS the engineers Of America study
this matter of expansion Of manufac-
turing, it becomes evident that the
distribution of raw material and Of
power is the key to industrial oppor-
tunities.
Petroleum and natural gas in their
distribution in some degree supple
ment coal. Thus, the largest coal field
both in present production and prob
able reserve is in California, a state
with only negligible coal resources.
Taken together, these mineral fuels
constitute a national asset comparable
with the soil resources of this country,
but the larger part of the value of the
gas, petroleum, and coal to
the nation is in their relation to man
ufactures.
The wide distribution of ores Of the
principal metals sufficiently rich and
extensive to be mined in large guam
titles means that the metallurgical in
1ustry is important on both the Paci-
fc and the Atlantic seaboard in most
If the Rocky Mountain states as well as
n several of the Middle states. Even
n the two metals which at once sug-
yest to US OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES and
,teel-there is widespread production.
IN the mining of copper last year %
states contributed, and no less than %
states furnished iron ores to the fur
faces of the country. :
The raw material resources of this !
ountry are so widely distributed that
has been developing at this
apid pace at many points. The tend t
ncy is away from geographic central 7
cation of industry rather than toward 7
t. A few opportunities for expansion G
eed only To be suggested: the South
nth its happy combination Of coal and
ron ore in the same districts makes
ig iron production possible at mini
1um cost; the West with its hydro :,
lectric possibilities available as a Z
ource of relatively cheap power for f
hemical and metallurgical industries; a
he Rocky Mountain region with its Z
asst unutilized sources of sulphuric 4
cid and equally great unmined stores I
phosphate rock. :
The ingredients necessary for pro- l.
ucing prosperity appear at hand. The ~
ew financial system already promises a
lore mobile credits. A more sympa- h
,etic attitude of the public toward la
g industrial operations is indicated. is
he efficiency of American labor and
merican engineering was never ques-
oned. OF
In any estimate Of American ability III
make the most Of the present OPP =.
,rtunities for industrial expansion, :,
, better measure Of the inventive j
,nius of this country can perhaps be ra
und than in a moments review Of ia
hat is making the European war 80 ey
rrible. Strictly neutral may we be, ell
t from the heights above to the 10
pths below we find American inven- =, 70
,ns "at the front"--the aeroplane, :"
n a