Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1918-09-09
THE WAR A GOOD TEACHER.

The world has been taught lesson OF sell reliance
by the that otheryise might have been indefinitely
delayed in the learning England for instance has re-
lied on her commerce and her manufacturers for her
wealth. She has been the carrier for the world
and she devoted so much of her energies this and her
factories that she left other things undone and neglected
to be anywhere near self sustaining to food products
Conditions are such that she will always have to rely on
other countries for part of her food supplies but the
extent to which she had neglected her possibilities at
home in this line shown by what she has accomplished
since the submarines made their attempt to sarve her
into submission. Within the last two years grass and
pasture lands amounting to more than four million acres
have been powed up and made to produce crops More
than 100000 acres more wheat barley and oats were
grown in 1918 than the year before While this did not
furnish full supply it reduced the quantity necessary
to be imported the smallest total in fifty years. TO ac
complish this the asked to take up agrcu
tura work and especial training schools were estapsneo
for Them On top of this the American tractor was IN
introduced which made the work possible. Last year IL
is estimated 81 900 atWork on English farms
and this year the number had grown to above 3OOOOO
The increased acreage taken from game preserves ana
lands heretofore uncutvaed produced in cereals alone
this wear around 100 bushels Besides these more
than two million acres devoted to other crops and
their product will go long way toward feeding the ma
ton.
Here in America self reliance has been taught rad
icay Before the war we depended on Germany for
MANY things we have learned we make as well our
selves While necessity has forced to fnd>a way Tor
getting along without the German products the effort
has demonstrated that we can also do without many
things we have heretofore imported from other countries
This is especially true of the metals Tungsten used I'M
hardening steel and in many materials was practically
all imported before the war; much of it coming from Ger
manv Now this country is producing practically all lt
requires the product being onefh Of the total for the
world Manganese is another mineraof which we were|
short up to short time ago. importing much OF our sup
ply from Brazil Now we are in fair way to not only
product our own manganese but TO do it in such qal
titles that the price will be greatly reduced. This has
been made possible by the opening Of mines IN Colorado
and on the coast and also by the recent discoveries OF
vast bodies of the ore in Oklahoma where it is stated IN
recent reports the ore be mined with steam shoves
It. too is necessity in making certain kinds OF steel and
more than 900 tons of the metal used daily IN THIS
manufacture Manganesium is another mineral when be-
fore the war we imported our entire supply.
Now we are producing practically all we require, and
the discovery of the mineral in large quantities has been
made on the coast and in Colorado and Utah since the
war; few years ago aluminium was almost an unknown
metal Now the United States is producing it In such
quantities that she not only supplies all home demands
but can furnish the allies all needed We are now gettng
most of our nickel from Canada but there is no reason
why this should continue for it is well known there are
big deposits of it in the Siskyous and southern Oregon
1t will net be long before producing to satisfy all
home demands There dozens of Others far too num-
aious to mention but all of them being found and utilized
in the United States. AS for the rare and valuable
minerals such as platinum mridum ttanium and such
the black sands of the southern Oregon and northern
California coast vast sorehOuse of them An eXamin
alton of these sands made by the geological department
showed they were composed largely of some twenty met