The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-12-29
RESOURCES OF
 THE GREAT WEST
By HOLLAND


 New York, December 2S.-(SpeciaI) , Twelve years after David A Wells pub | lished the book in which he demonstrated i that the resources of the north were so | great that it would be possible to carry | on the civil war for 10 years even though | the expenditure was as much as three | billions year, he spoke in private con versation of some developments of our natural resources that had been made ! between 1865 and 1S75 the latter year pe- ing the one in which the conversation with him took place. | Although Mir Wells referred to the new and in many cases unexpected 1e- 1 velopment of our natural resources which was made within the 10 years immcd- ately after the close of the war between the states, for the purpose of making an argument in favor of his view that the United States should adopt as speedily 1 as possible the policy of free trade, l nevertheless some of the things he then | said are applicable to present-day war 1 conditions. For it is to be upon the l continued and increased development of our natural resources, especially west Of 1 the Mississippi river, that the Secretary of tine Terasury must, in great measure, l depend indirectly at least for obtaining l the funds, many billions perhaps, which l the government will need if we are to carry the war to triumphant conelu- l sicn.
 | MT. C. W. Barron, who has recently l written q series of articles upon war | finance which have occasioned much | discussion, said this morning that "wnat l the country needs today is clear think ing on war finance more than anything | else" MT. Barron meant evidently that | wise, and, therefore, successful war 1 finance would make available for the 1 United tSates treasury all the funds that 1 are needed no matter how large the amount, and that there should therefore l be constantly kept in mind the need of l speeding up the development of our nat | ural resources.
 STUPENDOUS RESOURCES MT. Wells in the conversation above alluded to, said that the extraordinary l development of natural resources west | of the Mississippi, most of which came 1 too late for him to include in his work 1 published in the mid-years of the civil ] war, would so enrich the country as to make it imperative, at least practicable
 to adopt free trade policy. For these 1 resources would, after development enormously increase the wealth of the country He did have knowledge of the l Influential part California played in in- l SdSlilB Ill6 wealth or the country Dy millions in newly mined gold from 1850 to 1862. But MT. Wells had no idea of | the magnitude of Californias S resources | or that, notwithstanding the falling off in the production of gold, nevertheless the state would produce within gener- I ation's time in minerals alone, an output 1 which in 1916 was of the money value of 1 almost exactly s12S,OOO00O He spoke of gold and quicksilver as the principal 1 mineral resources of California then 1 under development and also of the aston ishing growth of that state as a wheat 1 producer. But he had no idea, or if he l did he did not mention it. of the nagni- 1 tude of the natural resources not only 1 of the mountain states, but also of that 1 part of the country which was still con- l monly known as the Great American 1 Desert.
 CALIFORNIA; SHARE
 California's share in the increase yearly of the wealth of the United tSates is especially noticeable by reason of the fact that in that state probably a greater number of minerals are to be found than l in any other. The list is long one. Some of the experts are of the opinion l that the investment of new capital in | modern methods of wheat production will enable California to regain her form CT prestige as a wheat producing state. She will certainly maintain her prestige so far as export of lumber if concerned.
 MINERAL RESOURCES
 The development of the mineral re- sources of the mountain states, espe- cially copper, has increased the wealth
 of the United States by many hundred million dollars This new wealth will either directly or indirectly be of service
 to the Secretary of the Terasury when
 he calls upon the people for new loans
 which may aggregate many billions be- fore the war is closed.
 Mr. Wells had faint. if any, conception
 of the part the northwest then no more
 than vague territorial possession of
 the United States, would play in the 1 production of food It was not until
 James J. Hill and little after him
 Howard Elliott and some others demon-
 strated the wheat producing capacity of
 some of the mountain states that 1t was
 realized that this available resource in
 land, most of it governmental land until
 sold or secured as homesteads, would be
 so highly developed as to furnish no
 small part of the wheat and corn harvest of the United States. Nobody in MT. Wells day had any but the faintest con-
 ception of what that vast area which
 afterward became the state of Montana
 would do in the way of developing nor only very rich mineral resources, but also, strangely enough, in so turning to agriculture that the state was to be listed
 as one of the important wheat produc- ing states of the union
 If at the time of the civil war it was possible for highly competent experts,
 chief among them being MT. Wells, to report that the natural resources of the | United States. chiefly east of the Mis- sissippi, but inclusive of California, were
 so great as to make it possible for the government to secure as muAh as s3,000. 000,,000 year with which to pay the ex
 penses of the war-$3. COG, ,O00, 900 a year in civil war days may be reasonably com pared with $20,00O.000,000 year in these times-then there seems to be no reason
 why if the development of these re- sources is stimulated, if the government
 gives high encouragement to capital and protects transportation. the compara- lively new resources of these fat vest ern states may not be sufficient greatly to aid the government in securing as
 many billions as may be needed while