The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1915-03-18
MINING CONDITIONS
IN UNITED STATES

Following is a synopsis of a discus
sion by George Otis Smith, director,
United States Geological Survey, be-
fore the New York Section Of the
American Institute of Mining Engin-
GERS, New York, March 5, 1915:
. For more than haf year we have
watched the adjustments and readiust-
ments of American industries to meet
new conditions. Six months ago the
United States Geological Survey sug-
gested, by the publication of Bulletin
500, the extent to which America s
mineral reserves could be drawn upon
to meet the emergency and indeed to
strengthen the position of the United
States as a world power in industry
and commerce. Today, as a nation, we
face an even greater crisis in our COM
mercial relations, so that a discussion
Of national independence is especially
opportune.
As nation we began with a dec
laration of independence leading to an
experiment in statecraft-popular gov
ernment on a large scale in string of
colonial settlements connected only in
crude way by post roads and coast
wise sailing vessels, and perhaps even
more feebly united by bonds of COM
mon race or creed. Yet that political
independence was the breath of life in
the new nation, and the ideal then set
up attracted the best human material
from all lands. Thus we may say was
developed America Is greatest resource
la progressive citizenry.
The other element necessary to
make America great is material re-
sources-the earth and the fullness
thereof. ] do not discount the wealth
of our forests, which have contributed
so largely to our foreign and domestic
trade since colonial days, nor do / dis
regard the bounty of our soil, which
enables us in these days of waste and
war to feed the peoples of Europe as
well as ourselves, vet | believe the
mineral wealth of the United States
is in largest measure the foundation
of the marvellous growth of the last
few decades. Industrial Americal--
think to what degree the industries of
America are based on our ores and
mineral fuels, or figure, if you will,
the percentage of railroad tonnage
that originates a. the mine.
Not only is our country world
leader in the output of such essential
minerals as coal, petroleum, copper,
zinc, iron, lead, phosphate-and in
three of these it exceeds all other
countries put together-but as far as
such things can be measured or esti-
mated we are blest in the possession
of the largest reserves of many of the
more important of these minerals. No
other country sean, in any sense, com
pare with the United States in the de-
gree of industria independence afford
ed by the possession of these mineral
resources. The raw material is at hand
to enable us to win and maintain su-
premacy as manufacturing nation.
"Yet under this 'most favored ma
tion clause, the catalogue of our min
eral resources is not the complete list
of minerals essential to modern civil
zation; a few items are missing, others
are present apparently only in insult
ficient quantities, and the quality or
locality of the deposits of still other
minerals may be unfavorable to pres
ent-day utilization. Thus it happens
that the nation is not wholly independ-
emf in its mineral industry, and no
problem better deserves the attention
of the American mining engineers than
this, How can we fill these gaps and
thus make America more truly inde
pendent.
s'The catalogue of the products of
our mines, quarries, and wells is long.
The list of what we lack is short. We
are wholly dependent on other coun-
tries for only four principal items-tin
and nickel, potash and nitrate. Among
the minerals of which the United
States has a deficient supply are man
ganese, platinum, gems and asbestos.
Still other mineras it has heretofore
been more profitable to buy abroad
than to produce at home, such as
chrome ore, barytes, flint pebbles, mag
nestle, mica and graphite.
''These deficiencies create problems
relating to three different types or
classes of minerals. In the first class,
fCnnfinnad nn ParA Four